March 16-22, 2017

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

1986

Article in Gay Chicago begins:

"Renowned art photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, whose unashamedly homoerotic work brought him notoriety as well as acclaim, passed away in a Boston hospital on Thursday, March 9, of complications caused by AIDS. He was 42."

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IMAGE: Jane Addams Bookstore – Sister Source November 1, 1981

The Village Theatre Guild of Glenn Ellyn performs William M. Hoffman's play "As Is" at the Village Theatre, located on the northwest corner of Park Boulevard and Butterfield Road in Glenn Ellyn. The play tells the moving story of a young gay waiter who contracts AIDS and must learn how to deal with his tragedy. Friends, relatives, hospice workers, and his lover must all deal with the growing turmoil and tension as he fights the inevitable circumstances of this modern plague.

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An article in Windy City Times begins:

"When the Windy City Gay Chorus first breathed life into its own existence by singing 'This Could Be the Start of Something Big,' it was not exaggerating. Now, 10 years later, more than 50 alumni will join about 80 regular members on stage at the Preston Bradley Center on March 18, for an evening of music, narrative recalling the first 10 years of the chorus. The show, which director and co-founder Richard Garrin calls 'a nostalgic memory tour featuring the old 'war-horse chestnuts,' will also include performances by the Windy City Slickers and the Kindred Singers, two subgroups."

1992

In the bars and clubs, Kenned and Carl perform at North End, 3733 N. Halsted St.; spring is busting out all over at the Lucky Horseshoe Lounge, 3169 N. Halsted; St. Patrick's Day with the Best Shillelagh (?) Contest with a $150 prize is at Roscoe's, 3354-56 N. Halsted St.; Chicago's Original Country Dance, hosted by David Boyer with Ron Goodman, DJ, is on Sundays 4 p.m.-2 a.m. at Puszh Studios, 2829 N. Broadway; 2 Steppin' Lessons every Sunday at 7 p.m. at Berlin, 954 W. Belmont. Roger, Katie and Michael will put you at ease by teaching beginner level two-stepping and country line dances; St. Patrick's Day with corned beef and cabbage at L.A Connection, 3700 N. Halsted; I Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi it's Rick Karlin's Annual Birthday Bash & Benefit at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted; Craig Stewart performs at Gentry, 712 N. Rush St.; it's Leather & Levis Tuesday at Annex 3, 3160 N. Clark St.; and the Sex Police hip hop dancers perform at Vortex, 3631 N. Halsted.



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IMAGE: Tea Dance at Paris Dance – Windy City Times December 5, 1985

"The Sum of Us, a Comedy of Love" by the Pegasus Players is playing at the O'Rourke Center for the Performing Arts, 1145 W. Wilson Ave.

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Best Selling Men's Fiction at People Like Us Bookstore, 3321 N. Clark St.: 1) "Eighty-Sixed" – David B. Feinberg; 2) "Putting on the Ritz" – Joe Keenan; 3) "Blue Heaven" – Joe Keenan; 4) "Spontaneous Combustion" – David B. Feinberg; 5) "Vanishing Rooms" – Melvin Dixon.

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IMAGE: Jim Flint – Windy City Times December 7, 2011

An article in Gay Chicago begins:

"Horizons Community Services has named Laird Petersen as its new director of development, announced Cathy R. Johnson, chairperson of Horizons board of directors.

"Mr. Petersen, 34, has served as a Horizons volunteer for more than 11 years and has chaired Horizons' Financial Development Committee for six years.

"In his position as director of development, he will be responsible for the development and management of both public and private funding efforts for Horizons, which will benefit more than 56,000 people annually in Chicago's lesbian and gay community."

2005

Article in Gay Chicago begins:

"Chicago Youth will be 'Telling Our Stories,' Alternatives Inc.'s Annual Gala and ACT Awards Benefit, Saturday, March 19, at 6:30 p.m. at Architectural Artifacts, 4325 N. Ravenswood.

"This year, the north side youth service agency will honor two Chicagoans with ACT Awards (action, commitment and teamwork), for helping young people make positive life choices.

"ACT 2005 honorees are: Joseph Ruiz, assistant principal of Nicholas Senn High School; and Patricia O'Malley, veteran Alternatives volunteer sand regional director of the Chicago Department on Aging's Renaissance Court Senior Center."

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IMAGE: Great Lakes Bears at Sidetrack – Nightspots December 5, 2007

Gerber/Hart Library celebrates Women's History Month with a screening of the film "No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 19, at 1127 W. Granville. The 2003 film is a documentary about Martin and Lyon, founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian civil rights organization in the United States.

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"Hedwig and the Angry Inch," book by John Cameron Mitchell; music and lyrics by Stephen Trask; directed by Dan Nurczyk, is playing at the Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont.

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Jamie O'Neill reads from his new novel, "At Swim, Two Boys," a love story between two boys set during the 1916 Easter Uprising in Ireland, at the Harold Washington Library.

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TPAN (Test Positive Aware Network) holds an educational forum on HIV services, including emergency financial assistance, transportation services, and grievance procedures. Co-sponsored by AIDS Foundation Chicago. Takes place at 5537 N. Broadway.

Homework

Who were Kenned and Carl?

Is David B. Feinberg still around?

Who remembers the Sex Police?

Gay Chicago Photo Rewind

Kirk Williamson photographs Windy City Gay Idol and the Miss Windy City Continental for Nightspots June 7, 2006

Steve Starr photographs IML for Nightspots June 7, 2006

Christopher Stryker photographs Windy City Bar and dancing at the University of Chicago for Windy City Times March 19 1987

Steve Alter photographs the guys of Gentry for Windy City Times March 12 1987

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.