Illinois launched a legal advice line for LGBTQ residents Monday, the first state to do so as the Trump administration’s policies on gender and sexuality face a wave of legal challenges.
The helpline, Illinois Pride Connect, offers free and confidential legal advice on discrimination, harassment and safety concerns, as well as access to housing, health care, identity documents and government benefits like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It serves callers in English and Spanish, according to the program’s website, and operates between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. CDT Monday through Friday.
An online resource hub offers additional information for LGBTQ people on education, family protection, elder rights and immigration rights.
“With all the things that are coming at all of us, for us to be able to go on offense, and not be on defense, is what I love about this state,” Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said while announcing the program’s launch Thursday evening in Chicago.
“As the only state in the nation that will provide free legal advice to protect the LGBTQ+ community, we’ll help fight ignorance with information and cruelty with compassion,” Pritzker wrote in an Aug. 21 post on the social platform X.
Illinois Pride Connect builds on the state’s Transgender and Gender Diverse Wellness and Equity Program launched in 2024 by the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago to expand access to gender-affirming health care. It was developed in partnership with LGBTQ organizations including Equality Illinois, Lambda Legal and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Pride Action Tank.
The Legal Council for Health Justice, a Chicago nonprofit, will lead the helpline, supported by a $250,000 investment from the state and another $100,000 in philanthropic support, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services.
“IL Pride Connect was shaped by the voices and leadership of LGBTQIA+ communities across Illinois. This work is about solidarity and responsiveness – making sure our systems reflect the needs, strength, and lived realities of the people they serve,” Dulce M. Quintero, the department’s secretary, said in a statement Friday.
The program’s launch comes as the federal government works to unravel protections for LGBTQ Americans and slash resources tailored to the community. In July, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shut down the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline’s specialized service for LGBTQ youth, saying it would instead “focus on serving all help seekers.”
Lawsuits challenging executive orders from President Trump and administration policies targeting LGBTQ and transgender rights have been met with mixed results. Federal judges have blocked efforts to require identity documents to match an individual’s sex “at conception,” end federal support for gender-affirming care for minors, and house transgender women in men’s prisons.
In May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to carry out a ban on transgender troops.
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