Hi! I'm a Political Scientist who studies how politics shapes the ways queer people use the city. After a decade-long career in queer political advocacy in Texas I moved to Chicago to pursue my PhD. In addition to teaching college courses and research, I engage in "public scholarship" intended to help the public understand that queer people have "always been here."
Weather permitting, on Saturdays in the summer I give walking tours of Chicago Queer History, sponsored by the University of Illinois Chicago Gender and Sexuality Center. Each tour explores a different theme. The tours are free because I believe this information needs to be freely available to all, but I gratefully accept tips through Zelle and Venmo. I make every effort to ensure step-free routes to allow wheelchair users to participate, but sometimes conditions change between when I check the route and the tour takes place. I can also plan private walking tours for groups or events by appointment, with a fee.
May 9 - Police, Gangsters, and Gay Bars
When: Saturday, May 9, 1 pm
Start: Chicago Water Tower (801 N Michigan Ave)
End: 2nd Story Bar (157 E Ohio)
Distance: apx 2 mile
The University of Chicago sociologist Ernest Burgess observed that the city contains "zones of transition" that sat between areas of the city with clearly defined purposes and which people often used for activities which society frown upon. These areas were often the places that fomented queer culture in the industrial city - but that required an interaction between queerness and other criminal behavior. Learn about the delicate interaction between queerness, the state's monopoly on legitimate violence, and organized crime as we investigate the delicate negotiations and compromises required to keep queer institutions open in the city in the 20th century.
May 23 Sex and Rebellion
When: Saturday, May 23, 1 pm
Start: Bank of America Building Plaza (110 N Wacker Dr on the North Side)
End: 2nd Story Bar (157 E Ohio St #2)
Distance: apx 2 miles
It's IML weekend, and to commemorate this week is all about the ways Queer people use sex to rebel. Learn about Cruising in the 1870s, Lesbian hangouts from prohibition that revolutionized Jazz, and the first major protest against Anita Bryant, along with other sexy sites of Queer joy from the past.
June 13 Public and Private Queerness
When: Saturday, June 13, 1 pm
Start: Chicago Water Tower (801 N Michigan Ave)
End: Chicago Water Tower (801 N Michigan Ave)
Distance: apx 2 miles
The Historian John D'Emilio observed that the rise of the industrial city in the 19th century created the conditions that allowed queer community to form. For the first time in modernity, queer people could separate their public and private lives and begin to gather together to form queer culture. We'll explore a gay gangster, the mysterious disappearance of a federal judge, a pre-prohibition drag bar and much more.
June 20 Dive Keepers on North Clark Get Warnings
Time: Saturday June 20, 1 pm
Start: Chicago Water Tower (801 N Michigan Ave)
End: 2nd Story Bar (157 E Ohio St #2)
Distance: apx 2 miles
In 1948 the Chicago Tribune reported that Capt. John J. Walsh was cracking down on gay bars in the River North neighborhood. This walking tour covers the sites Walsh visited with his warnings and tells the stories of what happened before, and after the crack down.
Article from the Chicago Tribune.
June 27: The First Chicago Pride Parade
Time: Saturday, June 27, 1 pm
Start: Washington Square Park (Bughouse Square) 901 N Clark St
End: Daley Plaza (50 W Washington St)
Distance: apx 2 miles
On June 27, 1970 Chicago's Gay Liberation Front organized the city's first ever Pride Parade. The unpermitted parade was originally planned to start in Washington Square Park and end at the Chicago Water Tower, but the 150 or so marchers spontaneously extended the route down Michigan Ave, ending at Civic Center Plaza in the shadow of City Hall - followed by 8 police cars and 2 paddy wagons. Fifty-six years, join me as we recreate the route and learn about some of the Chicago Queer History along the way.
Chicago Tribune Coverage from 1970
July 11 AFABs and Femmes
When: Saturday, June 7, 1 pm
Start: Fountain of the Great Lakes, South Garden of the Art Institute of Chicago (111 S Michigan Ave)
End: 2nd Story Bar (157 E Ohio St #2)
Distance: apx 2 miles
This week it's all about the contributions of women, fems, and AFABs to Chicago Queer history. Follow in the steps of artists, lawyers, performers, and gender creatives who called Chicago home and helped shaped the city we live in today.
July 25 - State Street
When: Saturday, July 25, 1 pm
Start: Dearborn Park (865 S Park Terrace)
End: Chicago The Old Marshal Fields (111 N State St)
Distance: apx 1 mile
State Street is Chicago's Main Street and Queer Chicagoans have long used it for a variety of purposes. Learn about sex work in the city's "Levee District" in the first decade of the 20th Century, a tattooing college professor who helped shape the city's leather scene, 19th century male and female impersonators who where the toast of the town and other stories of Chicago Queer History
August 15 Sex and Rebellion
When: Saturday, August 15, 1 pm
Start: Bank of America Building Plaza (110 N Wacker Dr on the North Side)
End: 2nd Story Bar (157 E Ohio St #2)
Distance: apx 2 miles
This week is all about the ways Queer people use sex to rebel. Learn about Cruising in the 1870s, Lesbian hangouts from prohibition that revolutionized Jazz, and the first major protest against Anita Bryant, along with other sexy sites of Queer joy from the past.
August 29 Dive Keepers on North Clark Get Warnings
Time: Saturday August 29, 1 pm
Start: Chicago Water Tower (801 N Michigan Ave)
End: 2nd Story Bar (157 E Ohio St #2)
Distance: apx 2 miles
In 1948 the Chicago Tribune reported that Capt. John J. Walsh was cracking down on gay bars in the River North neighborhood. This walking tour covers the sites Walsh visited with his warnings and tells the stories of what happened before, and after the crack down.
Article from the Chicago Tribune.