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 | | Equality Illinois | | | Inducted 2005 | | | | For 13 years of supporting the civil rights of LGBT
Illinoisans, which has included help in passing the Cook County Human
Rights Ordinance (1993) and leadership of the culminating campaign to
include sexual orientation in the Illinois Human Rights Act (2005,
effective January 1, 2006).
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| Equality Illinois was formed in 1992 to
“secure, protect and defend the basic civil rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender Illinoisans.” Its original name was
Illinois Federation for Human Rights. Earlier, its
founders had played a vital part in ultimate
passage of a Chicago Municipal Code
amendment—first proposed in 1973— that
added sexual orientation to the list of categories
in which discrimination is prohibited and that
strengthened enforcement authority. The core of
the successful amendment is now often called the Chicago Human Rights
Ordinance. | |
| In January 2005, the organization scored an even bigger victory through passage
by the Illinois legislature of a nondiscrimination bill (S.B. 3186), which amended
the Illinois Human Rights Act and which was signed into law by Governor Rod
Blagojevich on January 21. Illinois thus became one of only 14 states and the
District of Columbia that legislatively prohibit discrimination in housing,
employment, and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. In its
final version, the Illinois legislation specifically defines sexual orientation to
include gender identity. | |
| Equality Illinois had pushed for passage of such a statewide bill almost since its
1992 formation. This campaign was a heightened version of one that activists had
first launched in Springfield 18 years earlier, in 1974. Now, 13 years later, Equality
Illinois has succeeded in achieving enactment of the long-sought measure. | |
| In the interim, the group registered thousands of Illinoisans to vote, lobbied
lawmakers for the bill, and built an effective network of grassroots lobbyists
throughout the state who could be mobilized in short order. In January 2005 during
the bill’s final stage, Equality Illinois was responsible for originating more than
10,000 telephone calls and letters to Illinois legislators, calling for the bill’s
passage. While doing all of this, Equality Illinois also helped to defeat homophobic
legislation and is still working toward that end, including the defeat of promised
attempts to gut the nondiscrimination bill that passed just last January. | |
| In the interim as well, the group helped local activists to pass nondiscrimination
ordinances in their own Illinois municipalities, including Bloomington, Decatur,
Normal, Peoria, and Springfield. This was part of its strategy to build local support
for eventual passage of the statewide bill. In addition, Equality Illinois encouraged
corporations to adopt policies of nondiscrimination and domestic partnership
employee benefit programs. | |
| During its 13 years of existence, Equality Illinois has grown into one of the
Midwest’s strongest sexual-minority civil rights organizations. Its Springfield
success in 2005 is testament to that fact. | |
| Equality Illinois' award was accepted by Paula Basta and Art Johnston. | |
| This biography is as of the induction date. It has not been updated. |
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