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

WCT: It was clear that the majority of institutional memory out there is of your leaving as president of Rodde Center. After that, pretty much Rodde went away. The deadline came and went and then it existed as basically a P.O. Box. There were no significant things happening after that sale fell through. Stepping down at that point, was there strong enough leadership for it to have continued? Was that leaving a leadership vacuum?

MH: That's not true. My term of office had ended. I spent time on encouraging new leadership to happen. Sometimes you have to step aside and let new leaders find a chance and see an opening to do something. And Tracy, I was exhausted. I was doing fundraisers until 2 a.m., taking in $1 donations. That wasn't enough. I was doing that every other night. I had the energy for it, like everybody, I was committed to it. Luckily, as a consultant I had the flex time to be able to give to the center. Everybody else had full-time jobs. I can decide when I wanted to work for my clients. I could be up writing at 2 in the morning and show up to do Rodde work at the office at 9 o' clock. I moved my apartment closer to the Rodde Fund so I could get to it easier. When Michael McNamara called me to join the board I was living in Humboldt Park. I moved to Edgewater, [ in part to be ] closer to the Rodde Fund. After having volunteered for about eight months, the drive from Humboldt Park to the Lakefront was ridiculous. I needed to be close to the center because I was volunteering every day.

WCT: After Rodde, one of the more visible roles you took on was Chicago Black Lesbians and Gays. How did you become involved, what time and what happened?

MH: March on Washington 1993. Steve Wakefield, a legendary leader, and I were standing on two sides of the street. He was on one corner and I was on another. And we were shocked that we had to go all the way to Washington, D.C., to actually find time to meet and talk. Here he was, executive director of [ Test Positive Aware ] , and here I was President of Rodde Fund and we had been exchanging e-mails and playing phone tag for weeks prior to the march. We hadn't seen each other in Chicago for a couple of months because of busy life. ... This is outrageous. The need for support, encouragement and nurturing Black lesbigaytrans people in the community has always been on my mind and we thought we've got to change this. [ We said ] , when we get back to Chicago we are going to invite anybody else we know to start getting together regularly. We developed a list. There were actually 25 co-founders of Chicago Black Lesbians and Gays. We developed a list of South Side, West Side and North Side Black people to say let's come together and talk about the possibilities. We were clear at first that this needed to be unique in the community and we were going to have co-gender leadership. This was not going to be a men's only or a women's only organization. We were going to bridge the gender gap and provide leadership and support for Black people. We were organizing to support ourselves, not organizing against whites. We were not organizing against anybody, but Blacks needed and wanted to experience the truly enriching value of dealing with each other, being able to count on each other and providing leadership to challenge issues of racism as well as homophobia.

WCT: My recollection is Steve convened the meeting and is seen as founder of the group.

MH: The actual truth is, Steve Wakefield and I convened the meeting at the Rodde Fund. This was an example of free space. The Rodde Fund xerox machine was hot burning for all those organizations when they needed copying. About 20 people showed up and signed on after a long conversation about some of the goals. At that meeting, Renae [ Ogletree ] and I were asked to take leadership because we knew we had to have co-gendered leadership.

WCT: Was the reason you stepped down [ from Rodde ] to focus on CBLG?

MH: You know what, that's a good point. I was very involved in CBLG at the same time I was President of the Rodde Fund. I was doing a lot. I was very exhausted. It was a group of people who founded it, but it started with Steve and I being shocked at seeing each other across the street [ in D.C. ] .

WCT: For the South Side Bud Billikin parade...you and some other Black gay activists reportedly thought it was not a good idea to participate in this. What was your actual role in that?

MH: CBLG responded on the principles of support for Black people in our community, challenging racism and challenging homophobia wherever it occurred. CBLG wanted to work harder to challenge homophobia in the larger community. I was in favor of us being very public wherever we are, and the Bud Billikin parade was one of a list of possibilities of things to promote Black lesbigaytrans visibility. The South Side quite naturally wanted to take the lead on pushing the Chicago Defender to allow us to march, without letting the larger group know they actually filled out an application to participate and got turned down. When they came to us and told us they had been turned down to march in the parade, we took that up as a priority issue for the entire organization. I made phone calls to people I know and others made phone calls and forced the [ Defender ] to meet with us.

