Who

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Romero is a thorn in the side of everyone from Bush administration officials to fellow ACLU employees.

Backstory

Born to Puerto Rican parents and raised in a housing project in the Bronx, Romero passed through Princeton and Stanford Law, then spent time at the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation. While serving as director of human rights and international cooperation at Ford, he oversaw the organization's grants to the ACLU, making strong connections with the board in the process. He became the ACLU's executive director exactly a week before Sept. 11th, the first Latino and openly gay man to hold the job. Since then, thanks to liberal fury over the Bush administration, Romero has presided over an impressive jump in membership and a similarly dramatic spike in private donations. But while he's earned kudos for his battles with the powers that be, Romero has also managed to stir up a good deal of controversy, too.

Of note

Romero has been relentless in his opposition to policies enacted by the Bush administration since Sept 11th: His staff has fought back against the Patriot Act, litigated the National Security Agency's domestic-spying program, and brought cases against the torturing, kidnapping, and arbitrary detentions that have been the unfortunate legacy of Washington's "war on terror." It was lawyers at the ACLU who led a class-action suit to update the "no-fly" lists of possible terrorists compiled for airlines and compelled various government agencies such as the FBI to make some of their files public.

Romero's attempts to challenge the Bush administration have earned him points with ACLU's membership base, but he also earned a good deal of negative press during his early tenure for implementing policies that, in the eyes of some ACLU employees, ran counter to the group's tradition of civil libertarianism. In 2004, Romero approved a plan to screen ACLU employees against terrorism watch lists—the group decided to submit to the background checks in order to continue to receive certain government grants—and Romero's early days were marked by tension with many longtime board members, including board president Nadine Strossen. Since then, though, his relations with colleagues have reportedly improved substantially.

Personal

Romero lives with his partner, Manuel Marinas, a Cuban-born psychiatrist who is 11 years his senior. They live in a loft at 151 West 28th Street.

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