October 22nd, 1997 to October 28th, 1997

Chicago Whispers

A Very Personal Gay and Lesbian History

by Sukie de la Croix

My first gay group ... "GALA, the gay and lesbian association at the U of C. I moved here from the South and I couldn't believe it. I said, 'You mean you have an actual gay student group that's registered, and you can use your names, and they don't throw you out of school.' And they said, 'What do you mean, throw us out of school!' and they had an office in the student center, and a budget, like from the compulsory student activities fees. I couldn't believe any of this ... . 'You mean we can turn in money and get student fee money for a dance, or something?' And they said, 'Oh yeah!' It was a real revelation, a revolution and a revelation. That was in 1980 or '81." - Bert Thompson

"At the University of Chicago when I started as a grad student, I was trying very hard to be out as bi, and I joined the Gay And Lesbian Alliance (GALA), it's since changed its name to Queers & Associates (Q&A), that would have been around '84, pretty soon after I got to Chicago. I've been involved with them off and on for a long time. Some years the group was quite congenial, and some years less congenial. Some years there was almost no women, other years there was a good women's representation." - Heather
The Mob ...
"At that time the bars were run by the Mob. If they weren't run by the Mob, they were paying off the Mob. I remember going in some of the bars on ... like Shari's, and around that area, where you'd see this big Cadillac or big Buick pull up in front and one of these big burly guys would get out and, all of a sudden, walk out with an envelope." - Jerry

I first heard about AIDS ...
"1981. When it wasn't called AIDS, it was called HTLV 3. It was soon after that, that I started working with Howard Brown, because it was a local AIDS hotline that was open a couple of hours a day, for five days a week, and a friend and I from Wisconsin started doing training for those people. After we did that training, the state contacted me to see if I would develop an 800 number for the State of Illinois AIDS hotline. That was in '83 or '84. We started doing that, and increased calls from 30 calls a month to 2,000 calls a month by the time I'd finished with it. There was very little information. One of the things we did was train in techniques, in telephone techniques, counseling techniques. The AIDS hotline was used by a lot of people who just had questions about homosexuality itself. Condoms came in much, much later. We talked about safe sex pretty early. We talked about ways of transmission that we thought of ... things that we thought were means of transmission, or ways of transmission." - Dr Michael Scully

Why I joined Congregation Or Chadash ...
"Being Jewish helped .... (Laughs) ... because they had an outreach to the lesbian and gay community, and I was looking for Jewish friends, connection, common background. People were friendly. I went for the holiday services, and Norman Sandfield (a long-time member of Or Chadash) introduced himself to me, and one or two other people did. Then I went to regular services, and met several people and decided that there was potential for meeting people, doing stuff for the community. The gay community as well as the Jewish community." - Alice Cooperman
A bartender in the late '70s ...
"Back then, if you worked in a bar, or a gay place, you were a star. Everybody knew your name, everybody associated a bar with the people that worked there, and they worked there for years, and they made really incredible money. They were big time party people." - Jeff Courtouise
A South Side bar in 1949 ...
"Joe's Deluxe was a very nice but not overly ornate interior. The shows were of a very high level of talent and it was a great place to go but not that popular because of the racial feelings at the time. Several of the men in the shows there had their own long hair and their costumes and make up were very tasteful and beautiful. They were very reminiscent of the elegance and class of Josephine Baker when she appeared at The Palace in New York. The strippers were exotic and sensual, the comics might be a little 'Minnie Pearlish' but they were more funny than risque. The dancers and singers were great talents and beautiful, only having to work unknown clubs because of race and gender, not because of lack of any show business ability or taste.

