The U.S. state of Illinois has an active LGBT history, centered on its largest city Chicago, where by the 1920s a gay village had emerged in the Old Town district.
[3] Cashier fought in numerous battles and survived the war, and enjoyed many privileges which were restricted from women for the next several decades until the near end of his life.
On December 10, 1924, the state issued a charter to a nonprofit corporation called the Society for Human Rights, established in Old Town.
It became the first openly homophile advocacy group in the United States, and had, through its founder and World War I army veteran Henry Gerber, taken its inspiration from the writings of German activist and physician Magnus Hirschfeld.
[4] This was in accordance with the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code, which abrogated the criminalization of adult, consensual, private, sexual conduct.
The Society operated a 24-hour hotline and helped arrange legal aid from the ACLU for people detained in police raids.
The University of Chicago-based Chicago Gay Liberation organized protests against laws forbidding same-sex dancing and an anti-war march.
In July 1973, alderman Clifford P. Kelley proposed the Human Rights Ordinance in Chicago to fight discrimination in housing based on sexual orientation.
[4][12] Eugene Sawyer pushed the Chicago City Council to pass the Human Rights Ordinance in December 1988, with a vote of 28-17.
On January 1, 2006, the Illinois Human Rights Act was amended to protected LGBT persons from unfair discrimination.
[19] On August 20, 2015, Governor Bruce Rauner signed the Youth Mental Health Protection Act, prohibiting conversion therapy for minors.