LGBTQIA+ History in Chicago
Out at CHM began in 2003, when members of LGBTQIA+ communities approached CHM about having an ongoing program about their history in a mainstream institution. The original goals were to: broaden CHM’s audience, foster new historical scholarship on Chicago’s LGBTQIA+ communities, and address gaps in communities’ members’ knowledge about the evolution of Chicago’s LGBTQIA+ residents.
The scope of the program changed over the years and eight years after its founding had enough support for an exhibition at the Museum titled Out in Chicago: LGBT History at the Crossroads. The exhibition was open from May 21, 2011, to March 26, 2012.
Since then, Out at CHM has continued at the Museum through a series of programming on LGBTQIA+ topics, often presented in partnership with local organizations, scholars, activists, and community members.
Explore the resources below to learn more about LGBTQIA+ history in Chicago and CHM’s continued commitment to the community.
- Currently on view, learn more about the Gay Liberation Movement of the 1960s and ’70s in our exhibition Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s-70s.
Blog Posts and Chicago History Magazine Articles
Learn more about LGBTQIA+ history in Chicago from scholars, historians, activists, and educators.
Learning Resources
Interviews
- Studs Terkel Radio Archive: LGBTQ Culture & Rights
- Interview with Navy veteran, James Darby, who started the first Chicago chapter of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Veterans of America (GLBVA) in 1991
- Interview with Malik Gillani, co-founder of the theater company Silk Road Rising, “an art-making and art service organization that shapes conversations about Asian and Middle Eastern Americans.”
Exhibitions and Past Programs
Encyclopedia of Chicago
Abakanowicz Research Center Collections
- LGBTQIA+ Studies LibGuide
- Blazing Star
- Chicago Outlines
- The Forward Observer: The National Newsletter of Gay, Lesbian, & Bisexual Veterans of America
- Gregory Sprague Photography Collection
- Homocore Zine
- Interviews with former members of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union, 1985-1991
- James Darby Collection
- Lavender Woman
- The Lesbian and Gay Pink Pages
- Pearl Hart Papers
- Pride Magazine
- Thing Magazine
- Windy City Times
OUT at CHM | North Side LGBTQIA+ Stories Walking Tour
October is LGBT History Month, and we’re honoring it with two walking tours looking at some of Chicago’s LGBTQIA+ history with tour guide Mike McMains of Tours with Mike. On this North Side tour, explore the businesses and organizations in the Northalsted (formerly Boystown) area in Lakeview. Today, it is one of the country’s largest LGBTQIA+ districts and the very first “gayborhood” to be governmentally recognized.
Thing Magazine
Thing magazine was founded as a platform for black LGBTQ+ life. As such, its issues are full of art, house music, interviews, commentary, small and large features, recurring columns, poetry, and articles centering around black culture, LGBTQ+ culture, HIV/AIDS activism, drag, camp, and more. Learn more about the publication below.
Drag in the Windy City
Drag in the Windy City seeks to uncover the historical practices of gender performance in Chicago by mapping specific locations that featured drag in the city over time. This digital exhibition also includes a glossary of terms related to queer life, a timeline of the crime and culture of drag, and the James C. Darby Photography Collection. Darby’s photographs are also featured in a Google Arts & Culture digital exhibition.
Photo selection from CHM’s image resources
