An openly gay man with more than a decade of experience at the national American Civil Liberties Union took the reins of the state affiliate this week.
Reggie Shuford began his tenure as executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania Sept. 6, after the departure of former director Nancy Hopkins, who was at the helm for six years.
The organization currently has a $2-million annual budget, 17 employees in offices in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh and some 18,000 members across the state.
Shuford comes to the post from his role as director of law and public policy at the Equal Justice Society. Prior to EJS, he worked as a staff attorney with the National ACLU’s Racial Justice Program from 1995-2010, based in New York City.
A native of Wilmington, N.C., Shuford attained his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill and worked in private practice before coming to the ACLU.
His career in law was implanted at a very young age.
“I decided I wanted to be a lawyer when I was 6,” he said. “And shortly after that, I decided I wanted to be a civil-rights lawyer.”
Growing up in an economically disadvantaged, segregated neighborhood solidified that career aspiration, he said.
“I started public school shortly after the dawn of integration, so I was able to observe around me that certain people from certain backgrounds seemed to be the beneficiaries of better opportunities than other people, and people of color and poor people seemed to be less likely to have access to those opportunities,” he said. “It felt fundamentally unfair that your race or economic status would dictate how good a life you were able to ultimately lead. I felt like I wanted to do my part to get involved in challenging that. I not only wanted to defy those expectations but also to change those perceptions, both on a personal level but also at the larger macro level.”
While at the ACLU, Shuford spearheaded the agency’s challenges to racial profiling in traffic stops, at airport security and in numerous other settings; worked to fight racism in death-penalty cases and educational equity; and attempted to defeat numerous affirmative-action ballot initiatives.
Throughout that time, he worked alongside staff at the ACLU of Pennsylvania and said that when the position in the local affiliate opened up, he eagerly pursued it.
“The ACLU of Pennsylvania has one of the strongest programs in the country, especially its legal program. They’re well-respected for bringing cutting-edge cases, and I wanted the opportunity to work more directly with them. It’s a great, great staff and a great organization with a solid reputation,” he said. “And I know Pennsylvania is poised to be one of the hotbeds for a lot of the other issues going on around the country, and I want to be part of that fight — whether it be for LGBT equality, immigration equality, women’s rights or reproductive freedom. All of that is going on around the nation and in Pennsylvania, and this is a great chance to be part of championing those issues.”
Shuford is cognizant that LGBT Pennsylvanians are facing myriad challenges, and said he’s looking forward to discussing the “lay of the land” with constituents across the state.
“For many people the right to marry is an important issue, but not everyone wants to get married. For others, it’s the ability to walk up the street feeling safe and protected from a possible hate crime. For others, it’s battling the ongoing devastation of the AIDS epidemic. And for others, it’s extending to transgender people the same rights that LGB people have that transgender people don’t always have.”
In addition to garnering input from Pennsylvanians on pressing issues, Shuford plans to enhance the agency’s fundraising efforts to stabilize finances for the long run.
Heightening the ACLU’s visibility — and the public’s understanding of its work — is also an aim, Shuford said.
“Not everyone knows what we do or what we stand for, so I want to work to get our name out there. I want to help fight to preserve civil rights and civil liberties in a variety of areas and to partner and collaborate with like-minded organizations and individuals to make Pennsylvania a state where everybody can live with the same access to opportunities and rights as everyone else.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].