Chicago’s LGBT Caucus is under new leadership, and with it comes a renewed charge to be more active in addressing community issues.
Ald. Lamont Robinson (4th Ward) was voted chair of the city’s LGBT Caucus in September and recently told Windy City Times the group of LGBTQ+ alderpeople plans to meet more regularly and collaborate with other groups to address the community’s most pressing issues. Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th Ward) will serve as the LGBT Caucus’ vice chair.
“I’m thrilled to be in this role and serve as the caucus’s cheerleader,” Robinson said. “There are a lot of us in City Council, and we’re across the city, so this representation really matters.”
The LGBT Caucus was formed in 2015 when City Council had a then-record-breaking five openly LGBTQ+ alderpeople. But the caucus has largely been a casual effort, with its members meeting irregularly and operating with no formal list of priorities.
Now with nine members—the most openly LGBTQ+ officials of any City Council in the country—the LGBT Caucus plans to be more active, Robinson said.
“This started with the thought that we needed to convene ourselves to make sure we understood the issues and concerns of the LGBTQ+ community and are speaking to those issues and concerns,” Robinson said. “So we’re convening monthly now so we can come together and talk about what pressing issues are going on in the city and in our specific wards.”
The LGBT Caucus’ other members include Alds. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward), Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd Ward), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th ward), Timmy Knudsen (43rd Ward), Bennett Lawson (44th Ward), Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th Ward) and Maria Hadden (49th Ward).
Among the caucus’ top concerns is figuring out how it can work with the Chicago Police Department to ensure that the murders of transgender people are being solved, Robinson said.
At least 14 transgender and gender-nonconforming people have been killed in Chicago since 2016, and just four of those cases have been solved, according to data collected by the Sun-Times.
“We need to be working with the Chicago Police Department to really get at the bottom of these deaths and open cases,” Robinson said.
The LGBT Caucus also hopes to address public health issues like housing insecurity and HIV within the LGBTQ+ community by making sure the city is allocating funding to address those issues, Robinson said.
“We need to make sure that any senior and youth housing built in the city of Chicago is going to be affirming so that folks don’t have to go back into the closet,” he added. “And while the HIV numbers are going down, we are still seeing high rates of HIV within the Black LGBTQ+ community, particularly in our youth.”
Other goals of Robinson’s include improving coordination among Chicago’s various LGBTQ+ groups, including the city’s Advisory Council on LGBTQ+ Issues, which Robinson hopes to set up regular meetings with. The LGBT Caucus will also be involved in raising money so the city can create a chief LGBTQ+ officer role, which will be embedded within the mayor’s office, he said.
Robinson, who was elected alderman in 2023, came to City Council with several years of experience in the Illinois General Assembly, where he served as a state representative from 2019-2023.
Among his accomplishments in Springfield was securing $15 million in state funding for a community center on Chicago’s South Side and sponsoring bills that increased funding to address HIV rates among Black and Brown communities.
Robinson recently attended a post-election gathering hosted by Equality Illinois at the Center on Halsted, where he told a few dozen community members looking to collectively process former President Donald Trump’s election win that he will work to protect LGBTQ+ people city wide.
“I’m a South Sider, but I represent the entire city of Chicago,” Robinson said. “If I can help you in any way, please reach out because my caucus of nine needs to hear from you.”