National and local leaders in the movement for LGBT equality gathered at the Center on Halsted Sept. 27 to discuss the state of gay rights in the United States ahead of this fall’s midterm elections. U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, Equality Illinois CEO Bernard Cherkasov and Bill Weeks of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) participated in a panel discussion touching on everything from the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Quigley, a Democrat representing Illinois’s Fifth Congressional District, painted a grim picture for the advancement of LGBT rights should Republicans take control of the House following the November elections. “How the [LGBT] agenda goes forward is dependent on a Democratic majority,” Quigley said. But even if Democrats maintain control of the House and Senate, Quigley said Democrats are not likely to readily act on a repeal of DOMA. “This will happen no time soon—definitely not this year,” he added.
Cherkasov praised two Obama administration clarifications that address housing and family medical leave for LGBTs. The Department of Housing and Urban Development now includes gender identity as a protected category. As a result, discrimination in housing based on gender identity is criminal under federal law. Additionally, the administration clarified that gay and lesbian couples are able under the Family and Medical Leave Act to take time off to care for loved ones. Cherkasov said this affects 100,000 children across the country and about 50,000 same-sex families.
Weeks made it clear to those in attendance that HRC would continue to push for the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and would not back the statute unless it is includes protections for members of the transgender community.
All of the panelists agreed that the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers is in its last throes and that repealing the ban is a matter of “when” and not “if.”