WCT: This was the lawsuit that was not CBLG…

MH: Lambda Legal Defense was advocating strongly and maybe threatening a lawsuit. Myself and some other CBLG leaders ... I think Lisa Pickens was in on it … . But myself and some other members of CBLG met three days straight with [ Defender owners ] negotiating our right to march in the parade. We were explaining to them we are Black people...teachers, home owners, students, nothing more, nothing less than the larger Black community. We were working to make [ the Defender ] see us as people who were members of their family too.

WCT: That's not how it was won?

MH: They agreed to it ...

WCT: The Chicago Commission on Human Relations made a ruling ...

MH: They agreed to let us march. This happens all the time. There are people doing stuff here … people doing stuff there. I think it takes all that pressure [ from CBLG meeting with the Defender, and Lambda suing ] . We had a news conference in front of the Chicago Defender demanding to march, and then a week later they agreed to meet with us. We chose the leadership from CBLG to go meet with them and at the same time we had Active Proud Black Lesbians and Gays and Karen Hutt forming their organization. But at the same time they were part of CBLG. Remember, CBLG was a coalition made up of several groups and individuals. So that was fine. It was three days of being at the table with the Sengstacks [ the Defender's owners ] , but the pivotal point came when this one woman talked about being a mother and the children she bore and talked about being closeted and being unable to come out for many, many years. She was at that table in the conference room with the Defender, that was a pivotal story that convinced [ them ] that we were really people.

WCT: What happened that first march?

MH: The day of first march, Michael Harrington was at a fundraiser at Roscoe's until 2:30 in the morning for the Rodde Center. And at 2:30 in morning, myself and a bunch of others ... we were collecting the money, counting up the change and packing it up for deposit the next day. I went home excited, got in bed. I intended to march and be at the front of that parade. I woke up 1 o'clock on Saturday. ... I had been doing a tremendous amount of work. We were on television. I was using my media skills to get coverage of this issue. All throughout, since high school, I have been an out Black gay man. That was another thing that really helped was that I had no problem being gay and to be in front of a camera. But I overslept. I marched the next year and the year after.

WCT: You left CBLG, because of getting your children, three weeks before a conference...in the middle of your term with a lot of things needing to happen with the organization. As with Rodde, this left a void in CBLG for a long time. It shows you were an important contributor, but it also shows there was a void then left with a sudden departure.

MH: I cannot remember the exact year we are talking about. I might be able to remember exactly. In late 1997, the Department of Children and Family Services called me and said, Michael Harrington, your sister's children are about to become wards of the state. Do you want to do something about it? My partner, Jack, and I talked for less than five minutes and I called DCFS back saying 'Yes, we will be foster fathers for these two little girls.' And in January of 1998 Erica came to us at 9 months old, her older sister came to us at 10 years old and her brother, Eric, was born a few months later. DCFS called and said 'Will you do something?' They had been researching the Harrington family and found that I actually had an income and was working and I wasn't alcohol and drug dependent. The state prefers relatives to be the guardian. Jack and I were in total agreement on it and have been daddies ever since, raising two children [ the older child later went to live with her natural father ] . When I left CBLG as male co-chair, I was always focused on encouraging new leadership to get involved. And I thought year after year, these people kept electing me co-chair and I kept saying we need to work on getting more leadership. I stepped down to try and force the issue.

Well, less than six months later they asked me to come back. And I did. I can't remember the exact sequence, but I do know there was a brief hiatus when I was not male co-chair. It might have been before or it might have been after. But I know that when I got the children I was on seven boards. In 1998, I resigned from about five boards of directors because of the sudden responsibilities.

WCT: What's different now in your time commitment to be alderman?

MH: We are still foster parents and we have been approved by DCFS and the state's attorney and the Guardian have pre-screened us and approved us for adoption. We are waiting for the court to finish the termination of parental rights. And once that is done we will go full speed ahead and begin the adoption process.

WCT: Is your sister wanting the children?

MH: The older child was fathered by a separate man who a couple of years ago petitioned for custody of her and was given custody. Erica is 5 and Eric is 4. And as alderman we intend to hire help because right now my full-time job is a consultant and volunteer in the community, but by 3 o' clock every day I am home cooking dinner and getting it ready and picking up the kids at daycare. Many elected officials have children.

WCT: You dropped all this board responsibility suddenly?

MH: It was the new experience of being a dad. We are not writing a book, but Jack and I keep joking that if we are going to write a book we'd call it Suddenly, Dad because it happened overnight.

WCT: The overarching questions here are how time is managed, how leadership develops, how transitions happen …

MH: I don't think there is a leadership void. There are still many credible men and women with CBLG still.

WCT: It was a sudden departure from Rodde ...

