Center on Halsted is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community center in Chicago, Illinois.
Larry McKeon was an American politician who served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from Chicago. Serving from January 1997 to January 2007, he was the first-ever openly gay member of the Illinois General Assembly and was also HIV-positive.
David Cerda is an American performer and playwright based in Chicago. He is currently the artistic director for Hell in a Handbag Productions, which he co-founded in 2002. His campy, highly theatrical plays have made him a notable presence within the Chicago theater scene. He has written and appeared in many of his works, including a transgressive adaptation of Rudolph, the Red-Hosed Reindeer, How ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’ Happened and POSEIDON! An Upside-Down Musical which won the New York International Fringe Festival Best Ensemble Award and was the most attended show of the festival that year.
Lorrainne Sade Baskerville is an American social worker, activist, and trans woman best known for founding transgender advocacy group transGENESIS.
Howard Brown Health is a nonprofit LGBTQ healthcare and social services provider that was founded in 1974. It is based in Chicago and was named after Howard Junior Brown.
AIDS Foundation of Chicago is a locally based, non-profit organization that advocates for HIV/AIDS prevention as well as serves as a general resource for the HIV/AIDS community. Founded in 1985, some of their better-known accomplishments include hosting fundraisers to support the distribution of HIV/AIDS related medications in the city, funding the Open Door Health Center, and launching their “Getting to Zero” plan. Their cause seeks to increase the amount of resources available to the HIV/AIDS community as resources are too few and far between. Similar to other city organizations focused on sexual health such as Howard Brown Health, AFC makes getting access to treatment easier for all patients, decreases the stigma around treatment, and promotes the awareness and acceptance of those who live with HIV and/or AIDS.
APLA Health is a non-profit organization based in California, United States, focused on building healthcare capacity and promoting wellbeing for LGBT people and those living with HIV. It was founded as AIDS Project Los Angeles in 1983, and is now among the largest non-profit HIV service organizations in the United States.
The Bijou Theater was an adult theater and sex club for gay men located at 1349 N Wells Street in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood. Opened in 1970 by Steven Toushin, the Bijou Theater was the longest-running gay adult theater and sex club in the United States. The Bijou Theater featured the "Bijou Classics"—adult films produced by Bijou Video in the 1970s and 1980s—every Monday. The theater also hosted live shows featuring adult entertainers, a non-sexual cabaret show written and directed by drag entertainer Miss Tiger and special appearances by gay porn stars. The theater permanently closed its door on September 30, 2015.
Chicago has long had a gay neighborhood. Beginning in the 1920s there was active homosexual nightlife in Towertown, adjacent to the Water Tower. Increasing rents forced gay-friendly establishments steadily northwards, moving through Old Town and Lincoln Park along Clark Street and on to Boystown.
Arlene A. Halko was an American medical physicist and gay rights advocate, based in Chicago. She was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 1996.
AIDS Garden Chicago is a public 2.5 acre garden along Lake Michigan in Chicago's Lincoln Park. It serves to memorialize the HIV epidemic in Chicago and honor those who live with the disease today, and is managed alongside the Chicago Park District.
Daniel Sotomayor was the first openly gay political cartoonist in the United States for various newspapers throughout the country, such as Chicago's Windy City Times, and the cofounder of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power organization’s branch in Chicago (ACT-UP/Chicago).
Harley McMillen was a health care administrator who was executive director of Howard Brown Health in Chicago. He was there in the early stages of the AIDS crisis. He was active in organizing the AIDS Action Project and the AIDS Strategic Plan for the City of Chicago.
Caprice Carthans, a trans woman of color and resident of Marquette Park (Chicago), was a co-chair of the Intergraded Community Advisory Board (CAB) at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) and is an inductee of the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2020.
Patricia “Patty the Pin Lady” Latham was a LGBT activist and AIDS fundraiser known for selling pins in Chicago. As of 2017, she had raised over $50,000. At the time of that estimate, she had been fundraising for over 25 years and battling stage 3 Melanoma for eight years. in 2022, she was a posthumous inductee into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.
Richard Lee Gray is an American activist.
Caryn Berman was a Chicago-based social worker.
Sid L. Mohn is an American clergyman for the United Church of Christ. He is also a LGBT activist.
Lori Cannon is a Chicago-based American AIDS activist. She was a volunteer at Chicago House and Social Service Agency, the non-profit organization providing housing and hospice during the AIDS crisis. She then worked with the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, helping to establish the Chicago chapter. She was involved with the 1988, 1990, and 1994 installations of the quilt in Chicago, coordinating media and public relations activities.
Lois L. Bates (1970-2011) was an activist in Chicago's transgender community. She was known specifically for her HIV prevention work and her advocacy for trans youth. She was also involved with the Chicago Area Ryan White Services Planning Council, Chicago Windy City Black Pride, the Chicago Transgender Coalition, Lakeview Action, the Minority Outreach Intervention Project. Bates worked for the Howard Brown Health Center. She died at the age of 41.
