Trans-Skeptical Democrats Are Being Censored in Illinois Under an Obscure Law

A group of Democrats skeptical of their party’s full-throated embrace of transgender medical procedures is being censored in Illinois under an obscure state law that allows insiders to prevent them from using the title of a political party.

Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender (DIAG), a nationwide activist group of current and former Democrats who believe the transgender movement has hijacked feminism and gay rights, are being banned from soliciting donations and conducting operations in Illinois because the state requires approval from the Democratic Party to adopt its name.

DIAG board secretary Jenny Poyer Ackerman told National Review the organization began during the Covid-19 lockdown period as a social network of liberal parents whose children were embracing transgender identities. They struggled to find objective information about what was going on, so they created an information resource and social network for parents with similar experiences.

“The surprising thing is that the Democratic Party has come to such different conclusions because we feel that our work reflects the core liberal values. Critical thinking, freedom from religion, women’s rights, and a hesitancy to lavish the pharmaceutical industry with our money and our trust. So it really feels like we’re not doing anything inconsistent with the principles of our party,” she said.

Ackerman joined the organization in 2023 a few months after it was formally launched. She had already been writing on Substack and was active in gender-critical spaces. DIAG has partnered with other gender-critical groups and developed a national network in a little over two years. A nationally registered nonprofit, it has solicited donations in 37 states without any issues.

As one of the largest Democratic-run states in the U.S., Illinois is an important front in the group’s push to mobilize Democrats who are with the party on many issues but reject its total support for the medicalization of gender-dysphoric children and its embrace of gender ideology.

In December 2025, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias (D.) sent DIAG a rejection letter explaining that its corporate name could not contain the name of any established political party without permission. DIAG expects the Illinois Democratic Party to reject its request for approval based on its political orientation. The organization is also taking a stand against the idea of having to ask party bosses for permission to criticize them.

“They can’t tell us how to think, and they can’t tell us that if you’re a Democrat, it’s not okay to have any opinions or views that in any way conflict with current party dogma,” Ackerman said.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonpartisan legal organization that focuses on First Amendment cases, is suing Giannoulias in federal court to prevent him from using the law against DIAG and to halt its enforcement across the board.

“Illinois can't get around the First Amendment by outsourcing censorship to party bosses,” said FIRE attorney Daniel Zahn. “No American — Republican, Democrat, or independent — should have to bend the knee before a political party to participate in the political system.”

The lawsuit argues that Illinois’s law is unconstitutional because it prevents people from using specific words like “democratic” or “republican” without permission. It even grants the Democratic Party veto power over organizations that use the word “democratic” to describe their beliefs, rather than referring to their membership in the political party.

“The Democratic and Republican parties don't have a monopoly on the concepts of what is democratic or republican,” Zahn added. “When the government tries to give them that monopoly, it's absurd and unconstitutional.”

In the 2024 election cycle, Republicans successfully capitalized on the Democratic Party’s support for transgender medical procedures and men participating in women’s sports. Many observers believe President Trump’s most effective attack ad against former Vice President Kamala Harris was one that accused her of prioritizing people who prefer “they/them” pronouns. The 2024 election results and subsequent legal and political developments have reflected a turn in the tide of public opinion against transgender operations.

Last week, a jury awarded $2 million to a woman who received a double mastectomy at the age of 16 as part of a gender transition she later came to regret. The plaintiff, Fox Varian, is thought to be the first detransitioner to win a medical malpractice lawsuit among the dozens that have been filed. Days later, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons became the first major medical organization to caution practitioners against performing transgender surgeries on minors because of insufficient evidence of their long-term benefits.