Tom Chiola Collection

Tom Chiola is the first openly gay candidate to have been elected to public office in Illinois, winning a Cook County Circuit Court judgeship in 1994. While serving on IMPACT’s board and as a state agency’s general counsel, he lobbied to pass state and county sexual orientation nondiscrimination laws. He was also an early leader in the gay sports movement and is a longtime AIDS volunteer.

He is best known for being the first openly gay candidate to be elected to public office in Illinois. Before running for judge, Chiola had played other significant parts in local politics. He was among activists who successfully campaigned for passage of the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance in 1993, and he made valuable lobbying contacts with several of Cook County’s governing commissioners from whom he gained support for the measure.

A Chicagoan since 1978, Chiola has also had a high profile in local gay sports circles. He was an early member and is a past director and softball league commissioner of the Metropolitan Sports Association. He helped to organize numerous pioneer gay sporting events and organizations and is an active runner, swimmer, bowler, and volleyball player. He helped develop pro bono legal services for persons with AIDS and has actively aided programs of the NAMES Project and of Open Hand Chicago, for which he volunteers every week as one of its food pantry workers.