 ACLU leader Harriet Pilpel raised the issue of the rights of homosexuals in 1964, and two years later the ACLU formally endorsed gay rights. In 1972, ACLU cooperating attorneys in Oregon filed the first federal civil rights case involving a claim of unconstitutional discrimination against a gay or lesbian public school teacher. The U.S. District Court held that a state statute that authorized school districts to fire teachers for "immorality" was unconstitutionally vague, and awarded monetary damages to the teacher. The court refused to reinstate the teacher, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that refusal by a 2 to 1 vote. Burton v. Cascade School District, 353 F. Supp. 254 (D. Or. 1972), aff 'd 512 F.2d 850 (1975). In 1973 the ACLU created the Sexual Privacy Project (later the Gay and Lesbian Rights Project) which combated discrimination against homosexuals. This support continues even today. After then-Senator Larry Craig was arrested for soliciting sex in a public bathroom, the ACLU wrote an amicus brief for Craig, saying that sex between consenting adults in public places was protected under privacy rights.
