Gay life in Chicago this week, back in...

1979

In Gay Chicago's Nothing Personal column, Jon-Henri Damski writes: "AN ADMITTED HOMOSEXUAL. John Wayne Gacy is, as the newspapers report, ‘an admitted homosexual.'

"He also is ‘suspected' of mass murder. He is ‘alleged' to have molested, strangled, and murdered as many as 32 young men and boys.

"The horror of the grim sex and murder has been reported with great caution. Everything he might have done is either ‘alleged,' or ‘suspected,' or reportedly ‘confessed.'

"But no newspaper has been cautious in reporting that Gacy is an ‘admitted homosexual.' This is the only declared fact about Gacy that all the papers seem to state without hesitation."

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In the Gay Chicago gossip column Before Dark & After Dark, written "through the eyes of Bristol Lee," it reads: "Well, if you missed the evening at Carol's or the Ultra Bistro, you missed the two biggest and best events of the evening. Both were filled to the rafters, even the snow couldn't keep all the girls from trashing it up that night. A lot of them looked like they were full of snow, too (sniff, sniff)."

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The Illinois Gay Rights Task Force hold a news conference at the Radisson Hotel to present a gay perspective on the John Wayne Gacy murder case and to call for better services for gay youth. Gay Life reports that two of Gacy's victims had been listed in its missing persons reports.

1986

In this week's Gay Chicago an obituary written by William B. Kelley begins: "Attorney Paul R. Goldman February 2, 1906 – Chicago attorney Paul R. Goldman, who handled legal matters for thousands of gay and lesbian Chicagoans during a 56 year career, died Jan. 3, one month short of his 80th birthday.

"He began representing gay clients in the era when every state criminalized gay sexual conduct and when anti-gay police harassment was common. He continued doing so through the gay civil rights and gay liberation period of the 1960s and ‘70s, on into the 1980s when increasingly strong gay community institutions are being tested by the AIDS crisis."

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Ad in Gay Chicago reads: "Man's Country now featuring a snack bar with White Castle Burgers in addition to the best hot dogs in town, Vienna Beef Hot Dogs. Be gay the new way! The safe way! Be social! 5015 N. Clark St.

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Local gay and lesbian political groups include CARGO (Chicago Area Republican Gay Organization), Democratic Socialists of America Gay and Lesbian Branch, the Prairie State Democratic Club, and OPEN (Organization to Promote Equality Now).

2001

A headline in Windy City Times reads: "Prison Accused of Keeping AIDS Meds from PWA."

The article begins: "When Michael Cegur, 43, was brought to the Will County Adult Detention Facility in September, one of the first things he told officials was that he was HIV-positive and would need access to his medications.

"Ten days and 22 pounds later, Cegur never got his medications or the double meals he was promised, despite a jail policy mandating that he receive them and be medically cared for."

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Quote in Windy City Times Quotelines: "Will & Grace. It points out the major difference between gay men and straight men in New York City. The gay men have girlfriends." – Entertainment Weekly.

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In the bars and clubs this week, 3 girls 3, current and former female employees perform songs from Burt Bacharach and Hal David at Davenport's 1383 N. Milwaukee; every Tuesday "slip into something sexy & join us for our Cosmopolitan Martini Party at the Kit Kat Lounge and supper club, 3700 N. Halsted St.; Amy Armstrong headlines in "A Gershwin Revue" at Voltaire, 3441-43 N. Halsted St.; resident DJ Steve Maestro spins on hip hop night with special DJ Ron Carroll at the Rails, 1675 N. Elston; Girbar, 2625 N. Halsted, celebrates Jennifer Cadieux's birthday party; it's a Dick Weekend at Cell Block, 3701 N. Halsted. Friday: Glory Hole Fetish. Saturday is Cut/Uncut Night. Sunday Big Dick Contest; and cuddle up with a Great Lake Bear at Touché, 6412 N. Clark St.

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Quote in this week's Gay Chicago:

"We're about reconciling people to God, even if they can't be reconciled to their church." – Karen Dickman, referring to Fox Valley Community Church, an affiliate of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.

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AIDS Care presents "Fat Ball, color, light and magic" a mystical tour of Mardi Gras and Cirque du Soleil all under a big top at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Chicago.

Homework

Is the Rails still open?

What really happened to Voltaire?

Who won the Big Dick contest at Cell Block? Just curious...

Thanks go to publishers Michael Bergeron for Chicago Gay Crusader, Ralph and Craig Gernhardt for Gay Chicago, Grant Ford and Chuck Renslow for Gay Life, Malone Sizelove for Babble/Gab, and Tracy Baim for all the publications at the Windy City Media Group, which aided the above research. St. Sukie de la Croix is an internationally published reporter, playwright, photographer and historian. He is also the author of Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

Attached images:
Cover of Gay Chicago – Gay Chicago October 18, 1984
What the F**K Holidays ­– Nightspots December 25, 2002
Bjork Showcase – Nightspots September 10 September 2003
Cowboy at Annex 3 – Nightspots September 24, 2003