JB Pritzker Redefines Civil Rights to Include Gender Dysphoria

Written by David E. Smith

A few months ago, on June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 to allow states to protect women’s sports from confused men in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox. That ruling came a year after the Court upheld, by the same 6–3 margin, a Tennessee law barring the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for transgender teenagers.

The same day, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins interviewed Governor JB Pritzker on her program, The Source. One of the first topics she raised was this ruling:

The Supreme Court also today allowed states to ban transgender athletes from joining women’s and girls’ teams. Do you think the court was right on that, or do you think they were wrong?

Gov. Pritzker responded:

Well, look, we believe that people have a right to live the life that they’re born to, the life that they want to. And in Illinois, anyway, we protect LGBTQ+ rights, we protect trans kids.

…

Why is the Republican Party focusing on this issue? Why have they passed laws in, I think, 27 states that have restricted or banned, outright, trans kids being athletes in schools? It seems to me like they’re just, again, they’re trying to foment on an issue that, frankly, I think we ought to be talking about bigger things.

Collins followed up by asking Pritzker believed the Court was right in their ruling. His response was telling:

I think that we ought to be protecting trans kids. That’s what I think.

What is most striking in that response is Pritzker’s absolute silence about the safety, privacy, and fair play of female athletes — the very reasons lawmakers in West Virginia and Idaho passed this legislation. Instead, his immediate instinct was to invoke LGBTQ+ “rights” and affirm gender-confused children.

Neither Collins nor Pritzker acknowledged that the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) continues to recognize gender dysphoria as a psychiatric diagnosis. Nor did Pritzker express concern regarding the body of evidence indicating that childhood gender dysphoria often resolves by adolescence or adulthood. And he did not address the dangers of affirming a transgender identity or the serious, well-documented health risks associated with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

Also noteworthy is Pritzker’s rhetorical question regarding this highly controversial dilemma, which has been the catalyst for legislative action across the country: ‘Why is the Republican Party focusing on this issue?’ He acknowledges that 27 states—more than half the nation—have acted to protect girls’ sports from participation based on gender confusion. Yet, by pandering to the LGBTQ+ base of the Democratic Party, he ignores the legitimate concerns of parents and community members who insist that women and girls be free from the presence of biological males in their private spaces, and that they be protected from male physical advantages in athletic competition.

Dismissing those concerns with “we ought to be talking about bigger things” demonstrates just how out of touch he is with the vast number of parents who send their children to public schools. But then again, most parents cannot afford private-school tuition of $45,000 to $50,000 a year as he and his wife did for their two children.

In a recent ABC News article, Pritzker reportedly called state-level protections for women’s sports “bullying” and a “setback for equality.”

LGBTQ+ Activism

We really should not be surprised by JB Pritzker’s advocacy for sexual anarchy. In 2025, NPR Illinois ran an article highlighting his left-wing politics, tracing them to the days his mother took him to marches and rallies supporting abortion rights, women’s rights, and LGBTQ causes. Quoted speaking at an event at the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ lobbying organization, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), he joked that exposure to the “gay agenda” as a child helped produce a future governor.

Equality Illinois, the state’s primary LGBTQ+ lobbying arm, has dubbed him the “most pro-LGBTQ+ Governor to date in Illinois.” Their accolades are rooted in a track record of radical policy, including the mandatory LGBTQ-inclusive sex education curriculum law, taxpayer-funded gender-transition services, and the systematic expansion of transgender ideology across state boards and commissions.

His alliance with these groups goes back decades. Before taking office, Pritzker chaired the Equality Illinois 25th Anniversary Gala, helped launch its training and policy institute, and acted as an early corporate champion for same-sex marriage. Furthermore, he and his wife poured $100 million into Northwestern Law School, explicitly earmarking funds to advance LGBTQ “civil and human rights” globally. They re-named the school, the Pritzker School of Law.

The HRC has similarly praised Pritzker for his “consistent and impactful” commitment to their agenda, specifically highlighting his role in codifying gender-identity protections in our schools and shielding radical LGBTQ-related legislation from any restriction.

It is no coincidence that the same organizations driving our cultural moral decline — Equality Illinois, Personal PAC, and Planned Parenthood Illinois Action — are endorsing Pritzker’s political aspirations. He is not just an ally; he is a woke change agent working to dismantle the values and principles this nation was built upon.

Pritzker and his political allies are working to eliminate Christianity’s influence from the public square. This trajectory leads only to chaos, depression, addiction, violence, and the systematic embrace of death. But Christ calls us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, tasked with teaching the nations to observe His truth. (Matthew 5:13; 28:19-20)

The question remains: Are we up to the task?