The Civil Rights Agenda

The Chicago LGBT Citywide Coalition is a group of over 30 Chicago-based organizations dedicated to advocating for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population. The coalition was formed during the 2011 mayoral race to begin vetting candidates around issues that affect the LGBT community. To that end, community forums were held throughout Chicago to identify the issues of greatest importance to the LGBT Community: education, HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ youth homelessness, transgender rights, and public safety. A questionnaire was developed and a forum was held to ask each of the candidates their positions on these issues.  Mayor Emanuel’s responses to the aforementioned questionnaire are quoted throughout this document.

The coalition continued to meet after the election to ensure that the interests, concerns, and voices of the LGBT community are being heard. This document compiles the findings and results of those meetings and outlines the direction we aim to take in moving forward: ensuring accountability, partnership, and coalition building as our guiding principles.  The member organizations of the coalition include: