a very personal gibt history
Chicago
Whispers
Vernita's Story...
www.outlineschicago.com
"One of my favorite bar memories is Monday nights at the King's Ransom. We would leave our Monday night Women's Caucus meeting and head north to Chicago Avenue to party. It was a small bar, and on Monday nights we would fill it up. It was on Chicago just two blocks west of Michigan Avenue. Nobody did the 20 ID check as they were happy to have our business, and we were happy to be there. It was my first gay bar. We women would party till Tuesday.
"Women's Caucus evolved on Monday night from the Sunday morning, yes moming, gay liberation meeting. There would be maybe 70 men, and about 7 lesbians. We lesbians were also sick of the guys having sex in the bedroom, or in the bathroom. In fact, I recall that Shelly, as she was called then, went into her bedroom only to find a couple of gay men using her bed. These were the pre-AIDS days.
"So we girls moved across to Hyde Park from Henry's apartment on Harper Avenue to my place. It was the fall of 1969. We formed the Women's Caucus of Gay Liberation, and the meetings were at my house on Monday nights. My apartment at 5601 S. Drexel was in the basement. My phone number was FBI-LIST and was posted in a few, then-called, underground newspapers.
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"It was in this apartment that I met many wonderful women, and Barbara Beckman was one of them. Barbara was a smart and out lesbian prostitute. She would call friends like Jere, for example, to come and pick her up from hotel where a trick had gone bad and beaten her. Barbara was a beautiful young woman who died in a tragic car accident. She and a young Black wom an were on the highway driving some where and hit a truck. Barbara was killed instantly, but her companion and friend Kathy survived.
"Women's Caucus outgrew my living room, and outgrew being a caucus. We changed our name to Chicago Lesbian Liberation. For a period of time we moved the meetings from one apart ment or place on the South Side to one apartment or place on the North Side to try and make the meetings accessible to all women. In the summer of 1971 we would use the upstairs of the gay house on Oak or Elm, it escapes me which tree. That space was wonderful, thank you Jerry Cohen, but was just too small so we moved again. We moved to Lincoln Park Presbyterian on Fullerton, and thanks to the real help, and work, of David Sindt we were welcomed there, and continued to have our Monday night meetings. "My apartment was also a crash pad, and two weeks ago I picked up my phone at 3:30 a.m. and the voice on
the other side asked, "Vernita, is your place still a crash pad, I need a place to stay." I was stunned and, when she asked if I was still on Drexel I knew it was someone who had known me, and who for whatever reason was still trapped in her mind in the '60s. I suggested she call me at work in a latter part of the morning. I hung up, and then the memories of that year in my life came trippin' back to me. I met many wonderful women in that basement on Drexel."-Vernita
Memory Check:
In the June 1970 issue of the Mr TACHINE MIDWEST NEWSLETTER, (copy at Gerber/Hart Library) there is an article entitled "Gay Lib Meet Jointly," written by historian Marie Kuda. It describes the first joint meeting of Chicago Gay Liberation, Matta chine Midwest, the Women's Caucus, and other groups-all with very different ideas about how to campaign for gay rights. The meeting took place May 24, 1970. A consensus was reached suggesting further cooperation among the groups.
In July 1972, the Women's Caucus changed its name to Chicago Lesbian Liberation.
Barbara Beckman was killed in an auto accident in July 1972. On April 5, 1974, Beckman House, a new lesbian and gay community center named af ter her, opened at 3519 N. Halsted. Guests on the opening night included Dr. Frank Kameny and West Coast activist Morris Knight, who proceeded to "streak" the center during the reception. On June 1, 1974, the center expanded into the adjoining store space. In September 1975, Beckman House considered accepting an offer from Chuck Renslow to move to 5023 N. Clark St, but in the end they moved to 2745 N. Clark St. above the Astro restaurant. I believe the name changed to Gay Horizons. I'd like to hear from anyone who visited Beck man House.
For those who like trivia: When Vernita was going to the King's Ransom (20 E. Chicago Ave.), she was probably served by bartenders Lunde and Dwight. I've heard that Lunde is still alive and living in Old Town. If anyone has any information, please contact me.
In late-72, 24 cops were arrested and charged with "shaking down" bars; the King's Ransom was listed as one of those bars.
In 1969, Henry (Weimhoff) started the University of Chicago Gay Libera. tion group.
