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Brave Space Alliance to Illinois General Assembly: Don't back down on trans protections
-- From a press release
2023-01-04
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This article shared 3326 times since Wed Jan 4, 2023
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CHICAGO, IL - January 4, 2023 - Brave Space Alliance (BSA), the South Side LGBTQ+ Center, has been made aware of active discussions to exclude protections for trans people and gender-affirming care from pending legislation that would protect healthcare and reproductive rights access in Illinois. Ultimately, BSA is calling on Governor JB Pritzker, and all members of the Illinois General Assembly to not back down on passing protections for transgender and non-binary Illinoisans during the 2023 legislative session.
"For too long, trans people have had to wait in line, while our humanity and protection has been left on the back burner. When our humanity, our dignity, and our very ability to live public lives is under attack across the United States, the trans community can wait no longer," says Stephanie Skora, BSA's COO.
"The Government of the State of Illinois has gone to bat for trans people time and time again, and now is not the time to falter when the topic of making Illinois a sanctuary state for trans people is on the table," added Jae Rice, BSA Interim CEO.
BSA's position is Illinois cannot, and must not, slam its doors in the face of political refugees from other states with bigoted anti-trans laws. Just as Illinois did with the TRUST Act in 2017, signed by then-Governor Bruce Rauner and protecting undocumented immigrants, BSA is urging Governor JB Pritzker to stand up for the humanity of trans individuals who look to Illinois seeking dignity and protection. Already in 2023, a trans child in California was saved from a fate of brutal de-transition and conversion therapy when its trans sanctuary laws went into effect, protecting that child and keeping her with an affirming parent in defiance of Texas's violent anti-trans laws. Not every family in need can flee to California, or New York, or Colorado. Many will come to Illinois, and the members of the General Assembly must show the courage to protect them, too.
"We cannot allow feckless whims to go unchecked of those who would rather see trans people forced back into the closet, leaving us afraid to leave our homes, and vulnerable to victimization by the reactionary, regressive laws of places like Texas and Florida, and the anti-trans legislative dreams of bigots from Indiana and Missouri," Skora went on to say. Governor Pritzker and this General Assembly were elected with a mandate to keep the most vulnerable people in Illinois safe. Brave Space Alliance urges State elected officials to keep their promises. Trans people must never again be left behind.
Brave Space Alliance is the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ Center located on the South Side of Chicago, dedicated to creating and providing affirming, culturally competent, for-us by-us resources, programming, and services for LGBTQ individuals on the South and West sides of the city. Founded in 2017, the organization has been responsible for major changes in policy, and has brought attention and care to the needs of Black and Brown trans people across Chicago. www.bravespacealliance.org |
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This article shared 3326 times since Wed Jan 4, 2023
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