By Noah Christiansen, Robert McQueen High School student and activist

I remember going home and crying after my suspension.

My school suspended me for protesting, for calling my representative and advocating for comprehensive gun reform measures such as banning bump stocks and raising the age limit to purchase guns. I got suspended for two days and lost my position as class secretary/treasurer—two things that could affect what college I get into.

I like to think that I’m a good student. I’ve had no previous behavioral problems; I’ve been in 15 clubs within my three years here, and I’m currently taking five AP courses. But at the time of my suspension, my school seemed to have a different opinion on what made a “good student.”

Related: Reno Student Suspended After Calling His Congressman After Gun Violence Walkout

I was extremely confused. It wasn’t a school sponsored event, so how did the school have the legal jurisdiction to go through with the suspension? I contacted the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. Amy Rose, ACLU of Nevada’s legal director, assured me that everything would turn out fine. She said the school did, in fact, violate my rights.

Because there was a debate tournament in Las Vegas during the time of my suspension, the school allowed me to go, but continued my suspension the day after the tournament. While in Vegas I met with the ACLU of Nevada. They made me feel comfortable with the fact that the school violated my rights and that I was able to do something about it with the ACLU’s help. The fact that just days after my suspension I was able to meet with people from the ACLU of Nevada really shows how much they care about my rights and the Constitution.

I made it to the final round of the state championship for policy debate and then went back to being suspended, but, instead of being sad about my suspension, the ACLU helped me with the stress of the situation and told me to focus on my win. They had already sent out a legal letter to the school telling the school to revoke my suspension and to give me my class position back, and there was nothing I could do but wait for the school’s response.

Related: Cursing at Your Congressman Off of School Grounds Shouldn't Get You Suspended

Coming back to school after my suspension was a very interesting experience.

Many students knew what had happened to me, because the media covered my story. With the ACLU of Nevada’s help, I was able to share my story. It was a surreal experience seeing myself on major news sources, including CNN, Huffington Post, Washington Post, and others. People all over Reno heard about it, and I was able to speak at the March for our Lives event to spread a positive message about the importance of students’ voices—especially in the context of gun rights.

The school revoked my suspension soon afterward. My record was officially clean. The ACLU of Nevada fought to have my suspension revoked, and they made it happen. I then received my class position back, and I realized how much the ACLU has helped me. No one should be suspended for protesting, but this experience showed me that if one gets in trouble, they should always know their rights.

The experience that I had with the ACLU of Nevada was one that I will never forget. It restored my faith in democracy and taught me we should all know our rights. Whether you are a child, student, adult, or anywhere in between, you have constitutional rights and those rights need to be upheld.

The ACLU is truly incredible, and I will be forever grateful for their help. With their amazing legal skills, their use of media, their quick responses to my questions, and the amazing personalities of each and every individual from the ACLU Nevada, I’m confident saying that if you ever have your rights violated, you should contact the ACLU.

Under a proposal expected to be introduced in the Senate very soon, President Trump would get a blank check from Congress to go to war virtually anywhere on the planet. The ACLU has sent a letter to all senators strongly opposing this new Authorization for Use of Military Force, also known as the AUMF.

It would be hard to overstate the depth and breadth of our concern about this new AUMF as it has been described in reports. The resolution sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) would almost irretrievably cede to the president the most fundamental power that Congress has under Article I of the Constitution: the power to declare war. It would give the executive branch the sole authority to send American troops to countries where we are not currently at war and to use military force against groups that the president alone decides are enemies. The resolution would reportedly have no restrictions against using lethal force anywhere, whether missile attacks or American troops on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Corker, has largely ignored the consequences of authorizing the use of military force against Syria, while Trump continues to tweet threats of action. With the stakes for catastrophic war so high in Syria, it would be a dereliction of duty for Congress to cede such extraordinary power to the executive.

An AUMF and a declaration of war are the two methods that Congress has used to exercise its exclusive power to declare war. The two most recent AUMFs were passed in 2001 to authorize the use of military force in Afghanistan against the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. In 2002, a resolution was passed to use military force against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. Through three presidents, both of these authorizations have been used for purposes far removed from its intent and language.

But the answer to rein in these overly expansive authorizations is for Congress to repeal or roll back the current AUMF — not to pass something that is far broader and more dangerous than current law.

The Corker AUMF would reportedly authorize force — without limitations — in at least six countries and against a long list of organizations. The president would be able to add additional countries as well as additional enemies, including groups that do not even exist yet. The president could even add the U.S. to the list of places where lethal military force can be used. The additions — which are very similar to new declarations of war — would simply have to be reported to Congress to take effect.

