Edwin H. Lewis Nonfiction 2nd Prize A Queer Loop: The Many Lives of LGBTQ Chicago

Nabil Fawaz

With Chicago being the third most LGBTQ populated city in the United States, it is no surprise that it has a vast history when it comes to the LGBTQ community (chicagodetours. com). Starting in the 1920s, there were signs of an active homosexual nightlife in Towertown and as time went by people would eventually move to the northern part of the city. This was due to the rent increasing which forced gay-friendly establishments to move through old town and Lincoln Park (chicagogayhistory.com). Eventually, gender and sexually non-conforming people would slowly incorporate themselves in the midwest despite it being known as the, “..uncontested site of middleclass white American heteronormativity” (“Queering the Middle” 1). In “Queering the Middle”, the article deals with how the LGBTQ community in Chicago started with most gender and sexually non-conforming people being scattered around the area. This was because they were afraid to show their sexual orientation as they did not know who they could trust which made it hard to meet other LGBTQ people. Eventually, the community went from being scattered to a powerful and prideful community by decriminalizing their sexual orientation in Chicago. With the LGBTQ community being so complex, this essay will delve into the social history of how the definition of gay maleness has changed. The initial stereotype led to the eventual mistreatment of the LGBTQ community and resulted in them jumping into a more chaotic political situation. What is also discussed includes complexities of how gay people view sex compared to the typical heterosexual stereotype of sex being between a man and a women and how it had to be meaningful. This will be told through various perspectives of different authors who all view LGBTQ history in Chicago through topics such as identity, politics, and sex.

In Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall, historian

St. Sukie De La Croix describes the social history of the LGBTQ community and how the idea of same-sex desire and nonconformity has changed from the seventeenth century until today. The book begins by discussing earlier forms of gender and sexual divergence that existed in the Chicago area that went, “...as far back as the seventeenth century, French Jesuit explorers wrote in their journals of the existence of ‘feminine men’ among the Illiniwek who performed duties of women. The French called these men ‘Berdache’” (La Croix 7). What we now know as homosexuality was different back then and similar to today those men challenged the gender roles as at the time, “...the women dealt with affairs in the village, while the men were warriors and hunters” (La Croix 7). Accounts of feminine men would be on the rise in America as Jesuit Father Marquette would even spot, “...some of the male villagers dressed as women from an early age, never married, and glorified...” as they wanted to play a more feminine role (La Croix 9). In this Chapter, La Croix points out how the idea of homosexuality could not be conceptualized at the time. Rather those men were seen as feminine due to the more feminine roles they wanted to live. This would not be the only gay stereotype as different stereotypes would develop in the late 19th century and early 20th century that would complicate the definition of LGBTQ.

The Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, put Chicago on the world stage. It also gave birth to the “modern physical culture movement” which was brought by bodybuilder Eugen Shadow. Eigen would travel and, “...though the marriage produced two daughters, Helen and Lorraine, it was far from idyllic, as Sandow’s constant touring and sexual adventures made his wife jealous. Particularly galling was his love affair with fellow bodybuilder and concert pianist Martinus Sieveking” (La Croix 183). Eventually, magazines would come out celebrating the male physique and gay people were at the forefront of it. With publications, such as Mars from Kris Studios, would gain popularity, these publications would start showing vulgar images which lead to a new obscenity ordinance being enacted stating that, “‘...a publication is obscene when its calculated purpose or dominant effect is so substantially to arouse sexual desires, and if the probability of this effect is so great as to outweigh whatever artistic or other merits it may possess” (La Croix 191). This new crackdown even led to two police officers being placed full-time to hunt down pornography in Chicago. The significance of this modern cultural movement was gay people were now not only seen as feminine as these publications showed gay men that were strong and fit. As time passed, the Chicago population would become aware of gay life in Chicago, specifically when the 1930s hit.

La Croix also tackles gay life in the 1930s as, “...in the early part of the twentieth century, books on the subject of homosexuality were not available to the public, only to the medical profession” (La Croix 121). This would eventually change in 1925 the Chicago Tribune would advertise the Homosexual Life which could kick start the appearance of gaythemed books in Chicago’s libraries. Although awareness would spread, Chicagoans were still careful about showing their homosexuality since it was hard to know who you could trust. Sam, who is a “hoofer” describes how it was hard to meet other gay people since dropping any sort of hints could lead to some real trouble. Sam grew up with the idea that he should never drop his hair pins otherwise people would say, “...‘Hey look at that queer over there.’ Then everybody would start giving you a very, very bad time” (La Croix 122). This meant that casual sexual encounters would have to be through private illegal gay parties as there was a gay underworld that included a circle of friends that were invited to these parties. Eventually, gay bars would start to pop up and gay life in Chicago would start to boom, although it would be more in secret. This secret would soon come out as police would start to cause trouble for the LGBTQ community as their lifestyle would start to be portrayed as a criminal.

