Circuit judge Tom Chiola's east window view from his 20th floor office of the Daley Center might qualify as one of the best in the city. Walking west from his moderately sized private space, across the hall and into Courtroom 2006, the view for Chiola is equally appealing as he, donned in traditional black robe, drops into the honorable chair behind 'the bench.'
Ten years ago, on March 15, 1994, Chiola became the first openly gay candidate to be nominated by either party for office when he won the Democratic primary for Circuit Court Judge in the 8th Judicial Subcircuit. Facing no Republican opposition in the general election that November, he became the first openly gay candidate elected to any federal, state, county or municipal office in Illinois history.
'When I first decided to go to law school, I was a sociology and social work major down at Illinois State University in Normal, Ill.,' said Chiola, who grew up in Springfield. 'I decided to go to law school when we were still feeling the effects of the Vietnam War. I was very idealistic and wanted to save the world and figured that my career would be involved with all kinds of issues.'
The historically significant political campaign a decade ago featured an upside-down pink triangle in the center of the 'o' in Chiola's last name, branding the 'Let's Make History' posters along the elevated train railways as an obvious sign of his sexual orientation. Among his endorsers were former gubernatorial candidate Dawn Clark Netsch, Cook County Democratic Women, Chicago/Illinois NOW and many others, garnering Chiola the support of voting women.
Once elected, circuit court judges appear on the ballot for retention every six years. Chiola's next retention vote comes up in 2006.
Although Chiola's first job out of college was in Springfield with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, he transferred to Chicago in 1978 and transitioned into the Attorney General's office in the environmental control division, prosecuting polluters. At the time, he volunteered as a board member of The Advocates for the Handicapped and was a volunteer attorney for the legal clinic for the disabled. Chiola, already in his first long-term relationship at that point, was out to family and co-workers and would take his partner to office functions.
'When I went out into private practice, I was practicing in a small firm and before I accepted the job, I made sure in the job interview it was a topic of discussion because I didn't want somewhere later, after I'd accepted the job, for it to end up being a problem for anyone,' he said. 'When I was asked to become the general counsel of the state department of professional regulation under Gov. Edgar, I made sure in my job interview with the governor's chief counsel that it was a topic of discussion because I didn't want six months down the road for some campaign contributor of the governor to come in and say 'you've got one of those working for you; what are you going to do about it?' I was assured it was not going to be an issue.'
Each time Chiola has made a career move, the topic has been openly discussed, though sometimes at the initiation of others.
'When I first was elected to the bench, there were some rumors that got back to me that some judges were overheard to say 'Well gee, where are they going to assign him? Juvenile?' and then laughter after that,' Chiola recalled. 'The Chief Judge at the time was aghast when I related those things and was horrified to think there were people on the bench who would have those kinds of attitudes.'
Despite the opinions handed out by some conservative judges in this country, Chiola upholds his and his peers' true responsibility.
'The legislature decides what's right for the people and our duty is to enforce the law as it is written by the legislature unless it somehow violates a state or federal constitutional provision that the people retain certain individual liberties under,' he explained. 'Those issues are rare. Judges have the ability to interpret the law, but I took my oath to say that, in interpreting the law, we have years of history of how we're supposed to go about doing that and we shouldn't be interjecting our personal notions of what the law should be into what the legislature has decided to do UNLESS it violates a fundamental constitutional provision.
'If someone would go off and get married in Massachusetts, if that ultimately becomes legal, and comes back to Illinois and seeks to enforce the provisions of that marriage contract here and that comes before a judge who is gay or lesbian, that's going to be a difficult position for that individual, no doubt. But I think it's going to be a difficult position for any judge in looking at how we apply these apparently conflicting provisions. We've got a long road on these issues.'
Chiola, a recognizable face among Chicago's Frontrunners walking and running club and also a competitive triathlete, donated many hours early in his career toward social issues that held importance for him.
'In the mid-'80s, the AIDS crisis was starting to loom—although we didn't call it AIDS at that time—and, unfortunately, the legal clinic for the disabled refused to take people who had this 'GRID' (a previous acronym for AIDS),' he said. 'When they refused to take those people, I got together with a couple of other attorneys and we expanded on a program at Howard Brown Clinic to start our own legal program for people with AIDS. We enlisted dozens of attorneys to assist people who had very real problems with insurance companies who were refusing to pay benefits, hospitals who were hounding them to pay their bills, employers who were giving them a hard time. This was the mid-'80s, at a time when we were just getting into the extent of the crisis.'
Accepting an elected political post redefined the activities in which Chiola could participate.
'You have to give up your political activism once you hit the bench,' he said. 'I still have a measure of freedom of speech, but it's certainly limited in terms of an advocacy kind of role.'
In 1995, Chiola was among the group of attorneys making a proposal to the state Supreme Court to add sexual orientation to the rules applicable to judges and attorneys for the state of Illinois. With the 2000 election cycle, the group succeeded in getting that proposal instituted.
Pictures from competing in various athletic events, of his family and his current partner, Drew Jemilo, add life and love to the law book backdrop behind Chiola's desk and throughout the room. Shrouding the personal side of his life from co-workers and the general public is not even a consideration.
'There's always a balance and you have to decide which way you want that balance,' the veteran judge said. 'I always thought it was much preferable to be able to talk about all of my life and not worry about changing pronouns and who I did things with and what I was doing. Having that lifted is such a stress reliever. I've always maintained that the more matter-of-fact you make your life and the fact that you're gay, everybody else makes it matter-of-fact as well. When you're secretive about it and you go around and people know, then they think you don't want to talk about it and that somehow you're ashamed of it and, therefore, they don't want to invade your privacy and it just becomes a problem. Be who you are and everything else falls into place.'
