Chicago Gay Liberation Memorabilia Collection

“Inspired by the Stonewall riots in New York, Henry Weimhoff, a former University of Chicago student, spearheaded the organization of the University of Chicago Gay Liberation Front. By February of 1970, Chicago Gay Liberation had absorbed the campus organization, organized a dance with over six hundred participants, and marched in an antiwar demonstration giving the group important media exposure. In June of that year the Chicago Gay Liberation worked with other groups to organize Chicago's first Gay Pride Parade.

Over the course of the next two decades, the early activism of both Mattachine Midwest and Chicago Gay Liberation would lead to important political victories for gay men and lesbians in Chicago. In the late 1980s, a group of lesbian and gay business owners and activists—including Jon-Henri Damski, Lana Hostetler, Art Johnston, Rick Garcia, and Kit Duffy—led a successful lobbying effort which persuaded the city council in 1988 to pass the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance protecting lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals from discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodation. In the wake of this successful campaign, the leaders formalized their partnership in the Illinois Federation for Human Rights, which became Equality Illinois. Equality Illinois successfully lobbied at the county level to extend protection against discrimination for lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals to all of Cook County in 1993. In 1997, Evanston became the first city in Illinois to provide this protection to transgender individuals, signaling new directions for civil rights movements based on sexual identity. Five years later, transgender activists in Chicago successfully lobbied to add gender identity to the list of protections provided by the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance.” - “Gay and Lesbian Rights Movements.” Encyclopedia of Chicago, www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/508.html.