Since its opening in 2007, the Center on Halsted has been a destination for queer youth, many of whom have been coming from the South and West sides to use its resources. Over the years, there has been rising friction between the youth, who are mostly of color, and area residents and businesses in a largely white neighborhood. Issues include the shortage of services for queer youth and reports alleging their noise and disruptive behavior.
On April 29, Father Tommy Avant Garde organized a town hall for youth and community members to speak out. The meeting was held at Grace Episcopal Church, 637 S. Dearborn, and moderated by Simone Koehlinger, of the Chicago Department of Public Health. Also present were Kim Edwards, director of education at the Commission on Human Relations, and Bill Greaves, the mayor's GLBT liason. Koehlinger began with questions directed towards the youth; these ranged from asking what made them want to use the Center and what factors might dissuade them from doing so.
Several youth spoke about the comfort of being in a queer-friendly space: 'We can hang out and be ourselves.' Others felt targeted because of their race: 'They [ area residents ] look at me as a black person. I'm walking down the street and they'll stare real hard; they'll watch me.' Several youth said they felt unfairly targeted by police.
Youth spoke about living where they either had no queer community or felt unsafe because of their queer identity. A white adult said that he couldn't fathom the issue of 'hatred' in the youths' neighborhoods. This prompted activist Marc Loveless to respond that he was 'greatly disturbed how the coming-out experience is being viewed so differently for these young people. You can't see that they're in the same situation as you were as young white gays?' He went on to say that thinking of African Americans as exclusively homophobic was 'dehumanizing and marginalizing.'
When asked about setting up more queer youth programs in the area, youth responded that there are already such places in their neighborhoods, 'but they need more support.' Several said that they needed recreational places that stayed open later. ( The Center currently closes at 8 p.m. on weekdays and 5 p.m. on Saturday ) .
Dana Starks, chairman of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, said that he was frustrated at the lack of solutions, even after many such meetings, and several in the audience echoed his frustration.
