* Equality Illinois CEO Brian Johnson gave the audience a history lesson at the group’s annual gala Saturday night. From Johnson’s remarks as prepared for delivery…

I want to start this evening by telling you the story of Albert Cashier, who served in Illinois’ 95th Regiment during the Civil War. […]

Cashier fought in the heart of the deep South – in the Battles of Atlanta, Vicksburg, and Natchez – where thousands of soldiers died. His lieutenant remarked about his “bravery, courage and patriotism” during these terrible battles.

After the war – he spent decades working odd jobs, even working for a state Senator, and collecting a veteran’s pension.

In 1911, when he was 66 years old, he suffered a workplace injury and was sent to the Illinois veterans home in Quincy.

While living here, more of his identity was discovered. Albert Cashier had been assigned female at birth. He was moved to an asylum where he was forced to wear women’s clothing.

But months before he died in 1915, a hospital physician took Cashier to a parade for Union veterans where the physician dressed him in his old Union uniform and he walked proudly through the streets of Moline as his true self.

You see, LGBTQ+ people have always been a part of the fabric of Illinois.

Ours is the story of soldiers like Albert Cashier and the estimated 1,000 other trans men who fought in the Civil War.

Ours is the story of Chicagoan Jane Addams – the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize who lived with her love Mary Rozet Smith.

Ours is the story of Henry Gerber who 99 years ago founded the nation’s first queer rights organization – the Society for Human Rights –here in Chicago.

Ours is the story of Alfred Finnie who hosted the famous Finnie Halloween Balls in Bronzeville from the 1930s through the 1950s. At these balls – which were feted in national magazines like Ebony & Jet – drag was celebrated.

Why do I share this with you? You see, anti-family; anti-equality hate is on the rise; fueled by local groups like the Proud Boys and Awake Illinois and emboldened by national political leaders like Ron DeSantis. They peddle the lie that we LGBTQ+ people are a recent abomination whose stories must be purged from the public square. They want to rewrite our nation’s history. They try to shout us down at School Board meetings, they show up with guns at our Pride festivals, and they call us groomers for merely wanting to see our families represented and our kids honored.

Let me be clear. We are not new. Our demands for justice are not new. We have been here since before the founding of Illinois and our aspirations that our dignity will be recognized have been here as long as we have.

So to Awake Illinois, Ron DeSantis, and all the other hatemongers, I say buckle up; because we’re not going anywhere!

More here. There’s also a musical about Cashier’s life.