Longtime LGBTQ+ advocates/activists Evette Cardona and Mona Noriega are among this year’s Chicago Pride Parade Community Grand Marshals.
Cardona and Noriega were chosen alongside author, Press Forward Chicago Executive Director and Windy City Times Co-Founder/Owner Tracy Baim and the Alliance of Illinois Judges (Illinois’ LGBTQ+ judges’ association).
The honorees were chosen through a community nomination process and, according to the Chicago Pride Parade website, “reflect the spirit of this year’s theme, Free to Be Proud—honoring those who have paved the way while affirming the ongoing pursuit of freedom, visibility and justice for all.”
“We were pretty stunned, honored but stunned,” said Cardona and Noriega in a joint statement to this publication. “We kept wondering why they chose us.”
The longtime couple of 30 years and co-founders of Amigas Latinas, which closed in 2015, officially declared their relationship with a domestic registry in 2003, a civil union in 2011 alongside other lesbian and gay couples in Millennium Park and a wedding when marriage equality became legal in Illinois in 2014.
Cardona also co-founded Women of All Colors and Cultures Together (WACT) and recently retired from Polk Bros. Foundation, where she was the vice president of programs, among other roles, in her 27-year career with the organization.
Noriega’s career included her role in helping open Lambda Legal’s Midwest office and later as its regional director; commissioner of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations under Mayors Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot; Illinois Human Rights Commission chair from 2021-2023; and currently as a member of Governor JB Pritzker’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes. She said, “Working for government was about expanding and enforcing the laws that make discrimination illegal and demanding that government serve all of us.”
For Cardona, Free to Be Proud “means I can show up anywhere and everywhere as my full self without having to leave one part of my identity at the door. So, when I walk into queer spaces I don’t have to leave my Latiné identity at the door, and when I walk into Latiné spaces I don’t have to leave my queer identity at the door.
“When I first came out, I felt I had to do this kind of identity selection—am I Latiné first, or am I a lesbian first? But I thank the goddesses that today I feel I am free to be all of my identities all at once all the time wherever I am.”
Cardona said that working with WACT was when “I was first able to find myself and be fully out. And it’s where I found other women like me, other Latinas, who inspired me to create Amigas Latinas, an organization that provided safe space, education and advocacy for Latina women who loved and partnered with women. It was where I was able to finally be my full authentic self.”
The Free to Be Proud theme served as a catalyst for Noriega to reflect on her life. She said in the past it was “exhausting to have to choose which identity would be most accepted in whatever environment. At home or at work do I come out as queer and risk losing family or a job? In my social life and in community will my identity as an activist, a mom or Latiné make me an outsider?”
Noriega added that through her work with Amigas Latinas she was able to see “such a wide spectrum of who a Latina could be.” She said it has been a “privilege” to meet “amazing people” of all ages “who have modeled how to be out and proud and to be our full selves. Free to be proud allows me to challenge self-doubts, as we are our own worse critics, and to dream larger than what the world tells me my possibilities are.”
Additionally, Noriega said she is “most proud” to have claimed and created space “to grow who we were and wanted to be.” She spoke about what it was like to come out as a queer parent at a time when it was dangerous to do so over fears of losing custody: “It was a horrifying threat that always loomed over me. But I also knew the joys of parenthood and the beauty of queer and communities of color.
“In the face of fear, I began to organize lesbian Mother’s Day parties in my home, where the children could run around while we laughed around the kitchen table, or as picnics on the lakefront. Everything thereafter in my life followed from recognizing that we needed to believe in ourselves and in each other if we were going to survive, to dream, to grow.”
Noriega said she never planned on being an activist but in order to live her life and provide for her children she had to “create the world we wanted to live in.
As for the other Community Grand Marshals, Cardona said, “I have admired and respected Tracy and her work since I first met her, which was through Mona. As I got to know Tracy, she became an important role model to me because she never apologized for being a lesbian, she always fought for LGBTQ+ individuals and families who were marginalized even within our own community, and she always supported Mona’s and my work and showed up for us in personal ways when it mattered.”
Noriega said, “Judges are such an important element in seeking and protecting civil rights. It makes me crazy when people do not take the time to research the judges who are running for office, as it is these judges who will make decisions that can be life altering. We never assume that we will be the ones who need to appear in court to remedy or help resolve an issue, but if we are to have faith in the legal system, we need to be sure that the judges we vote into office are fair, insightful, respectful. I am thankful to the Alliance of Illinois Judges who seek to educate their own and ensure that all who come before them will be seen, respected and treated fairly.”
“As Grand Marshals, it means that Mom and Eves can share their joy of being Latina lesbians in Chicago,” said Camellia Noriega. “It also recognizes them as ‘Chingona’ (badass, bold, unapologetic, proud) revolutionaries whose tireless work in Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community has made it possible for this celebration to happen and the recognition is well deserved.
“Mom’s and Eves’ work has always come from their true belief that everyone in the LGBTQ+ community deserves the right to be joyous and share that same joy with others. In these times where LGBTQ+ rights are being attacked across the country, they are an inspiration to everyone and a reminder to each of us, are you being Chingona enough? I’m excited that Mom’s and Eves’ accomplishments are being honored in this way at this year’s Chicago Pride Parade.”
“As her younger brother, Evette always made me feel like I mattered, and not just me, but countless others who were searching for acceptance, guidance or simply someone who understood them,” said Tony Cardona. “Evette has always had this incredible capacity for empathy. She wasn’t just a mentor. She showed a lot of us we belonged. What stands out about Mona is she never stopped pushing forward. She dedicated much of her life to making sure others had opportunities, protections and a voice.
“I think this recognition is so meaningful because of all the work they did for Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community. Being chosen as a Pride Parade Grand Marshals isn’t just about honoring Evette and Mona. It’s about honoring the lives they’ve touched and the path they’ve helped create for others.”
Longtime friend and “unofficial bratty younger sibling” Phoenix Matthews said, “Mona and Evette have always led with authenticity, heart and a deep commitment to uplifting others. Their recognition as Grand Marshals reflects not only their extraordinary activism but also the countless ways they’ve helped people feel seen and free to be proud of who they are.”
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