A few months ago, Chicago media personality Sylvia Ewing mentioned to me that there was a committee working on commemorating the 100th anniversary of the late Mayor Harold Washington’s birth. I immediately asked if I could pull together a program on Washington’s LGBTQ+ record, because he made history in many areas. Organizers said an enthusiastic yes.
The program was held at the Center on Halsted October 13, and what follows is the speech I gave, plus a little extra. See coverage of the event here. A video of the event will be posted soon.
Washington was born April 15, 1922 at Cook County Hospital. He died November 25, 1987 during his second term as mayor. In April 1983, a multiracial coalition elected Washington as the first African American elected as Chicago’s mayor.
Raised in the Bronzeville neighborhood, in 1942 he was drafted and sent overseas as part of a racially segregated unit of the U.S. Army Air Corps unit of Engineers. After graduating from Roosevelt University, he went to Northwestern Law School, where he was the only Black student in his class. He graduated in 1952. He later served in the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives from 1965 until 1976, and was a U.S. Congressman from 1981 to 1983.
In the state Senate, Washington worked to pass 1980’s Illinois Human Rights Act. The new bill sought to ban discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, military status, sexual orientation, or unfavorable discharge from military service in connection with employment, real estate transactions, access to financial credit, and the availability of public accommodations.”
The bill passed the Senate but political maneuverings stalled it. It took another 25 years for a new version to pass banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, which was defined as an individual’s “actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or gender-related identity, whether or not traditionally associated with the person's designated sex at birth.”
Washington was a pioneer in so many ways, but we’re here to discuss his impact on the LGBTQ community of Chicago.
I was able to sit down for an interview with Washington for the Windy City Times in 1986—a year before he died in office. The interview ran in the September 4, 1986 edition, and was re-posted in 2010.
In 2018, in looking through Washington’s archives at the Chicago Public Library, I found the prep notes given to Washington in advance of my interview. It’s a rare opportunity for a reporter to see these, and it says a lot about him that they are very detailed, and his staff was very concerned about his perception in the LGBTQ community.
Washington had progressive support during both of his elections, and that included many LGBTQ people. Incumbent Mayor Jane Byrne had a lot of white gay support, including in Washington’s re-election effort, but Washington’s ability to bring a solid coalition from many communities lead to his two victories.
Among Washington’s gay-related accomplishments were:
— Washington strengthened and further enforced a Byrne executive order barring discrimination in city employment. All department heads were made aware of its existence.
— He appointed the first mayor’s Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues. Ann Christophersen, with us at the October 13 event, served on that first committee, which was started in the fall of 1985.
— Washington was the first sitting Chicago mayor to appear in the Chicago Pride Parade Rally, was the first to appear at a gay and lesbian civil-rights rally, and the first to appeat at a gay and lesbian community event—in 1985 at the IVI-IPO Glynn Sudberry Awards dinner, and in 1986 at the Mattachine Midwest Anniversary Dinner.
— Washington appointed the first mayor’s liaison to the LGBTQ community, Kit Duffy. [Note: At the October 13 event, former Chicagoan Tom Donelan pointed out that key Washington staffer Ken Glover had taken on the mantel of gay liaison when Washington won in 1983, because there was an internal battle about gay inclusion and Glover wanted to cut through that, knowing how gay people had helped elect Washington. But he had other duties as well, so Duffy was the first person to focus on the liaison role, even if it was as a volunteer.] Duffy was a straight ally and built many bridges for Washington. Before he died, Washington appointed Peggy Baker to that role in a paid position, and we were fortunate to have Baker at the event to explain her role in supporting Washington’s election, and serving in his administration.
Kit Duffy died in 2015. In a 2011 interview she said this about her work for Washington: “The truth is that it was such a very different time back then, when open discussion of sexuality and particularly gay sexuality was taboo, and very nearly all politicians were resistant to talking openly about what realistically was needed to combat AIDS, the first and most essential step of course being that very thing, open discussion. I had real conflicts with the head of the Health Department at the time over some statements [Washington] made about AIDS and his handling of the issue in general, which reflected that same reticence in dealing openly with needs such as clean needle programs, condom use, bathhouses, education of sex workers, etc. I felt the same I think as any other GLBT activist, anger that the disease was spreading needlessly because people couldn't or wouldn't talk about sex and in particular gay sex.”
We also heard October 13 from members of what was referred to as the Gang of Four, minus Jon-Henri Damski, who died in 1997. Laurie Dittman, Art Johnston and Rick Garcia were the other members of this group of activists working long hours with others to push for the city’s gay-rights bill.
Washington was supportive of the effort, but was also up against the racism and anti-Washington sentiments of the Vrdolyak 29, a group of 29 aldermen directed by Ald. Ed Vrdolyak and Ald. Ed Burke, who resisted almost anything Washington tried to get through. During special elections in 1986, Washington-backed candidates won, giving him the 25 aldermen he needed, because his vote as president of the City Council enabled him to break 25–25 tie-votes.
Even with the council in his favor, the gay-rights bill faced immense pressure from Joseph Cardinal Bernardin and the Catholic Church. The non-discrimination based on “sexual orientation” amendment to the city’s Human Rights Code failed 30-18 ( two absent ) on July 29, 1986. Sixteen of the "yes" votes were from Washington’s 25 aldermen.
We heard from the Gang of Four on how they worked with Washington and later the Mayor Eugene Sawyer administration to finally pass the gay-rights bill.
I ended my presentation with excerpts of my 1986 interview with Washington, but read the full interview here.
WCT: Do you think it would have passed earlier in the month had Joseph Cardinal Bernardin not released his statement [opposing the legislation] ?
