This June, as the library continues to celebrate 250 years of American Independence, we wanted to take a moment to highlight the 10% of Americans – and 4.5% of those living in Illinois – who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community.
As inductees to Chicago’s LGBTQ+ Hall of Fame, the individuals whose stories I’ve chosen to share have helped contribute to the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
It cannot be understated, however, that this is just a glimpse into the variety of people who have helped build Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community.
Jon-Henri Damski
Jon-Henri Damski
(March 31, 1937 - November 1, 1997)
Damski was the longest-running columnist in the American Gay and Lesbian Press and the first gay columnist in the Midwest to publish under his real name and image.
He was also instrumental in passing Chicago’s Human Rights Ordinance in 1988, which granted job and housing protections to the city’s gay and lesbian communities.
Pearl M. Hart
Pearl M. Hart
(April 7, 1890 – March 22, 1975)
The first woman in Chicago to be appointed a public defender, Hart frequently represented oppressed minority groups, including children, immigrants, and lesbians and gay men.
Due to her diligence in fighting police harassment of LGBTQ+ individuals, she was nicknamed the “Guardian Angel of Chicago’s Gay Community”.
Renee C. Hanover
Renee C. Hanover
(April 18, 1926 – January 5, 2011)
One of the first openly gay lawyers to practice in the United States, Hanover graduated from John Marshall Law School in 1969 after being dismissed from her previous school due to living publicly as a lesbian since the early 1960s.
She was part of the Women’s Law Center – alongside her mentor, Pearl M. Hart – and frequently worked cases dealing with gender, LGBTQ+ issues, and race.
Marie J. Kuda
Marie J. Kuda
(1940 - 2016)
Kuda was a writer, lecturer, publisher, and LGBTQ+ historian.
In the 1970s, she founded Womanpress and published the first annotated bibliography of lesbian literature, called Women Loving Women.
She had an archive of over 100,000 items that shared the history of LGBTQ+ culture in Chicago, organized five Lesbian Writers’ Conferences in the city, and was part of the American Library Association’s Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Lorraine Hansberry
Lorraine Hansberry
(May 19,1930 – January 12, 1965)
Best known for her work A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry wrote extensively about her attraction to women in her diaries, which were released by her estate in 2013.
Due to the popularity of A Raisin in the Sun, she lived as a closeted lesbian but spent her final years exploring her sexuality and building relationships with other members of the community.
Anna DeShawn
Anna DeShawn
(August 30, 1983 – Present)
A podcaster and LGBTQ+ advocate, DeShawn founded E3 Radio – the only queer-focused radio station in the US – in 2009.
In 2020, she started The Qube, a podcasting platform focusing on BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) and QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color); she also hosts the series “Black HIV in the South: How Did We Get Here”, which is distributed through The Qube.
Alexandra Scott Billings
Alexandra Scott Billings
(March 28, 1962 - Present)
An actress, singer, and teacher, Billings is a transgender woman who, as Donna in the 2005 made-for-television film Romy and Michele: In the Beginning, played one of TV’s first openly transgender characters.
She’s also known for her role as Davina in the 2014 Amazon series Transparent. In September 2019, she became the first openly transgender person to star in the Broadway musical Wicked when she played Madame Morrible; she reprised her role when the show returned in 2021.
Finally, if you’re looking for something to read as a way to celebrate this Pride Month, feel free to check out any of the books below!
This is just PART ONE: ADULT. Check back for our picks for Teens and Kids, coming soon!