"The people who went there were for the most part established professional people who were literate and educated and not bothered by bigotry or stupidity. I think many of the patrons had probably traveled in Europe and were aware of the intellectual aspects of performing arts. Also some of them were just drunks out for a good time and knowing they would get a lot better show for a lot less money than anywhere else in town." - F.W.
My first gay bar ...
"It was a bar on North Avenue, near Sheffield. I was 22 years old at the time. I'd just 'come out' and my cousin took me there, and it was a strange experience, because being out now and seeing the difference in the way the bars have changed so much, and the way the police handle you. The bar was called Shrimpie's and it was mostly a mixed bar, with a lot of neighborhood people. That was in 1968." - Tessie
Does anybody else remember Shari's, Joe's Deluxe, or Shrimpies? Did you ever perform in a bar? Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at Outlines.

What a Difference a Gay Makes

The Gay/Lesbian Movement, 5, 10, 15 & 20 Years Ago

by Sukie de la Croix

What was happening in the gay and lesbian movement 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago this month?

Here's this week's Outlines overview to help you trigger the memories of yesteryear ...

Oct. 19-25

1992: 5 Years Ago
U.S.: Protesting the Vatican's dictates against homosexuals, AIDS prevention and abortion, Sinead O'Connor tears up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live. - The National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations responds by renting a steamroller, and crushing the Irish singer's CDs and cassettes, outside the offices of her recording company in New York. - The ABC program 20/20 includes a segment on the 'soon to be famous' community of lesbians living in Northampton, Mass. - The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon by Tom Spanbauer is the No. 1 Bestseller in The Advocate. - In an interview with The Advocate, Jay Grimstead, director of the Coalition on Revival, a fundamentalist Christian group, says: "Homosexuality makes God vomit." - Netherlands: According to a poll by the federal Social-Cultural Planning Bureau, 95 percent of Dutch citizens surveyed believe that 'Gays must be allowed the freedom to live in their own way.'

1987: 10 Years Ago
U.S.: The Washington Post amends its policy, and say they will, in some instances, list 'longtime companions' of gay men and lesbians as survivors in obituaries. Within two weeks they refuse to name the lover of a man who dies of AIDS. - As the United Nations General Assembly holds its first debate on AIDS, more than 50 members of ACT UP are arrested, as they sit down on 5th Avenue to protest President Reagan's lack of leadership in fighting the disease. - The House Judiciary Committee approves a bill that would require the U.S. Justice Dept. to collect statistics on 'hate crimes' based on several factors, including sexual orientation.

1982: 15 Years Ago
U.S.: A federal study of prisoners shows that effeminate gay men are four times more likely to be raped than other men. - In celebration of its 15th anniversary, The Advocate holds a nationwide gay sweepstakes. Prizes include a Datsun 200X deluxe hatchback, two all expenses paid vacations in Key West or Palm Springs, $300 cash awards and 100s of merchandise products. - Jose 'Insane' Perez is arrested for fatally shooting Stanley E. Cox, and wounding Joseph Hall in an alley near the Loading Dock gay bar in Chicago. Perez tells police that he hates homosexuals because his two younger brothers are gay, and he also became angered by the fact that the bar was painted gray and black, the colors of his street gang. - Quote of the Week: Actress Shelley Winters on Phyllis Schlafly: "To even listen to her, you get sick! She makes me ill." - Britain: Northern Ireland repeals its sodomy laws. - Sweden: The International Gay Association information secretariat moves from Dublin, Ireland, to Stockholm. - New Zealand: Students at the Victoria University, in Victoria, vote to establish posts of lesbian and gay rights officers within the universities student government.

1977: 20 Years Ago
U.S.: In California, gay activists step up their campaign to fight an initiative by Republican State Sen. John Briggs that would prohibit homosexuals from teaching in public schools. - Eight men, including a congressional aide, and a pastor of the Brethren Church, are killed after fire breaks out at Cinema Follies, a gay porno film club in Washington, D.C. - Diana Press, a women's press in Oakland, Calif., is vandalized. 5.000 copies of Rita Mae Brown's book A Plain Brown Rapper are destroyed. - The Naked Civil Servant, starring John Hurt, as Britain's most famous homosexual, Quentin Crisp, is shown in art movie theaters.

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