Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) announced a landmark free hotline for LGBTQ+ people in the state. Offered in both English and Spanish, the first-of-its-kind service launches today and will provide legal advice regarding housing, safety, health care access (including gender-affirming care), discrimination, identity documents, and more.Pritzker announced the initiative, called Illinois Pride Connect, at an August 21 event with the Chicago Legal Council for Health Justice, which will run the hotline. For us to be able to go on offense, and not be on defense, is what I love about this state, he said. Related Delray Beach to defy Ron DeSantis & fight to keep its Pride crosswalk Building upon the states 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, he said. Together we are fighting ignorance with information, were fighting cruelty with compassion. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today View this post on Instagram A post shared by Governor JB Pritzker (@govpritzker)The hotline cost the state $250,000 (in addition to $100,000 in donor funds) and will be funded publicly through next summer, after which the organizations that helped create it including the Legal Council for Health Justice, Equality Illinois, Brave Space Alliance, and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago will maintain it with private funding, according to the Chicago Sun Times. IL Pride Connect was shaped by the voices and leadership of LGBTQIA+ communities across Illinois,said Dulce M. Quintero, secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), in a statement.This work is about solidarity and responsiveness making sure our systems reflect the needs, strength, and lived realities of the people they serve.The press release from IDHS slammed the cruel and dehumanizing legal attacks that the LGBTQ+ community currently faces and declares, IL Pride Connect was created to meet this moment. The Pride Connect website also serves as an information and resource hub outlining basic rights regarding healthcare, immigration, education, and more. It also has a quick exit button for those who need to hide what theyre looking at. Illinoisans seeking legal advice can call 855-805-9200 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.The website also clarifies that the hotline is not a crisis line and cannot assist with emergencies. Pritzker has long been a staunch advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and has been standing strong against the president since his first administration. At a March Human Rights Campaign dinner, he vowed to stand up to anti-LGBTQ+ bullies and spoke directly to transgender youth to tell them they are not alone. And in the midst of this existential fight, this battle that seems to consume everything, well, lets not take the soul-sucking path of sacrificing the most persecuted for that which we deem to be most popular.I know that there are transgender children right now looking out at this world and wondering if anyone is going to stand up for them and for their simple right to exist. Well, I am. We are. We will.In April, he criticized do-nothing Democratic politicians who want to blame our [election] losses on our defense of Black people, of trans kids, of immigrants instead of their own lack of guts and gumption. He encouraged Democrats to fight the current presidential administration everywhere and all at once, even endorsing mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. In 2023, he signed a landmark bill making Illinois the first state to bar libraries from banning books.Here in Illinois, we dont hide from the truth, we embrace it,said Pritzker in astatement.Young people shouldnt be kept from learning about the realities of our world; I want them to become critical thinkers, exposed to ideas that they disagree with, proud of what our nation has overcome, and thoughtful about what comes next.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.