MH: I was one person. I think that pretty much where my stomach and my heart is was I was suddenly a father. I had given close to five years of my life to CBLG and always urged us to spend time working to create space for more leadership. And it was fate that decided I needed to take care of these two children.

WCT: Being involved on multiple boards, in the mainstream and gay community...is that an over-commitment of your time?

MH: Before I had children, it was quite easy to do. No problem. Before I had children, I was happy to go where I was asked to share. I still had a need for more people to come to the table and work in a volunteer capacity.

WCT: The burnout was not because of all these other commitments? It was the Rodde Center itself that caused the burnout?

MH: It was not burnout at the Rodde Fund. I was exhausted and at the same time encouraging more people to step up to leadership. Not burnout with CBLG...I loved it but I had two kids to take care of. I credit that organizations...gay, straight, Black, white...recognize that I have some talents that are necessary to push and improve community, whatever that issue is. I'm honored by that, Tracy. And I am honored by the fact that neighbors in the 49th Ward, straight white people, old Latino people, Black people old and young are asking this middle-aged Black gay man to get involved and do more. That is what is so damn awesome and it is humbling to be alderman. People are urging me to do it because they see I have the management that is necessary to deliver services, because it is not happening now.

WCT: Talk about your style … . We have spoken with many people you have worked with. Some characterize you as hard-working and good at coalition building. Others say you have a hard time working with women, and you have an arrogant style of leadership ...

MH: There could be nothing further from the truth regarding my poor working relationship with women. It was my intent to create an organization that was going to have co-gendered leadership. That it would no longer be just a guys thing … there's a lot of Black males in leadership. There are wonderful women's organizations in the Black lesbian community. It was my intent that [ CBLG ] would be a co-gendered group from the very start. We stated that at the very beginning, and people were excited by that very idea, and rewarded us—year after year after year in electing Renae Ogletree and I [ as co-chairs ] .

WCT: Is this a perception issue in terms of style?

MH: I don't know. I really can't explain how people arrive at their conclusions.

WCT: Are you saying that nobody ever came to you and said 'You don't represent the African American community'?

MH: No.

WCT: About your general style: How someone chairs an organization has repercussions on how they would be an alderman. And how your campaign reflects your actual style as an alderman.

MH: I believe very strongly in access to information. Information is power and in all my volunteer work and my political work and in my campaign, access to information is a cornerstone. So my style in leadership, Tracy, is always about getting paperwork done and making sure everybody has a full exposition of the issues and participates in analyzing them and coming up with decisions. I am pushing the issue about getting the information about decision making that needs to happen in the ward. We have options on our plate that aren't being pursued and there are details about that that aren't being shared. [ As alderman ] , I will be in a unique position to get information to people and proposals specifically about what I will be doing relating to goal setting for this ward.

WCT: Can you give examples of people you have worked with you don't agree with.

MH: Actually, what I try to do is find a way to work with someone. Differences of opinion or differences of strategy exist with everyone. But what's important is finding ways to come to an agreement. That's what I do as a community development consultant, working to get different interests to find a common goal. We don't spend time saying 'no we don't agree' and thus we can't go forward. We need to go forward. I can't say that there are people I dislike or don't work with.

WCT: Explain how you became involved in the Rogers Park Gay and Lesbian Neighbors Association?

MH: I became involved in the organization at the very first community meeting that was called at the Leather Archives.

WCT: As a general member?

MH: Lesbigay people, residents, homeowners, renters had been talking for years about the need to have an organization. There were so many of us in Rogers Park. When a flyer was circulated asking people to come to the meeting, I went to that meeting. [ One member ] spoke about how the RP Association of Gay Neighbors had existed in the '60s and '70s in Rogers Park, based and affiliated with the university. He talked magnificently about the work they had done two decades ago. At the end of that meeting, 14 people agreed to form an ad hoc steering committee. I was one of those 14 people who founded the organization.

WCT: The people who called the meeting were originators of it.

MH: They circulated the flyers

WCT: Had you circulated the flyers, you would not have called yourself founder?

MH: I think it's semantics. Who is the founder … the founder is the people who do the work, get it going and sustain it. And there were 14 of us. It was an ad hoc steering committee that existed for about a year.

WCT: Were there major issues that came into play in terms of how people worked together?

MH: In that first year there was a lot of work and a lot of activity … many people were doing many different things and the steering committee met sometimes on a weekly basis. I'm not on the board anymore so I really can't speak for what the organization is doing now.

