Media

Despite bipartisan agreement over the need to bring justice to U.S. service members who were harmed by discriminatory military policies like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” competing legislative efforts have divided members of Congress and sparked accusations that both Democrats and Republicans are “playing politics” with the issue.

A Rockford-born meteorologist, U.S. Rep. Eric Sorenson didn't plan on being a politician. But after seeing how his work in broadcasting impacted his viewers in both the Rockford and the Quad Cities areas, he wanted to take his service to northwest Illinois to the next level.
Sorensen came out while attending Northern Illinois University and enjoyed being out while in his broadcast jobs in Illinois, even taking an active role in the Quad Cities' LGBTQ community. His journey being out at work, however, was not always bright—he was fired from his first job in south Texas for being gay.

As the shocking death of a nonbinary Oklahoma high school student reverberates through the LGBTQ community, advocacy groups and state and federal lawmakers say hateful rhetoric and laws that target LGBTQ individuals are to blame for the teenager’s untimely passing.