In the 1970s and 1980s, David Sindt vigorously fought homophobia not only in civil society but also in his own Presbyterian faith. As an ordained minister, he organized what is now
interviews and History by Sukie de la Croix
Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns.
Jerry Jerrold E. Cohen) was involved in forming more than a dozen gay groups in Chicago, including Chicago Gay Alliance, Windy City Gay Chorus and Chi-Town Squares.
The "gay house" Vernita talks about was the Chicago Gay Community Center at 171 W. Elm. It opened May 1, 1971. On Monday evenings the women's caucus would have a womenonly meeting upstairs, while Tuesdays were for committee meetings and a speaker's forum. Various groups met
on Elm Street, and as this was during the Vietnam war, they would also do 'draft counseling. The community center closed Sept. 15, 1973 due to lack of funds.
Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at OUTLINES. He also intervirus over the phone or via sukiedelacroix@iname.com
What a
Difference a
Peso Gay Makes
The Gay/Lesbian Movement,
5, 10, 15 & 20 Years Ago Feb. 20-26
1995: 5 Years Ago U.S.: Olympic Gold Medal diver, Greg Louganis, reveals to Barbara Walters on ABC's 20/20 that he has AIDS. Gay pop star Jimmy Somerville tells OUT magazine: "I'm insulted when I see gay and lesbian artists shy away from same-gender pronouns. It's an unfortunate manipu lation of honesty that collects gay dollars without an even exchange." Ac cording to the World Health Organization, sado-masochism is still a "mental disorder." ▾ Mexico: A pre-
SUBA
sentation by the Transvestite Group of Culiacan is the highlight of the Third Gathering of Gays and Lesbians from Northern Mexico.
Britain: Michael Lupo, a serial killer who strangled four gay men in revenge after he contracted HIV, dies of AIDS. In Manchester, a woman breaks into a women's prison to spend
the night with her incarcerated lesbian lover.▾ Scotland: In Edinburgh, two paramedics called to help a 19year-old gay man who collapsed at a gay dance club, refuse to enter the club or touch the man, apparently be cause they fear contracting HIV. The man, who only had one kidney, had collapsed from heat exhaustion.
1990: 10 Years Ago U.S.: The ordeal of Barbara J. Baum, the Marine corporal who was jailed for 226 days for allegedly having sex with another woman, comes to an end when the Marine Corps grant her an honorable discharge with her full rank intact. The Psychoanalytic Theory of Male Homosexuality by Kenneth Lewis is in bookstores. Taiwan: A group of women form Women Chih Chian (Women Among Us), the first lesbian organization for
Chinese speaking women in Asia.
1985: 15 Years Ago
U.S.: The Brothers cable TV series
with gay characters is renewed for a record 50 episodes. "I'm not a homosexual and I don't smoke pot, so what would I say?" says Lillian Carter, the mother of former Presi dent Jimmy Carter, after being asked to appear on the Phil Donabue Show. The Reagan Administration has failed to meet the challenge of the AIDS crisis, according to a report by the Congressional Office of Technological Assessment. The OTA is chaired by conservative Sen. Ted Stevens, RAlaska. Betty Lou Batey, a fundamentalist who admitted kidnapping her son from his openly gay father (who had legal custody) is fined
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OUTLINES Feb. 23, 2000
▾ Page 23
1995 Olympic Gold Medal diver, Greg Louganis, reveals to Barbara Walters on ABC's 20/20 that he has AIDS.
$3,000 for civil contempt. Brian, 13, had been kept in hiding for 19 months before his mom surrendered to authorities in April 1984.▾ Susan Kimberly, who was Minneapolis City Council president Robert Sylvester before a sex change two years before, is unanimously awarded a $20,000 nine-month consulting contract to update the city's bonding and financial practices. Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass., the nation's first openly gay congressman who was re-elected in November 1984, regains chairmanship of the House Coast Guard and Navigation Subcommittee. He had lost his seat when he was censured in 1983 for an admitted relationship with a 17-year-old Congressional
page.
1980: 20 Years Ago
U.S.: Mayor Edward F. Koch of New York calls upon President Jimmy Carter to act in response to the petition (50,000 signatures strong) presented at the White House in Dec 1979. The petition calls for an Execu tive Order to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in government programs, services and federal employment. United Artists, distributors of homophobic movie Cruising, stop releasing attendance
and income figures from theaters playing the film. Sales from the box office are believed to be taking a nosedive due to the nationwide boycott..
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