Equality Illinois is leading or co-leading the following initiatives:
Nonprofit Board Diversity Reporting
HB 4595 (Rep. Edgar Gonzalez, Jr.)
SB 2930 (Sen. Adriane Johnson)
Require nonprofits with the greatest financial power (specifically, nonprofits that provide $1 million or more in grants each year) to disclose the aggregated diversity information about their boards on their public-facing websites, if one exists. No other nonprofit is required to make such disclosure unless they want to do so.
LGBTQ+ and HIV Cultural Competency for Legal Professionals
HR 582 (Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado)
SR 733 (Sen. Mike Simmons)
Urges the Illinois Supreme Court to adopt a continuing education mandate for LGBTQ+ and HIV cultural competency education for attorneys, judges, and courtroom staff.
Supporting Implementation of the Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Act
SB 3384 (Sen. Ram Villivalam)
Requests an appropriation of $20 million in the FY25 State Budget as a grantmaking program to support those public school districts that want to teach age-appropriate, medically-accurate, and inclusive personal health and safety education in grades K-5 and sexual health education in grades 6-12 (pursuant to standards in the Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Act in 2021). Equality Illinois is partnering with Planned Parenthood Illinois Action on SB 3384.
Supporting Trans Candidates Running for Chicago’s Elected School BoardAct
HB 4924 (Rep. Ann Williams) - passed as part of Senate Bill 15 and signed into law (Public Act 103-0584)
Conforms the Illinois School Code with the Illinois Election Code to ensure trans individuals who are candidates for Chicago’s elected school board don’t have to publish their deadnames on their nominating petitions.
LGBTQ+ Advocacy Day
Join us for Equality Illinois's Advocacy Day on May 8, 2024 in Springfield, Illinois at the State Capitol. At a time when our LGBTQ rights are being rolled back all across the country, it is crucial that we double down, and continue the fight for our rights here in Illinois, and let our legislators know that LGBTQ+ voices matter!
Equality Illinois supports the work of our partners:
- HB 39 (Rep. La Shawn Ford) would restore the right to vote for voters post-conviction. This legislation is an initiative of Chicago Votes.
- HJR 69 (Rep. Elizabeth "Lisa" Hernandez) urges the President of the United States to authorize the establishment of a parole and work authorization program for long-term immigrant workers who are undocumented and residing in Illinois, to address the State's critical need for labor and to secure the lives of tens of thousands of mixed status families in Illinois.
- HB 581 (Rep. Dagmara Avelar and Sen. Celina Villanueva) would establish a state-level version of the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which guarantees that, in an emergency, patients can get the care they need — including abortion care — from a hospital regardless of where they live.
- HB 793 (Rep. Theresa Mah) - An initiative of Access Living, the bill ends the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities.
- SB 2633 (Sen. Celina Villanueva) - Karina's Bill to clarify and tighten Illinois gun laws in order to protect survivors of domestic violence.
- SB 2777 (Sen. Natalie Toro) - Modernizing gendered marital language in various Illinois statutes with gender-neutral terms.
- SB 3321 (Sen. Robert Peters) would require the attendance of an attorney at all police interrogations involving minors under 18. Minors would be barred from waiving their right to counsel. Any statement a minor makes without their lawyer present would be inadmissible as evidence.
- SB 3499 (Sen. Linda Holmes & Rep. Robyn Gabel) is the Medical Aid-in-Dying Bill. The values at the core of this legislation are intertwined with LGBTQ+ equality and bodily autonomy. The legislation would allow a terminally ill, mentally capable adult with a prognosis of six months or less to live the option to request, obtain, and take medication - should they choose - to die peacefully in their sleep if their suffering becomes unbearable.
- SB 3511 (Sen. Mike Simmons) is the Let America Read Act. A public school district may not refuse to approve or prohibit the use of books, instructional materials, or a curriculum, including, but not limited to, memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies, based upon the depiction of matters of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sexual and reproductive health, gender identity, religion, or human rights activism.
- SB 3552 (Sen. Sara Feigenholtz) would require the State to develop a training program for law enforcement regarding hate crimes. All new officers must take the training and current officers would be able to receive continuing education credit for taking the training. Same as HB 5368 (Rep. Bob Morgan).
- SB 3649 (Sen. Robert Peters) and HB 5368 (Rep. Marcus Evans) would protect employees from discipline if they do not attend employer-mandated meetings about political or religious matters, such as a prayer event. Per Senate Amendment 1, an employee could not misuse these protections to evade programming and training that support an affirming, inclusive, and culturally competent workplace. The legislation is the initiative of the Illinois AFL-CIO.
- HB 4410 (Rep. Will Guzzardi) and SB 3523 (Sen. Karina Villa) are consistent with our efforts to keep sex workers safe in Illinois. The bills would modernize various terms in statute, require the automatic sealing of records for old sex work-related offenses, and require law enforcement agencies to adopt policies prohibiting police officers from having sex with a sex worker during an investigation.
- HB 4133 (Rep. Margaret Croke) - Applying the state’s anti-bullying protections to nonpublic sectarian schools.