While history has shown conflicts between the police and civilians, La Croix would point out the issues that the LGBTQ have had with them. Since the mob had a stake in Chicago’s gay bars, the police were trying to shake them down. Eventually, in 1973, Attorney James R Thompson would investigate this problem and it was found that a, “... reported forty-seven policemen from three districts had been indicted by a federal grand jury for extortion in shaking down taverns, many of them gay-owned or with gay clientele” (La Croix 230). Extortion of bars was not the only problem that gay people have dealt with the police on as Sodomy Laws were another issue. Illinois is known for having a history with sodomy laws as, “...in 1827 it was the first state to bar a convicted sodomite from voting or sitting on a jury” (La Croix 248). Eventually, the Illinois Criminal Code of 1961 was passed as, “...‘Under the new code it will not be a criminal offense for homosexuals to engage in sexual relations in private as long as the participants are adults, neither of whom has been pressured into the acts’” (La Croix 253). This demonstrated a massive step for the LGBTQ community and Illinois as it became the first state to legalize homosexuality. While it seemed as if the United States was slowly accepting the LGBTQ community, the country took a bit of a step back as after, “...World War II the antigay frenzy intensified: On April 1, 1950, the Civil Service Commission took a ‘no prisoners’ approach in its persecution of lesbians and gay men in government positions” (La Croix 255). Overall, La Croix highlights the perception of gay maleness changing over time going from male femininity to masculinity to the criminalization of gayness. With male gayness being portrayed as a crime, it became an issue that had to be solved politically kick-starting the eventual beginning of what would be known as gay politics.

In Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics, social movement historian Timothy Stewart-Winter delves into Chicago politics and how it has affected and shaped the LGBTQ community. He begins the book by bringing up the idea that being gay is criminal causing conflicts between the police and the LGBTQ. Eventually, victory over, “...police harassment, secured by allying with other urban residents who were policed with similar vigor, especially African Americans, was the prerequisite for their later triumphs” (Stewart-Winter 1). This started to give gay people some clout in the political world as the Democratic Party would soon recognize that gays and lesbians could help the African American community gain votes as both would start to help each other out to change Chicago politics for good.

Specifically, in Women’s liberation movements, lesbians would soon start to be at the forefront by helping, “...women understand and analyze their experiences in the job market and the hidden forms that sexism often took” (Stewart-Winter 133). Lesbians were eventually at such a forefront that in the 1970s, “...‘women’s’ became code for ‘lesbian’ in certain circles” (Stewart-Winter 133). In Chicago, lesbians would meet in church basements in Hyde Park and although bars were not as often sought out the way gay people did, they were still ties towards the bar-based lesbian subculture. One issue that lesbians were trying to tackle in Chicago was equal pay for women especially since they would also notice certain exclusions from types of jobs that men were only doing. It would soon be pointed out that in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that the, “act prohibited employment discrimination based on sex as well as race” (Stewart-Winter 137). Multiple issues would soon arise making Chicago the eventual epicenter of the socialism feminist movement and this would then lead to the creation of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Movement (CWLU). Formed in the fall of 1969, CWLU’s projects would range from, “...winning the right of women’s softball teams to use diamonds in local parks to the direct provision of low-cost, safe abortions through a secret collective known as Jane” (Stewart-Winter

137). With the success of the CWLU, other projects such as the “Gay Group” and “Lesbian group” would emerge in the early to mid-1970s. While lesbians were benefiting from this era of breakthroughs for women, they were still trying to find a way to, “...remove sex from the interlocking domains of capitalism and patriarchy” and they also reacted against, “...the rigid marital expectations of postwar America” (StewartWinter 138). One misconception about lesbians at the time was they hated men which were quickly disputed in the book as a black lesbian talked about how she enjoyed spending time with men despite not being sexually attracted to them.

An additional topic Stewart-Winter tackles is the fact that gays and lesbians were coming out of the closet. In return, openly gay candidates were elected to office for the first time as, “Thomas Chiola won election as a judge of the Cook County circuit court in 1994” (Stewart-Winter 207). With gay candidates rising, “politicians treated gays and lesbians as an interest group whose needs were no longer tied to a broader transformative agenda” (Stewart-Winter 207). The 1990s would start to show the power of the “gay vote” as politicians became more and more aware of the gayborhoods in Chicago and how getting those votes could truly put one in office. While the “gay vote” would show its power, politician Mayor Richard M. Daley showed support for gay equality exclusively for the “gay vote.” Daley came out of the gates with many progressive plans as he furthered gay-rights legislation and even launched the “Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame and presided over its first annual induction ceremony” (Stewart-Winter 210). Daley also had an Advisory Council on Gay and Lesbian issues which was one of his secrets of success and managed to continue to get gay voters by reaching out to gay business owners. Daley’s tactics of pandering towards the gay voters would continue to work as he was mayor of Chicago from 1989 to 2011. Overall Stewart-Winter highlights how originally the “gay vote” was overlooked until politicians realized its power forcing them to pander towards passing gay-friendly laws. While gay people were moving up politically, one book focuses on telling a sexual ethnography to get a different perspective on the LGBTQ community in Chicago.

