News & Commentary

Trudy Ring at the Advocate wrote a great article about the three transgender individuals who will receive new birth certificates reflecting their correct gender following an order by the Cook County Circuit Court judge. The Illinois Department of Public Health's Division of Vital Records had previously required genital surgery in order to receive accurate birth certificates for transgender individuals. This fall, a new rule will be considered by a legislative committee that would not require genital surgery in order to correct the gender marker on birth certificates for all transgender Illinoisans:

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[D]rug testing invades privacy and bodily autonomy. Drug testing by means of urinalysis is humiliating for many people, and embarrassing or unpleasant for many others. Drug testing in the absence of individualized suspicion is stigmatizing: it creates a presumption of guilt that can only be rebutted by a negative test result. Just yesterday, in response to opposition, the CHA dropped the proposed drug testing from its revised tenants agreement (Read the ACLU response). Today, the Workforce, Development, and Audit Committee of the Chicago City Council followed suit, cancelling a meeting scheduled to consider a proposal to begin random drug testing of all city employees and elected officials. Mary Dixon, Legislative Director of the ACLU of Illinois, sent a letter to the committee outlining the problems with such a proposal:“The City of Chicago faces myriad challenges and few resources for addressing them,” added Dixon. “Suspicionless drug testing for 35,000 City employees does not a

Photo credit: Michael Tercha, Chicago Tribune / June 15, 2011 According to Chicago Breaking News, U.S. District Court Judge James Holderman approved a settlement today, paving the way for adults with developmental disabilities to move out of large institutions and into smaller community based

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Thousands of Illinois adults with developmental disabilities — many of whom have spent years on a 21,000-plus waiting list for state services — will soon have more choices in housing under a proposed settlement to a long-running federal lawsuit. The settlement, if approved as expected Wednesday by U.S. District Judge James Holderman, would upend how the state now pays for their care. Rather than assigning dollars to institutions, the money would follow the individual to the housing of their choice. The goal is to bring Illinois into compliance with the 1990 federal Americans with Disabilities Act

In a letter dated June 3rd, ACLU Legal Director Harvey Grossman asked the Chicago Housing Authority not to implement new provisions mandating suspicionless drug testing of applicants and residents of public housing. Grossman writes: