The Gay Rights Movement In Illois: A History - CBS Chigo

Contents:

• THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN ILLOIS: A HISTORY
• GAY RIGHTS
• FEW PEOPLE KNOW AMERI’S FIRST GAY RIGHTS ORGANIZATN WAS RUN OUT OF THE HENRY GERBER HOE IN ILLOIS
• ILLOIS GAY MARRIAGE BE LAW AS PROMPTS HOPE, NCERN

THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN ILLOIS: A HISTORY

In 1924, German immigrant Henry Gerber found the Society for Human Rights, which served a goal to teach others about the gay muny and attemptg to change laws that ma homosexualy illegal. The anizatn only lasted a short time before thori shut down, but gay and lbian Chigoans were visible the 1920s and enjoyed acceptance among the artists, poets and bohemians of Towertown, an area of the Near North Si jt wt of the Magnificent Mile. Lectur and discsns on homosexualy were found on the agenda salons and speakeasi, and female impersonator shows were popular, the Encyclopedia of Chigo tells .

GAY RIGHTS

Around the same time on the Near South Si, a substantial Ain-Amerin gay and lbian muny also formed, equentg the barets Bronzeville, acrdg to the encyclopedia. By the send half of the 20th century, gay muni were tablished on the Near North Si, Old Town, Hy Park, and a part of the Lakeview neighborhood centered at Clark Street, Diversey Parkway and Broadway known as New Town. As the gay and lbian populatn grew number, so did the equency of police raids on gay bars, which rulted arrts for beg "mat of disorrly ho, " or breakg a law agast cross-drsg, acrdg to the Encyclopedia of Chigo.

FEW PEOPLE KNOW AMERI’S FIRST GAY RIGHTS ORGANIZATN WAS RUN OUT OF THE HENRY GERBER HOE IN ILLOIS

The Mattache Midwt Society was one such anizatn, which helped wh the fense of those arrted the raids and set up a 24-hour hotle for gays and lbians, acrdg to the encyclopedia.

In 1970, another anizatn, Universy of Chigo-based Chigo Gay Liberatn, challenged laws forbiddg on same-sex dancg by anizg a dance at the Colism, the stadium formerly at 16th Street and Wabash Avenue, the Wdy Cy Tim reported. Mayor Jane Byrne beme the first Chigo mayor officially to regnize the GLBT muny, and her succsor, Mayor Harold Washgton, was the first mayor to headle a gay rights rally and began the cy's first Commtee on Gay and Lbian Issu. Bernard Hansen, then of the 44th Ward, said a bill makg illegal to discrimate agast gays and lbians, as well as Ain-Amerins, Latos, people wh disabili and ex-nvicts was necsary to ensure jtice for all.

The Moody Church also fought the ordance, sayg "puts homosexual behavr on par wh heterosexual behavr, " acrdg to the book Rogu, Rebels and Rubber Stamps by polil scientist Dick Simpson. "It's a great honor for me to be here, so 's not jt a polil exprsn – also 's a personal exprsn, alg wh the gay and lbian muny; what they have given to the Cy of Chigo, " Mayor Daley said at the 1989 para. Gay rights activists faced a far greater challenge gettg a statewi law approved forbiddg discrimatn based on sexual orientatn, but January 2005, they succeed when an amendment to the Illois Human Rights Act was approved.

ILLOIS GAY MARRIAGE BE LAW AS PROMPTS HOPE, NCERN

Opponents of the state law, notably cludg former Illois Fay Instute executive director Peter LaBarbera, charged that the statewi law curtailed the First Amendment rights of any person or church that was agast homosexualy.

"The arguments this time around were not the arguments we had the '80s and '90s, when people would talk about (generally speakg) the moraly of homosexualy, etc.

The Early Gay Rights Movement In 1924, Henry Gerber, a German immigrant, found Chigo the Society for Human Rights, the first documented gay rights anizatn the Uned Stat.

Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group ’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter.