Openly gay attorney Jon Forrest Erickson is taking the political plungehe will be running for Circuit Court Judge, 8th Subcircuit. His friend Lisa Hernandez of the band Stewed Tomatoes and of Materville Studios, the production team behind Windy City Radio, sat down with Erickson to discuss his campaign.
WCMG: I hear you are a candidate for judge of the Circuit Court? Where do you stand on the issues?
Jon Erickson: Yes, I am a candidate for Judge in the 8th Subcircuit, which includes most of the north lakefront. We began lining up political support as early as last winter as the result of on-going conversations, going back several years, that I have had with a handful of sitting judges who have been urging me to run. As for the issues, judicial candidates are precluded by the Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct from discussing the issues, so I can only talk to you about my qualifications. Sorry.
WCMG: So, everywhere I go I hear your name, why do you think there is such a big buzz around you?
JE: One of the things that we are most proud of is that we've really made an effort, and I think we've been successful, in reaching out to a lot of people in the community that don't ordinarily get involved in electoral politics. And in a short time we have put together an extremely large grass-roots organization.
WCMG: We hear so much about the 'Gay Agenda,' why do you think it's important to have gay representatives on the Circuit Court?
Jon Erickson: The gay and lesbian community's battle for equal treatment under the law is a fight that is fought on many fronts, and that battleground is often the criminal justice system. There are many crimes that deeply effect our community such as hate crimes and same-sex domestic violence, and those are regularly dealt with by our criminal courts. As participants in the system, whether as victims, defendants or witnesses, gay and lesbian people sometimes have to fight to be treated with dignity and respect. So, as a result, it is of the utmost importance that our frontline criminal justice professionals have a sensitivity to, and understanding of, our sometimes unique culture and needs.
WCMG: What makes you a good candidate for the gay/lesbian community?
JE: You have to understand that lawyers with the Public Defender's Office don't go to court like other lawyers. We are, for the most part, in a courtroom all day, every day. It is virtually our office. And we can handle as much as 90-95% of the cases. So you really develop an intimate knowledge of how a courtroom works … or should work, from the inside out. And for the last four or five years of my time with the Public Defender, I was fortunate enough to work at Belmont and Western, which is the courthouse that hears most of the crime that arises along the North Lakefront. And because the North Lakefront is where so many of us in the GLBT community live and work, Belmont and Western may be the gayest courthouse in the Midwest.
WCMG: You've also been instrumental in enacting legislation that would benefit all communities. Tell us more about that.
JE: I spent almost two years working as a Public Defender in the Domestic Violence courtrooms here in Chicago, and discovered some weaknesses in the way that victims obtained protection from their abusers. So while working as a legislative aide to State Rep. Larry McKeon, I authored the Illinois Immediate Order of Protection Act of 1998, which expedited the process whereby domestic violence victims could obtain an order of protection. I wanted to see victims be, not just safe, but safer, sooner. I also played a part in tightening the Illinois Hate Crime Statute in an attempt to provide prosecutors with the tools they need to prosecute perpetrators of hate crimes. And most recently, I proposed legislation to add GLBT organizations and GLBT social-service providers, such as Test Positive Aware Network or the Center on Halsted, to the list of protected parties in the Illinois Institutional Vandalism Statute. You can think of the Illinois Institutional Vandalism Statute as the sister statute to the Illinois Hate Crime Statute, in that it protects churches, schools, and community centers from hate-motivated damage. Sexual orientation was left off of the list.
WCMG: Tell us about some of your other community involvement.
JE: Most recently I was chosen to be among several other frontline criminal justice professionals to represent Chicago at the National Institute Against Hate Crimes and Terrorism at the Simon Weisenthal Center in Los Angeles. We met for close to a week with other practitioners from around the country to develop new strategies to combat hate crime and terrorism. I have served on the 23rd Police District Gay and Lesbian Advisory Board and the Cook County State's Attorney's Domestic Violence Task Force. I also had the honor of serving on Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's Transitional Team in the areas of civil rights, hate crime, and domestic violence.
WCMG: Tell us about some of the political support you've been getting
JE: Well I have been lucky to amass some fairly substantial political support in our efforts to win this race. Among those who have endorsed and are supporting me are; State Rep.Larry McKeon; 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney; U.S. Congressman Rahm Emmanuel; 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O'Connor; Cook County Commissioner, a good friend of mine, a wonderful commissioner and a good friend to the gay and lesbian community, Mike Quigley; State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz; Committeeman Bernie Hanson; and Rick Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois.
WCMG: You write a legal advice column?
JE: In addition to my private practice and my political work, I write a bi-weekly column in a local magazine, and we are currently in negotiations to have the column syndicated, where readers write in and ask a legal question. Usually the questions I answer relate somehow to the gay and lesbian community. For example, a reader just wrote in that he was leaving one of the bars on Halsted Street and he was attacked. His question was whether or not his case could be prosecuted as a hate crime. So in my answer, I lay out what constitutes a hate crime and sort of take him by hand and walk through the process of what one does if one feels that they have been the victim of a hate crime.
WCMG: If people want to volunteer or leave a donation, how can they get in touch with you?
JE: Now that's a good question. We can be reached at 773-875-4646 or see www.herecomesthejudge.com .