title
PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING THE LEGACY OF RICK GARCIA AND CONTINUING THE FIGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
WHEREAS, after a four-decade career pushing for gay rights in Chicago, Rick Garcia, the hard-hitting political heavyweight who kept a laser focus on civil rights leaves behind a legacy as one of the city’s most influential behind-the-scenes political strategists, known for his deep relationships and focus on winning concrete policy change, passed on January 12, 2026; and
WHEREAS, in the late 1980s, Garcia was one of the “Gang of Four,” a group of activists who took the helm of the final, successful stage of a 15-year struggle to pass a Chicago ordinance, originally proposed in 1973, against sexual-orientation discrimination; and
WHEREAS, Garcia was deeply involved in Chicago’s municipal LGBTQ+ organizing and was among the leaders of the Gay and Lesbian Town Meeting, a community organization formed to spearhead passage of the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance, which the City Council approved in December 1988 under Mayor Eugene Sawyer; and
WHEREAS, Garcia and his colleagues turned their attention to a campaign for securing similar protection at the county level after the successful passage of the Chicago ordinance. In 1993, after Garcia, his friends, and colleagues helped to shape and lobby for it, the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance was enacted; and
WHEREAS, in 1992, Garcia was a founder of the Illinois Federation for Human Rights, which was renamed Equality Illinois in 2000, and remains a leading force on LGBTQ+ issues statewide; and
WHEREAS, Garcia successfully pushed to have anti-gay attacks in Chicago classified as hate crimes, spearheaded campaigns that banned discrimination against LGBTQ people across Illinois, and helped lead the push to legalize gay marriage in Illinois in 2013; and
WHEREAS, Garcia remained a fierce transgender ally, refusing to support the Illinois Human Rights Act unless it included explicit protections based on gender identity. As a result, Illinois became one of the first states in the nation to clearly and fully protect transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming individuals from discrimination; and
WHEREAS, in a time of unrest and uncertainty nationwide, we must continue to remember the history of our advancement of civil and human rights that activists like Rick Garcia, Art Johnston, Laurie Dittman, Jon-Henri Damski, and many more here in Illinois fearlessly fought for; and
WHEREAS, Garcia’s legacy paved the way for LGBTQ+ leadership across the state, including the 1994 election of Cook County Judge Thomas Chiola, the first openly LGBTQ person elected to public office in Illinois, Tom Tunney, Chicago’s first openly gay alderman, and Greg Harris, Illinois’ first gay representative openly living with HIV and first openly gay person in Illinois to become a member of Legislative Leadership, among others; and
WHEREAS, even as Illinois and Cook County are now steadfast in the protection of the LGBTQ+ community, our attention must turn to the nationwide fight for our neighbors as courts, state legislatures, and other governments institutions aim to strip them of the same rights that Rick Garcia successfully defended here; and
WHEREAS, Rick Garcia used unlikely partners, grassroots organizing, and behind-the-scenes tactics to enshrine gay rights in legislation across the state with overwhelming majorities stacked against him. Garcia’s legacy and what we must take with us as we continue on is that the fight is never over, and there is always more to be done.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Cook County Board of Commissioners honors the life and legacy of Rick Garcia and sends our deepest sympathies to his loved ones. A copy of this resolution will hereby be presented to his family and loved ones.
end