On June 2, retired photographer and activist Jerry Pritikin was inducted into the Chicago Senior Citizens Hall of Fame for his contributions to the LGBT community.
"The first thing it says in my bio is I'm an activist in the LGBT community," said Pritikin. "I think I was the only one being inducted who happened to be gay."
Pritikin spent years in San Francisco working for gay rights. His photographs have been published in exhibits, books and documentaries. His most famous is a photo of Harvey Milk.
In a time of "It Gets Better" videos, same-sex marriage debates and increased dialogue about sexuality, many assume that LGBT teens and young adults now have it as good as has ever been. Pritikin believes that his family's support of both his sexual orientation and LGBT accomplishments as an activist were a contributing factor in his success in his work and his happiness in life. Windy City Times caught up with Pritikin to talk about his years of activism and the family that supported him through it.
Windy City Times: When did you first come out?
Jerry Pritikin: I knew I was gay when I was in my teens, but it took me until I was about, I was 20 years old when I first came out.
WCT: What was your relationship like with your parents when you first came out?
JP: My older brother, kind of like, being a brother in the '50s, mentioned that a friend of his saw me come out of a "faggot" bar, and that kind of was a rude awakening. I got it put into perspective. My brother is my best friend now. He has been gay-friendly ever since. He even came to visit me in San Francisco, and he has gay friends of his own, so he has come a long way.
As far as my parents … this is very funny. My first lover was living with his parents and I was living with mine, and we wound up taking our parents to each others' house. We never used the "gay" word, but I think they knew. In fact, this is even funnier: When I used to sleep by his parents house, they knew he only had a twin bed in his room.
WCT: How did your relationship with your family change after coming out?
JP: Everybody was extremely supportive, and I went to San Francisco for the first time in 1960 when I was 23 or so, and I always went for a short time. Then, I moved there with one of my lovers and, at that point in time, [my family] came to visit me. My sister enjoyed going to gay bars because they used to card her when she was 40.
[My family] was super-duper. My nieces and my nephews all knew at an early point. I have no negatives except the instant with my brother, but that was the times. He was a little older than me, and in the '50s it was really taboo to be gay.
WCT: Do you think your activism would have looked differently had your family not been so supportive?
JP: I doubt so. If anything, I really did not have to work hard converting them. Once they saw how happy I was, they were in 100 percent. Like I said earlier, my brothers and sisters were very proud of me, as were their friends, and my close relatives. At the same time, I had a friend, Guy Corey who was a well-known gay photographer, and when he contracted AIDS (perceived as a gay illness) and died, his family were so ashamed of him, they burned all his negatives.
WCT: Over the years, how has your family's perceptions and reception of the LGBT community changed?
JP: In 1977, I created a T-shirt that said "Anita Bryant's Husband is a Homosapien," and outed myself nationally. ... I kind of have to laugh because my nephew said he was driving to work, and I made the Paul Harvey show with that, and he said that he may have lost control of the wheel for half a second, but they took it with pride.
Like I said, they became really supportive. When they came to visit me [in San Francisco], I used to always take them to the drag shows and the different things happening in my life. I was very proud indeed. I was in a gay softball league and took my brother to softball games. They definitely were, how do you put it, in my corner.
WCT: It sounds like your family was very accepting.
JP: There was no friction or anything like that. I have a niece who is gay. I have a nephew who is gay. Maybe it's in our genes, and it's not Levi's.