By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Three LGBTQ leaders from central Illinois were singled out for recognition Tuesday by Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza. It’s in celebration of Pride Month.

“What I do is truly something that I do because I love what I do. I do it because it is something that’s part of me, and I will continue to do it to fight for justice for the folks that I work for,” said Rachael Gardner Purdy, a clinical counselor at the Phoenix Center in Springfield.

“There continues to be a real crisis in small towns,” said Kat Parker, founder of the SAGE Center in Jacksonville, “especially of not having a place to just be yourself.”

“Sometimes when we get in positions when we get to make decisions, we oftentimes think that the quickest way to get from Point A to Point B is to run,” said Central Illinois Friends executive director Deric Kimler of Peoria. “And you’d be correct: it is. But that doesn’t mean it’s always the right thing to do.”

Mendoza told reporters afterward that Illinois embraces diversity and is a welcoming state more than any other state in the Union.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].