Yes, June is Pride month. But in Chicago, Pride is celebrated year-round.
These spaces commemorate that experience.
AIDS Garden Chicago in Lakeview
Situated near Belmont Rocks, a longtime gay gathering place, is AIDS Garden Chicago was unveiled in 2022. The 2.5-acre garden is meant for reflection and includes a striking, green, 30-foot Keith Haring sculpture, “Self-Portrait.” (Haring died of AIDS in 1990.) Today, AIDS Garden Chicago is honoring Greg Harris, the former Illinois House of Representatives majority leader and a longtime LGBTQ+ advocate, with a plaque. Harris was one of Illinois’ first openly gay legislators and has lived with HIV since 1988.
🏳️🌈 Today’s plaque ceremony begins at 9 a.m. It's free and open to the public!
The Baton in Uptown
Originally in River North, Baton Show Lounge was founded in 1969, making it Chicago’s oldest gay bar. With those early days full of police raids, owner Jim Flint paid off cops — and the mob — to stay open, eventually turning the joint into a thriving drag venue. Baton moved to Uptown in 2019.
Jeffery Pub in South Shore
“For Black Gay Chicagoans, it’s always been Jeffery Pub,” a Chicago Magazine headline stated in 2019. Until 2020, it was the city’s only Black-owned, gay-owned bar. It’s also the oldest gay bar on the South Side. In 2022, Jeffery Pub barred patrons under 30 and inched its closing time up to 3 a.m. But if you’re old enough, you can dance to "ambient sounds" till, well, pretty late!
Leather Archives and Museum in Edgewater
This museum was founded in 1991 to preserve and educate on leather, kink, fetish, and BDSM culture. It's a fun space but serious too, as exhibitions emphasize the devastation of AIDS on that community. The Archives also hosts events like Hump Day Bondage (get it?) and Chicago Leather Pride Week.
Sidetrack’s Pride Parade float in 2013. (Richie Diesterheft / Flickr)
Sidetrack in Northalsted
Sidetrack is the beating heart of Northalsted. But there’s a love story beating at the heart of Sidetrack, too. That’s the subject of “Art and Pep” — a beautiful documentary chronicling the business and romantic partnership of Sidetrack owners Art Johnston and Pepe Peńa. Learn all about Chicago’s gay history through this movie (which made me sob), then stop at Sidetrack for a drink. Soon, perhaps, in O’Hare. Yup, Sidetrack might become the first gay bar in an American airport.
Center on Halsted in Lakeview
Center on Halsted, an LGBTQ+ nonprofit, dates back to 1973 when it began as the volunteer group Gay Horizons. Over the decades, the group evolved and eventually settled in the current space on Halsted and Waveland, providing mental health and legal services, free HIV testing, and support groups to LGBTQ+ people. It’s also a hub for arts, cultural, and athletic programs.
- Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, the Midwest’s largest circulating library of gay and lesbian titles, operated out of Center on Halsted for years. Now, it’s inside of Howard Brown Health in Rogers Park.
The Legacy Walk in Northalsted
If the old name Boys Town didn’t tip you off, the Northalsted area has been gay for a very long time. Beginning in 2012, bronze plaques were added along that historic stretch of Halsted commemorating LGBTQ+ figures and allies in Chicago and beyond. A literal walk through history, these memorials are the world's largest collection of bronze biographical monuments.
