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Black Chicago
From the North to South, West to East, Chicago boasts a booming world for
LGBTs. In some places, it's just a bit harder to find. Chicago's racially
segregated past certainly still has roots in the new millennium, and LGBTs
of all colors are reaching out to make sure African-American, Latino/a,
Asian Pacific Islander and other groups are provided a wide range of
culture.
An underground contingent of local business owners, artists, and
social promoters help create the family of Black Gay Chicago.
The business owners cater to LGBTs and non-gays as well--so from homemade
ice cream and juice bars to nightclubs that jam all night long, Black gay
Chicago is in full force. Businesses change and evolve all the time in
Chicago, so always check back to make sure events are still on.
Jeffrey Pub is among the oldest bars in the city. Other bars include Club
Escape, The Rails, and Leošs Den. While those clubs are mixed men and women,
they're mostly for men. Executive Sweet is the oldest and largest of all
women's parties in Chicago, and is hosted by Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of
Famers, Pat McCombs and Vera Washington. Madman Productions features
Lipstick and Lace parties, and I-Candy productions hosts parties for women.
D/E/ Entertainment and Grammy-winning DJ Frankie Knuckles host parties
throughout the year, and Black Pride weekend is usually over the July 4th
U.S. holiday.
POW-WOW, Inc., provides LGBT and independent women artists with a forum
for spoken word, music, film screenings, comedy showcases and theatre. This
organization hosts the largest poetry slam in the country for LGBT poets, a
weekly spoken word venue and a She Concert performance once a month.
Acme Arts Studio is owned by local photography icon Heidi Hickman. The
Black Ensemble Theatre is not a gay theatre but it is operated by the
premiere diva of theatre herself, Jackie Taylor, who can be seen in several
films (Cooley High, Barbershop 2). The Literary Exchange is the African
American book club in Chicago. The Little Black Pearl in historic
Bronzeville is a hidden jewel on the South Side of Chicago.
Groups which also host events and workshops include Task Force Chicago and
Affinity Community Services.
History
Historic Bronzeville, once home to the Who's Who of the arts, has been
revitalized into a cultural zone that hosts the Spoken Word Café, The Harold
Washington Cultural Center, soon to be the new home of Muntu Dance Theatre
and The Cultural Corner--Little Black Pearl Workshop. Some of the old-school
LGBT Black activists live in the newly rehabbed brownstones located on MLK
Drive. Whereas we are a visible part of the cultural interior that makes up
the artists who support these venues and live in these neighborhoods, we are
still less vocal and less visual about wearing pink triangles and rainbow
flags. But now it's like the beginning of a renaissance, more of us read our
poetry at the venues, wear our colors on Bud Biliken Day, stick rainbows on
our auto bumpers, and place Identity Magazine in the window of our stores.
Black gay Chicago exists, but you have to know who the players are and
where the players play, otherwise you miss out on Chicago's biggest flava of
social and cultural activities around. Kind of like the Harlem
Renaissance--the most significant players were gay but we didnšt call it the
Black Gay Renaissance.
The struggle on the South and West sides of town is not just the
homophobia that keeps us from being out, loud and proud (unless you count
Black Pride once a year), but more importantly the economic disparity of who
owns property to build, to employ, to develop opportunities for more of us
to own, to build, to employ, to develop, etc. Black LGBTs are fighting to
make sure access to property and resources is not limited to those trying to
develop our neighborhoods.
For Black Gay Chicago, it's not about protesting so that you can mount
your flag on your business, it's more about securing enough funding in order
to have a business, which a few of Chicago's rainbow children have been able
to do. And through their entrepreneurship they have been able to help local
organizations and individuals be more visible in their mission to provide
parties, cultural activities, meeting spaces and networking opportunities
for LGBT people of color.
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