Not boogie shoes – but pride shoes – adorn Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s feet as she prepares to march in the Pride Parade in Chicago Sunday.

Wednesday she honored five members of the LGBTQ community in her office as part of Pride Month activities, and she said her office walks the walk.

“My graphic desgners are both in that community,” said Mendoza. “We don’t really think about it in terms of, are you gay or not, but we think about the value you bring as a human being, and that’s why in our office – I hate using the word accepting, but we are celebratory of people’s differences and diversities, and we welcome that and it makes for a better work environment for everybody.”

Those honored Wednesday:

Billy Rogers, co-founder, Golden Rainbows of Illinois South
Dustin Heuerman, Champaign County sheriff
Erin Reitz, PhD, MBA, NEA-BC, Board Member, Prairie Pride Coalition
Trevor Neff, fundraising and special events coordinator, Central Illinois Friends
April Poole, treasurer, Coalition of Rainbow Alliances (CORAL)   

If you ask why honoring LGBTQ people – or people from one ethnic group or another – is the business of the state’s checkwriter-in-chief, Mendoza will say, anything about Illinois is her business