Chicago is hiring an LGBTQ+ affairs director, delivering on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s promise to create the position within a year since it was announced in 2024—but members of the city’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Council raised concerns the process is being rushed with no input from the community.
Applications opened May 6 for Chicago’s Director of LGBTQ+ Affairs, Health and Human Services—a position originally referred to as the chief LGBTQ+ officer. It’s a new role within the mayor’s office that would serve as a liaison to the LGBTQ+ community and include creating Chicago’s first LGBTQ+ policy plan.
But applications for the position close May 16, leaving those interested in it with at most 10 days to apply—a timeline some members of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council said is too tight to properly market the role to high-quality applicants.
Additionally, details of the council’s involvement in the hiring process were unclear, raising concerns about the lack of community engagement before creating the job opening.
“I’m very concerned that this is the first time many of us are hearing about this,” Stephanie Skora, a member of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, said during its quarterly meeting on May 7.
Skora said she talked to two LGBTQ+ alderpeople who were unaware of the job opening, and a number of LGBTQ+ nonprofit leaders were caught off guard, too.
“It seems like nobody knew that this was happening or that there were applications being accepted,” Skora said. “Why was this council not involved in this process and why were we not told in advance?”
Sara Mathers, chief of community engagement within the mayor’s office, told the council the short timeline for hiring is necessary so the city can announce the new director during Pride Month.
“I think that their priority for unveiling this was out of upholding what we had spoken about months ago, of having somebody in by June,” Mathers said. “I think that is where the priority landed—[it] was to make sure that we upheld that commitment.”
Stephanie Clark, another member of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, told Mathers she was also concerned about the hiring timeline.
“I’ve been involved with two major searches for not-for-profits [and] one of them took nine months, they had 500 applicants and they talked to 50 people,” Clark said. “If we’re just trying to check the box, then I’m done.”
Johnson’s office announced its intent to create the chief LGBTQ+ officer position in June 2024 amid backlash surrounding new restrictions the city was imposing to downsize the Chicago Pride Parade—a decision LGBTQ+ groups and leaders said was made without meaningful community engagement.
Jackie Rosa, former deputy mayor for community engagement who left the position several months later, told Windy City Times in June 2024 the city was seeking grant money to fund the position for three years. At the time, they hoped to fill the role by Fall 2024—but their timeline was later extended so the city could have a more thorough recruitment process.
Johnson’s office then hosted members of the advisory council and other LGBTQ+ leaders in August 2024 to outline the process for creating and hiring the chief LGBTQ+ officer position.
During that meeting, Rosa said the mayor’s office was “envisioning the role in collaboration” with the LGBTQ+ community and that the mayor’s office would “work with the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council to interview candidates.”
“The LGBTQ+ Advisory Council will be very much … in the weeds of helping hire this individual [and] identify finalists,” Rosa said at the time.
But when asked during the May 7 meeting about the advisory council’s involvement in hiring the director, Mathers said she was not yet sure what the process would look like.
Robert Castillo, another LGBTQ+ Advisory Council member, spoke about his experiences serving on an earlier iteration of the council under Mayor Richard M. Daley in the ‘90s, when Mary Morten was selected as the city’s director of Gay and Lesbian issues.
“I was part of the folks that looked and sought a new director, and was part of that process,” Castillo said. “I would hope that we would make sure we are part of that process again.”
When the chief LGBTQ+ officer role was proposed in 2024, city officials said they intended for the position to be grant-funded for three years. But Mathers said during the May 7 meeting that the mayor’s office was not able to secure grants for the position and instead found money within the city’s budget to create it.
“It is going to be held in the mayor’s office, and it is a full-time position,” Mathers said. “It has no end date and is not capped by any sort of grant cycle or by outside sources.”
Other changes to the position include its salary, which is listed at $100,476-$102,456 in the job posting—down from the $120,000-$160,000 salary Rosa described in August 2024.
Rosa said at the time the salary was intended “to attract top talent.”
Rosa also said the chief LGBTQ+ officer would be tasked with developing a five-year, citywide framework and plan to make sure that the LGBTQ+ community’s needs are being met. That framework would then be used to develop a formal office dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community, Rosa said at the time.
“Once that framework is developed, then we’re able to decide how the office should be structured and how the funding should be dedicated for the office,” Rosa said.
The current job description for the director of LGBTQ+ affairs does not mention the creation of a larger LGBTQ+ office.
While more details on the role and its hiring process were sparse, Mathers said she was open to continuing the conversation beyond the advisory council’s meeting.
“In the spirit of a packed agenda, I’m wondering if we could move this to another format, and I’m happy to open it up to anybody who does want to have that conversation,” Mathers said.
