By STEVEN CHAITMAN
Memorial statue stolen from Howard Brown Health Center's garden. Photo courtesy of Howard Brown Health Center.
A statue in memory of lesbian health advocate Mary York was stolen last week from the Memorial Peace Garden at the Howard Brown Health Center. Employees of the health center are particularly distressed because the statue was affixed with cement containing some of York's ashes.
"It feels a bit like grave-robbing," said Paul Fairchild, chief development officer for Howard Brown and a personal friend of York.
According to Fairchild, the statue was still in the garden at the corner of Sheridan and Cuyler in Uptown June 19, and was discovered missing around 10 a.m. the following Monday, June 22. The statue is a replica from the one on the cover of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
York's partner, LaGenia Bailey, donated the statue to complement the peace garden, which was planted and dedicated to both York and fellow lesbian health advocate Lisa Tonna in June 2008.
Both York and Tonna died of cancer in January 2008 after devoting their careers to making a difference in the LGBT community. York was the president of the Board of Directors for the Lesbian Community Care Project ( LCCP ) , a Howard Brown program focused on LBTI women's health issues.
Current LCCP Director Cat Jefcoat said the theft is both sad and ironic because "Mary had an unwavering sense of right and wrong." York was an attorney who fought for several LGBT clients as a partner of the Mulryan and York law firm. She was inducted into the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2004.
Howard Brown spokesperson Leslie Schreiber said a police report has been filed, but because the statue is property of the city of Chicago, the most the health center can do is hope it's returned.