Both LGBT-specific positions in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office have been axed in budget cutbacks, Windy City Times has learned.
Affected are longtime lesbian activist Vernita Gray, community outreach specialist and Anne Huffman, LGBT hate crime victim specialist.
The two held the only official LGBT positions at that office.
"It will have a detrimental impact of the victims of crime in our office," said Sally Daly, a States Attorney spokesperson, adding that the cuts will slow down cases and undermine victim support.
Gray has worked in the State's Attorney's office for nearly two decades. She was laid off in February in an initial round of cuts but reinstated later. She is currently on medical disability leave.
Huffman has held her position for nine years. Her position ends Dec. 3.
Huffman said she got the news on Nov. 3, just days before the high-profile Daniel Hauff hate crime trial began.
"I was shocked," Huffman told Windy City Times. "I was angry, trying to keep my anger to a minimum…I don't understand how this is a position not deemed necessary."
Gray said that she had not been informed of Huffman's position being cut. Her call was dropped before she could comment on her own position. She could not be reached for follow-up despite multiple attempts.
According to Huffman, her position included flagging misdemeanor crimes as possible hate crimes, supporting LGBT victims of crime in court, consulting with lawyers in the States Attorney's office on LGBT language and issues and fielding calls from the Center on Halsted's Anti-Violence Project.
Gray was doing outreach to local schools, educating around hate crimes, bullying and other LGBT-related issues.
According to Daly, approximately 14 of the 84 victim witness advocates have been cut. An estimated 113 State's Attorney's employees will be laid off.
Huffman's position is the only "specialty unit" to be cut. The three that remain are a Polish advocate, disability advocate and a senior citizen advocate. Other victim witness advocates are assigned courtrooms. Huffman roamed between courtrooms and often between Cook County buildings, sometimes literally holding the hands of hate crime victims.
Daly said the proposed cuts came from Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and that they were made through a collective bargaining process with the State's Attorney's union, AFSCME Council 31.
"We didn't want to make any cuts to our budget. We're understaffed as it is," Daly said.
The proposed cuts to the State's Attorney's budget total $6 million, 6.7 percent of the office's operating budget.
Huffman said that she believes many LGBT victims take cases to court because they are told that an LGBT advocate will be present for them throughout the process.
"My fear is that [ the States Attorney's Office ] won't be as welcoming a place without someone of my title there," she said. "I'm also fearful that a lot of cases that should be charged as hate crimes will not be charged that way."
Also worried about Huffman's layoff is Lisa Gilmore, director of education and victim advocacy at Center on Halsted. Huffman regularly referred LGBT victims to the Center's Anti-Violence Project for support, Gilmort said. Further, Gilmore worries that LGBT victims will be forced to go through a difficult and sometimes discriminatory system without support.
"Almost everyone I have worked with who has worked with a victim witness advocate said 'I am so glad there was a victim witness advocate because I would not know what was going on,'" Gilmore said. "My biggest fear around this is that LGBT survivors of violence are going to experience re-victimization."
According to Gilmore, while many victims choose not to report hate crimes because the either don't believe in the criminal justice system, because they don't trust it or because they, those who wish to proceed but are scared are often aided in starting the process because of Huffman's position.
Huffman said that she had little warning of the layoff. She said she was told that layoffs were based on seniority, but she has suspicions this was not the case.
One thing that may have impacted her employment, Huffman speculated, was a leave of absence she took earlier in the year. Huffman was out on medical leave of absence for three months during the summer. She returned to working full-time in the fall.
Earlier this year when Gray was laid off a first time, she told the paper she "was shocked."
"This is a loss for our community, to not have this voice in government," Gray told Windy City Times in February. "But change happens, and we see cuts everywhere. I feel so blessed to have done this, to have had this position to represent the community in a real way, it has been phenomenal. To go into the schools, it has been an incredible gift in my life. These are the times we live in."
