In 2020, Melody Walker and her friend Caitlin Doyle decided they wanted to form an all-female Grateful Dead cover band. After a few male friends expressed interest in taking part in the group, they allowed it — as long as they dressed like women.
The team has a network of practitioners in Illinois who don’t rely on payments from the federal government, which threatens to cut funding to gender-affirming care providers.
Indiana is among 26 states — many in the Midwest and South — that have outlawed youth gender-affirming care statewide since 2021. In Illinois, political leaders have moved in the opposite direction.
In the run-up to the Nov. 5 election, 55% of voters felt support for trans rights had gone too far, according to VoteCast, a survey by The Associated Press and partners including KFF, the health policy research, polling, and news organization that includes KFF Health News.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.
Protesters spoke out about recent executive orders by President Donald Trump, targeting transgender and nonbinary people with a series of executive orders.
As part of Illinois Public Media’s special series Four More Years: The View from Illinois, The 21st show discusses how the transgender community and providers who provide gender-affirming care are preparing for another Trump presidency.
As part of Illinois Public Media’s special series Four More Years: The View from Illinois, State Rep. Kelly Cassidy discusses Illinois’s protections for reproductive, transgender healthcare on the 21st show as a new administration takes over.
While Illinois has moved to protect access to gender-affirming care and enshrined civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community overall, four of the five states that border Illinois have all seen a massive rise in bills that target the queer community, especially transgender youth. According to the ACLU’s anti-LGBTQ legislation tracker, Missouri’s state legislature has considered 48 bills in 2023 alone that would negatively impact the queer community in areas ranging from healthcare to education to free speech and expression.
Alana Banks made history two years ago, becoming the first Black and transgender woman elected to a school board in the country. Still, she has found balancing the demands of the communities she represents challenging.
CHAMPAIGN — Harrison Price remembers when he first started feeling unwelcome in the Catholic church. It was 2015 when the Supreme Court was considering Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that guaranteed the right marriage for LGBTQ+ couples. “In the bulletin, there was a big note that had an image, like, you know, bathroom-sign-type image of
According to the Movement Advancement Project, 21 states have banned gender-affirming medicine for trans youth. In response, Illinois passed a law this year protecting patients and providers who cross into the state for care.
As states around the Midwest consider and pass policies restricting access to gender-affirming care and the rights of transgender individuals, many say Illinois is moving towards becoming a haven for gender-affirming healthcare and trans rights in general. Some trans people say it already is one. Michelle Hanlon, a nurse at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and trans
Missouri minors will soon be required to go through 18 months of therapy before receiving any gender-affirming health care.
An Indiana bill that would ban all gender-affirming care for minors, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, passed the state Senate public health committee 8-3.