Mark and his wife and their son are leaving Kentucky and moving to the Chicago area due to anti-trans legislation recently passed there.
“The first concern is around teachers or other employees of the school being able to deadname my child or misgendering them,” he said. “Second concern is use of a bathroom. Either they’ll have to use the nurse’s bathroom or the bathroom that is not their gender, so that would out them. A third concern is around medication. So doctors in Kentucky will lose their license if they treat my son.”
Gender-affirming care for minors will also be banned in Kentucky by late June.
“So that means we have to travel across state lines to get medicine,” Mark said. “And my fourth concern is what law comes next. And what harsher penalties and loss of right will my son experience.”
Mark is working with realtor June Allen-Smith to find a home in the Chicago area.
Interesting. A good friend of mine has a son who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community-- I believe he identifies as bisexual. The son recently moved from Michigan to Kentucky with some friends. It seemed to me that Kentucky would be one of the last states a member of the LGBTQ+ community would want to move to, but he said he was moving to an LGBTQ+ friendly enclave that exists in the state. I hope he doesn’t come to regret moving there.
The Illinois legislature is overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats and that is unlikely to change anytime soon. Also, Governor J.B. Pritzker has recently signed bills enacting stronger gender inclusivity and protecting LGBTQ+ rights including same-sex marriage. He was just reelected to a second term that will run through 2026. In addition, Illinois is one of 14 states that does not term limit the office of Governor. While J.B. undoubtedly has his eye on higher office (most likely POTUS) he should be able to hold off any challengers from the right for a 3rd term if he should choose.
And honestly, even if he decides to not run again, his successor would be highly unlikely to change the laws in the state. The last GOP Governor was Bruce Rauner and he had difficulty getting much past the legislature that didn’t fit the moderate/progressive mood of most of the population. As horrible as he was in certain ways, Rauner was pro-choice and supported LGBTQ+ positions. And he still couldn’t get a 2nd term. The GOP is pretty weak in Illinois at this time so any candidate they would put up that has a chance of winning statewide would have to be pretty far left of the current national party.
Rauner was a terrible governor who tried to hold the state budget hostage until pet demands like term limits were met, even as Illinois debt was repeatedly downgraded as a result. Being pro-choice wasn’t going to move the needle. But, yeah, the only GOP candidate to win the governor’s mansion is going to have to be moderate (and IL has a history of electing moderate Republicans) but “moderate” isn’t a badge of honor in today’s GOP.
As for the current legislature and governor, the last couple of years have seen a number of laws enhancing abortion protections, LGBTQ rights, prohibiting book bans and other stuff that makes me happy. When Trump was elected, I soothed some of my wife’s concerns by pointing out that we lived in a state with a good record of protecting civil liberties and that’s help up since.
Actually, this points out a fact that outsiders don’t realize, and that is Illinois is a liberal and socially progressive state because of Chicagoland. Downstate is far more conservative, but they just don’t hold the political power. Let’s keep it that way.
