T o be gay in Chicago was once a potential source of shame and stigma, especially in the senior Daley’s administration. Got a school district to kill? Hire the gay guy, have him “come out” to the press, and continue your decimation of schools while everyone is even momentarily distracted. He would eventually decide to not run for re-election and Huberman, who began his CPS term promising to stay in for the long haul, would hand in his own resignation soon after Daley’s announcement.īut in retrospect, the Huberman appointment was a novel new kind of political scheme. Daley himself was not doing well in polls, facing widespread criticism for having ceded too much on a citywide parking meter contract which quadrupled residents’ parking costs. Daley had just announced the closure and reorganization of 22 schools and everywhere parents and students were agitating against the slashing of funds to the beleaguered system. It was meant to deflect attention away from both Huberman’s lack of qualifications and the controversies surrounding CPS at the time. In effect, Huberman re-emerged from a closet that he had thrown wide open many years ago.ĭaley and his administration always had a tight grip on what kind of stories accompanied news of appointments, so the coming out story was clearly no accident. He had a partner with whom he openly attended social and workplace events in gay bars and establishments all over town, and he had been out to his parents since the age of 15. Huberman’s coming out left many in Chicago’s influential gay community bemused he had already been out for a long time. By Daley standards, he was a perfect fit for the job.īut the news of Huberman’s appointment in 2009 was soon dwarfed by his apparent revelation to the Chicago Sun-Times: that he was gay. Huberman had formerly been appointed president of the Chicago Transit Authority (by Daley) and before that, was Daley’s Chief of Staff and, before that, Executive Director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (also appointed by Daley). Daley, son of Richard J., who continued a proud dynastic tradition of political appointments.
But Chicago was ruled by then-Mayor Richard M. For information call 77 or see the Web site, 38-year-old Ron Huberman landed the coveted job as head of the country’s third-largest school system in Chicago, he did so with absolutely no background in education. Events include a zoo tour and musical excursions to the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park. "And I realized they're going to be lost."ĬhicagoGayTours.Com will offer more than a dozen tours and events in the next few months. "I developed a passion for these stories," he says.
In search of Chicago's gay history, de la Croix has interviewed bar-goers in alleys. "There would be cops outside with a flashlight checking to see if they had their flies in front," which was considered a masculine style, de la Croix says. Police enforced an old cross-dressing law that required women to wear three items of "female apparel." In the frantic early minutes of a raid, some women would run to the bathroom and trade clothes in an attempt to achieve the legally mandated minimum of women's attire. In the 1960s, lesbian bars were subjected to a particular form of police scrutiny.
A few blocks away is a lesbian bar that opened in 1965. Across the street was the now defunct Blue Pub, which de la Croix has traced back to at least 1971. Irving Park Rd., was part of a triangle of gay bars.