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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING OCTOBER 2025 AS LGBTQ+ HISTORY MONTH IN COOK COUNTY
WHEREAS, in July of 1961, Illinois became the first state to decriminalize homosexuality by repealing our sodomy laws; and
WHEREAS, in 1952, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder in the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and it wasn’t until 2013 that such categorizations of homosexuality as a mental illness were removed; and
WHEREAS, on April 27, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order that banned homosexuals from working for the federal government, sighting them as a security risk; and
WHEREAS, on September 11, 1961, the first US-televised documentary about homosexuality aired on a local station in California; and
WHEREAS, the Stonewall Riots occurred in New York City on June 28, 1969, led by Marsha P. Johnson, Silvia Rivera, Stormé DeLarverie, and Miss Major, and marked the beginning of the modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement, although previous demonstrations and organizing efforts amongst the LGBTQIA+ community preceded; and
WHEREAS, on January 1, 1973, Maryland became the first state to statutorily ban same-sex marriage; and
WHEREAS, in 1974, Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly LGBTQ American elected to any public office when she won a seat on the Ann Arbor, Michigan City Council; and
WHEREAS, on October 14, 1979, the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights takes place, drawing an estimated 75,000 to 125,000 individuals marching for LGBTQ rights; and
WHEREAS, on September 24, 1982 the CDC uses the term “AIDS” (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) for the first time in a new MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), and releases the first case definition for AIDS as “A disease at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell-mediated immunity, occurring in a person with no known cause for diminished resistance to that disease”; and
WHEREAS, on October 11, 1988, the first National Coming Out Day was observed; and
WHEREAS, the first World AIDS Day was observed on December 1, 1988; and
WHEREAS, on November 30, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the military policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a directive that prohibited openly gay and lesbian Americans from serving in the military; and
WHEREAS, on September 21, 1996, President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, banning federal recognition of same-sex marriage and defining marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife”; and
WHEREAS, on December 3, 1996, Hawaii’s Judge Chang ruled that the state does not have a legal right to deprive same-sex couples of the right to marry, making Hawaii the first state to recognize that gay and lesbian couples are entitled to the same privileges as heterosexual married couples; and
WHEREAS, on Jun 26, 2003, the Supreme Court decided Lawrence v. Texas, and held that a Texas statute criminalizing “homosexual conduct” violated the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause; and
WHEREAS, on May 17, 2004, the first legal same-sex marriage in the United States took place in Massachusetts; and
WHEREAS, on October 25, 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that state lawmakers must provide the rights and benefits of marriage to gay and lesbian couples; and
WHEREAS, on November 4, 2008, voters approve Proposition 8 in California, which made same-sex marriage illegal, and it wasn’t until 2010 that the proposition was found to be unconstitutional by a federal judge; and
WHEREAS, on September 20, 2011, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is repealed, ending the ban on gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military; and
WHEREAS, on June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages, was a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment; and
WHEREAS, on November 20, 2013, same-sex marriage was passed in Illinois and signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn, with the law taking effect on June 1, 2014; and
WHEREAS, on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that states cannot ban same-sex marriage; and
WHEREAS, on June 30, 2016, Secretary of Defense Carter announced that the Pentagon lifted the ban on transgender people serving openly in the US military; and
WHEREAS, on March 23, 2018, the Trump administration announced a new policy that banned most transgender people from serving in the military, and the Supreme Court allowed the ban to go into effect in January 2019; and
WHEREAS, on June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay, lesbian, and transgender employees from discrimination based on sex; and
WHEREAS, on January 25, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order repealing the 2019 ban on most transgender Americans joining the military; and
WHEREAS, on December 13, 2022, President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act which included new federal protections for same-sex and interracial couples and officially voided the Defense of Marriage Act; and
WHEREAS, many historic LGBTQ+ individuals have changed the world both within their community as well as in the wider geopolitical context; and
WHEREAS, such individuals include Josephine Baker, a well-known entertainer of the Jazz Age who identified as bisexual, who was one of the most successful Black performers in French history and used her platform as an entertainer to advocate for desegregation, refusing to perform in segregated venues, speaking at the 1963 March on Washington, and most notably serving as a spy for the French during World War II, passing along secrets she heard while performing for German soldiers; and
WHEREAS, other notable individuals include Frida Kahlo, a gifted painter and openly bisexual artist who used her medium to depict taboo topics, like female sexuality, pain, and feminine beauty standards, primarily through self-portraits; and
WHEREAS, the "father" of modern computer science, Alan Turing, was a key player in World War II serving as a cryptanalyst for the Allies and cracked the Nazi Enigma code - however, despite his service, Turing was prosecuted by his government for being in a homosexual relationship and was sentenced to chemical castration; and
WHEREAS, Bayard Rustin was an openly gay Black man who was one of the major proponents of the nonviolent actions of Civil Rights protests and served as a close advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And was one of the key organizers of the March on Washington; and
WHEREAS, acclaimed American writer and civil rights activist, James Baldwin, garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems and pioneered depictions of men who loved other men, often across the lines of color and nationality, in works such as “Giovanni’s Room”, “Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone”, “Another Country”, and “Just Above My Head”; and
WHEREAS, many acclaimed writers and novelists belong to the LGBTQ+ community as well including Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, Emily Dickinson, and Virginia Woolf; and
WHEREAS, even some of our most well-known historical individuals, such as Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Leonardo DaVinci, and Isaac Newton led lives that have strongly suggested to researchers and historians that they too belonged to the LGBTQ+ community; and
WHEREAS, these events and people comprise just a small proportion of the extensive history pertaining to the LGBTQ+ community; and
WHEREAS, these historically significant dates, events, and facts are not widely known nor taught; and
WHEREAS, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) History Month is observed each year in the month of October to center and celebrate the history, successes, stories, work, and ongoing issues of the community; and
WHEREAS, LGBTQ+ History Month was founded in 1994 by Rodney Wilson, a high school history teacher in Missouri, and passed as a resolution by the General Assembly of the National Education Association in 1995 which included LGBTQ+ History Month within a list of commemorative months; and
WHEREAS, the month of October was selected to coincide with National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11), and the anniversary of the first march on Washington, and to correlate when schools are in session-providing a time and space for education on the history of the LGBTQ+ community; and
WHEREAS, the LGBTQ+ community is an important contributor to the diverse and vibrant communities across Cook County, and are deserving of a time and space for us all to recognize and appreciate the role of LGBTQ+ people across World and American history; and
WHEREAS, here in Cook County there has never been more LGBTQ+ representation by our elected officials; and
WHEREAS, now more than ever it remains vital that we continue to study and teach our neighbors and community members about the longstanding history of the LGBTQ+ community, their achievements, and impact on our world in the face of those who seek to eliminate them from our society; and
WHEREAS, through the power of education, we as a County and a society can better understand the ways that past perspectives, laws, and treatment regarding the LGBTQ+ community continue to impact us today, and help us better advocate for LGBTQ+ members’ ongoing needs and rights;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the President and the Cook County Board of Commissioners, hereby proclaim the month of October 2025 to be LGBTQ+ History Month in Cook County.
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