Mayor Brandon Johnson has appointed Antonio King as Chicago’s Director of LGBTQ+ Affairs.
King is a longtime city employee and LGBTQ+ health advocate who previously served as the LGBTQ+ Health and Outreach Liaison at the Chicago Department of Public Health. His appointment comes after years of calls from advocates for a more visible, centralized point person on LGBTQ+ policy at City Hall.
While Chicago has had LGBTQ+ liaisons and advisory structures under previous administrators, King’s appointment marks the first time that work has been elevated to an executive level inside the mayor’s office.
“I’m building on the foundations that were laid by people like Mary Morten and Bill Greaves,” King said. “We’re at a time where we have a federal administration that is so adversarial to the LGBTQ+ community, including our trans siblings who are under attack. It’s important to have this role working with this mayor, at this moment in history, to show that we are supported in Chicago.”
As director of LGBTQ+ affairs, King will work within the mayor’s office to develop an LGBTQ+ policy plan aimed at strengthening protections and opportunities for LGBTQ+ Chicagoans. His role will also include guiding LGBTQ+ initiatives and programs, supporting queer-owned businesses and coordinating with other city departments to uplift LGBTQ+ residents.
“I am proud to welcome the city’s first-ever Director of LGBTQ+ Affairs and solidify my administration’s commitment to supporting, partnering with and investing in Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community,” Johnson said in a statement. “Antonio has decades of experience at the city, which equips him to leverage the power of the mayor’s office to better serve LGBTQ+ Chicagoans. This is important now more than ever, as the community faces increasing attacks from the Trump administration.”
King comes to the role after years working as the LGBTQ+ Health and Outreach Liaison at the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH). In that position, King said, his work often extended beyond health, bringing him into contact with multiple city departments to work on a range of quality-of-life issues affecting LGBTQ+ people.
Before joining CDPH, King worked in LGBTQ+ community health and advocacy spaces across Chicago. He is a founding member of the Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus and has held roles at organizations including TaskForce Prevention and Community Services and Howard Brown Health. He also organized Chicago’s first mayoral roundtable with LGBTQ+ people of color.
King said the new role allows him to expand that work with greater authority and reach.
“This position would allow me to take the work that I’ve been doing over the years to the next level,” King said. “In a role that can have additional influence and really affect some change.”
The LGBTQ+ Affairs Director role was first announced in 2024, but its launch was delayed several times.
King said he is approaching the position with a focus on moving quickly, beginning with outreach across city departments and listening to community concerns as the administration develops its LGBTQ+ policy plan.
“Hitting the ground running means addressing as many layers of our community as I can in as little time as possible,” King said. “We’ve been delayed, so I’m making up for lost time.”
King said his priorities span multiple segments of Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community, including queer youth, aging LGBTQ+ adults and transgender and nonbinary Chicagoans, particularly around safety and access to city services.
“I want to make sure that I can reach as many layers of our community as possible,” King said. “We’re not monolithic. We don’t all have the same quality-of-life issues or challenges.”
King will also work closely with the city’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, which advises the mayor on issues affecting LGBTQ+ Chicagoans. King said his role adds full-time capacity to advance the council’s work, noting that its members serve on a volunteer basis.
“For them, that’s volunteer work. For me, it’s part of my job,” King said. “Now there’s someone who can dedicate time and resources to moving their work forward.”
King said the role also places Chicago in a position to model LGBTQ+ inclusion at a time when those rights are being challenged nationally.
He described Chicago as a city that has long prioritized LGBTQ+ safety and civil rights, and said his role will focus on strengthening and coordinating work already happening across city departments.
“My role is to make sure that the work that’s already being done is highlighted, enhanced and supported,” King said. “And that departments know they have a place in the mayor’s office they can go to when they need help moving that work forward.”
King said his focus moving forward will be on building trust, strengthening coordination across City Hall and ensuring LGBTQ+ Chicagoans feel supported and represented.
“The LGBTQ+ community should know they don’t just have a friend in the mayor’s office,” King said. “They have an administration that’s committed to making sure our well-being is protected.”