WCT: When were you first elected for office?

MH: I was on first elected board as vice chair. The members voted.

WCT: At what point did the relationship between you and Jim Yeaman become contentious? [ Yeaman and his partner were the individuals who circulated flyers calling for the formation of the group. ]

MH: He wasn't elected to the board. I think my running for alderman has nothing to do with my personal relationship with Jim Yeaman. If there is a strained relationship between he and I, that's between he and I.

WCT: But how you work with people who don't agree with you, and bridging those gaps, that's to me an example of something that's running over the organization; the organization is suffering because of a contentious relationship between a founder and one of the members?

MH: I don't want to talk about my personal relationship. I want to talk about why I am running for alderman and what I intend to do in the community, and the work people have asked me to do.

WCT: Your were vice-chair until just recently. How did the name change proposal for the organization come about? [ Several months ago, the group's leaders changed the name to Rogers Park Pride; after Yeaman and some others wondered if the change was done with proper member input, the board backed down and is re-proposing the name change to the entire membership. ]

MH: I did not initiate the name change and I don't feel comfortable answering for, or speaking for, the organization.

WCT: You came to them with the request for endorsement [ of your aldermanic campaign ] , while you were vice chair of the group?

MH: I have asked dozens of organizations to endorse me.

WCT: Normally, an organization that does endorsements has a process?

MH: Some do and some don't.

WCT: Were you comfortable in the process that the Roger's Park organization did in endorsing you without a forum, without the opposition?

MH: There was and remains an existing condition of Lesbigaytrans people in Rogers Park being dissatisfied with the core level of resistance and accountability … the failure to get phone calls returned … the lack of participation in community meetings and community events by the current alderman. Members of the organization's leadership recognize my potential and they were eager to give support for that.

WCT: Is that a conflict for them to have endorsed a board member without asking the membership?

MH: That's true. I had nothing to do with the process. I resigned after that. I have no idea about the process. I didn't construct it. I didn't organize it. The incumbent has had 12 years of telling people where he stands on his positions and 12 years to make an effort. I think that stands in stark contrast to what I've done overnight. A movement of people is organizing, when they hear that there is an opportunity for change.

WCT: Have you been involved in an organization which gave their endorsement without you being interviewed?

MH: Let me ask you this. Will there likely be occasions when one or two groups will lend their support when I won't also have the chance to ask for that support? The incumbent should welcome any support he receives. This is a neighborhood organization. ... I do know people are concerned about poor service, pay-offs ... . [ Harrington then listed some allegations of corruption, but Windy City Times will address this in a separate story with a response from Ald. Joe Moore. ]

WCT: On your campaign brochure, you list a lot of organizations you have been involved with. It's interesting the name Rogers Park Pride is already in here and not Rogers Park Gay and Lesbian Neighbors; Chicago Black Lesbians and Gays and Rodde Center are not on here. The word gay is not on here. Even when you mentioned your partner, there is not a name or gender. Was this a conscious decision, or editing down a list of involvements? None of the gay groups are listed, except Rogers Park—but with their new name that doesn't have gay in it.

MH: Tracy, on the very top line, it says Michael J. Harrington, with his life partner has two children. I have been openly gay all my life. We have many gay people, and not from Rogers Park, involved in leadership in my campaign.

WCT: Life partner could be female.

MH: Rogers Park Pride was in the neighborhood. CBLG was not headquartered in neighborhood.

WCT: Perception is reality and in other gay campaigns, in the past, there have been multiple pieces meant for mainstream and gay consumption.

MH: My Web site address is here and if you click on the Web site there's gay all over it. I did not intend to be obfuscating anything.

WCT: How does this list of groups translate into your being qualified to be alderman?

MH: This is the resume I give my clients. [ Harrington showed his resume, with dozens of groups and clients listed, including gay ones. ] Being out is not an issue with me. We have a very large gay and lesbian citizens committee who looked at the list of my involvements and selected a few of them to be on the brochure back panel.

WCT: Some of this ranges from very low-level involvement to very high-level involvement. Please comment on some of the groups you were at the board level.

MH: The 24th Chicago Police District strategic plan committee member—this is an ongoing process right now, focused on reconfiguring what CAPS is doing in the 49th Ward, that's where CAPS started. What's clear to people is that we need to improve the efficiency and efficacy to improve street crime. It is actually a very select group of leaders selected by the police district. I was instigator for creation of this because I called for a ward-wide crime summit. I just resigned from the Rogers Park Community Council Board because I am running for office. I was elected to the board last fall. I was involved in strategic planning for RPCC.

