Rosemary Mulligan became a folk hero in the gay community when she narrowly defeated arch-conservative fellow Republican Penny Pullen for a state House seat from the Northwest suburbs.
Terry Cosgrove, president and CEO of the pro-choice Personal PAC, has been a friend of Mulligan for many years. He remembers a time during Mulligan's early days in the House when she did the right thing despite being pressured by her Republican colleagues to make other choices.
"It was in 1994 when the Republicans took control of the Illinois House. Under the Democrats, Rosemary was minority spokesperson of Human Services Appropriations and under the Republicans she then took over as chair. So she was in on the conference committee report on the state budget. And, she was the critical vote that doubled the AIDS budget in the state of Illinois. Now, that is one behind-the-scenes tiny little footnote to having a moderate Republican in the right place who would listen and who understood how critical it was to have more money for HIV treatment and prevention. And I'll never forget when she called me and said, 'There's a vote to double the AIDS budget. I really feel I should do this, what do you think?' And I said, 'I agree.' It was a done deal."
When Mulligan, who has been in the Illinois state legislature for 10 years, senses that one of her peers has not lived up to their promises on a bill, she stands up for it on the House floor. Her hard work on reproductive health, early childhood and early intervention, mental health and human services legislation has earned her a reputation as someone who genuinely cares about the well being of the constituents in her district, as well as the welfare of women and children in Illinois.
Gay and lesbian pundits know her as the woman who beat Penny Pullen after two tries and a big recount. Through her hard work on bills for reproductive health and prescription drug coverage, she has earned and maintained long-time support from groups such as the National Organization for Women ( NOW ) , local women's groups, GLBT groups, Planned Parenthood and the Sierra Club.
Last year, she was one of the first legislators in the House to sponsor HB101 ( the gay and lesbian civil-rights bill ) and her name was one of the top five sponsors when that bill came around in the House.
"The first year it came up seven Republican women from my class voted for it," she said. Most of the original Republican women supporters are no longer there due to retirement or redistricting.
"It's going to be a challenge to pass because of the right wing and the business community ( retail and manufacturers ) . Gov. George Ryan supported it so I am not sure whether changing the governor will make a difference," she said.
Despite this fall being a tight race for re-election, Mulligan welcomed her first granddaughter, who is her first grandchild, into the world Sept. 6. "When I was walking out of the hospital after visiting her, I thought, I was a co-sponsor on a bill that mandated hearing testing for all infants and that my granddaughter was lucky to be born to parents who wanted her and could afford to care for her. And I had worked on legislation that would ensure she was taught on a gender equitable basis. I've worked on stuff that is benefiting her," she said.
This year she worked on a bill that will require all people going into education to take one course on how to teach on a gender equitable basis. The American Association of University Women ( AAUW ) found that other factors in the classroom affected a teacher's ability to teach fairly. The study said that placement in families and the number of siblings and toys played with at home all affected a child's learning, and this made the critical difference when it came to girls excelling in math and science. Northern Illinois University received a grant to develop curriculum that benefits girls and boys. Mulligan brought this bill to committee to coincide with this grant.
Working with lobbyists from the Illinois chapter of Planned Parenthood, Mulligan sponsored a bill ( now PA 92-156 ) that amends the Sexual Assault Emergency Treatment Act. It mandates hospitals, including Catholic ones, to offer emergency contraceptives and unbiased information about emergency contraception for all victims of sexual violence who present themselves in hospitals. This Act, Illinois being the first state to pass it, will set a precedent and Planned Parenthood is now using the Illinois Act to do the same in other states.
It was a two-year fight to get it passed.
"Emergency Contraception is a double dose of birth control pills taken within 72 hours of the rape. But Catholic hospitals feel that if you are ovulating than EC is an abortion. It all has to do with the 'when life begins' argument. I was raised Catholic and I don't feel it is. What it does is interrupt the egg from being implanted. They feel that if the egg may have been fertilized and doesn't implant then that's an abortion. Lots of times eggs are fertilized and pass right through," she said.
The Act gave all hospitals six months to develop a protocol on how they will present the Emergency Contraception to sexual assault victims. They must submit their plans for approval by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Mulligan advocated hard to protect co-pays for daycare in both the 2002 and 2003 budget, even as other cuts were facing the knife.
She sponsored a bill ( now PA 89-514 ) that amended the Insurance code and related Acts to make insurance companies cover gynecological visits. The law would allow women covered under group or individual policies of accident or health insurance or managed care plans to choose their gynecologist as their primary care provider or have one visit a year with a gynecologist without a referral from their primary care physician. Later, a law was passed mandating that insurance companies tell women that they could do this. The laws came about when women came to her saying that they had experienced female problems and their HMO did not refer them fast enough to a specialist and their problem became worse.
Mulligan sponsored another insurance-related bill for woman ( now PA92-156 ) that amends the Illinois Insurance Code and Health Maintenance Organization Act. This law would force health insurance companies in Illinois to cover reconstruction of breasts, any surgery on the other breast to create a symmetrical appearance or breast implants after lumpectomies and radical mastectomies. The bill also mandates that coverage includes breast prostheses and treatment for all mastectomy complications.
She also worked on a bill that allowed doctors to determine how long a woman stayed in the hospital after a radical mastectomy. She sponsored bill ( now, PA91-108 ) that will make the Department of Public Health provide information to the public, through the Cancer Information Service, to educate women about the importance of early detection and treatment of ovarian cancer.
A woman in Springfield made her aware of a high number of women going to doctors with genital mutilations. Doctors were seeing women with their clitoris cut off and then stitched right back up with a small hole left for pregnancy. The practice caused many health problems for these women. With Illinois being the fifth largest immigrant state, Mulligan decided to take action and sponsored a bill, ( now PA90-88 ) that makes female genital mutilation a Class X felony. This was the first such bill in the country and is now being adopted in other states.
"This is an abuse of women. Some claim that this practice is culturally part of the Muslim religion, which isn't necessarily so. It is done in Africa and Egypt," said Mulligan.
Mulligan co-sponsored the Gender Violence Act with Rep. Sara Feigenholtz and state Sen. Lisa Madigan. This legislation, which was brought to the legislature by Gov. George Ryan, would have allowed victims of violence and domestic violence to sue their attackers for physical damages. Under current law, a victim of sexual harassment can sue her employer but not the harasser. Under the Gender Violence Act, she would be empowered to sue the harasser, and the company would have an incentive to work in collaboration with the victim. The legislation is modeled after the 1994 federal Violence Against Women Act, which is being challenged in the Supreme Court. This Act would also have allowed gay and lesbian victims of sexual and physical attacks to sue their attackers for damages. Illinois already has a Hate Crimes Act on the books that allows gays and lesbians to bring lawsuits against their attackers and responsible parties, but the Gender Violence Act could provide additional protection against gay bashing.
"It didn't pass because the business people were against it and it protected sexual orientation. People thought it would set a precedent for sexual orientation on certain issues, mainly lobbyists for retail merchants and manufacturers," said Mulligan.
