BLOOMINGTON/NORMAL- Prairie Pride Coalition and Equality Illinois hosted their annual LGBTQIA+ Town Hall on March 6 at Heartland Community College.

State Rep. Sharon Chung (D- Bloomington), State Sen. Dave Koehler (D- Peoria) and Jose Wilson of Equality Illinois on stage at the town hall.

The town hall consisted of statements from state legislators, this year State Rep. Sharon Chung (D-Bloomington) and State Senator Dave Koehler (D-Peoria),  as well as Jose Wilson, director of civic engagement for Equality Illinois, and an extended Q&A between the legislators and attendees.

PPC invites all state representatives and senators who represent part of McLean County; only Chung and Koehler attended. State Reps. William Hauter (R-Morton) and Dennis Tipsword (R-Pontiac), and recently elected State Sen. Balkema were invited but did not attend.

Prairie Pride Coalition president Dave Bentlin called the town hall a “opportunity to get feedback from [local politicians] on where they stand on the legislation that’s before them, and there’s also an opportunity for all of you to ask questions of them.”

Wilson spoke on three pieces of legislation Equality Illinois is pushing for this year: the “Keeping Sex Workers Safe Act” (HB3518), which decriminalizes sex work, the “Equality for Every Family Act (SB2507), which equalizes the burden of proof for challenging parentage, and The Health Care Transparency Act (SB1679), which will highlight health services that might be denied for nonmedical reasons.

Both State Rep. Chung and State Sen. Koehler stated support for these three bills, although Chung said she was unsure if she would co-sponsor the “Keeping Sex Workers Safe Act” as she has “…heard from a few people who dislike this bill.” One attendee of the town hall shouted at her to co-sponsor it.

Chung also called out new State Sen. Regan Deering (R-Decatur) for supporting anti-LGBT legislation. Specifically, Chung mentioned Deering’s first bill, HB111,7 being one directed at trans students in sports. HB1117 would require school sports teams to register as male, female, or coeducational, and base membership on “biological sex”. “We don’t entertain any of that nonsense… that’s the power of a supermajority,” Chung said about the bill.

State Sen. Koehler said, “Illinois is the blue island in the midst of red. We’ve really put together in this state all kinds of laws that help to protect people, especially LGBTQ+, but that only happens because groups like Equality Illinois lobby and make sure we understand the issues… it happens because people organize and are committed…”

Koehler, a State Senator for the Peoria area since 2006 was the Senate co-sponsor of both the Civil Union and Marriage Equality bills in Illinois, in 2010 and 2013 respectively. He credits his daughter, Maggie, with helping him see LGBT issues differently after she came out. He said he remembered saying in a 2010 speech, “I have three daughters. Two of them have rights, and the one who is gay doesn’t. What’s wrong with this picture?”

The town hall became more heated than previous years through two moments. First, attendee Kasey Birnbrook stated at the beginning of the Q&A portion said “The fact that some of these candidates have shown up here, specifically conservatives like Dan Brady… is appalling. I want my city to be a safe place for people who have to flee..”

Later, after State Rep. Chung said “If anyone tries to hurt a trans kid on my watch, I will fight them,” local parent Angela Sutton recalled the assault of her daughter in a junior high school. Sutton said of attacks on queer people, “It is going on. It’s just hard for us to get to people like you to share this story.” Sutton said that after the town hall, both Chung and Koehler expressed interest in following up with her.

As of writing, Sutton says she has not heard from either office-holder yet. Prairie Pride Coalition had previously assisted Sutton in finding legal assistance.

Candidates involved in the April 1 consolidated election set up tables with staff and information to engage the public. Notably, all three Bloomington mayoral candidates (Mboka Mwilambwe, Cody Hendricks, Dan Brady) tabled, as did: Krystal Able, running for Town Supervisor of Normal, Abby Scott running for Bloomington City Councilor for Ward 9, Chemberly Harris running for Mayor (Town President of Normal), among others.