At the end of the March 3 Oak Park Village Board of Trustees meeting, Ray Johnson's resignation from that governing body will take effect. "I can be roasted or toasted at that time," Johnson told his fellow members during his announcement earlier this month.
Johnson was a trustee for 11 years. He also served as a five-year commissioner on the Community Development Citizen Advisory and Planning commissions. "Village government has been the highlight of my life," Johnson said. "In some analogous ways, it's been the love of my life. How fortunate for me to have both a day job and a nights and weekend job that I truly love."
Additional photo spread at the link: www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/photospreadthumbs.php. ]
It is Johnson's day job that will be taking him to New York City. On Jan. 20, he was promoted to the vice president of community investment at HSBC Bank—a company he has been with for the past 31 years. "It's an incredible job opportunity," he told Windy City Times. "I'll be managing our global programs and employee volunteerism in the United States." Johnson intends to live in Brooklyn.
Johnson—who is also the network liaison for HSBC's Pride LGBTQ employee resource group—said he is proud to be part of a company that wants its employees to bring their whole selves to work. "It's encouraged from our president and CEO all the way through the organization," he said. "That if you are, as I am, an openly gay man and if I'm not able to talk about simple things, like what I did over the weekend with my partner, then I am creating barriers and silos for engagement with other colleagues. We're encouraged to talk freely about issues that often divide us, to be advocates for others and to lead by example."
Johnson was born in Michigan and, at the age of 25 and still in the closet, he relocated from Detroit to Oak Park. He believes his success at HSBC has been directly tied to his involvement in the village and that his impending move is actually a testament to the LGBTQ community there. "There's a strong LGBTQ network in Oak Park," he explained. "The Oak Park Area Gay and Lesbian Association ( OPALGA ) offers all kinds of working opportunities for people. I have a support structure; a real family of LGBTQ people here that allowed me to be a better person than I might otherwise have been. They helped me build the kind of confidence that I didn't have when I moved here and that confidence bred the ability to take on challenges that I might not otherwise have attempted."
When he arrived Oak Park, Johnson was solely focused on his career. He maintains that both the atmosphere and the community encouraged him to see life differently. "I had an obligation to look out for others who might be less fortunate, who might need support to accomplish a goal, to get involved."
Johnson said that it wasn't until 1998 that he "fully" came out: "I was already out to friends and had a partner, but it was then that I brought my whole self to work and became an ambassador and advocated for things like the domestic partnership registry, gay marriage and equal benefits. That's what you do in Oak Park. You advocate for better houses, for LGBTQ equality, you focus on schools and faith based organizations that are supportive."
In 1968, Oak Park was one of the first communities in the United States to pass a fair housing ordinance for people of color. "That mindset was a part of the Oak Park DNA," Johnson said. "You saw the community transition from a very conservative/Republican to a progressive community that is clearly focused on electing progressive candidates."
In 1989, Oak Park was the third community in the state to pass civil-rights protections to LGBTQ residents. At the height of the AIDS crisis, a grassroots effort in Oak Park secured housing for people infected with HIV. "At the time, I was volunteering at Illinois Masonic's Unit 371, which was one of the first AIDS wards at a major city hospital," Johnson remembered. "It was where I first witnessed the isolation of people impacted by HIV/AIDS. Their families would abandon them and it was up to volunteers to create a link to the outside world."
Johnson said that it was his 1997 advocacy for the same-sex domestic partnership registry that broke him into what he termed as the "Oak Park Mindset." He had seen a meeting about the issue advertised in the paper and decided to attend. "Everyone [there] was struggling about what to do," he said. "We needed to organize and have a campaign structure and it built from there. We had already advocated for the registry and it had passed, but then some opponents got together to put a referendum on the ballot opposing it. So we had to fight for it twice. Once to get it passed and then to keep it."
In some of the harshest weather Johnson can remember, people went out into the community to knock on doors. "When we won, it was an incredible night—a seminal moment," he said. "You had the gay, lesbian and straight communities and people who were fighting HIV/AIDS and even some faith-based organizations. Everyone came together to win."
Looking back, Johnson said believes that his biggest contribution to the people of Oak Park was to listen. "Even if someone was yelling at me, I listened for the truth and for where I could connect them with someone who could help them with their problem," he said. "I tried not to alienate people and I think, at the end of the day, even if I disagreed with them, they respected me."
He described the reaction to his resignation as one of shock. "But I have received over a hundred personal notes from people I've helped," he said. "We may have never met, but there are just some wonderful people who have told me that I made a difference."
Johnson said that Oak Park will see him again one day, explaining, "Boy, Oak Park would be a great place to come back to and retire. I'm telling everyone that I'm in a New York state-of-mind but my heart's in Oak Park."
Photo caption: Brad Bartels, Joe Langley, Ray Johnson, Jim Kelly and Bruce Broerman at Johnson's March 2 going-away party. Photo by Tracy Baim
Video by Tracy Baim:
Windy City Times: Oak Park Trustee Ray Johnson going-away party 3-2-2014 at the link: www.youtube.com/watch .
