Illinois Launches Free Legal Advice Line for LGBTQ+ Residents

Colorado is generally considered to be one of the safest states in the country for LGBTQ+ people, but it seems that Illinois is trying to give us a run for our money. Following the Trump Administration’s decision back in June to eliminate funding for the LGBTQ+-specialized services on the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline—proving Trump to be a mustache-twirling comic book supervillain—Illinois is launching a new kind of hotline to benefit the queer community.

According to them.us, Illinois’ Democratic governor JB Pritzker, who seems to be the only member of the Democratic party born with a backbone, unveiled a new initiative last week called IL Pride Connect, a hotline which will offer free legal advice for LGBTQ+ residents of Illinois.

The hotline went live yesterday and, according to the IL Pride Connect website, the hotline offers assistance in both English and Spanish and is open Monday through Thursday from 9-4 local time. Even the website has sections offering resources regarding healthcare, school and education rights, immigration, vital records and ID documents, family protection and elder rights, and more.

“Building upon the state’s transgender and gender-diverse wellness and equity project that we launched at the beginning of 2024, we will be the only state in the entire United States that provides free legal advice to protect the LGBTQ community,” says Pritzker. He continues saying, “Together, we are fighting ignorance with information,” Pritzker continues. “We are fighting cruelty with compassion.”

According to the same them.us article, IL Pride Connect is funded by a $250,000 investment from the state and $100,000 in philanthropic support. The initiative is being led by the Legal Council for Health Justice.

Despite the fact that he’s a billionaire, Governor JB Pritzker seems to have somehow grown into a halfway decent human being. Part of that can be attributed to his sister Jennifer, who is the first and only transgender billionaire in the world. If the Democrats are really looking for a new savior to rescue them from the current Trump regime, maybe they should turn to Pritzker instead of the transphobic trash person Gavin Newsom.

Photo courtesy of social media