Trump and his MAGA movement are attacking civil rights and personal freedoms across the country. Meanwhile, the hyper partisan Supreme Court is stripping away constitutional rights, including the right to an abortion. State legislatures are passing laws that target LGBTQ+ people, censor educators and authors, and criminalize gender-affirming care. We need to stop this far-right movement to rewrite our past while rigging the rules of our democracy for the future.

We are in a moment of dangerous democratic backsliding. What’s at stake is not just access to services or legal protections, it’s the ability of every person in this country to live freely, safely, and with dignity.

Civil rights are the foundation of our democracy, and when rights are stripped from one group, all of our freedoms are at risk. No matter if it’s who you love, how you worship, your ability to access the care you need, or the certainty that your vote counts, these are core American freedoms that have defined our nation. And they’re all under attack.

We can’t pretend like this problem started with Trump or will end when he’s going, and we can’t simply hope that the increasingly politicized court system will save us. It’s time for Congress to act to enshrine these core freedoms into law and ensure they can never be stripped away. 

I’ll fight to strengthen federal protections for civil rights and civil liberties, including:

Protecting LGBTQ+ Rights Nationwide

• Passing the Equality Act: We must enshrine nondiscrimination protections into federal law by passing the Equality Act, which bans discrimination on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in housing, employment, education, health care, and public services.

• Banning Conversion Therapy and End Discriminatory Laws: I was proud to sponsor state legislation to outlaw harmful, discredited “conversion therapy” practices. We need to expand these laws nationally and also prevent states from passing discriminatory laws against transgender youth and adults.

• Protecting Access to Gender-Affirming Care: The attacks on trans people are dangerous and disgraceful. Let’s defend the right of individuals and families to make private medical decisions without the government interfering. 
  

Restoring and Protecting Abortion Rights

• Codifying Abortion Rights into Law: Congress should have codified the right to an abortion long ago – but in wake of the Dobbs decision, passing abortion rights into law has become more urgent than ever. Federal law – and the Constitution – should guarantee the right to safe, legal abortion in all 50 states. That includes protecting access to mifepristone and misoprostol, the pills used for medication abortion. 

• End the Hyde Amendment: The ability to access abortion care shouldn’t depend on your income. Let’s end the Hyde Amendment to ensure that low-income patients, government workers, and anyone else who relies on government-funded insurance can access abortion if needed.

• Funding Planned Parenthood: Planned Parenthood provides critical care for women and families across our country. We must immediately roll back the cuts to Planned Parenthood passed in the Republican budget. 

• Protecting Access to Birth Control and IVF: The right-wing attacks on abortion have already become attacks on birth control and IVF. We must enact federal safeguards against state-level efforts to restrict reproductive technologies and contraception.
  

Defending Voting Rights and Democracy

• Restoring the Voting Rights Act: Republicans will stop at nothing to rig the maps and try to hold on to power. We must fully reinstate protections gutted by the Supreme Court and prevent voter suppression laws from taking effect.

• Passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the For the People Act: I’ve fought to clean up our politics in Illinois for years, but it’s clear we need national solutions to ensure everyone plays by the same rules. These are common sense laws that will ensure fair maps, expand access to the ballot, and limit corporate money in politics.

• Banning Voter Intimidation and Misinformation Tactics: We need stronger federal enforcement against coordinated disinformation, especially campaigns targeting voters of color, immigrants, and young people.
  

Safeguarding Freedom of Expression and Education

• Fighting Book Bans and Curriculum Censorship: Book bans are nothing more than an attempt to jam an extremist ideology into our kids’ schools and libraries. We must prevent the use of federal funds for censorship efforts in public schools and libraries.

• Protecting Academic Freedom: Trump’s attacks on higher education and science are just another method he’s using to hobble institutions that might oppose him. We must stop these attacks on higher education and science while defending the rights of researchers to work without interference, educators to teach freely, and students to learn without political constraints.

• Combat Hate and Extremism: Extremism and hate crimes are on the rise. We should strengthen and enforce protections against hate crimes and hate-based harassment. We also need to invest in safety initiatives to protect houses of worship and communities that are at risk of hate.
  

No matter who you are, who you love, what you look like, where you come from, or what you believe — you deserve full equality under the law and the freedom to live your life in a way that’s true to you. When Donald Trump attacks our civil rights and our freedom, I promise to fight back with everything I’ve got.