Chicago philanthropist and business owner Col. Jennifer Pritzker plans to donate $101,000 and additional six-figure future support to the ACLU from her TAWANI Foundation to fight Tennessee's anti-transgender laws in court, a press release announced.
The ACLU and its Tennessee chapter announced on June 25 that they filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of two businesses. The lawsuit argues that a state law requiring businesses to post signs outside transgender-friendly bathrooms is unconstitutional and violates businesses' First Amendment rights against forced speech.
"It is with both alarm and resolve that I announce a $101,000 donation and additional six-figure support in the future to the ACLU to fight the growing anti-transgender laws appearing in Tennessee," said Pritzker. "These laws stigmatize an already vulnerable population and threaten to encourage abuse and violence like the tragic killing of Private First Class Barry Winchell, an outstanding young soldier murdered by his own comrades in an Army barracks simply for loving a person like me, a transgender woman."
Pritzker added that "the number 101 is a nod to my time serving as an infantry officer in the 101st Airborne Division."
Since its activation in World War II, the 101st has been on the side of defending the rights of all U.S. citizens, the statement continued. Its members were a significant force in defeating the Nazis, and many members were wounded or lost their lives in the fight to end a murderous regime. The division continued its anti-fascist, anti-racist struggle on the home front after that. They escorted Black children into previously segregated schools in the 1950s, and since then, the division has consistently served to defend human rights around the globe.