Two blockbuster Broadway shows benefit Equality Illinois

Performances of two blockbuster Broadway shows coming to Chicago this fall will benefit the ongoing LGBTQ civil rights work of Equality Illinois.

Cameron Mackintosh presents the new production of Alain Boubil and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, Les Misérables, direct from an acclaimed two-and-a-half-year return to Broadway.

Equality Illinois benefits from Les Misérables tickets sold for the performance on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago.

LES MISERABLES TICKETS

Wicked, Chicago’s most popular musical, looks at what happened in the Land of Oz… but from a different angle. Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another girl, born with emerald-green skin—smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships… until the world decides to call one “good,” and the other one “wicked.”

Equality Illinois benefits from Wicked tickets for  for the performance on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017 at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago.

WICKED TICKETS

LGBTQ Forum: The Democratic Candidates for Governor

REGISTER TO ATTEND

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Illinoisans will have an opportunity to hear directly from the Democratic candidates for governor about the issues that impact our lives at a candidate forum in Chicago on Wednesday, December 6, a coalition of organizations that serve and advocate for LGBTQ Illinoisans announced Thursday.

You can register to attend the forum and see the candidates in person.

The “Illinois LGBTQ Forum: The Democratic Candidates for Governor” is organized by Affinity Community Services, the Association of Latinos/as Motivating Action (ALMA), the Equality Illinois Institute, and Pride Action Tank. The forum will take place 6-8 p.m. at the Second Presbyterian Church, 1936 S. Michigan Avenue, in Chicago’s South Loop. The forum organizers also plan to broadcast the event live through social media platforms so LGBTQ organizations and people across the state can watch it.

As of today, the announced Democratic candidates who have confirmed their participation are State Sen. Daniel Biss, anti-violence activist Tio Hardiman, Chicago Ald. Ameya Pawar,  businessman J.B. Pritzker, and businessman Chris Kennedy.

REGISTER

Equality Illinois Stands with the Dreamers

Equality Illinois stands with the Dreamers. Immigrants are part of the fabric of America. Here we believe in tolerance, inclusion, liberty, and fairness. President Trump’s policy today is an absolute betrayal of American values.

Click HERE to urge your member of Congress to support the Dream Act and reject Trump’s anti-DACA policy.

The president’s policy is cruel and mean-spirited. According to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, there are over 75,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Dreamers in the United States. Of those, over 36,000 have participated in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Ending DACA is very much a life and death decision for these LGBT Dreamers. They not only face terrifying expulsion from the only country they know as home but also discrimination and violence after deportation because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This is not who we are as a country or a state.

As a welcoming state that is the home of more than 40,000 DACA participants, Illinois’ elected officials must step up now and defend our Dreamers and our values. Thank you to our U.S. Senator Dick Durbin for his longtime leadership to protect Dreamers and sponsorship of the Dream Act.

We call on Governor Bruce Rauner and the Illinois congressional delegation to condemn the president’s policy publicly, vigorously, and without equivocation. Our members of Congress should move forward quickly on passing the Dream Act of 2017, and Governor Rauner should forcefully support that initiative. That’s how you defend our values in the Land of Lincoln.

TAKE ACTION

Celebrating Protections Against Workplace Bias on Labor Day

As we celebrate Labor Day, we are grateful that LGBTQ Illinoisans are protected against discrimination in the workplace. Equality Illinois spearheaded the successful effort to outlaw discrimination against LGBTQ Illinoisans with the passage of an amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act in 2005.

However, there is no federal law barring employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and in 28 states, you can get fired just for being lesbian, bisexual, or gay, and in 30 states, you can be fired for being transgender. That is why Congress must pass the Equality Act, to protect all LGBTQ Americans from discrimination.