Leaving a legacy
For all things, there is a season. All business relationships come to an end, and the only thing that is permanent is change.
As a regular, longtime reader of Windy City Times, how could I miss the poignant, bittersweet news about the selling of Andersonville's iconic independent bookstore highlighting the population for which it is named, "Women and Children," on North Clark Street ( "Women and Children bookstore sold," July 16 )?
While it is a change I have been aware of for some time, it nevertheless shocked me a bit and saddened me when I actually saw that news in print. We can only hope that the new owners will continue and perhaps even advance the courageous visions and implementation of former owners Linda Bubon and Ann Christophersen, dedicated to the core for many decades. They bequeathed a literary and community legacy to countless supporters and admirers that all civilized, culturally connected people will long treasure.
I will miss them, and I thank them for the memories. It is not possible to erase experience.
With gratitude,
Leon J. Hoffman, Ph.D.
Chicago
Parading LGBTs
Dear Editor:
The Rainbow Sash Movement ( LGBT Roman Catholics ) is impressed that Cardinal Dolan puts Irish community unity above the sectarian needs of Catholic homophobia. By welcoming the LGBT NBC contingent to participate in New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade next year, he has turned a page in the relationship with the New York LGBT community. We see this as an opportunity for meaningful dialogue.
We are saddened by the clownish response from the Catholic League and hope it can put a muzzle on its guttural mouth when it comes to the issue of diversity in the parade.
Long gone are the days since this parade is recognized as only a Roman Catholic event. Certainly, that is part of its history, but it should not been seen as a platform from which to promote intellectual homophobia in the name of God, as the late Cardinal O'Connor did.
We believe the Irish community in New York is a diversified community which, like the Gay Pride Parade, celebrates its culture and not the promotion of sectarianism.
Congratulations, Cardinal Dolan, for taking to heart Pope Francis' lead. Now is the time for Cardinal O'Malley of Boston to lift that city's ban on LGBT participation in the Boston St. Patrick's Day parade.
Bill O'Connor
Rainbow Sash Movement
Wards matter
Dear Editor:
One has to question whether Michael O'Connor ( "Wards hurt" letter in Windy City Times, Sept. 3 issue ) has visited the 46th Ward since the election of James Cappleman as our alderman.
He cites the closing of the Hotel Chateau, where the few residents living there existed in squalor and dangerous conditions. You may recall that at least one resident had to be removed by ambulance and would likely have died there if not for the intervention. Of course, those who only used the Hotel Chateau for their "business enterprises" but lived quite comfortably elsewhere profiting from the profits of their illegal drug trade were disturbed. As one of the owners of the few businesses who remained when the hotel closed said, "It sure ruined the drug trade!"
Since it has been closed a total renovation has been taking placetuck-pointing, installing new windows, total rebuilding of the sidewalk and, now, preparing a new entrance. Having lived in the neighborhood for more than 40 years, I learned to warn visitors to avoid the area in front of the Chateau for fear they would be attacked or injured during the frequent brawls that occurred there or from bottles falling from the window sills. One can hope that it will reopen to provide safe living conditions for residents in the future.
O'Connor also cites the controversy about the Salvation Army ( an avowed anti-LGBT organization ) distributing foodand, one assumes, religious tractsto the homeless who gathered near the Wilson Avenue underpass while ignoring their other needs. Cappleman rightly argued that aid to these individuals needs to include access to more comprehensive services.
Perhaps O'Connor and other professional protesters who recruit well-meaning but uninformed persons to join them should learn more about what they are opposing before leading a charge.
Roger A. May
Chicago
Community investment
Are we witnessing the passing of the gay ghetto?
What is happening with the gay ghetto in Chicago? Is it being dismantled in front of our eyes?
We have heard the negatives of a ghetto mentality, but have we really looked at the positives of the ghetto? My experiences are that it was a place of welcome and safety for so many in our community, when all around bigots attempted to keep us in our place. It was out of the ghetto that we realized our political, social, religious and cultural agendas. It was from here we were enabled to take our issues to the streets.
I am not sure what the answer is, but I do believe we must take seriously this passing moment in our movement's history in Chicago. This community has a lot of wonderfully talented people who have the ability to renew the LGBT culture in Boystown and further develop our sister ghetto in Andersonville.
Some of our political leadership tells us same-sex marriage is not the end, but rather the beginning. I believe they are right. Is it possible I wonder to rediscover the gay/LGBT ghetto that gave birth to our rights movement? We have so much more to do.
I would like to quote from Suzanna Walters' new book, The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions Are Sabotaging Gay Equality. "No civil rights movement worthy of the name has banked its future on being tolerated or accepted," she says. We tolerate bad wine and a boring film.
So I would ask you my sisters and brothers to put your thinking caps on, roll up your sleeves and begin anew to build our ghetto of hope, where many of our dreams came into being. It's where all members are valued not based on their looks, economics, race, sex, age, ability or disability, or gender identity, but rather the deeper quality of who we are as human beings.
I would be curious to hear others' thoughts on this matter.
Joe Murray
Chicago
Dealing with stigma
I wanted to be sure I submitted my contribution to the conversations leading up to A Day with HIV. [Editor's note: "A Day with HIV" took place Sept. 9.] Below is my letter about stigma:
When I was first diagnosed with HIV, I was more concerned about my health and the effects HIV might have on my physical appearance than I was about stigma or discrimination.
Ironically, the hardest parts about being HIV positive are stigma and discrimination. The world around us teaches us to fear HIV and those who are infected or at risk of being infected. HIV-positive people face the prospect of being marginalized by family and friends, terminated from jobs, evicted and physically harmed when their statuses are revealed. These are external sources of stigma and discrimination.
Equally harmful is internal stigma or "self-stigma," which refers to how people living with HIV regard themselves. Before my diagnosis I, too, feared people with HIV. And, even though I later learned my fear of HIV was not at all based in science, that internalized fear remained with long after I was diagnosed. The toll it took on my self-worth was nearly irreversible.
This week, I will regain control of my self-worth by participating in Positively Aware's annual #ADayWithHIV anti-stigma photo campaign. Whether you are infected or affected with HIV, join the global conversation via social media using the hashtag #ADayWithHIV. Talking openly and honestly about HIV is essential to reducing stigma and eradicating the disease.
Ken Williams
No shame needed
Dear Editor:
Coming out two decades ago was hard. The American culture was not, for the most part, ready to embrace me. Will and Grace were not yet friends. Michael Sam hadn't started school. Edie Windsor and her wife were living without legal protection. Sure it's easier now, but there is a different type of "coming out" with which individuals still struggle.
It's one of the greatest issues that the gay community has ever facednot to mention our nation. It's not a cultural revolution like sports or marriage. Rather, HIV/AIDS, which has been around far longer, continues to polarize people with a nearly impenetrable wall of stigma and shame.
Having been positive for nearly a decade, I've seen and felt the pain and rejection from the uneducated population ( gay and straight ) who are misguided about what the CDC now considers a manageable chronic illness, just like diabetes. In other words, it is no longer a death threat.
While it doesn't provide a good chuckle like television, or is a political issue to debate, it does give us a reason to rally: to educate one another so we can eliminate the misconceptions of HIV/AIDS. With infection rates continuing to grow and no cure, the energy we use to educate ourselves could not only make the same headway as we have with our other causes, but perhaps we could celebrate that we are a community who truly cares about its own.
Rob Campbell
Chicago