Adrienne J. Goodman, who was inducted as a friend of the community into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1994 ( it is now called the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame ), passed away April 25 from natural causes. She was 67 and a Lake View resident.
A Chicago native, Goodman was active in Democratic politics and chaired the 1975 campaign of campaign of Grant L. Ford, who was openly gay, to be 44th Ward alderman. She was also elected state central democratic committeewoman for the 9th District in 1986.
Both former state Sen. Carol Ronen and activist Rick Garcia said that they were shown the ropes by Goodman in the early days of their political work.
"Adrienne was one of the pioneers for equal rights, both within the LGBT community and the Jewish community," said Ronen, who met Goodman in the early 1990s and is now the Central Committeewoman for the 9th District. "I first met her when I was running for the House of Representatives. She was the committeewoman for the 9th District then, and taught me a lot about Democratic party policy."
Garcia added, "We were neighbors. She lived across the street from me. I was new in town and she took me around to meet everybody. In the '80s and '90s, she was a community fixture."
He worked with Goodman extensively during the push for the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance protecting LGBTs; at the time, Goodman was on the staff of the Chicago City Council Rules Committee.
"She was one of the first and strongest supporters of the LGBT movement locally," Garcia said. "She helped set a foundational base alongside people like Kit Duffy and Charlotte Newfeld."
Former 48th Ward Ald. Mary Ann Smith said Goodman "was one of those who steadily worked for the 'good' without seeking results for herself. We invented as we went along, trying to win elections to empower communities rather than just make symbolic statements. That was a change for many groups who were denied access to work or housing or the freedom to be who we are."
Irwin Drobny was a friend of Goodman's who was also a work colleague of her mother's. He said that Goodman's commitment to social justice was inherited from her family.
"Adrienne was a woman who was devoted to trying to make the world a better place, something she picked up from her mothershe had a strong sense of right and wrong," Drobny noted. "Even when she was in ill health, Adrienne could get her dander up about injustice."