the good kind

First, some context: I'm at the ACLU national conference and this evening, we heard from George Soros, who recently made the largest private gift in ACLU history. Introducing Soros, ACLU executive director Anthony Romero announced the $12 million seed gift for the ACLU's ambitious new expansion. The goal is to "fill in the middle": We have strong, long-running ACLU affiliates in places like Massachusetts¹, New York, and northern California, but there are many states where the local ACLU is too small and underfunded to deal with the challenges of their coverage area & political climate.

So with that in mind, Romero was describing the plan:

"Someday there will no longer be civil liberties dead zones in the US ... you can look at the map, and you know what states I'm talking about, It's not places like Chelsea² where I live. Well, I don't know, maybe in Chelsea... if there's detention, it's the good kind of detention."

(A surprising number of people got it. I like this crowd.)

1. Massachusetts' ACLU affiliate was actually founded shortly before the national ACLU.

2. Chelsea is Manhattan's gay neighborhood, known for having a lot of gay bars & clubs. (Yes, Anthony Romery is gay)