Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Santiago's life celebrated by friends and family
News updated posted Sept. 10, 2011
by Kate Sosin, Windy City Times
2011-09-14

This article shared 7372 times since Wed Sep 14, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Approximately 400 people filled the auditorium at the Chicago History Museum to honor the life of LGBT community activist Christina Santiago on Sept. 10.

Present were Santiago's friends, family, co-workers, fellow activists and her wife, Alisha Brennon.

"It never ceases to amaze us how much Christina was capable of giving," Aaron Stielstra, a close friend of Santiago's from New York, remembered. "For a person so small in build, she truly had one of the biggest shoulders to cry on."

Emotions were still raw nearly a month after Santiago was killed in the Indiana State Fair stage collapse Aug. 13.

Santiago was well-known in Chicago's LGBT community as the manager of programming for Howard Brown Health Center's Lesbian Community Care Project ( LCCP ) . She was also the board programming chair of Amigas Latinas.

She was buried in her home state of New York last month next to her mother. Friends and family waited to hold the Chicago memorial service until Brennon, who is still recovering from the accident, could attend.

Brennon approached the stage with help from Santiago's aunt, Lydia Matos. She recalled how nervous she was when she asked Santiago on a first date in March of 2009.

"I didn't think I had a chance with her," Brennon joked, remembering that when Santiago agreed to the date, Brennon questioned if she was serious.

On June 13, 2009, Brennon said, Santiago agreed to be her girlfriend. Two years later to the day, the couple obtained a civil union license in Illinois, just two weeks after such unions became legal in the state. One month later, on July 13, the two had their civil union.

It was exactly another month before Santiago was killed at the concert.

Brennon said she planned to live her life in pursuit of the goals she shared with Santiago.

Mona Noriega, a founder of Amigas Latinas and the current commissioner of the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations, read a message from Mayor Emanuel to Brennon.

"I extend my deepest sympathies to all who called her their own and especially to you," the message said.

According to Kimberly Marks, a friend of the couple's, meeting Santiago changed Brennon as a person. Marks said it was the happiest she had seen Brennon.

Friends played a slideshow of Santiago and Brennon. Pictures included shots with their dogs, the two with their civil union certificate, their new rings and their travels together.

On display in front of the stage were pictures of Santiago and her Chicago Force football jersey. Santiago's family from New York came to the memorial, as did friends from her home city.

Santiago's friends remembered the 29-year-old as fiercely intelligent, unstoppable as an advocate and often hilarious as a friend.

Santiago's childhood best friend from New York, Gabrielle Rivera, recalled that Santiago befriended her "right away, even though I was the weird girl with thick glasses and one eyebrow."

Her friend Stielstra laughed about how Santiago explained that her reason for going skydiving with Brennon was "because there was a Groupon for it."

"More than one person has said to me that they knew she was special but it didn't dawn on them how special until she left us," said Alma Izquierdo, who was friends with Santiago and worked with her through Amigas Latinas. "She rekindled my faith in the goodness of humanity."

"She wore her identity with pride and made it look like fun," said Lisa Katona who worked with Santiago through LCCP.

Amigas Latinos board chair Rosa Yadira Ortiz also remembered fondly her "go-to" buddy Santiago, and said how much she misses Santiago every day.

Those who spoke of Santiago urged mourners to celebrate her short life.

"Tomorrow is promised to no one, so we must live as she lived," said Lydia Matos, Santiago's aunt.

Despite the upbeat messages, most who remembered Santiago appeared teary-eyed as they recalled a person that they said lived unencumbered by hesitation or hope.

"You did not wait for life to become what you wanted it to," said Rivera of Santiago. "You dove in heart first."

The ceremony ended with a poem, "Her Journey," read by Kim Duffey. It ended: "And think of her as living / in the hearts of those she touched / for nothing loved is ever lost / and she was loved so much."


