Two longtime aldermanic allies of Chicago's LGBT community are stepping down from public life after more than 40 years of collective service, according to announcements made last week. Aldermen Helen Shiller and Mary Ann Smith represent the 46th and 48th wards respectively, each with significant numbers of LGBT residents. ( They are joining 43rd Ward Alderman Vi Daley in leaving office. )
Shiller came to power during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1987 when funding to combat the disease was "woefully lacking," according to Lori Cannon, a decades-long Shiller supporter. "Helen Shiller is one of the unsung heroes of not just the gay community but of the AIDS community," added Cannon. "She saw that people were dropping like flies. [ The epidemic ] washed over [ Chicago ] like a wave."
Shiller was instrumental in securing funding from city coffers to fight the disease and to provide services to those who had been diagnosed, including securing space for an AIDS hospice in her Uptown ward despite the resistance the project received from some area residents. "She made it her mission to help get funding [ for HIV ] ," Cannon said. "She did whatever it took. Standing alongside us the whole time was Helen Shiller."
Smith's story of allegiance to Chicago's LGBT community is similar. Along with Shiller, Smith, early on, backed the city's human-rights and domestic-partner ordinances, which ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and provide some level of benefits to LGBT residents of the city, respectively. Smith, who took office in 1989, was among the first aldermen to hire openly gay staffers. Openly gay state Rep. Greg Harris, Smith's former chief of staff, told Windy City Times that "since the beginning [ Smith ] has led the way in advancing the cause of LGBT people in the city."
Shiller, who was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame as a friend of the community in 2000, "will be missed," said Michael O'Connor, a founder of the Rocks Coordinating Committee, which organizes a Black LGBT Pride and HIV-testing event on the lakefront each year. O'Connor praised Shiller's longstanding support for the group and its efforts. He called Shiller a rare "health policy reformer."
Shiller and Smith have sometimes been derided and praised as "lakefront liberals" from backers and opponents. But their policies together have helped to change a city once closed to the idea of providing equal rights to its LGBT residents. " [ Shiller ] was a supporter of this community when no one else was, including Mayor Daley," Cannon said.
Shiller plans to spend her time in political retirement advocating for affordable and equitable housing, while Smith will continue to examine issues surrounding the city's water quality, according to news reports.
