With little dissent Monday, Sept. 25, DeKalb became the second city in Illinois to provide protections for transgendered people in its human-rights ordinance.

"I don't think anyone was surprised last night," said Norden Gilbert, chair of DeKalb's Human Relations Commission. "There was a lot of relief."

The 6-0 vote caps an effort that began behind the scenes two years ago after the city added sexual orientation to the ordinance.

Members of the city's gay-rights citizens group, Community Members Against Discrimination, recently began lobbying city officials for the change, which had its first reading Sept. 11.

That reading also passed on a unanimous vote. Since that vote, aldermen in DeKalb have been vocal about their support.

"People should be judged on their character, not on the basis of irrelevant criteria," said Ald. Patrick Conboy.

"It's been a strong progression, and we did it incrementally. And we did it in a way that made sense for DeKalb," Gilbert said.

Only one person spoke against the amendment at Monday's meeting, while about 10 people spoke in favor.

The measure adds the word gender to the ordinance and defines gender as "a person's actual or perceived sex and includes a person's gender identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that person's gender identity, appearance or behavior conforms to what is traditionally associated with the person's sex at birth," Gilbert said.

DeKalb, home of Northern Illinois University, joins Evanston in including gender and gender identity in its human-rights ordinance.