Gay Activist Coalition ...
"Myself and two other folks were the first people to start a gay group at a city college campus. There were about half a dozen city college campuses then, and we started a group called the Gay Activist Coalition at what is now called Harold Washington college. We did teach-ins, or we would speak in different classroom situations within the college. In those days, they were called 'rap groups.'
"There was another group that had been a part of Chicago Gay Alliance called the Gay Speaker's Forum, and we broke off and started the Gay Speakers Bureau around that time. I remember doing 4, 5, and sometimes 6, speaking engagements a week at colleges, high schools and universities throughout the Midwest. From 1972 to 1992, for 20 years, I did a lot of that. It was all volunteer; I think maybe there were five times we got paid. I've probably done 400-500 speaking engagements." — Richard Pfeiffer
Lavender University ...
"People would literally share their experiences, they would teach classes, cooking, gay and lesbian history, whatever talent you had. Then we would print up a brochure on what people could share. It was like a university sharing type of thing. I think a lot of it was free. I did a course at that point of what we knew of gay history in Chicago. It was myself, Bill Kelley, and someone else, just sharing what we had known at that time. It lasted maybe a year, a year and a half." — Richard Pfeiffer
Delilah Kenney ...
"I knew Delilah well. Delilah and I did a lot of speaking engagements together in the Gay Speakers Bureau. Delilah was also involved in the Coalition, and she helped us out with the parade one year. A very strong personality, and she and I, in the early years, didn't always get along, but after a while we did get along. She was dedicated and excellent on speaking engagements, and she would speak from the heart, about her experiences growing up gay in Denver." — Richard Pfeiffer
The first gay
bar I went to ...
"The first bar I went to was across the street from Shari's on Clark and Surf, and it was called Dugan's bar. It was an old wooden building, like a three-flat, and I was only in there once. It was a mixed bar as far as racially, because I went there with this Black guy I'd met someplace. He took a big shine to me. We drove around and he said, 'Let's go to a gay bar.' And I didn't really know much about them. So we went to this bar and it was your plain old shotgun bar, long and narrow bar down one side. There were apartments upstairs, and I remember we went upstairs and probably smoked a joint. I just have vague memories of it being dark and wooden and old. That was maybe in '74, '75." — Lee A. Newell II
Joe's Juice Joint ...
" _____ was a partner at Joe's Juice Joint, it was a juice bar on Halsted. It was called the Carnival, as well. Well, it was a juice bar, so that meant that teenagers would go there, and that was a place where men could meet boys. It was also a place where boys could be boys, because the City of Chicago has consistently been against any public places for teenagers to gather. It was, basically, full of young hustlers. ___ was a partner there and I believe they got busted, there were three of them that got busted in the place. There was a 14-year-old and they were having sex with him on the pool table or something. That's when they closed it down." — Lee A. Newell II
Memory check: In September 1977, the newly formed Lavender University/Chicago, patterned after a university-without-walls San Francisco program, announced its course offerings for the following January. On March 15, 1980, David Goodwill and Gregory Sprague, leaders in the Chicago Gay and Lesbian History Project and lecturers in Lavender University, presented the first slide show on Chicago's gay history at the Jane Addams Center.
In the November 1973 issue of the Gay Crusader, Bobby Barfly reports that the Noche de Ronda bar ( nee the Tilt Inn ) has become the Snake Pit. ( Even though the Noche was at 2626 N. Halsted and the Snake Pit was at 2628 N. Halsted. ) The Snake Pit was open until '77, or perhaps '78. Certainly it was closed down by October 1978, after failing to renew its liquor license. In February/March 1976, the Snake Pit changed its image and "went western," and was home to the Rodeo Riders.
On Thursday, June 26, 1975, the Snake Pit held a Mr. contest, and on Thursday, July 17, 1975, they held their 2nd annual Mr. Buns contest—2nd-place went to a woman!
The owners of the Snake Pit also opened La Mere Vipere at 2132 N. Clark St. in February 1976—but that's another story.
After the Snake Pit closed, a juice bar called the Carnival, the Pits, and later Joe's Juice Joint, opened at the same location. It disappeared around Pride 1982.
Dugan's bar was located at 2875 N. Clark St.
Gay activist, Delilah Kenney, died May 4, 2000 at age 54.
In 1993, Richard Pfeiffer, was inducted into Chicago's Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. For more than 25 years he has been an activist and volunteer in numerous organizations. He headed the Chicago Gay Alliance ( which ran the city's first gay community center ) and founded the Gay Activists Coalition ( the first gay and lesbian organization at a City Colleges of Chicago campus ) . He is best known for his leadership of Pride Chicago, which facilitates the annual gay and lesbian pride parade.
Future historians take note: The memory section in this column contains just that—Memories!—and are only to be used as a starting point for your research. Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at Outlines. He also interviews over the phone or by e-mail sukiedelacroix@iname.com .
What a
Difference a
Gay Makes
The Gay/Lesbian Movement, 5, 10, 15 & 20 Years Ago
July 9-15
1995: 5 Years Ago
U.S.: Amigas Latinas forms in Chicago. The group starts out with about 10 Latina les/bi women, and has grown to 150 today. t Historian and author Dr. John D'Emilio is the new head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. t Barbara Kavanaugh, a housing attorney, is the first out lesbian candidate in Buffalo, N.Y. She is running for City Council. t In Ovett, Miss., Chancery Court Judge Frank McKenzie rules that Camp Sister Spirit is not a "private nuisance" in rejecting the case of a group of local townspeople who had accused the lesbian-feminist retreat of causing disruptions and trying to "recruit" their daughters into a "lesbian lifestyle." t Extra Fancy singer Brian Grillo tells Details: "I knew I was gay when I was four years old and got a hard-on watching Batman." t Janis Ian tells the San Diego Gay & Lesbian Times: "I'm not doing Michigan, I'm not doing any of the women's festivals, because I can't go with my ( male ) band." t Congo: Famed African novelist Marcel Sony Labou Tansi dies from AIDS at age 48. t Turkey: In Istanbul, gays celebrate the first Gay and Lesbian Pride Week. Events include: a film festival, seminars, condom distributions, a dance party and a weekend excursion to the countryside.
