The low-key tone of the 2015 LGBT Equality Illinois' LGBT Equality Institute held on March 20 and 21 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago differed quite significantly from last year's event, which was more heavily attended and reveled in a sense of community accomplishment with the legalization of same-sex marriage in Illinois.
This year's sessions seemed to be centered upon the question of "Now what?," to which there were few definitive answers.
During the March 20 presentation "Addressing LGBT Equality at the State Level" speakers state Sen. Heather Steans, AIDS Foundation of Chicago Vice-President of Policy Ramon Gardenhire and Equality Illinois Public Policy Director Mike Ziri pondered the quandary of a lackadaisical feeling around LGBT issues in Springfield coupled with a budget submitted from Gov. Bruce Rauner that is devastating to organizations supporting issues such as LGBT youth homelessness and HIV.
"Generally speaking, regarding LGBT issues I think a lot of folks do feel like that [passing marriage equality] means we're done," Steans said. "I would suggest though the Rev. [James] Meeks appointment demonstrates highly that's not the case. We had 45 senators vote in support of Rev. Meeks as the head of the [state] board of education. It's disconcerting when you think about all the issues we have in keeping kids safe in all the schools throughout the state."
Steans indicated that the vote for the Meeks appointment was reflective more of loyalty for a former colleague.
"There's an air of uncertainty in Springfield regarding the new governor," she added. "I think it is clear he is not staking out a social agenda on the other hand it may not be on the top his agenda to protect and push advancements."
Regarding Rauner's budget which has zeroed out homeless youth funding and slashed Medicaid and HIV funding, Steans urged the audience to go to the mat on defining "who we are as a state."
Gardenhire echoed Steans comments. "The governor has imposed a 25-percent cut to HIV funding which includes everything treatment to prevention to care and this is at a time when we are seeing an uptake in HIV infections in the state of Illinois," he said. "This is the worst time to be cutting resources."
Ziri noted that progress in the Illinois State Capitol can be found in the ban on conversion therapy that state Rep. Kelly Cassidy sponsored. "We've got that through committee," he said. "Now we need to work on getting it through the General Assembly."
He also recognized an amendment to the Disposition of Remains Act to include gender identity protection which unanimously passed committee.
"I do think there's a sort of lethargy [in Springfield]," Steans said. "I think a lot of my colleagues both in the House and the Senate have a sense that 'the big battle's done. We can take a break now'."
Equality Illinois will be holding an Advocacy Day on April 15, during which participants will be bused down to Springfield to lobby lawmakers on issues such as strengthening hate-crimes legislation and saving the funding eradicated from the state budget.
Lethargy was not a sentiment shared by the evening's keynote speaker, U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives Executive Director Amanda Simpson, whose energetic and eloquently passionate speech managed to bring the mostly muted audience to their feet.
Although she received a great deal of media attention as the first openly transgender female to receive a presidential appointment, Simpson noted that she would much rather be recognized for her accomplishments as a scientist, engineer, test pilot and program manager.
"My gender history is as immaterial to an introduction as someone's religion, ethnicity, political affiliation, marital status or sexual orientation," she said. "Let there be no doubt, I was not offered the position in the administration because I'm transgender. I didn't set out to be an icon of the transgender community. I didn't set out to be anything more than who I am."
"The pursuit of authenticity frees us to be everything that we were meant to be," she added. "I believe that much of disconnectedness we sometimes feel grows out of a need for authenticity. We want genuine trustworthy interactions and equality where we live and work. We experience fulfillment when our relationships with others are honest, grounded in the truth of who we are or who we love."
During the March 21 panel "The New Agenda for LGBT Youth," Cassidy, co-founders of the Tyler Clementi Foundation Jane and James Clementi, and Project Fierce Chicago founder Cassandra Avenatti focused on issues such as anti-bullying work, suicide prevention and homelessness.
"It never ceases to amaze me how naked the hatred is among those on the other side," Cassidy said, referring to her committee debate on the conversion-therapy bill. "Really they all but said 'no we really do want to hurt gay people.' Let's not underestimate how much our fight isn't over. We don't get to take our wedding cake and go home."
A clear example of the consequences of calling the fight for equality over was to be found in the mother and brother of Tyler Clementi who took his own life in 2010 after the merciless cyber-bullying he experienced in college. He was 18-years-old. "We're here to say that [cyber bullying] is not acceptable behavior," Jane Clementi said. "We want to make sure that there are no future Tylers. That no one else is ever taught or ever hears a sermon that makes them feel less than or broken or separated from God for any reason especially not for how God created them."
"There are a lot of kids out there who feel that their families or communities will never change," James Clementi asserted.
"When we think about how we engage in our work or who we support politically, we can't come from a one issue place," Avenatti noted. "It's important to remember the folks who are still on the margins—folks who are trans and gender non-conforming, queer youth of color. Our issues connect in every possible way and we have to pay attention to those moments."
For more information about Equality Illinois, visit http://www.equalityillinois.us.
