MEMORIAL RESOLUTION FOR BOARD MEETING OF JANUARY 22, 2026
Title
MEMORIAL RESOLUTION sponsored by the Board of Commissioners celebrating the life of Rick Garcia
Body
WHEREAS, Rick Garcia, a longtime activist who amplified the voice of the gay community and successfully pushed for local gay rights, passed away January 12th at age 69. Mr. Garcia had been a central figure in LGBTQ+ advocacy for decades, blending his connection to the Catholic Church with legislative successes, resulting in civil rights protections for millions of people; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Garcia moved to Chicago in 1986, having already worked for an organization aimed at increasing LGBTQ+ inclusion within the Catholic Church, and decided to employ those strategies and connections in his campaign to pass the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance. When aldermen stated they couldn’t vote for the ordinance due to their Catholic beliefs, Mr. Garcia, who was also Catholic, arranged for those aldermen to meet with nuns -- sometimes even the very nuns who had taught those aldermen -- who spoke with the aldermen and told them that the ordinance actually did not contradict their Catholic beliefs, allowing the aldermen to vote for the ordinance, which passed in 1988; and
WHEREAS, once the Chicago ordinance was in place, Mr. Garcia and other activists then turned to expanding such protections beyond Chicago, on state and national levels. In 1992 Mr. Garcia was a key founder of the Illinois Federation for Human Rights, later renamed Equality Illinois, serving as its founding executive director until 2011. Similar legislation was passed in Cook County in 1993 and at the state level in 2005. Mr. Garcia was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 1999; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Garcia was also a consistent advocate for the transgender community, believing that gender identity must be included with sexual orientation protections. His refusal to support the Illinois Human Rights Act without explicit inclusion of protections for transgender and nonbinary individuals resulted in Illinois becoming one of the first states in the country to offer such protections; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Garcia’s tireless advocacy leaves a legacy of immeasurable impact: expanding civil rights protections for millions of people across Illinois, strengthening the connections between social advocacy and religion, and fostering empowerment within the LGBTQ+ community; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, on behalf of ourselves and our staff, do hereby extend our condolences to the family, friends, and community of Rick Garcia; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Resolution be spread upon the permanent Record of Proceedings of the Board of Commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and that a copy of same, suitably engrossed, be presented to the family of Rick Garcia.
Dated: January 22, 2026