LGBTQ+ Policy Agenda
As Mayor, I will be a fierce advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, as I have been all of my life.
Reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights are inextricably linked through the right to privacy, bodily autonomy and the right to live authentically building families without criminalization or discrimination.As Mayor, I will work with LGBTQ+ communities to expand services and protections against discrimination, in criminal justice and in health. As Mayor, I will:
Through Public Leadership
- Publicly oppose efforts that seek to diminish the rights of and control the lives of LGBTQ+ people in Illinois
- Ensure that the needs of LGBTQ+ people are considered in policies and decisions regarding housing, healthcare, the economy, public safety, and other issues at the intersection of identity.
At City Hall:
- Appoint a Deputy Mayor (DM) focused on Gender Equity & the Economy
- Support and expand the Hire Trans Now program and work with trans and gender diverse individuals to reduce systemic barriers to finding employment
- Ensure accountability towards LGBTQ+ Chicagoans: support and staff LGBTQ+ Advisory Group, originally established by Mayor Washington, to ensure that community leaders are at decision making tables
- Commit to achieving parity in ensuring LGBTQ+ representation in my administration and the City’s boards and commissions
- With stakeholder input, update all policies that regulate how trans and gender diverse people are treated
- Require cultural competency training for public facing city workers including healthcare providers, first responders, police, etc. (cultural competency includes a broad array including Latinx, Black, Asian, LGBTQ+, disability, immigrant communities, etc.)
- Support policies that reduce stigma against LGBTQ+ people, in particular trans and gender diverse individuals
- Factor LGBTQ+ rights and identity when addressing equity and health equity
- Establish cross-departmental/agency collaboration to better address the quality of life, safety, and rights of the Chicago LGBTQ+ community
At the Chicago Police Department
- Ensure police accountability, transparency, and training regarding the treatment of LGBTQ+ people, in particular trans and gender diverse individuals
- Prioritize investigations in the cases of violence against trans and gender diverse individuals
- No tolerance for CPD officers with ties to white supremacists, anti-LGBTQ+ groups
- Convene a working group comprised of trans and gender diverse leaders to update CPD’s current policy regarding the treatment of transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming persons.
With respect to services:
- Funding to support patients, their families, and healthcare providers who come to Illinois to seek or provide reproductive and gender affirming healthcare services
- Provide information through 311 hotline regarding resources for gender affirming care and other healthcare needs of LGBTQ+ persons
- Ensure resources for healthcare needs of LGBTQ+ people beyond HIV
- Convene stakeholders to identify affordable housing needs and solutions for LGBTQ+ persons, including LGBTQ+ older adults
- Ensure resources for mental health services for LGBTQ+ communities in particular for LGBTQ+ youth.
- Increase investments in trauma-informed housing, emergency shelter, mental health and community-based services that meet the unique needs of LGBTQ+ persons At the Chicago Department of Health
- Revisit/revamp Healthy Chicago 2025 to better address the LGBTQ+ community and their needs
- Establish an indicator of either safety, well-being, and/or health of LGBTQ+ rights along the lines of the Chicago Health Atlas
- Grow/increase access and sustainable funding for HIV prevention and treatment (including PrEP/PEP)
- Convene and work with health care systems (hospitals and FQHCs) as well as community members to provide better access, care, treatment, and safety of LGBTQ+ Chicagoans