- HB 4180 (Rep. Nabeela Syed) updates the state’s insurance law for breast cancer screenings by moving the statute to gender-neutral language and expanding the screening technology that must be covered by health insurance.
- HB 4566 (Rep. Camille Y. Lilly) - Creates a task force within the Office of the Secretary of State to identify ways to increase diversity in business and nonprofit organizational leadership.
- HB 4776 (Rep. Will Guzzardi) would ban the practice of incarcerating 13-year-old children in juvenile facilities.
- HB 4816 (Rep. Maurice West) & SB 3470 (Sen. Elgie Sims) - The Pretrial Success Act would appropriate $15 million to create a community-based network of care through which people awaiting trial can get access to voluntary services and supports (same as SB 3470).
- HB 4867 (Rep. Anna Moeller) would establish non-discrimination protections in the workplace for an individual’s reproductive health decisions.
- HB 5093 (Rep. Kimberly du Buclet) - Requires the State Board of Education and the Board of Higher Education to establish a student bill of rights to outline that students in public schools and public institutions of higher education have a right to educational equity and to be free from discrimination.
- HB 5051 (Rep. Ladisch Douglass) - Ending insurance prior authorizations for drugs used for gender-affirming care and to treat or prevent HIV.
- HB 5142 (Rep. Robyn Gabel and Sen. Lakesia Collins) is the Birth Equity Initiative championed by Gov. JB Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. The legislation would require private insurers to cover services rendered by birth workers without consumer cost-sharing for pregnancy, postpartum care, and newborn care for a year after birth.
- HB 5152 (Rep. Kelly Cassidy) - Creating a state income tax credit to support healthcare providers, LGBTQ+ people and families, and teachers who move to Illinois from anti-equality, anti-family states.
- HB 5164 (Rep. Kevin Olickal) - Modernizing the name change process in Illinois, including repealing the name change publication requirement and allowing name change records to be impounded.
- HB 5239 (Rep. Kelly Cassidy and Sen. Celina Villanueva) would (1) prohibit the State and local governments from collaborating with individuals or out-of-state officials/agencies that are seeking to impose civil or criminal liability upon a person or entity for accessing lawful healthcare activity and (2) exempt such health records and location information from disclosure through FOIA.
- HB 5299 (Rep. Kelly Cassidy) & SB 3711 (Sen. Lakesia Collins) - Led by the AIDS Foundation Chicago, the HIV TLC Act prioritizes testing, linkage to care, and HIV treatment for communities disproportionately impacted by HIV, including Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ people.
- HB 5368 (Rep. Bob Morgan) would require the State to develop a training program for law enforcement regarding hate crimes. All new officers must take the training and current officers would be able to receive continuing education credit for taking the training. Same as SB 3552 (Sen. Sara Feigenholtz).
- HB 5507 (Rep. Kevin Olickal) would let an Illinois resident request a finding of fact from an Illinois judge that the resident could use as documentation to support updating an identity document held by another state.
- HB 5548 (Rep. Mary Beth Canty) - Protects parents regarding their parental and custodial rights when they support their child in accessing lawful health care.
- HB 5550 (Rep. Theresa Mah) and SB 3652 (Sen. Robert Peters) would require landlords to include a summary of the rights of survivors of domestic or sexual violence under various statutes, including the Illinois Human Rights Act.
- HB 5560 (Rep. Marcus Evans) would ban profiling by police.
Equality Illinois opposes the following anti-equality bills:
- HB 1562 (Rep. Friess) is the anti-trans student sports bill.
- SB 1659 (Sen. Chesney) would allow school districts to regulate restroom, locker room, and dressing room access based on sex assigned at birth.
- SB 2590 (Sen. Harris) In this time of attacks on inclusive and affirming resources online and in schools and libraries, SB 2590 (Sen. Erica Harriss) and HB 4247 (Rep. Jed Davis) threaten the right to privacy and would likely be used to target and prohibit access by youth to sexual health education information and LGBTQ+ affirming resources. The bills would require certain websites to incorporate age verification methods or face civil penalties, all under the guise of “protecting minors."
- HB 3168 (Rep. Severin) would repeal the Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Act.
- HB 4096 (Rep. Weber) would prohibit medically necessary care for trans youth.
- HB 4122 (Rep. Friess) would legalize discrimination against trans folks.
- HB 4355 (Rep. Weber) would require a healthcare provider to report to IDPH whenever the provider prescribes a puberty blocker to a youth.
- HB 4531 (Rep. Friess) would legalize discrimination against trans folks.
- HB 5380 (Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz) would create disproportionate risk and harm to LGBTQ+ young people and young people in need of health care. The legislation would require large social media companies to provide access to third-party software services, which, with the consent of parents/guardians or children 13+, could track the young person’s social media usage and notify parents/guardians when the third-party service believes the young person is experiencing any number of harms. Equality Illinois, The Trevor Project, Planned Parenthood Illinois Action, Advocates of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, and the ACLU of Illinois oppose HB 5380.
- HB 5830 (Rep. David Friess) would legalize discrimination against trans folks.