State Sen. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) | senatorchesney.com
State Sen. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) | senatorchesney.com
State Sen. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) is bashing Democrats for pursuing a “woke” agenda in the General Assembly rather than focusing on producing a budget.
The budget was due on May 19 but the Democratic majority moved the process into late May after missing that deadline.
“While we should be finalizing a budget, these are the bills we're hearing instead,” Chesney said on Facebook.
In specific, Chesney pointed to a bill that passed opening public bathrooms as gender-neutral.
"This is woke," Chesney told Fox News 32. "This is radical. This is out of touch with everybody in my district and your districts."
In 2021, then-State Rep. Chesney opposed a bill requiring tampons to be accessible in male bathrooms.
"So the Democrat majority is already acknowledged that they think that gender is fluid and so we've accommodated the wokeism by creating a single-person multi-sex bathroom," Chesney argued on the Senate floor and recalled the bill he opposed two years ago. "That was like the middle ground and people laughed at us as Republicans when I was in the House when we put tampon dispensers in male bathrooms in all the schools. Everybody said that that was to accommodate people that didn't know what sex they were although we believe there were only two sexes."
HB1286, which Chesney strongly objected to, would "require certain newly constructed or previously existing restrooms to be designated as all-gender multiple-occupancy restrooms. Would allow but not mandate gender-neutral bathrooms." It would also provide "that any multiple-occupancy restroom may be converted into an all-gender multiple-occupancy restroom."
"Why on earth would any lady want a dude in their bathroom?" state Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) asked.
The House previously passed the bill 60-40. It will allow for an all-gender designation and mandates such bathrooms to provide "inclusive signage.”
The General Assembly has until May 31 to pass a budget prior to the fiscal year ending June 30. Democrats notified legislators on Friday that the session was being extended regarding the $50 billion budget negotiations. Legislators will next be in session May 24-26 when a final budget is expected.
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