|
|
Simon announces state Senate bid
by Matt Simonette 2015-09-08
|
|
This article shared 2557 times since Tue Sep 8, 2015
|
|
Former Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon, on Sept. 7, announced that she will run to represent Illinois' 58th district in 2016, according to reports.
The daughter of the late U.S. Senator Paul Simon, Sheila Simon served as lieutenant governor under Gov. Pat Quinn from 2011-2015. In 2014, she ran to unseat incumbent Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, but lost. Topinka passed away the following month.
Republican state Sen. David Luechtefeld has held the 58th District office since 1995, but has said he will not run in 2016.
Simon, who has announced her 2016 run at the Du Quoin County Fair, has also been a prominent figure in Carbondale-area politics as well as a professor at Southern Illinois University's law school. She advocated extensively for marriage equality and other LGBT rights during her time as lieutenant governor, which she explained in a 2014 interview with Windy City Times.
"I've supported marriage equality back when everyone was talking about civil unions. I performed a [same-sex] wedding for a friend just a few weeks ago," Simon said. "...But while our laws might be strong, that doesn't mean that behavior will follow. We've outlawed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, just like we've outlawed it on the basis of gender and race. But we know that these continue, so we have to be ready to enforce the laws, make sure people know about the laws and promote not just a change in the law but a change in the culture." |
|
|
|
This article shared 2557 times since Tue Sep 8, 2015
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | Thailand parliament passes landmark marriage bill 2024-03-27 - On March 27, Thailand's parliament approved a marriage-equality bill by an overwhelmingly large margina landmark step that moves one of Asia's most liberal countries closer to legalizing same-sex unions, media ...
|
| | Kara Swisher talks truth, power in tech at Chicago Humanities event 2024-03-25 - Lesbian author, award-winning journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher spoke about truth and power in the tech industry through the lens of her most recent book, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, March 21 at First ...
|
| | Wyoming is latest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors 2024-03-24 - On March 22, Wyoming became the latest state to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors, The Hill noted. In doing so, it joined 23 other states that passed laws restricting or banning the treatment. Legislators in both ...
|
| | Chicago alder proposes renaming street after Obama 2024-03-22 - Openly gay Black Chicago Ald. Lamont Robinson has proposed renaming Columbus Drive after former U.S. President and city resident Barack Obama, media outlets noted. The street stretches through the Loop from East Grand Avenue to DuSable ...
|
| | Congressional Equality Caucus on FY24 bills passing the house 2024-03-22 --From a press release - WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), released the following statement after the House successfully passed the final funding bills for Fiscal Year ...
|
| | WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21 - It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...
|
| | NATIONAL Va. marriage bill, AARP, online counseling, Idaho items, late activist 2024-03-21 - Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed bills protecting same-sex marriages at a state level, surprising some, WRIC reported. The billspassed out of both chambers along mostly party lineswill require clerks ...
|
| | LGBTQ+ candidates Marcelino Garcia, Precious Brady Davis win primary elections to keep MWRD seats 2024-03-21 - Marcelino Garcia and Precious Brady-Davis, the two openly LGBTQ+ incumbents in the race to keep their seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), won their primary elections and will move on to the general this ...
|
| | Small LGBTQ+ candidate pool nevertheless scores some important victories March 19 2024-03-20 - Relatively few openly LGBTQ+ candidates were running in the March 19 Illinois Primary Election. But there were some significant contests in play at the local, state and federal levels. Openly gay Ald. Ray Lopez (15th Ward) ...
|
| | Gay Irish prime minister to step down 2024-03-20 - In a surprise move, openly gay Irish Prime Minister (or Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar has announced his resignation, citing "personal and political, but mainly political reasons," according to CNN. Varadkar said he felt he was no longer ...
|
| | Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sets a new course 2024-03-18 - Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council held its first meeting of the calendar year on Feb. 28 at City Hall in the Loop under the leadership of the recently appointed chair Jin-Soo Huh. The LGBTQ+ Advisory Council is ...
|
| | NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools 2024-03-15 - In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...
|
| | PASSAGES: Former Chicago Commission on Human Relations chair Clarence Wood 2024-03-13 - LGBTQ ally and former Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) Chair and Commissioner Clarence N. Wood died March 5. He was 83. Wood was born April 14, 1940, in Alabama. While primarily raised in Alabama, Wood ...
|
| | Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77 2024-03-12 - On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixnerknown for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...
|
| | LGBTQ+ Victory Fund remembers co-founder David Mixner 2024-03-12 --From a press release - Today, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker released the following statement on the passing of LGBTQ+ civil rights activist and LGBTQ+ Victory Fund co-founder David Mixner: "Today, we lost David Mixner, a founding ...
| |
|
|