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1		HOUSE RESOLUTION
2		WHEREAS, The Illinois Supreme Court administers the
3		State's legal system, regulates the legal profession, and
4		seeks to foster a diverse and inclusive legal system; and
5		WHEREAS, Despite more and more LGBTQ+ people and people
6		living with HIV who are living as their authentic selves, the
7		Illinois Supreme Court does not have a formal education
8		requirement for attorneys, judges, and courtroom staff to be
9		aware of and meet the social and cultural needs of LGBTQ+
10		communities and people living with HIV; and
11		WHEREAS, In 2023, more than 600 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were
12		introduced in statehouses across the country, including
13		initiatives to criminalize healthcare for trans individuals,
14		to create licenses to discriminate against LGBTQ+ families,
15		and to deny LGBTQ+ students the opportunity to experience the
16		stories of people like themselves, and such anti-LGBTQ+ bills
17		are contrary to the values of the State of Illinois; and
18		WHEREAS, As LGBTQ+ people and families visit Illinois to
19		access reproductive healthcare and gender-affirming care or
20		move to Illinois in order to escape the oppression of cruel and
21		harsh anti-LGBTQ+ regimes in other states, attorneys, judges,
22		and courtroom staff in Illinois will more frequently come into

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1		contact with and represent LGBTQ+ people who need legal
2		services to defend their rights, freedom, and bodily autonomy;
3		and
4		WHEREAS, The Movement Advancement Project's August 2016
5		report, entitled Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice
6		System Fails LGBT People of Color, wrote that "Discrimination
7		against LGBT people, particularly LGBT people of color, is
8		pervasive, and it infiltrates the halls of justice", and that
9		"Judges, prosecutors, and even defense attorneys tasked with
10		representing LGBT people often rely on misinformation,
11		stereotypes, and inflammatory language when interacting with
12		LGBT people"; for instance, "LGBT immigrants frequently
13		encounter judges who are unfamiliar with the challenges facing
14		LGBT people in other countries or who use incorrect language
15		to refer to transgender immigrants"; and
16		WHEREAS, Lambda Legal's Protected and Served? 2022 report
17		includes data from a national survey about the experiences of
18		LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV when in courts and
19		courthouses; and
20		WHEREAS, Of survey participants who had appeared in court,
21		22.2% of those who identified as LGBTQ+, women, or individuals
22		living with HIV indicated that someone in the legal
23		profession, including judges, public defenders, prosecutors,

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1		court clerks, court security, or other court employees, made
2		negative comments to or about them relating to sexual
3		orientation, gender identity or expression, or HIV status; and
4		WHEREAS, In that same report, 30.1% of transgender
5		participants had their gender identity inappropriately
6		revealed in court; in particular, transgender participants of
7		color were more likely to have their gender identity revealed
8		in court than were those who were white; specifically, 42.9%
9		of Indigenous trans people, 42.3% of Black trans people, 34.5%
10		of Latinx trans people, and 23.3% of white trans people
11		reported having their gender identity inappropriately revealed
12		in court; and
13		WHEREAS, The report additionally revealed that 25.0% of
14		people living with HIV said that their HIV status, which is
15		private health information, was inappropriately revealed in
16		court; and
17		WHEREAS, According to the 2015 US Trans Survey, 13% of
18		respondents reported negative experiences in a court or
19		courthouse because of being transgender; additionally, 6% of
20		respondents reported negative experiences when accessing legal
21		services from an attorney, a clinic, or a legal professional
22		because of being transgender; negative experiences include
23		being denied equal treatment or service, verbally harassed, or

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1		physically attacked because of being transgender; and
2		WHEREAS, Reports by the Movement Advancement Project and
3		Lambda Legal and the US Trans Survey highlight the pervasive
4		harassment, discrimination, and exclusion that LGBTQ+ people
5		and people living with HIV experience in law offices, legal
6		clinics, courts, and courthouses; this harassment,
7		discrimination, and exclusion contribute to the distrust of
8		the legal system by LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV;
9		in fact, according to Lambda Legal's survey, 32.2% of LGBTQ+
10		people do not trust the court system at all while only 8.5%
11		completely trust the court system; and
12		WHEREAS, The Illinois Supreme Court and relevant
13		authorities have the authority to require that attorneys,
14		judges, and courtroom staff be trained in LGBTQ+ and HIV
15		cultural competency as part of continuing education; having
16		such a requirement will increase the ability of attorneys,
17		judges, and courtroom staff to meet the social and cultural
18		needs of a diversifying state; therefore, be it
19		RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
20		HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
21		we urge the Illinois Supreme Court and relevant authorities to
22		require, as a consistent part of continuing education, LGBTQ+
23		and HIV cultural competency education for all attorneys,

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1		judges, and courtroom staff in the State of Illinois; and be it
2		further