Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday issued an emergency proclamation declaring a disaster in every Illinois county “to ensure all state resources are available to support asylum seekers arriving nearly daily to Chicago from the State of Texas,” as stated in his press release.“The proclamation,” as the press release says, “enables the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and other state agencies, in close coordination with the City of Chicago, Cook County, and other local governments, to ensure the individuals and families receive the assistance they need.
Crime is perhaps the top issue for Illinois voters this year and the extraordinarily divisive SAFE-T Act is central to it.The 764-page bill makes many highly controversial changes to Illinois criminal law and procedure.
In the US and around the world, it’s rapidly becoming among the most emotionally charged and contentious issues of the day.To supporters, it’s gender affirmation for children who think they were born into the wrong body and should be given puberty blockers, mastectomies or other surgery.To opponents, its nothing less than child abuse, body mutilation and medical malpractice.Battles now rage over it in courts and legislatures across America and among medical and ethical professionals.Chicago, however, has made its decision, not just for itself but for the rest of the world.It went mostly unnoticed in last week’s declaration by the Chicago City Council to become an abortion sanctuary, but the new city ordinance also covers, with no regard for age, “gender-affirming care.” By that it means as “all services, supplies, drug therapies, and other care that an individual may receive to support and affirm the individual’s gender identity.”The ordinance bans cooperation by any city official or worker, including Chicago police, with any other jurisdiction’s effort to investigate or enforce a matter that conflicts with Chicago’s idea of bodily autonomy, “regardless of whether such law is stylized as a charge relating to homicide, child abuse, or any other charge that is pretext for enforcing such a restrictive law.”Bodily autonomy, as the city defines it, includes self-governance over one’s own reproductive gender identity, including gender-affirming care, regardless of age.
