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MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

It's Time Illinois Congratulates DeKalb City Council for Passing
Gender-Inclusive Legislation

Contact:
Miranda Stevens-Miller
It's Time, Illinois!
312-409-5489
ItsTimeIL@aol.com

P.O. Box 3932
Oak Park, IL 60303
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DeKalb, IL --- September 26, 2000 ---- At the end of 1998, DeKalb City
Council passed an amendment to the DeKalb Human Rights Ordinance to add the
category of sexual orientation. In August of this year, another amendment
was introduced into DeKalb City Council which would provide protection for
transgender and gender variant people. Last night at the DeKalb City
Council meeting, that amendment was passed unanimously.

The amendment came about through the dedication and lobbying of the local
GLBT human rights organization (CMAD, Community Members Against
Discrimination). The impetus to get the gender amendment introduced came
from Kathie Hankins and Molly Judd, residents of DeKalb and members of both
CMAD and It's Time, Illinois. Molly Judd had been working for a long time
with the DeKalb Human Relations Commission to educate them on the issues.
Kathie Hankins really got the ball rolling a few months ago when she
galvanized CMAD into action. The members of CMAD worked tirelessly for months
to introduce and provide testimony which eventually led to the passage of the
ordinance.

According to Norden Gilbert, Director of the DeKalb Human Relations
Commission, the vote was unanimous and there was very little opposition. "On
a vote of 6-0 (one alderman absent) tonight, the De Kalb City Council added
gender identity as a protected class under its Human Relations Ordinance
without any special restrictions. Two negative letters in yesterday's local
newspaper urged opponents to come out to the council meeting, but the
opposition simply did not materialize. A motion by one alderman to send the
proposal back to the Human Relations Commission to take another look at the
wording of the definition of gender did not receive a second, and that
alderman ultimately voted in favor of the ordinanceâ¤| [Molly Judd and Kathie
Hankins] spoke eloquently and most effectively before the Council."

The wording for the DeKalb ordinance was suggested by It's Time Illinois. The
ordinance amends the Human Rights Ordinance by replacing the category of
"sex" with the more inclusive category of "gender". The change guarantees
that the group comprising "gender" is inclusive of a person's actual or
perceived gender identity, appearance, or behavior regardless of whether they
differ from those traditionally associated with one's sex at birth.

DeKalb joins Champaign-Urbana and Evanston as the only jurisdictions in
Illinois with ordinances providing protection based on gender identity.

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