JUDGE TOM CHIOLA (RETIRED)

In 1994, Tom was the first openly gay candidate elected to office in Illinois when he won a seat as Cook County Circuit Court Judge.  He served as the first President of the Alliance of Illinois Judges which was formed by the gay and lesbian Judges in Cook County to serve as a resource to fellow Judges throughout Illinois and as mentors to LGBT attorneys and law students. In 1998 Tom was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.  He was also instrumental in assisting the development of the Legacy Walk and Education Project, resurrecting the history of LGBT+ individuals that has been lost, denied or willfully neglected. 

As the AIDS crisis was rearing its ugly head in the 1980’s, Tom worked with two other attorneys to start the first pro bono project for people with AIDS through the Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago.  Tom also worked as a volunteer for Open Hand meals-on-wheels and grocery center, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and as a board member of the Federation for Human Rights (the precursor of Equality Illinois) and the Gay Athletic Association (which became the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association).  He organized and ran some of the first gay softball, bowling and volleyball leagues and tournaments in Chicago, and he was Race Director for the Proud to Run 5K/10K race in the early 1990’s.

Tom graduated with High Honors from Illinois State University in 1974 and attended the University of Illinois College of Law, graduating in 1977.  He was elected to the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority Board (overseeing the convention center) as a third-year law student in 1976.  In 1978, Tom moved to Chicago and worked for the Illinois Attorney General, and later became the Chief Administrative Law Judge and General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. 

Upon retirement from the bench in 2009, Tom returned to acting and was an ensemble member of Pride Films and Plays whose mission includes finding and nurturing new LGBT stage and screen plays and producing classic LGBT works.  He has also worked with numerous theatre companies in Chicago including Theo Ubique, Steep, Bailiwick Chicago, Hell in a Handbag, Boho, Remy Bumppo, Glitterati, Eclectic and Piccolo and he appeared as Judge Walker in the staged reading of “8” at Illinois State University. Most recently Tom appeared as an ensemble member in The Tragedy of Today’s Gays, a staging of a speech given by playwright and AIDS activist Larry Kramer.