Washington: My guess is that based upon a non-scientific head count, it was close to passage. At that point I couldn't guarantee ... there were some swing votes in there. Clearly, the Cardinal’s position had something to do with the attrition.
WCT: What were some of the reasons you couldn’t pull in line all 25 of “your” aldermen in support of the ordinance?
Washington: To be very blunt about it, it was never the most popular legislation that came down the pike and many of the 25 in our group were borderline cases in the first place. … What were there, 18 votes ... and 16 came from our side.
WCT: What did you say to some of the aldermen on your side between July 9 [the original date the ordinance was set for vote, but one day after Bernardin’s letter on the bill] and July 29? What were some of your lobbying techniques?
Washington: I said I’d bring down Thor on their heads if they didn’t vote for it. I used every technique one could use on those matters ... depending upon the person. There are some issues on which you can bring pressure and some you cannot. It’s a question of judgment on which you judge to do that, and I feel it was not one to do that.
WCT: On AIDS funding, can you explain how you view the disease in this city? Relative to other cities with similar numbers of AIDS cases per population, Chicago’s economic reaction has been much smaller and much slower.
Washington: I understand we’re third highest in terms of patient dollars. Some of those dollars are not obvious. For example, year before last it was $100,000, last year $200,000 ... but if you count the services over and above that it would go to a much higher bracket. But even at that, I understand we’re about third. It may be a poor third ...
Our problem’s not there [with appropriations], our problem is, very bluntly, how to best utilize whatever dollars ... I must confess to you I’m not satisfied we know that answer … . We’re going to try and find out. We’re coming to a budgetary period now and we want to know some answers. It is a matter that needs to be addressed I think more forcefully, and we’ll do that. In the area of counseling and prevention, I think we’ve at least broken the ice. We’re reassessing the whole thing right now.
WCT: Getting to the personal attacks leveled at you by the Chicago Tribune ... what was your reaction to those? [The Tribune, in an article and an editorial, reported “innuendos” which questioned the mayor’s sexual orientation.]
Washington: Attacks? Would you testify to that, that they were attacks?
WCT: I would say that they were attacks. I wouldn’t say that they were negative necessarily, but they were done in the light of being an attack. Of course I wouldn’t consider sexual orientation an attack. We considered it an attack because they were doing it in a negative light. ...
Washington: I might add that I consider it the same way. They were attacks in the sense that they were trying to give an impression of me that wasn’t true. I’m a Black man, I don’t want to he called white. Nothing wrong with being white, they tell me. [ Laughter. ]
WCT: As far as reacting to [the Tribune] ... you just let it go?
Washington: In this business, you better. You wonder about the minds of men, how low they’ll stoop. But you can’t get hung up on that. In this business if you’re a successful male politician, somewhere along the line some slug is gonna call you something you ain’t. It doesn’t make you happy. Why’d you ask me that question?
WCT: Because we considered it a very immature reaction. That [the Tribune] has not done [similar “reporting”] on other politicians in this city or state. We considered that an irrelevant attack on the civil rights ordinance, and on you.
Washington: That shows you, no matter how big you get, if you’re Black you got some serious problems in this country, which explains, I hope it explains, my own commitment to civil rights for everyone. I don’t need any elections to support gays and their rights. I don’t need an election to be a defender and supporter of women and Hispanics. It’s natural.
WCT: … Do you consider the voting power of the gay and lesbian community powerful enough to be looking for?
Washington: Certainly. I wasn’t shocked when [Sen. Edward] Kennedy, [Sen. Gary] Hart and others went to the gay and lesbian convention four or five years ago. It’s pretty clear that the gay and lesbian community is becoming a potent—of course it’s not there yet—political force in this country, and anyone who doesn’t recognize it is not going to be in office, it’s just that simple. That’s the crass aspect of it.
WCT: One final thing, [Former Mayor] Jane Byrne says she supports gays and lesbians, too. What can you do differently than Byrne would do for us?
Washington: If she supported, why did she disappear? Because the Cardinal spoke? She couldn’t have any more respect for the Cardinal than I do.
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I can’t thank the panelists, moderators and MCs enough for their help October 13. Plus thank you to Center on Halsted and our sponsors. It was wonderful to remember Washington, his impact, and the role of so many important LGBTQ activists in the 1980s. Thank you MCs Chanynn Lynne Parker and Kim Hunt. Thank you moderators Mona Noriega and Mary Morten. Thank you panelists Ann Christophersen, Peggy Baker, Art Johnston, Laurie Dittman and Rick Garcia. And thank you to state Sen. Mike Simmons, who recently made his own history as our state’s first openly gay, African-American state senator. He closed out the evening saying how Washington’s legacy influenced his own path—and opened the doors for his career.
— Tracy Baim
Resources:
Activists speak about former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's LGBTQ legacy
https://www.windycitytimes.com/lgbt/Activists-speak-about-former-Chicago-Mayor-Harold-Washingtons-LGBTQ-legacy/71535.html
A look back: Mayor Harold Washington discusses gay rights https://www.windycitytimes.com/lgbt/A-look-back-Mayor-Harold-Washington-discusses-gay-rights-/29552.html
The book Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics, by Timothy Stewart-Winter: https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15524.html
Coverage of the book here: https://news.wttw.com/2016/02/22/closet-city-hall-looking-chicagos-queer-clout
http://chicagolgbthalloffame.org/washington-harold/
https://www.equalityillinois.us/2018/12/human-rights-ordinance/
http://digital.chipublib.org/digital/collection/rhwc/id/29/
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/02/chicagos-first-black-mayor-gay-rights-champion/