Youth group handles
the phoneline ...
" they had tried to extend the hours of phoneline earlier in afternoon>
Youth group handles
the phoneline ...
"They had tried to extend the hours of the phoneline to earlier in the afternoon, but the only people they could find to man the phone lines were the boys. The boys would come in and they were answering phones unsupervised from 4-7 p.m. One of the first things I was told when I went to get the rent from Chuck Renslow was, 'Oh by the way, the cops called me and the boys have got a hustling service running on that number. It would be a good idea to stop that.'
Renslow pays the rent ...
"When I was elected chairperson, we had a whole new board, and we actually had an accountant who was now going to be our treasurer, and that's when we discovered that we had no books. Howard Brown had the books. From the records that we did have, we knew that the rent had not been paid in three months, and utilities were also three months in arrears. There was a $200 long-distance phone bill that the boys had run up in the afternoons. So the question was, 'where do we get the money to pay the rent?' They had no bank account, it was just unbelievable. What do we do? I was told to just go over to Chuck Renslow, and he will give you the money.
"At the time, Chuck was living at the Dewes Mansion, and so I walked over there to this fabulous mansion, with big stone statues holding up the front porch, rang the doorbell, and the pretty little houseboy comes and lets me in. He takes me down to see Chuck in his office, and I told him that Bill Krick said that he had been paying the rent, and I would be obliged if he would cover the rent this month. I said that in the future I fully expected Horizons to come up with some funding on its own, because we could not afford to get the reputation for being owned by any one person, or being financed by any one person. Because then, just as now, there was a tremendous amount of politics in the community. To try and stay neutral was a big effort. I'll never forget, he said, 'Not a problem.' He just stood up, took out his wallet and handed me $180. That was how I met Chuck Renslow."
Fundraising ...
"Then at Gay Horizons we started talking about fundraising and I went around to the lawyer Paul Goldman's group, I think it was called Legacy, a senior's group. You go, you talk, they pat your head, pat your ass, and then he hands you a check for $50, and off you go. We got Marge Summit to throw a benefit auction where people donated stuff and that went very, very well. We had tons and tons of stuff; the biggest thing we ever had was Renee Hanover and Dilly, her lover, donated a piano one year. We got to auction that off."
The fire, and the move ...
"I was chairperson in '77, '78. We'd moved from Clark and Diversey to Oakdale because there had been this fire in the electrical distribution closet. That mysteriously burned a little three-inch diameter hole in the floor and destroyed the fuse box for Gay Horizons. It could have been the Astro restaurant downstairs, or it could have been this guy whose name was James ___ and he was a hanger-on to the youth group. He was a sleazy type guy who must have been 20, 21, and he was very unhappy with me."
"We had the fire and we moved over to Oakdale, which is what we could afford versus what we needed. There was some friction between Joe Loundy and I. He was with psychotherapy services with the professional social workers, and they were not real happy because they did not have a private separate room where they could meet with people. When we had the bridge club, they would be upset because the activity in the center was disturbing their counseling sessions. One can understand that, but that was when everyone started having very serious meetings about where do we get the money to afford the space we need.
"I don't remember exactly when I left, but I didn't go away in a huff. I know that I wanted to be chairperson for another year, to try and get Horizons really going. Joe Loundy came in and took over and did a wonderful job, an outstanding job. I then took a couple of years out to make some money in the corporate world, but I still served on the board. I was switchboard co-director, I was a peer counselor for six years, so I was around more or less until the mid '80s, then I think I just got busy with work. I'm the type of person that if I can't make my commitments, I have to resign."
Memory Check:
On Feb. 26, 1977, Gay Horizons was locked out of its office by the management of the building at 2745 N. Clark. Some people say this might be a tactic of the owners to get the group out. The Astro restaurant, underneath, had long made it clear that they did not like having Gay Horizons as a neighbor.
On the subject of homophobia at the Astro, between Aug. 7-15, 1970, Chicago Gay Liberation picketed the restaurant at Clark and Diversey, because they had a strong policy of refusing to serve gays and advising them not to return.
On Page 1 of GayLife Jan. 21, 1977, Gay Horizons and Rogers Park Gay Center announced the merger of their fundraising committees to organize a raffle. First prize was a 1977 Pontiac Astre Hatchback or $3,000 cash, 2nd prize was a color console television or $750. 3rd, 4th and 5th prizes were 10-speed bicycles. ( See last week's Chicago Whispers for the full story on what happened next. )
What a Difference a Gay Makes
The Gay/Lesbian Movement, 5, 10, 15 & 20 Years Ago
July 16-22
1995: 5 Years Ago
U.S.: British-born poet, critic and novelist, Sir Stephen Spender, dies at age 86. t John Hinson, 53, the former Mississippi member of Congress and conservative Republican, dies of AIDS. Hinson resigned his House seat during his second term after he was arrested on charges of having sex with another man in a federal office building in 1981. Hinson acknowledged that he was gay after his resignation and went on to work for the gay-rights movement. He helped found the state lobbying group Virginians for Justice and Fairfax Lesbian and Gay Citizens Association. t A front-page article in The Wall Street Journal is headlined: "Has a Curmudgeon Turned Into a Bully? Some Now Think So. Chicago's ( Mike ) Royko Slurs Cops, Gays, Women." t Keanu Reeves tells Vanity Fair: "There's nothing wrong with being gay, so to deny it is to make a judgment. And why make a big deal out of it? If someone doesn't want to hire me because they think I'm gay, well, then I have to deal with it, I guess. Or if people were picketing the theater. But otherwise, it's just gossip, isn't it?" t Britain: Guinness, the British brewery known for its stout ales, plans to begin using a gay couple in some of its TV ad campaigns.
1990: 10 Years Ago
U.S.: The Chicago Department of Health release its six-month summary of data on AIDS diagnoses, showing a total of 406 cases reported between January and June of 1990. Chicago's reported AIDS cases since 1980 stand at 2,960, of whom 1,848, or 62 percent, are deceased. t Women interested in S/M charge that the organizers of the largely lesbian Michigan Womyn's Music Festival are discriminating against them on the basis of their sexual behavior. "S/M women have been denied festival services they have paid for," says Marla Stevens, an Indiana activist and member of Michigan WHIPS, an S/M group. t Six AIDS activists are each given a three-day suspended sentence and six months probation, stemming from their raucous demonstration in the Washington office of Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.. t Ireland: Moslem missionaries in Ireland say that pork is a proscribed meat because "It has been proven that the pig is the only homosexual animal."
1985: 15 Years Ago
U.S.: The Gay Men's Health Crisis of New York is given a community service award by the Reagan Administration. A month later the Reagan Administration tries to take it back. Congressman Ted Weiss of New York says it would not be returned. t A lesbian grandmother who says she raised her granddaughter from birth goes to court in Philadelphia seeking visitation rights to the child. The woman's son-in-law has custody of the girl and forbids her to see the child. t Moral majority leader Jerry Falwell launches another letter-writing campaign calling for the quarantine of persons with AIDS. t Britain: Princess Diana admits that she is firing anyone who claims to be a "confirmed bachelor." The term is commonly used to refer to gay men in England.
1980: 20 Years Ago
U.S.: Arson strikes the Metropolitan Community Church in Tallahassee, Fla. The day before, Rev. Robert Angell received a phone call, in which the caller said, "I'm going to burn you alive." t Joffrey Ballet company director Sally Field assures the press that the Joffrey is "gay free." "All the boys in my company are straight," she tells reporters asking about Ronald Reagan Jr., a member of the Joffrey and son of the presidential candidate. t Britain: Homosexuality is legalized in Scotland.
