Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office is close to hiring the city’s long-awaited LGBTQ+ affairs director.
The position, which the administration first announced June 2024, has been delayed for months as the mayor’s office worked through interviews, staffing changes and candidate review.
But at the Dec. 3 meeting of Chicago’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, officials said an offer is expected to go out by the end of the week, potentially putting an end to a lengthy process to fill an important role.
Sara Mathers, chief of community engagement for the mayor’s office and the staff member currently overseeing the council, told members they are nearing the finish line.
“It has been a long process,” Mathers said at the meeting. “We are very close to making a hire. We will be making an offer by the end of this week.”
Mathers added that while she would not name the finalist yet, she felt good about the pool of candidates and the final rounds of interviews.
“We will have an LGBTQ+ affairs director announced by the end of this week, if they take the position,” Mathers said. “That does not mean you are getting rid of me… I’m going to help the transition of this individual, and I want to be invited to everything.”
Several council members participated in rounds of candidate interviews, Mathers said, thanking them for their involvement in the search.
The hire is expected to serve as the administration’s primary liaison to LGBTQ+ communities and develop Chicago’s first LGBTQ+ policy plan.
Miguel Blancarte, Jr., a councilmember who led the meeting in place of Chair Jin-Soo Huh, noted how long the council has pushed for the position’s appointment.
Of the mayor’s 5 engagement advisory councils, the LGBTQ+ one has been the only council without a member of the community as their staff liaison, he said. Mathers is an ally.
“It’s very exciting to know that an offer will be made, and hopefully they do accept it sooner rather than later,” Blancarte said. We’ve been waiting for this and it’s a role that we really have been advocating [for].”
The new director comes as the council works to fill four open seats, which was an intensive process that unexpectedly drew heavy interest. Nearly 90 people applied for the vacancies, an unprecedented number, according to Robert Castillo, who has sat on three iterations of the LGBTQ+ advisory council throughout his life.
“I’ve never seen a pool of 89 people apply to be members of the advisory council,” Castillo said. “That really makes my heart swell to see that much interest.”
The membership committee narrowed the applicant pool to eight finalists, following a thorough process developed by Huh. Under city rules, Johnson selects the final four appointees, who must then be confirmed by City Council.
Mathers said Johnson’s selections are still pending but expected soon.
Because only four applicants will be selected, council members also discussed how to involve the many people who expressed interest but won’t receive appointments, including ways for community members to plug into the council’s work throughout the year.
Members hope the incoming LGBTQ+ affairs director will help shape and oversee that engagement strategy once they begin their role.