July 11 - July 17, 2013

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

1982

Richard Pfeiffer, president of the Gay and Lesbian Pride Week Planning Committee, and Ann Green, of Parents and Friends of Gays, appear on the News Plus program on the Continental Cable Co. Network, each discussing their own organization.

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Gay and Lesbian Outings host a picnic in the park for new and prospective members, starting at 6.30 p.m. The group meets across the pond from the south end of the Lincoln Park Gun Club, east of Lake Shore Drive at Diversey Parkway and the lake. People are invited to bring Frisbees, volleyballs, and other sports equipment, along with a picnic supper.

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"Gay Is Out," by the Chicago-based performance troupe Horses, Inc. is screened at Chicago Filmmakers, 6 W. Hubbard St. Horses describes "Gay Is Out" as "a realm of punched up reality in which cliché personifications of gay culture replace three-dimensional people, offering a satiric viewpoint of a culture that has been derogatorily labeled and defined by its proponents and antagonists alike." [St Sukie: Whatever that means!]

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In Gay Life: "New Archbishop 'approachable,' Dignity says."

"The Most Rev. Joseph L. Bernardin, who on Aug. 25 will be installed as the seventh archbishop of Chicago, once served as a theological consultant to the historic Second Vatican Council in 1963-65. Since then, he has served as an archetype of the Roman Catholic prelate the council envisioned–cooperative rather than authoritarian in dealing with his professional subordinates, open to full participation by the laity in church affairs and concerned about the social issues that face the larger human community."

2000

Girl Power singers this week include Aerin Tedesco Unplugged at Girlbar, 2625 N. Halsted; Tracy Chapman is at the United Center with Sting; Joan Armatrading is at the House of Blues; Starbucks, WXRT and Jam present Ellen Rosner in concert, 2525 N. Clark St.; Evil Beaver are at Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western; and Michelle Malone, Ellen Rosner, Valerie James and Kimi Hayes are at Edgewater Days.

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In the bars and clubs this week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Mark Farris performs at Gentry, 44 N. State St.; the hilarious Charlene Unger hosts the Sunday Brunch at Voltaire, 3441-43 N. Halsted; Buddies, 3301 N. Clark St., hosts a "Buddies' Best of the Country Butt Contest," with cash prizes for the hairiest, smoothest, and hardest butt; Pete Frazier "Majestic Slide" is live at Circuit, 3641 N. Halsted, along with Michael Avroy and Marzette Griffith. Also Miss Ketty; Dance 1 will be videotaping at Hunters, 1932 E. Higgins Road, everyone is welcome to join in the fun and dance; Precious Moments Revue starring Precious, China, Miss Edge and SoFonda Peters is at the Edge, 13126 S. Western Ave., Blue Island; Windy City Naturists meet for their club night at Cellblock, 3702 N. Halsted; and every Sunday, with host Indigo Blue, Amailia Black, Tajhee Iman, Tiara Russell, are at East of the Ryan, 914 E. 79th St.

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Sukie de la Croix's "Chicago Whispers" column in Outlines includes this memory:

Lavender University ...

"People would literally share their experiences, they would teach classes, cooking, gay and lesbian history, whatever talent you had. Then we would print up a brochure on what people could share. It was like a university sharing type of thing. I think a lot of it was free. I did a course at that point of what we knew of gay history in Chicago. It was myself, Bill Kelley, and someone else, just sharing what we had known at that time. It lasted maybe a year, a year and a half." – Richard Pfeiffer

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Quotelines in this week's Outlines:

"We have decided we will not continue our advertising on the 'Dr. Laura' radio program. GEICO is an equal opportunity employer and does not condone discrimination of any type directed toward any minority" – Statement from GEICO company.

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Highly acclaimed and respected lesbian Jewish folksinger, Alix Dobkin, joins Congregation Or Chadash for services at 656 W. Barry

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There's a Cher Fan Convention at the Congress Plaza Hotel, with impersonators and others in contest, dinners, sales, trades etc.

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The Rogers Park Gay and Lesbian Neighbors Beach Party and BBQ is at Morse Avenue Beach.

2002

In this week's Gay Chicago:

"Ron Pajak, filmmaker and instructor at Columbia College in the Department of Film and Video, has been working on a documentary about the early history of Chicago's lesbian and gay community and is seeking archival photos and home movies or other memorabilia from house parties, group outings, bar events, early activist activities or anything pertaining to the lesbian or gay community for use in the film. He says that he fears many shoeboxes of old pictures and Super-8 films are being necessarily neglected or trashed, much of which he feels would be vital to his history project."

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Rainbow Lotus Sangha: Lesbian Buddhist teacher Arinna Weisman, who teaches in the Vipassana tradition and is co-author of the book "A Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation," leads a meditation and gives a dharma talk at the Integrative Medicine Center, 938 W. Nelson.

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Chicago Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce hosts "Let Them Eat Cake," featuring both professional and amateur chefs, $10 donation, includes a silent auction. Takes place at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted.

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In Windy City Times:

"Former Chicago resident Frederick Mason Jr., an African-American gay man who survived an alleged brutal 2000 attack by police in a West Side police station, announces that he was paid an out-of-court settlement in the amount of $20,000.

"Mason, 32, was clearly moved during the July 16 press conference, held at Amnesty International Midwest regional Headquarters, 53 W. Jackson. However, he declined to respond why he had decided to drop the $2.5 million civil-rights lawsuit that he had filed in U.S. District Court against two police officers and the city."

Gay Chicago Photo Rewind

Windy City Times August 8, 1986

Gay Chicago May 13, 2010 at Velvet Rope

Gay Chicago June 18, 1987. He is so cute and a very young Miss Ketty there ...

The wonderful Dave Ouana photographs in Chicago Free Press July 18, 2007

Homework

Indigo Blue, Amailia Black, Tajhee Iman, Tiara Russell. Are these gals still around?

Did anyone go to that Cher convention?

Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin ... Gay? Any thoughts?

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, David Costanza and others for Chicago Free Press, Jeff McCourt for Windy City Times, Stacy Bridges and Mark Nagel for GRAB, 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.