In order for Congress to bar an expansion, it would require a two-thirds majority in both houses, given that the president would presumably veto legislation to curtail an expansion that he ordered. This aspect of the legislation would permanently upend the Constitution’s process for going to war. Article I of the Constitution provides that Congress can authorize war with a majority vote and the signature of the president. By contrast, the Corker resolution would authorize the president to go to war with the stroke of a pen.

To make matters worse, unlike other congressional measures that give significant authority to the executive branch, this legislation reportedly has no expiration date.

This proposal would cause colossal harm to the Constitution’s checks and balances, would jeopardize civil liberties and human rights at home and abroad, and would lead to a breathtakingly broad expansion of war without meaningful oversight. It would represent a sharp break from U.S. adherence to international law, including the United Nations charter.

The ACLU, along with other human rights, civil liberties, and religious organizations will make it our mission to stop this authorization from becoming law. Passing it would cause irreparable harm for future generations.

Campaigns like #MeToo and #TimesUp have brought sexual harassment to the forefront of the national conscience like never before. But the conversation hasn’t been as inclusive as it should be. The movement must do more to reflect the voices and needs of the transgender community, a demographic that consistently gets overlooked despite facing sexual violence at staggering rates.

Although you wouldn’t know it from mainstream advocacy campaigns, trans people have long been involved in efforts to stop gender-based violence. We are also among the most vulnerable to this violence. Based on a recent survey, more than one in three trans women and one in two trans men have been sexually assaulted — and the rates of sexual assault against non-binary people are even higher.

Trans people of color are disproportionately affected by sexual violence. So are trans people who have done sex work, who have been homeless, and who have disabilities. Many trans survivors face painful barriers when they seek visibility or support.

“[T]here are femmes and black trans women out there who are doing the work to survive and to live, and some of them are screaming ‘Me too’ from the ground that they've just been beaten up on,” says Jari Jones, a Black trans femme actress and photographer, in a video interview. “Some of them are screaming ‘Me too’ from the hospital that they’re laying in. And some of them can't scream because they’re dead.”

KC Clements, a non-binary trans writer who has survived sexual assault, notes that trans people’s experiences often are not reflected in advocacy campaigns. “We need to be recognized as an especially vulnerable population, as well as an especially fierce, beautiful, and empowered community,” they said in an op-ed for HuffPost.

Violence against trans people takes diverse forms. For example, some trans people are perceived as cisgender women or girls, and thus get targeted in the same way as women or girls who are not trans. Other times, trans people get specifically targeted for being trans.

Trans people are also more likely than people in the general public to work in high-risk occupations. For example, roughly one in five trans people has served in the military, where service members encounter high rates of sexual violence according to HuffPost and CNN. Also, a little more than one in 10 trans people has done sex work. Sex workers face high risk of sexual violence and barriers to reporting such violence, according to HuffPost and Time.

When trans people do seek support, we often face hostility or inappropriate assumptions about gender, bodies, and violence. Some have been turned away for services because their voices were too deep. When they called a hotline the listener could not believe they were survivors rather than perpetrators. Some have been told by their therapists or loved ones that no survivor of sexual assault could really be trans.

Some trans people of color, like Eisha Love and Ky Peterson, have been prosecuted when they defended themselves from their attackers. Love was held in prison for three years and nine months over an incident that occurred while fleeing a hostile group of men, while Peterson is still serving a 20-year sentence for killing his rapist in self-defense.

It’s not hard to see why many are simply too scared to speak out at all. “I’ve often felt like I couldn’t discuss my experiences with sexual harassment and assault because I’ve witnessed the difficulty that even cisgender women face when they disclose,” says Raquel Willis, national organizer for the Transgender Law Center, in an op-ed for INTO. “My transness, queerness, and Blackness render my claims even less believable in a society that views me as inherently deviant.”

Despite these barriers, trans people, cis women, and others have been organizing to tackle sexual violence and support each other for a long time.

We have called on cis men to unlearn sexism. We have created and contributed to events, anthologies, and art projects that break the silence about violence against us. We have organized to support those criminalized for survival and sued government officials about rape in prison. We have formed organizations, support groups, and helplines where no means for support existed before. We have fought back against the myth of trans people committing sexual assault in restrooms. And we have advocated for policies that support survivors and defend reproductive freedom.

We still have a long way to go. To get there, trans people must also be heard when we say, “Me too.”

READ MORE IN OUR SERIES, "DISMANTLING SEXUAL HARASSMENT"