(CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS) – A first amendment advocacy group is suing Illinois’ secretary of state over a 40-year-old law that prohibits nonprofits from having the word “Democrat” or “Republican” in their name without the party’s approval. 

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender, seeks to overturn an Illinois law that dates back to the 1980s, arguing that it violates the organization’s First Amendment rights.

The nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, filed the lawsuit Tuesday against Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender, or DIAG, is a national nonprofit organization formed by current and former Democrats who separate with the national party on the issue of transgender identity. 

But the secretary of state’s office denied the group’s application to operate as a nonprofit in Illinois because it had not obtained permission from the Democratic Party of Illinois to use the word “Democrats” in its organization name.

“We haven’t gotten a request from this group,” a spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Illinois said in a statement. “But frankly, whether we did or not, the fact that they’re proudly anti-transgender does not align with the Democratic Party of Illinois’s values. We believe in progress and inclusivity. It does not appear that this group does.”

Calling the national party stance on gender identity contrary to “core liberal values,” DIAG says its mission is to end “ideology-driven medicine” and guide “our fellow liberals back to reality and reason.”

“The Illinois Democratic Party doesn’t get to decide whether we can call ourselves ‘Democrats,’” Jenny Poyer Ackerman, DIAG’s board secretary, said in a statement. “DIAG was founded on our belief in open inquiry, challenging ideological conformity, and above all, the freedom to speak out. Backing down would go against everything we believe in.”

The 1986 nonprofit naming provision

Giannoulias’ office denied the request based on a provision from the state’s 1986 law governing the incorporation of nonprofits that bans them from using the names of established political parties without consent from the state committee.

The law also gives that committee power to revoke consent at any time.

“We just don’t think we should have to ask permission of the Illinois Democratic, you know, central party, to make a judgment on what we can call ourselves,” Ackerman said in an interview. “We are lifelong Democrats and also, no other state is responding in any way like this. So for me, the conversation kind of stops there.”

Of the 37 states in which DIAG operates, Illinois is the only one which has blocked the organization’s registration, according to the lawsuit. The organization said it has applied to Giannoulias’ office three times and been denied each time.

The suit calls the provision “constitutionally problematic” based on its “speaker-based” and “content-based speech restriction.”

“The Democratic and Republican parties don’t have a monopoly on the concepts of what is democratic or republican,” Daniel Zahn, an attorney for FIRE, said in a statement. “When the government tries to give them that monopoly, it’s absurd and unconstitutional.”

FIRE also filed a preliminary motion asking the court to allow DIAG to engage in activities like fundraising and supporter meetings while the case proceeds. 

“The blue states in particular are states where we feel we really need to be heard, because there are just so many people who feel the same frustrations we do with the elected Democrats who just won’t listen to us,” Ackerman said. “We want to be a resource for elected Democrats and Democrats who are running for office because we really want them to succeed.”

Giannoulias did not immediately respond to request for comment. 

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.