Radicalism Is Part Of Our History

Radicalism is part of our history.  The LGBTQ community has achieved the levels of equality we enjoy today in part because members of our community refused to play nice.  The Stonewall uprising afterall was a riot.  And anger – anger at powerful institutions, governments, and people – is an appropriate and understandable response to the injustices we continue to face.  When one out of every five young people caught up in the criminal justice system identify as LGBTQ and when 22% of LGBTQ people live in poverty (including 30% of trans folx); rage at the systems which over criminalize us and marginalize us economically is absolutely legitimate.

And just as radicalism is a central part of queer liberation, so is inclusion.  We are also a community that has opened our arms wide to bring in as many LGBTQ people and our allies as possible.  Over the past decades, our rage and our love have worked together to build a movement that has achieved unprecedented wins.

As we move toward the end of Pride month, we will see (and indeed have seen) the full range of queer expression manifest.  We encourage our community and our allies to hold space for the diversity of response to LGBTQ injustices.  We also call on our community and our allies to avoid any calls – explicit or implicit – to violence against groups or individuals as part of our march toward full queer liberation.  Anger has a role in our movement; violence does not.  As a community, we are our best when we pair our rage with our love.

EI supports Cook County Gender-Inclusive Documents

Today, the Cook County Board’s Human Relations Committee will meet to consider Commissioner Kevin B. Morrison’s ordinance to make county forms and documents gender-inclusive.

Read the written statement submitted by Myles Brady Davis, Press Secretary and Director of Communications, in support of the ordinance

PRIDE 2021: IL’s Got Talent WINNER!

THE 2021 Post-Session Legislative Update

The 2021 spring session of the Illinois General Assembly has largely wrapped up. EI’s Policy Director Mike Ziri wants to share an update with you on the progress of several key bills that EI was leading or co-leading. Mike spent the last 3 weeks at the state capitol in Springfield, working with legislators and partners to pass key legislation, such as the Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Act (SB 818) and election legislation to allow trans folks to run for office without having to disclose their deadnames on the ballot and on nominating petitions.