This article shared 7372 times since Wed Sep 14, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

PASSAGES Dorothy Elizabeth McGroarty 2024-03-14
- Dorothy Elizabeth McGroarty, 82, of The Breakers at Edgewater Beach, and a former resident of Andersonville, passed away Feb. 16 surrounded by her loving family. Born in Dearborn, Michigan, Dorothy was raised on Chicago's South and ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Bryan Dean Wilson 2024-03-14
- Bryan Dean Wilson, 64, of Chicago, passed away March 11. Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Bryan graduated from Washington High school in Cedar Rapids before earning his B.S. in Biology from Mount Mercy University, also in ...


Gay News

PASSAGES: Former Chicago Commission on Human Relations chair Clarence Wood 2024-03-13
- LGBTQ ally and former Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) Chair and Commissioner Clarence N. Wood died March 5. He was 83. Wood was born April 14, 1940, in Alabama. While primarily raised in Alabama, Wood ...


Gay News

Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77 2024-03-12
- On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixner—known for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)—died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ Victory Fund remembers co-founder David Mixner 2024-03-12
--From a press release - Today, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker released the following statement on the passing of LGBTQ+ civil rights activist and LGBTQ+ Victory Fund co-founder David Mixner: "Today, we lost David Mixner, a founding ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Charles R. Tobin 2024-03-03
- Charles R. Tobin, 81, peacefully passed away on Dec. 23, 2023, in the company of his husband, after living with Lewey body dementia for several years. Charlie was born and raised in the Fernwood neighborhood on ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Trailblazing judge and attorney Patricia M. Logue passes away 2024-02-26
- The Honorable Patricia Logue ("Pat" to her friends, Trish" to her family) was a brilliant lawyer, a trailblazing jurist and a hero to the LGBTQ community. Pat's legacy includes numerous landmark cases she litigated over her ...


Gay News

Oklahoma non-binary student dies after being assaulted 2024-02-21
- Officials acknowledged there are unresolved questions about a 16-year-old non-binary Oklahoma student who died one day after a fight in a high school bathroom, NBC News noted. Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, ...


Gay News

GLAAD remembers Cecilia Gentili, transgender Latina, actress, activist, health care activist, journalist 2024-02-06
--From a press release - (New York, NY - February 6, 2024) GLAAD, the world's largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, is responding to the death of transgender actress and advocate Cecilia Gentili and elevating voices of transgender and political leaders honoring ...


Gay News

More information emerges about death on Atlantis gay cruise 2024-02-04
By Lu Calzada - Further details have emerged following the death of a Chicago man on a Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas Atlantis cruise targeted towards gay men. Following a Reddit post by the man's sister — which has ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Imperial Court's Scott Archer remembered as selfless, devoted 2024-02-04
By Alec Karam - As the old saying goes, we all have an angel on one shoulder, and a devil on the other. Well, Scott Archer was all angel, his best friend Herman Coen believes. "Everybody wanted to talk to Scott, because Scott was Scott," ...


Gay News

Broadway star Chita Rivera dies at 91 2024-01-30
- Chita Rivera—a Broadway legend with more than seven decades of credits—has died at age 91 after a short illness, People Magazine reported. "It is with immense personal sorrow that I announce the death of the beloved ...


Gay News

PASSSAGES Chef Michael Thomas Zito 2024-01-02
- Chef Michael Thomas Zito, 55, ("Chef Bear Italia" and "Big Chef") passed away December 12, 2023, unexpectedly at home in Chicago's Belmont Gardens neighborhood. Born in Kentucky to Pentecostal missionaries from New York, Mike began cooking ...


Gay News

Gay political trailblazer Ken Sherrill passes away at age 81 2023-12-30
- Kenneth Sherrill—a pioneering political scientist who was also the first out gay elected official in New York history—died in early December at age 81 from surgical complications, Gay City News reported. He is survived by his ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Paris Johnson 2023-12-29
- Paris Johnson, 29, of Chicago's West Loop neighborhood, passed away unexpectedly Nov. 28. He would have celebrated his 30th birthday Dec. 20. Born into a military family in Sacramento, California, Paris moved often in his youth, ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS






Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.