1990: 10 Years Ago
U.S.: In Kentucky, the Louisville Board of Aldermen approves by an 8-4 vote one of the nation's most comprehensive hate-crimes ordinances, banning bias-motivated violence and harassment based on race, religion, national origin, ethnic identity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or health-related conditions. t Behind the Mask: My Double Life in Baseball by Dave Pallone—a memoir of a closeted gay umpire in the National League—is in bookstores. t Australia: In Townsville, the Queensland Association of Catholic Parents urge that homosexuals be required to wear visible identification and be counseled on "the depravity of their actions."
1985: 15 Years Ago
U.S.: Rock Hudson makes an appearance at a press conference to promote a new cable TV series starring Doris Day. Publicists attribute Hudson's frailty to 'the aftereffects of the flu and a couple of sleepless nights.' t Two gay men from San Francisco are among the hostages on TWA flight 847 hijacked in Beirut. t The New York legislature passes a law banning discrimination in housing and real estate for lesbians and gay men. t The American Bar Association votes against a resolution putting the group on record as against discrimination based on sexual orientation. The vote was 162-152. t In Trenton, Ohio, an openly gay teenager files suit against his high school after officials kick him out of the prom for showing up in a chiffon dress, satin pumps, and a fur cape. Warren Harper, 19, was escorted to the affair by his sister who wore a tuxedo. The couple said they were exercising their rights and making a fashion statement. t In Portland, Maine, one issue of the gay newspaper Our Paper is banned from the public library because it includes a "safe sex test."
1980: 20 Years Ago
U.S.: In Washington, D.C., gay Democrats win a major victory when the Democratic Rules Committee passes two amendments banning discrimination against homosexuals in all party activities. t The Gay Theater Alliance and The Glines announce the winners of the National Gay Playwriting Contest. The winner of the $250 first prize is Loretta Lotman of Los Angeles for her play Thanksgiving. t Canada: A man who underwent a sex-change operation and then applied to become an Anglican nun is turned down by St. John's Convent in Toronto.
What a
Difference a
Gay Makes
The Gay/Lesbian Movement, 5, 10, 15 & 20 Years Ago
July 9-15
1995: 5 Years Ago
U.S.: Amigas Latinas forms in Chicago. The group starts out with about 10 Latina les/bi women, and has grown to 150 today. t Historian and author Dr. John D'Emilio is the new head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. t Barbara Kavanaugh, a housing attorney, is the first out lesbian candidate in Buffalo, N.Y. She is running for City Council. t In Ovett, Miss., Chancery Court Judge Frank McKenzie rules that Camp Sister Spirit is not a "private nuisance" in rejecting the case of a group of local townspeople who had accused the lesbian-feminist retreat of causing disruptions and trying to "recruit" their daughters into a "lesbian lifestyle." t Extra Fancy singer Brian Grillo tells Details: "I knew I was gay when I was four years old and got a hard-on watching Batman." t Janis Ian tells the San Diego Gay & Lesbian Times: "I'm not doing Michigan, I'm not doing any of the women's festivals, because I can't go with my ( male ) band." t Congo: Famed African novelist Marcel Sony Labou Tansi dies from AIDS at age 48. t Turkey: In Istanbul, gays celebrate the first Gay and Lesbian Pride Week. Events include: a film festival, seminars, condom distributions, a dance party and a weekend excursion to the countryside.
1990: 10 Years Ago
U.S.: In Kentucky, the Louisville Board of Aldermen approves by an 8-4 vote one of the nation's most comprehensive hate-crimes ordinances, banning bias-motivated violence and harassment based on race, religion, national origin, ethnic identity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or health-related conditions. t Behind the Mask: My Double Life in Baseball by Dave Pallone—a memoir of a closeted gay umpire in the National League—is in bookstores. t Australia: In Townsville, the Queensland Association of Catholic Parents urge that homosexuals be required to wear visible identification and be counseled on "the depravity of their actions."
1985: 15 Years Ago
U.S.: Rock Hudson makes an appearance at a press conference to promote a new cable TV series starring Doris Day. Publicists attribute Hudson's frailty to 'the aftereffects of the flu and a couple of sleepless nights.' t Two gay men from San Francisco are among the hostages on TWA flight 847 hijacked in Beirut. t The New York legislature passes a law banning discrimination in housing and real estate for lesbians and gay men. t The American Bar Association votes against a resolution putting the group on record as against discrimination based on sexual orientation. The vote was 162-152. t In Trenton, Ohio, an openly gay teenager files suit against his high school after officials kick him out of the prom for showing up in a chiffon dress, satin pumps, and a fur cape. Warren Harper, 19, was escorted to the affair by his sister who wore a tuxedo. The couple said they were exercising their rights and making a fashion statement. t In Portland, Maine, one issue of the gay newspaper Our Paper is banned from the public library because it includes a "safe sex test."
1980: 20 Years Ago
U.S.: In Washington, D.C., gay Democrats win a major victory when the Democratic Rules Committee passes two amendments banning discrimination against homosexuals in all party activities. t The Gay Theater Alliance and The Glines announce the winners of the National Gay Playwriting Contest. The winner of the $250 first prize is Loretta Lotman of Los Angeles for her play Thanksgiving. t Canada: A man who underwent a sex-change operation and then applied to become an Anglican nun is turned down by St. John's Convent in Toronto.
