State’s Attorney honors LGBTQ+ achievers
On June 25, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and Center on Halsted presented the 15th Annual Pride Recognition and Awards Ceremony.
This year’s honorees included activist Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner and activist Precious Brady-Davis; Roderick K. Hawkins, who has served as both communications director at Advance Illinois and deputy chief of staff of public engagement in the office of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, and is currently the associate dean of external affairs at Northwestern University; and James L. Bennett, who was instrumental in Lambda Legal’s efforts to win Marriage Equality in Illinois and currently serves as the Director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights. Bennett received the Vernita Gray Lifetime Achievement Award.
The evening got started with a brief reception, then Emmy Award-winning producer Matthew Rodriquez took to the stage of the Hoover-Leppen Theater. After opening remarks from Gavin Quinn, president of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group, the award portion of the evening started.
The first award recipient was Brady-Davis, who only spoke briefly before leaving to catch a plane to Washington D.C.
As he accepted his award, Hawkins said, “Two weeks ago, I was on a Pride month panel and I was asked, ‘What does Pride mean to me?’ My answer was threefold: Honor the past, celebrate the present, and prepare for the future.”
He added, “We stand on the shoulders of giants, many unsung who put their lives on the line to pave the way for us. Legends like Marsha P. Johnson, Silvia Rivera, Bayard Rustin and countless others. I celebrate the present by acknowledging the victories we have won.
“Which brings me to preparing for the future. It is no secret that there are people who are doing everything in their power to strip every right we have to exist. They’re organized, they are determined, and they are relentless. Especially those who are bad built, bleach blonde, butch bodied…some are orange.”
In closing, Hawkins said, “James Baldwin once said, ‘It is certain in any case that ignorance allied with power is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.’ But I believe that we are stronger…we are smarter…and we are more strategic…and we’re a damn sure much better-looking.”
When Bennett got to the stage he joked, “I have to admit that this feels very weird. It’s (the award) named for Vernita Gray who was a dear friend, and it’s a lifetime achievement award which either gives me permission to stop or it’s somehow predicting my upcoming death.”
He also said, “We don’t always get to see the future we’re fighting for. But if we’re lucky, we get to reach some of the milestones—and that’s pretty amazing.”
On a more pensive note, he said, “When I think back to any of the fights for good that I’ve been a part of I rarely think of our opposition. … They belong stuck in the past, forgotten. What I think of is all of you, so much of my family of choice was formed in the celebration of struggle.”
In closing Bennett said, “If I’ve done anything close to being worthy of this award, it’s to make the table bigger and to include everyone who wanted to play their part—and to at least be present with my friends at the table, whether for LGBTQ issues or the intersection of ‘they’ and ‘we’ are a part of.”