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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
RECOGNITION OF INTERNATIONAL TRANSGENDER DAY OF VISIBILITY 2026
WHEREAS, International Transgender Day of Visibility is recognized every year on March 31st to
celebrate the joy and resilience of trans and non-binary people everywhere by elevating voices and experiences from these communities while also drawing attention to the disproportionate levels of poverty, discrimination, and violence the community faces compared to cisgender people; and
WHEREAS, International Transgender Day of Visibility was created in 2010 by trans advocate Rachel Crandall, the head of Transgender Michigan, who created the day in response to the overwhelming majority of media stories about transgender people being focused on violence and hoped to create a day where people could celebrate the lives of transgender people -- while simultaneously acknowledging that due to discrimination, not every trans person can or wants to be visible; and
WHEREAS, these celebrations, acknowledgements, and remembrances are vital affirmations of the lives of transgender people in our communities as they continue to face extreme institutional discrimination and violence on the basis of their gender identities; and
WHEREAS, Swedish freestyle skier Elis Lundholm, a trans man assigned female at birth, made history this year as the first transgender athlete allowed to participate in the Winter Olympics, finishing 25th in women's moguls qualifying; and
WHEREAS, according to Pew Research Center’s 2025 report, 56% of adults express support for policies aimed at protecting trans people from discrimination in jobs, housing, and public spaces; and
WHEREAS, however, according to Trans Legislation Tracker, with over 1,000 bills introduced, 2025 was the sixth consecutive record-breaking year for total bills considered -- up from 701 bills considered in 2024; and
WHEREAS, in just 2025 alone, there were 12 Executive Orders signed by President Donald Trump with the express purpose of targeting the transgender community’s access to gender-affirming healthcare, ability to play sports, ability to serve in the military, and simple ability to live authentically without fear of retribution and/or violence; and
WHEREAS, according to Trans Legislation Tracker, since 2021 there have been over 2,600 bills introduced nationwide that target and discriminate against transgender people, in particular transgender youth; and
WHEREAS, according to Trans Legislation Tracker, there has already been 680 active anti-trans bills introduced this year across 41 states, with 110 of those being federal; and
WHEREAS, there are currently 28 anti-trans bills in Illinois this year, impacting categories including education, sports, healthcare, bathroom access, incarceration; and
WHEREAS, eight anti-trans bills have already been passed in 2026 across the states of Indiana, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Kansas; and
WHEREAS, one of these bills, Kansas Senate Bill 244, was recently passed into law on February 18, 2026, when the Kansas legislature voted to override Governor Laura Kelly’s veto on the bill; and
WHEREAS, SB244 requires the designation of multiple-occupancy private spaces in public buildings for use by only one sex and imposes criminal and civil penalties for violations, defines the term "gender" to mean biological sex at birth for purposes of statutory construction, directs the Division of Vehicles to invalidate and reissue driver's licenses to correct the gender identification on such licenses and directing the Office of Vital Statistics to invalidate and reissue birth certificates when necessary to correct the sex identification on such certificates; and
WHEREAS, SB 244 also expressly allows for bounty-style lawsuits to be filed by those who believe they’ve shared a bathroom with a transgender person for “damages” of at least $1,000; and
WHEREAS, as a result of SB 244, the Kansas state government has now invalidated the driver's licenses and birth certificates of more than a thousand transgender people who changed the gender or sex markers on those documents; and
WHEREAS, of the 680 bills being actively considered in 2026, 348 relate to education and/or healthcare; and
WHEREAS, of the 680 bills being actively considered in 2026, 94 target athletics in K-12 and higher education; and
WHEREAS, of the 680 bills being actively considered in 2026, 40 would restrict access to public facilities, including bathrooms; and
WHEREAS, of the 680 bills being actively considered in 2026, 23 target gender non-conforming events and the businesses that host them; and
WHEREAS, it should be highlighted that as these pieces of legislation frequently targets transgender youth, they also harm our intersex youth as lawmakers attach explicit exceptions to these bills allowing for surgeons to operate on intersex children before even the patients themselves can consent, making clear that these bills are about erasing bodily diversity, not protecting anyone; and
WHEREAS, now more than ever our transgender and nonbinary siblings are experiencing significant political attacks by extremists legislating hate in the states, in Congress, and in the White House; and
WHEREAS, despite facing these new and increasingly hostile proposed pieces of legislation, the Transgender community continues to battle what the American Medical Association declared in 2019 as an Epidemic of Violence Against the Transgender Community, especially noting the amplified physical dangers faced by transgender people of color; and
WHEREAS, International Transgender Day of Visibility aims to raise awareness about critical issues facing the community and to celebrate the richness and diversity that exists within the transgender community; and
WHEREAS, according to the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute, there are an estimated 2.8 million people ages 13+ who identify as transgender in the United States; and
WHEREAS, only one quarter of individuals who identify as transgender are between the ages of 13 and 17, making up merely 3.3% of the United States’ total youth population; and
WHEREAS, in Illinois about 27,500 youth between the ages of 13 and 17 identify as transgender, or roughly 3.2% of Illinois’ total youth population; and
WHERRAS, in Illinois about 65,400 adults age 18+ identify as transgender, or 0.7% of Illinois’ total adult population; and
WHEREAS, our Trans and non-binary community are parents and family members, our coworkers, our neighbors, and our friends; and
WHEREAS, despite this onslaught of hatred on our Transgender Community, it remains vital that we celebrate and uplift the transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people who have continued to serve their communities despite the continuous attacks they face, including: Admiral Rachel L. Levine - the first trans presidential appointment as HHS Assistant Secretary, Virginia State Senator Danica Roem - the first openly transgender person to be elected and serve in a state legislature in U.S. history, Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride - the first openly transgender Congresswoman in U.S. history, Minneapolis City Council President Andrea Jenkins - the first Black openly transgender woman elected to public office in the United States, Commissioner Precious Brady-Davis - the first black trans woman to be elected to the MWRD, and Cook County Judge Jill Rose Quinn - the first openly transgender circuit court judge in the State of Illinois and the first openly transgender elected official in the State of Illinois; and
WHEREAS, we celebrate the great work of trans-led organizations and individuals who have advanced visibility and the well-being of the transgender community; and
WHEREAS, Cook County continues its commitment to the work of uplifting and protecting transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people as we continue to work toward enacting equitable policies to uplift marginalized citizens and eliminating violence toward them; and
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Cook County Board of Commissioners does hereby reaffirm its commitment to the transgender and non-binary community and recognizes March 31, 2026, as International Transgender Day of Visibility; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Cook County continues its dedication to our historic protections enshrining rights to bodily autonomy across Cook County.
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