In celebration of Pride month, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her wife, Amy Eshleman, made a stop in the Northalsted neighborhood on Saturday afternoon.
The couple toured the busy entertainment district, commonly referred to as Boystown, stopping at Replay Lakeview where they were greeted by owner Mark Liberson.
Later they were hosted by Sidetrack owners Art Johnston and Jose “Pepe” Pena.
This strip of North Halsted Street is the primary route for the annual Chicago Pride Parade, which traditionally falls on the last Sunday in June as a culmination of Pride month.
As Chicago s first openly gay mayor, Lightfoot was the grand marshal of the 2019 Pride parade. The 2020 parade was canceled due to the pandemic.
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Equality Illinois hopes deputy will bring people of color, trans to their work Mon. May 24, 2021 10:07 AM by Gerald Farinas photo credit // facebook.com/monyrv
Equality Illinois the largest LGBTQ lobby group in Illinois has hired attorney Mony Ruiz-Velasco as its first deputy director. She will assume the position on July 15.
Ruiz-Velasco, a Latinx woman who has long advocated immigrant rights in her legal profession, helps bring leadership diversity to an organization that was once criticized for its perception as a fundraising club of white, wealthy, cis-gender gay men interested only in passing gay marriage.
“As an attorney Mony has represented and counseled hundreds of LGBTQ families and asylum seekers who were seeking protection from persecution; she has also worked on legislation that would benefit LGBTQ immigrants at the national level,” the lobby said in a statement.
A Love Story That Birthed an Iconic Gay Bar and a Lifetime of Activism
Chicago activist and bar owner Art Johnston and his partner in life and business, Pepe Peña, star in the upcoming film,
Art and Pep. May 15 2021 12:09 PM EDT
A guy walks into a bar and it changes his life, along with the lives of many other LGBTQ+ people.
That’s what happened to Art Johnston, who found his life partner and life’s calling because he went into a Chicago gay bar in 1973. The attractive bartender he met that night, José Pepe Peña, became the love of his life. Together they opened Sidetrack, one of the city’s longest-lived and most popular bars, and Johnston became one of Chicago’s leading activists for LGBTQ+ equality.
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