The Rogers Park Community Parade Committee, this will be our sixth year and I am on the leadership committee. It is an informal group of people that are organizing the parade every year. RPCC is the physical agent for it. Sherwin-Chase Block Club—when Jack and I moved in to the community in 1995, as renters, within two months of being there, we saw a flyer about the block club. We went to the first meeting and at that block club, neighbors started responding to issues raised. Shortly after, members of our very own Block Club encouraged me to run for alderman. That was seven years ago. I voted for Joe Moore and my picture was on his brochure as one of his campaign leaders, and I didn't quite get why people were upset. I thought he was a progressive Democrat. I learned very quickly that was not true at all. I was an active member of the 49th Ward zoning and land use committee. Then I resigned because it was clear that decisions that came before committee were forgone conclusions ... . We were not asked to make real decisions. We were not allowed to be proactive. We only had to react.

Mayor Daley appointed me to the Community Development Block Grant Committee. I served on that for a year and a half. That was one of seven I resigned from when I had kids. A major involvement was lead council on the New City YMCA working to fight and preserve zoning for industrial development on Goose Island and the Near North Side. Warren Bacon invited me to join the education committee and appointed me to Mayor Harold Washington's Transition Team. I was considered a public education advocate in the early '80s. And Jack and I are on the parent board at our day care.

I was on the Independent Voters of Illinois Field Board for three years. One year I was state political action chair. I interviewed candidates for office … aldermanic and state reps. I quizzed them about accountability and honesty, pay-offs and independents versus machine.

WCT: Please comment more about the children you are raising ...

MH: They were infants, Tracy. My children have special needs and they were infants, that needed 24/7 attention, and now they are toddlers four and five. Jack is a teacher and an excellent person to be a daddy. He works at Children's Memorial Hospital … children with cancer and life-threatening illnesses. He is a magnificent partner for me in that he has the education skills that have helped us nurture the development of these two kids.

WCT: Given that they are foster care and special needs kids, I assume the state provides funding …

MH: The state support is negligible. The costs are tremendous for us and that we do willingly. The alternative is that they be on the street. If the state hadn't stepped in, I don't even want to think about what would have happened.

WCT: You went from renter to home buyer in that neighborhood. In what way?

MH: We are co-owners. We moved into a building, and the senior citizens that owned it liked us immediately. They told us, a few months after moving in, that they planned to retire and if we were ever interested in buying the building, let them know. We had kids. We suddenly realized this is a big space, we have kids, we need to buy this. It had a huge backyard. So we bought it. And the first thing we did after closing was I drove down to Halsted and I bought a giant rainbow flag, and it is on the 10-foot flag pole in my backyard. Tracy, I am not worried about anyone knowing.

WCT: Can we ask to see your own personal personal tax returns? [ Harrington did show his returns but did not allow WCT to keep them for analysis; however, they did not appear, on brief reading, to show any unusual amounts of income. Only a few of the Rodde Center tax returns were found through former board members; nothing on these indicated any discrepancies with payouts, just a budget that was consistently, year after year, far in excess of revenues. The state of Illinois also has no records starting in the late 1980s, even though the Center operated as a non-profit. See related story. ]

MH: Frankly, I am disappointed that you asked me that, Tracy. I really thought that there was more about understanding who I am and what I've done in community. I would like to know names of who these people in the community are [ who are alleging he improperly used Rodde money, perhaps to purchase his home ] .

WCT: Ever since Rodde Center … many people have wondered what happened to Rodde Center money.

MH: Michael Harrington took consultant money from Rodde Fund? Michael Harrington was paid by Rodde Fund? No.

WCT: How does Michael Harrington afford a property?

MH: Michael Harrington is a community development consultant. Michael Harrington and Jack Frederick pooled our money together to make it happen and saved. And it is not hard to afford a house.

WCT: These are questions that are not going to go away. They will come up again and again.

MH: How did we get from Rodde Center to my home?

WCT: That's what several people want to make sure…

MH: Are you suggesting I used Rodde Fund to buy my home?

WCT: I'm not suggesting anything.

This was the end of the interview. Harrington provided names and numbers of some of the former Rodde Center board members, and his campaign manager said he would respond to additional questions we had. However, we were unable to get some basic responses in time for this deadline, so followup questions and stories will appear over the coming weeks.

Transcription by A.M.

Research by A.M.

and Sukie de la Croix