The U.S. Department of Education announced today that it has entered into a resolution agreement with Township High School District 211 based in Palatine, Illinois, after finding the district in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 for discriminating against a transgender high school student by denying her access to the girls’…
Thursday, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 217 into law, making Illinois the fifth jurisdiction—behind California, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and Oregon—to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangers of conversion therapy. House Bill 217, which protects LGBTQ youth from mental health providers attempting to change their sexual orientation or gender identity through…
Earlier this week, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed HB 3930, an enhanced hate crime protections law that explicitly includes crimes against transgender people. The existing hate crimes law, signed in 1990 by Gov. James Thompson, included sexual orientation as a protected category, which had been interpreted to include gender identity. The new law, authored by…
CHICAGO, Il — Friday, the Illinois State Senate voted 34 -19 to pass House Bill 217, the Illinois Youth Mental Health Protection Act that will protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth from the dangerous and discredited practices of conversion therapy. The bill was overwhelmingly approved 68-43 by the State House in May and…
CHICAGO — United employees marched through the streets of downtown Denver on Sunday as part of the city’s annual LGBT Pride Festival – one of several parades the airline is participating in across the country to commemorate LGBT Pride Month. Over the next week, United employees will take part in Pride events in four of the airline’s…
A six-year veteran of the Chesterfield Police Department in Missouri, David Cerna, 33, has been detained and arrested after it was discovered that he had secretly been taping men and boys using a Mobil gas station bathroom then posting them to an adult Website he operated. During the course of the investigation, it was also…
CHICAGO — Until now, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) couples in Illinois — (as in most U.S. States) — faced a number of historically significant challenges and hurdles, especially when it came to the sale or purchase of a home. Generally, members of the LGBT community had to rely upon a number of complicated legal instruments…
Today LGBT equality advocates heralded the passage of marriage equality legislation in the Illinois House of Representatives. The legislation now heads back to the state Senate in order to accept minor House amendments before proceeding to the desk of Gov. Pat Quinn for signature. Illinois will become the 15th state, plus the District of Columbia, to…
After the late June Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex couples to wed in California, marriage equality had a quiet late summer and early fall. That ended Monday, with the enforcement of a state court decision making New Jersey the 14th state with marriage equality. Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to stop his appeal promises that this…
http://youtu.be/OIvz40H_Cq0 Chicago-based company, Groupon released an employee-produced video Friday showcasing their support of marriage equality in Illinois. NBC reports that the company also plans to bus employees to a marriage equality march and rally in the Illinois capital Springfield Oct. 22, designed to help secure passage of the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act.
