October 20-26, 2016

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

1985

An article in the Chicago Tribune begins:

"Former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White committed suicide Monday, nearly seven years after assassinating popular Mayor George Moscone and city Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay activist, authorities said.

"White, 39, was found dead in the garage of the home owned by his wife, police said. They said they found three suicide notes.

"He killed himself by carbon-monoxide poisoning by attaching a garden hose to the exhaust pipe of his car and passing the other end into the passenger compartment, Police Chief Cornelius Murphy said.

"White's body was found by his brother, Tom, whom White had earlier invited to the house.

"Police said one of the three notes was taped to the windshield of the suicide car. It read: "I knew you were going to find me this way. Sorry you had to find me in this condition. Sorry for any inconvenience."

"The other two notes were for his wife and his mother, but the contents of the notes were withheld.

"White, an ex-firefighter and ex-policeman who was elected to the city's board of supervisors, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, rather than murder, in the assassinations of Moscone and Milk, who was the first avowed homosexual on the city's ruling board. They were shot at their City Hall offices on Nov. 27, 1978.

1992

Michael Feinstein and Rosemary Clooney in concert with "Say it With Music" at the Shubert Theatre, 22 W. Monroe.

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IMAGE: Second Annual Sister Source Walkathon – Sister Source June 18, 1982

In the bars and clubs, every day 3-9 p.m. it's $5 pitchers of Bud Draft at AA Meat Market, 2933 N. Lincoln; Khris Francis opens at Gentry, 712 N. Rush St.; the Psycho Bitch Headlight Party is at Roscoe's, 3356 N. Halsted; Help Us Back Jack. Meet Cook County State's Attorney Jack O'Malley at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted; Hunter's, 1932 Higgins Road, Elk Grove, celebrates 10 years in business; porn star Dolph Knight appears at Vortex, 3458 N. Halsted.

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Lesbian Chicago community center host an Open Mike fundraiser at On the Tao, 1218 W. Morse. The program was designed to encourage lesbians to get up, speak up, and show off their wonderful talents in 5 to 15 minute time slots.

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IMAGE: Femme Fatale Mondays at Roscoe's – Nightlines July 22, 1992

Top 10 Hi-Energy dance tunes courtesy of David Lawson at Imports Plus Records: 1) "Movin' On" – Bananarama; 2) "What Kind of Fool" – Kylie Minogue; 3) "Carry On" – Donna Summer; 4) "Boogie Nights" – Sonia; 5) "The Winner Takes it All" – Abbacadabra; 6) "Love in the Shadows" – Linda Taylor; 7) "If You Belong To Me" – Nancy Davis; 8) "Magic" – Midnight Shift; 9) "Who Do You Think You Are" – Kim Wilde; 10) "Save Our Love" – Bad Boys Blues

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An article in Gay Chicago begins:

"'Walk Without Fear' – the third annual 'Take the Streets' march in Lakeview will take place on Saturday, Oct. 24. Step-off is at 7p.m. from the corner of Belmont and Broadway (in the library parking lot). The march will proceed through the Lakeview community making stops along the way at the sites of violent crimes and from community organizations involved in the fight to make the streets safe."

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Ellen Ratner, radio show host and author of "The Other Side of Family" discusses "Childhood Sexual Abuse: Recovery and Renewal for Gay and Lesbian Survivors" in a Free Community Seminar at Charter Barclay Hospital, 4700 N. Clarendon.

2008

The Equality Illinois benefit "Around the World in 100 Drag Queens," the 16th annual "Night of 100 Drag Queens," takes place at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted St.

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IMAGE: Danny Sotomayor cartoon – Windy City Times December 6, 1990

"All Sexual Minority Women are Not Equal: Alcohol Use and Mental Health Risk Factors" is a University of Illinois at Chicago LGBT Heritage Month event. It takes place in Room 145, UIC College of Nursing, 845 S. Damen Ave.

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An article in Windy City Times by Amy Wooten reads:

"A coalition of national and local organizations gathered in downtown Chicago last week to denounce the Museum of Broadcast Communications' (MBC) plan to induct an anti-gay individual into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

"On Thursday, Oct. 16, members of the Dump Dobson Coalition, including individuals from Gay Liberation Network, Truth Wins Out and Equality Illinois, called for the Chicago-based MBC to stop its plans to induct Focus on the Family founder James Dobson into the National Radio Hall of Fame. They gathered outside of the Renaissance Chicago Hotel, where the MBC plans to honor Dobson and others during an upcoming awards dinner. Representatives of the coalition said that if the museum does not rescind the award, it will protest outside the venue Nov. 8, the date of the ceremony."

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IMAGE: The Queer Planet Review – Windy City Times October 10, 1991

An article in Windy City Times reads:

"The Naperville gay organization formerly known as the Questioning Youth Center is now known as Youth Outlook.

Outlook officially launched its new name and logo at its 10th-anniversary gala, which was held Oct. 11.

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In Quotelines in Windy City Times:

"I don't really have an opinion on it (Gay marriage), to tell you the truth. I think people have to do what they feel they have to do. Not being gay myself, I don't have the same frame of reference—do you know what I'm saying? I don't know what it is to feel like you can never be married or any of that, because I am married, I have kids and I have all those things. It's uncharted ground for me personally; I can't even make a comment on it." — Singer Donna Summer

Homework

What's Khris Francis up to these days?

Night of 100 Drag Queens, is that still going?

Is Youth Outlook still around?

Gay Chicago Photo Rewind

Guys from DIFFA: Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS and TPAN in Gay Chicago February 2, 1989

Sukie de la Croix and Kirk Williamson photographs the guys and gals from Cocktail and Inn Exile for Nightspots October 29, 2003

Tracy Baim photographs an Open Hand event at Ann Sather's for Outlines February 1989

Tracy Baim photographs around town for Windy City Times July 31, 1986

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.