Since announcing his candidacy for governor last year, state Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, has presented his campaign as a grassroots effort, frequently mentioning that the state in 2018 should have "an election, not an auction," in reference to the resources of two opponents in the March 20 primary, J.B. Pritzker and Chris Kennedy.
Biss spoke with Windy City Times about his 2018 campaign, his work on behalf of the LGBT community and what he thinks sets himself apart as a candidate.
Windy City Times: What do you see the state as being like under Gov. Rauner, and how do you see it as being like for the LGBT community?
Daniel Biss: The state has gone off a cliff and it has taken the LGBT community with it. There has been no budget—that's something unlike any state has experienced. The consequences for social service providers, higher education and our [overall] fiscal condition are just extraordinary. I will congratulate the governor, in that unlike many Republicans throughout the country and the state, he has been willing to sign legislation that was in support of specific civil rights for LGBTQ people.
Here's the problem: The LGBTQ community is disproportionately in need of housing services. There are number of LGBTQ youth who are homeless, and [other community] members in need of health care services. The LGBTQ community is in need of social and mental health support services, particularly for LGBTQ minors who are not accepted by their families and communities. Gov. Rauner has decimated all those services. … We need a governor who has the lives, means and expectations of ordinary Illinois residents in mind when he makes decision. We need a governor who understands what people are going through and is prepared to enact full policies that transform our state. That's the governor I plan to be.
WCT: In August, you told Windy City Times that your highest priorities included tax reform, stimulating economic investment and stoking engines driving both social and economic justice. Has any of that changed in the subsequent campaign? Is there anything you want to add or have learned from voters?
DB: As I travel the state, what I've learned is that people across Illinois are struggling to have [opportunities] helping to have family life together with the ability to work. I encounter people who can't figure out how to stay at work and also afford child care. Can't afford to stay at work and [figure out] how to enable their aging parents to stay where they are and age in place with dignity. Can't figure how to take time off from work and care for an ill relative or child. What this means is we have a state that is not on the side of our families. We rolled out a "life plan" that would let Illinois families have that—create universal access to health care, day care, family leave. That's what I hear from people across the state—we can't figure out how to have a dignified family life and work at the same time.
WCT: Last month you released a platform on LGBT issues. What work went into that platform, and what are two or three of the most significant issues it addresses?
DB: I was very proud that day to roll out a full LGBTQ agenda. I will be the most pro-LGBTQ governor in the country. Part of that is to try to enshrine protections for LGBTQ people in the Illinois constitution. We've got some really good laws in Illinois but they do not flow from constitutional protections. One thing that means, for example, is when we're trying to protect transgender youth when it comes to bathroom and locker room access in schools, we have to fight those battles one school at a time. I believe LGBTQ rights are human rights and I believe human rights belong in a constitution, so we're going to have a strong LGBT plank in the Illinois constitution when I'm governor.
I also pledge to have a cabinet that looks like the state of Illinois, with openly LGBT and openly transgender people for two reasons. First, in order for government to work, the government has to look like the whole state and be run by people who understand the whole state. Second, it is so important to see role models in the upper echelons of government as a beacon of hope that indicates you are loved and wanted by your state. I think that sends out a very strong signal.
We also laid out strong planks on LGBTQ homelessness and health care, to ensure we lay out a single-payer Medicare-for-all health care system. It's going to include the kind of important access to all for health care, whether it is for [treatment for or prevention of] the HIV virus or appropriate health care for transgender or gender non-conforming people. We need to make sure that our health care policies are designed to be appropriate for every person in Illinois. … It's a strong platform that talks about civil rights, human rights, economic justice and, if it turns out to be the most pro-LGBTQ state in the country, that will be good for the LGBTQ community and for everybody else as well.
WCT: How would you ensure that there would be the willpower in the General Assembly to put forth and pass these proposals?
DB: With the work that I was so privileged to do, as the lead Senate sponsor of the bill that banned conversion therapy in Illinois, and with the work that I was allied with in passing the bill that allowed gender markers to be changed on birth certificates, you know what I did? I stepped back and created a platform where leaders from the community could be their own spokespeople. … They changed minds that I was never going to change. … What I want to do as governor is make sure that I am lifting up the extraordinary activists in the community who are empowering and inspiring, and whose voices go the furthest. I'm going to lift up those voices inside my administration and partner with the community to make sure that we pass the kinds of laws that the community is fighting for and deserves.
See DanielBiss.com . An August 2018 WCT interview with Biss is at bit.ly/2D59KBt.
do, as the lead Senate sponsor of the bill that banned conversion therapy in Illinois, and with the work that I was allied with in passing the bill that allowed gender markers to be changed on birth certificates, you know what I did? I stepped back and created a platform where leaders from the community could be their own spokespeople. … They changed minds that I was never going to change. … What I want to do as governor is make sure that I am lifting up the extraordinary activists in the community who are empowering and inspiring, and whose voices go the furthest. I'm going to lift up those voices inside my administration and partner with the community to make sure that we pass the kinds of laws that the community is fighting for and deserves.
See DanielBiss.com . An August 2018 WCT interview with Biss is at bit.ly/2D59KBt.
