Among the appointments Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker named to various state boards and commissions on June 4 was Mona Noriega as chair of the Human Rights Commission.
In April, Jim Bennett—current director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights—was named the chair of the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes. Noriega is a member of that commission as well.
Noriega previously was the commissioner and board chair of the City of Chicago’s Commission on Human Relations. Last year, she was named as one of Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s LGBTQ Pride Honorees. She was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2002.
Also, Noriega helped open the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal Defense, which advances the civil rights of LGBTQ people living with HIV/AIDS, and later served as its Midwest regional director.