The California-based organization Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender (DIAG) filed suit Jan. 27 against Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias over the right to use the word “Democrat” in its name, The Chicago Tribune noted.

According to a little-known aspect of Illinois law (the Party Name Provision), organizations can be banned from incorporating under names containing the words “democrat,” “democratic” or “republican” without the consent of the corresponding party’s state central committee.

Passed and signed in 1988 by Republican Gov. Jim Thompson, the statute was aimed at the United Republican Fund, a conservative fundraising group that opposed several Thompson initiatives. Now, the California group alleges the statute unlawfully restricts its rights by forcing them to obtain approval from Democratic Party of Illinois leadership before they can legally form as a nonprofit in the state.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)—which is suing on DIAG’s behalf—has stated that the DIAG “is a nonprofit group of current and former Democrats who believe the party’s stance on transgender issues is based on bad science and a flawed understanding of gender. The all-volunteer organization believes it offers a unique voice by explaining that the current Democratic consensus contradicts ‘core liberal values’ that the party espouses, like protecting women and supporting the scientific process.” In FIRE’s complaint, it claims that “content- and speaker-based speech restrictions, like the Party Name Provision, are subject to strict scrutiny.”

In addition to filing the civil-rights complaint, FIRE filed a preliminary injunction motion that asks the court to allow DIAG to engage in First Amendment activity and block enforcement of the Party Name Provision while the case proceeds.

On its website, DIAG—whose staff includes a “GenZ detransitioner and “a lifelong progressive Democrat/agnostic feminist,” among others—says it supports the LGB community only, adding it is against “efforts to ‘fix’ gay and gender nonconforming youth through gender-medicine interventions.” It also says it is against “a gender-medicine industry that markets harmful cosmetic body modification as a solution to distress.”

Windy City Times has reached out to Giannoulias.