Gerber/Hart Library has revealed the events it will host for Pride Month.
—On Saturday, June 4, at 3 p.m., Gerber/Hart will celebrate the release of Legends of Drag: Queens of a Certain Age with Unabridged Books at Third Space Chicago, 716 W. Addison St.
To create the book, Harry James Hanson and Devin Antheus traveled across the country, visiting 16 cities to meet 80 legendary entertainers who shared wisdom and anecdotes from their lives. The authors will be in conversation with local Chicago queen Jo MaMa.
For more information, visit https://www.unabridgedbookstore.com/event/legends-drag-harry-james-hanson-devin-antheus.
—On Sunday, June 19, at Third Space Chicago at 3 p.m., there will be a book release with Unabridged Books and author Ben Miller about the book Bad Gays: A Homosexual History.
Part revisionist history, part historical biography and based on the hugely popular podcast series, Bad Gays: A Homosexual History subverts the notion of gay icons and queer heroes and asks what we can learn about LGBTQ history, sexuality and identity through its villains and baddies. Miller wrote the book with Huw Lemmey.
See https://www.unabridgedbookstore.com/event/bad-gays-ben-miller.
—Lastly, on Saturday, June 25, at Gerber/Hart, 6500 N. Clark St., at 12 p.m., the curators will reveal a sneak peek of the new exhibit "[De]Coded: Surviving the Law as a Sexual Deviant."
In 1961, Illinois became the first state in the US to decriminalize sodomy, one of many legal codes meant to classify homosexuals as outlaws. Crimes of sodomy, crossdressing, and even vagrancy were expressly used to target the community, making them second class citizens seemingly unworthy of protections under the law. Forced to choose between safety and authenticity, queer Chicagoans still found ways to thrive in the face of these shifting forms of oppression.
Visit GerberHart.org for more information.
