Gay Galena LGBT Getaway Illois: LGBTQ+ iendly Road Trip om Chigo to the Mid-Wt wh stops Rockford & Geneva. Farm-to-table food
Contents:
GALENA – ILLOIS’ GAY-IENDLY WEEKEND GETAWAY
Crowds at Kathy Osterman Beach, also monly known as Hollywood Beach or the “gay beach” Augt 2021 Cred: Kathleen Hkel. Keehnen says the beach was a revolutnary haven for gay men to take up physil space, to be queer public, and to be among others like them. “The Rocks were jt as important to my socializatn as a gay man Chigo durg that time as the bars were.
The article was a personal and fascatg glimpse to the gay male muny Chigo at the time, wh echo of the same stggl and termuny strife still alive today. “I thk is reflective of people like me and that’s jt any queer space on the north si, ” says Kalob Gossett, a lol HIV/AIDS tor who is a whe, cisgenr gay man.
Most queer beach, like many longstandg gay bars, were purposefully difficult to get to or outright hidn. There’s power a gay man beg able to wear a thong whout the glar of nearby straight fai; a butch woman feelg safe wearg board shorts and a prsn top, rather than a biki; a trans person proudly displayg surgery srs like badg of honor; havg a space where we ci the l of engagement. Chigo do not e to md as an immediate gay statn, but that ’s a big shame, bee this is a metropolis that will appeal to cy has a skyle to rival Manhattan, art mms and public squar, jazz, pop and dance mic aplenty and a superlative theatre tradn.