Illinois’ Disastrous Leadership Making Headlines–Again

Written by Laurie Higgins

Recently the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board published a searing indictment of the abject failure of Illinois to educate its children, citing statistics from Illinois’ Wirepoints. The board writes,

No one thought Illinois schools were a shining beacon in the education landscape, but we didn’t know how truly awful so many of them are. A new report by Wirepoints using the state’s data shows that an epidemic of indifferent instruction and social promotion has left children unable to perform at even the most basic educational level. …

We aren’t often speechless, but the extent to which that performance is betraying a generation of schoolchildren is hard to put into words. …

This year 100% of Chicago teachers were evaluated as excellent or proficient. The students are failing but the teachers are great? That contradiction shows the system is corrupt as well as incompetent.

No one in the nation thinks Illinois is a shining beacon in any area of life. That’s why Illinoisans are fleeing the state in record numbers in search of greener pastures in redder states. The thread that is sewn throughout the Illinois landscape, stitching together an ugly patchwork of corruption, incompetence, and failure is pulled by ignorant leftist ideologues who couldn’t care less how many Illinoisans of every age and color are harmed.

Case in point: Ignorant, leftist ideologue State Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Collinsville) who wasted time in Springfield promoting House Resolution 733, which recognizes “the impact” of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX is most notable for making available athletic opportunities for women in educational institutions that receive federal assistance in any form.

So far so good. But leftists like Stuart can’t leave anything good alone, which was exposed in just a few minutes of questioning by one of Illinois’ best state representatives, Blaine Wilhour (R-Effingham).

PLEASE watch this video clip:

First, Wilhour noted that Stuart’s resolution oddly includes this:

Recipients of federal financial assistance have Title IX obligations in many key areas, including … treatment of LGBTQI+ students.

Wilhour asked Stuart what LGBTQI+ refers and how the “+” is defined.

Stuart answered,

It’s an umbrella term. … So lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, um, I believe queer, intersex, and anything else.

“Anything else”? What does that mean?

Some Illinoisans may be wondering why there is inclusion of any leftist jargon about sexual predilections in a resolution about Title IX. The reason is that leftists have been abusing Title IX to force schools to allow boys and men to participate in girls/women’s athletics and invade their locker rooms.

Just last week yet another controversy blew up over locker room usage. In Vermont, two 14-year-old girl volleyball players asked a boy who—for now—identifies as a girl to leave the dressing area of the girls’ locker room where they and their female teammates were undressing. The boy, who allegedly was not changing but rather just watching, refused.

Daily Signal reported that one of the girls who asked the boy to leave provided these details of the incident:

She shared that she was not wearing a shirt, only a bra, and was halfway through putting on her shorts.

“Please don’t come in here, we’re still changing,” she says she called out, as she struggled to clothe herself.

But the trans-identifying student allegedly told her that it was fine, entered the locker room, and stood in the corner “watching” as the other girls finished dressing.

Based on Stuart’s risible response to Wilhour’s next question, it’s clear she would side with the boy and against the girls.

Wilhour respectfully and reasonably asked,

[P]aragraph six mentions “woman.” Could you give us a, a definition of a woman?

Eleven seconds of silence passed, and then bristling with faux-outrage and wildly waving a slimy red herring, Stuart spit,

I, I really am just shocked that there’s opposition to supporting something like Title IX.  which has given opportunities to people who have been held back for generations and your line of questioning title IX, your line of questioning is offensive, offensive. … Title IX is protecting anybody who identifies as female.

And with the words “identifies as female,” Stuart let the mangy cat out of the bag and neutered Title IX. In Stuart’s woke mind, the category “woman” now includes men and boys. In her science-denying world a boy can be a girl and a man can be a woman.

Stuart’s personal feelings of offense and shock are utterly irrelevant to either Wilhour’s question or the issue of whether Title IX was intended to ensure the right of boys and men to participate in women’s sports. Wilhour said nothing about opposing Title IX.

By now all of society understands that to leftists, their personal feelings supersede—well, everything—including science, rationality, and the feelings of girls who must compete against boys and undress in front of them in their own—that is, girls’—locker rooms.

Word to the narcissist/solipsist Stuart, many people don’t care about her feelings.

Wilhour, with grace and dignity, clarified for the confused or cunning Stuart that she was wrong in implying his question had anything to do with opposition to Title IX:

[Y]ou still didn’t answer the question, “What’s the definition of a woman?” We can’t … have it both ways. If we’re gonna do specific legislation for women, I think we need to clearly define it. … Nobody is in opposition to title IX. Title IX is protecting … girls’ sports and … we’re all for that.

What Illinoisans as well as citizens in every other state need and deserve are more leaders like Wilhour and zero demagogic leaders like Stuart.