In The Boys of Fairy Town by Jim Elledge, the book discusses the history of gay Chicago, but unlike the other two books, Elledge did archival history and through his perspective, tells personal narratives of queer men. In the book, he defines queer as the LGBTQ community as a whole. Elledge starts off describing Wing, a person who was born and raised on a farm and dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen. Wing would eventually arrive in Chicago on a ship where he would fall in love with a “bully little boy.” With this personal narrative being set in the 1860s, the idea of these two men being together was seen as pedophilic due to the ages and they instead used family labels such as “brother/ brother” to demonstrate their bond. Wing was not the only one looking to seek “bedmates” as, “Horatio Alger, who was a Unitarian minister in Brewster, Massachusetts, was denounced for having sexual liaisons with teenagers in his church, and he quickly relocated to New York” (Elledge 25). This seemed to be a common occurrence for gay men in Chicago as Wing too would have multiple one-night stands which made it difficult to concentrate at work. He knew if word got out about what he was doing he would be labeled as a sodomite like his fellow gay friends, but luckily it never did. Wing would write journals about these experiences and live in Chicago for the rest of his adult life.

Another story Elledge tells is about a mysterious man who went by Herman as no one seemed to truly know his real name. Interviewed by Earl W. Bruce, Herman mentioned how he participated in sexual activities with other men when he was a child, a common occurrence that had happened for queer men. During the interview, Bruce concluded Herman was “‘...acted upon by the other boys’ in his neighborhood” (Elledge 229). It was later brought up Herman had “freely engaged in sex with ‘a cousin’ who was ‘twice his age’” furthermore he states, “...‘I do not care how straight a person may be but when he gets in passion he will start fooling around’” (Elledge 229). Elledge mentions this case of Herman to point out the idea of sex is different for everyone. For some, it is a way to connect with someone on a more personal level while for people like Herman it is for pure enjoyment. Later in the chapter, it is also pointed out some queer men purely did it for money as prostitution was quite common.

The final narrative Elledge tells about is Entomologist Alfred C. Kinsey who taught in the Department of Zoology at Indiana University during the 1930s. One day he offered to teach a course on marriage and he even offered, “...to counsel any graduate student or faculty member who needed advice on sexual matters and occasionally asked them to give him their sexual histories” (Elledge 277). Eventually, Kinsey received numerous sexual histories from his students making the university oppose the course, but they gave Kinsey a chance to revise the syllabus if he wanted to continue to teach the course which he accepted. While working on these revisions, he was approached by a gay student who was willing to show him the large community of queer men in Chicago to which he accepted and would immediately check into the Harrison Hotel. From there, Kinsey tried to interview the queer men but he could not get much out of them. The reason for this was believed to be how “Hoover’s illogical ravings had turned Chicago...into a ‘repressed culture where homosexuality was both a crime and a disease and where queer men could be imprisoned for up to ten years simply because their sexual desire was different than the dominant culture’s” (Elledge 278). Eventually, Kinsey would continue to try to do these interviews, but rather than being frustrated about barely getting any answers he started to understand how difficult it can be to open up. He also, “...began to insist to any queer man he met that his goal was to gain an understanding of their lives and not to gather evidence against them” (Elledge 278). Everyone can learn a thing or two from this story as some people might not truly feel for one community until they see it for themselves and step in their shoes.

From French Jesuit Explorers discovering the existence of “feminine men” to openly gay people being in office, the LGBTQ community has come a long way in Chicago. While strides have been made, issues such as gay marriage and being able to open up about your sexuality are still issues that are still trying to be solved today. All these sources have demonstrated how the idea of male-to-male or female-to-female attraction has been perceived by heterosexual people has changed over the years. These sources have also given a timeline of how the definition of being LGBTQ had gone from a sexual preference to a political issue that needed to be decriminalized. Rather than discussing one source, all these other sources were discussed in order to notice the different perspective each author had and how they interweaved each other. For example, Elledge obtained his ethnographic sources through journals from the queer men he discusses. The narratives tie into La Croix’s take on the definition of being queer as all the queer men in Elledge’s book were afraid to open up. The reason they were afraid is explained in La Croix’s book as gay maleness was criminalized because it was different from the norm. La Croix alludes to the eventual entrance of gay politics which is what connects to Stewart-Winter’s book as he describes how the LGBTQ community could not take the discrimination anymore and proved the power of the “gay vote” by establishing openly gay people into politics. Gay men specifically were originally seen as men that want to act like women simply because they wanted to do jobs women do. As time has passed, gender roles have been placed before are slowly changing as people are realizing a person’s gender should not restrict them from doing things that they want to do (“Gay Shame and BDSM Pride”). The world is constantly changing and the LGBTQ community is at the forefront of it, but only time will tell if the rest of the world is willing to change their views on what a society looks like with them.