The Legacy Project

06/25/2024

Join us on July 24th for the Legacy Project's Summer Yacht Party 2024! Click on the link to buy your tickets now.

05/30/2024

IT'S TODAY!!! And the weather is going to be gorgeous on the rooftop of the Godfrey Hotel! Hope to see you there... https://www.facebook.com/events/789218309933778

05/22/2024

Now in its 22nd Year!!

Join us on Thursday, May 30, as we help host the official Kick-Off to LGBTQ+ Pride Month in Chicago. Help raise money for The Legacy Project's LGBTQ Curriculum Program for Illinois's Public Schools.

Tickets ➡️ www.eventbrite.com/e/out-of-the-office-2024-tickets-870517038897

04/27/2024

Fascinating article that demonstrates how conservative forces are trying to re-engineer "The Closet" through forced erasure of what has been learned. This is the exact reversal of what The Legacy Project is committed to do.

Rosa Bonheur and John Singer Sargent are being straight-washed by major museums

03/27/2024

For those of us who devote our lives to bringing the human narratives behind the contributions LGBTQ people have made to world history and culture - both into the public consciousness and into the classroom - there are few people to whom we owe a greater debt. Never let it be said that one person cannot make a difference.

Taboo Teaching is a documentary short about the experiences of nontenured social studies teacher Rodney Wilson after he came out as a gay man to his classroo...

03/20/2024

In honor of the Legacy Project remembers Le***an American Author VALERIE TAYLOR. Taylor’s “lesbian pulp novels” were incredibly influential and inspirational during the 1950s. She served on the front lines of the emerging “homophile” movement and worked with The Daughters of Bilitis before joining her life-partner Pearl Hart in establishing Mattachine Midwest in Chicago in 1965. Please help us welcome this fascinating woman to our database. You can read more about new Legacy Nominee at… https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/valerie-taylor

03/20/2024

Though he is not yet a nominee (that’s a hint) today the Legacy Project commemorates the passing of legendary science fiction writer and inventor ARTHUR C. CLARKE (2001: A Space Odyssey, Rendezvous With Rama, The Fountains of Paradise, A Fall of Moondust, 2010: Odyssey Two). The winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards for fantasy/science fiction writing, Clarke died of respiratory failure on March 19, 2008 in Colombo, Sri Lanka at age 90. Read more about at… https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Arthur_C._Clarke

12/05/2023

Today the Legacy Project celebrates the creation of the Bisexual Flag. Designed by Michael Page, the Bisexual Flag consists of three color-bands: Magenta or Pink on top representing same-gender attraction, Blue on the bottom representing opposite-gender attraction, and Purple in the middle representing attraction to all genders. Sometimes the bands are equally sized; in other iterations the top and bottom bands are each 40% of the total flag surface and the middle band is 20%. The flag was unveiled on December 5, 1998. To learn more about this potent symbol of Bisexual Pride check out… http://www.pride.com/bisexual/2015/5/15/6-facts-you-never-knew-about-bisexual-flag-yes-there-one

12/02/2023

Today the Legacy Project commemorates the death of gay Grammy and Oscar winning composer, author, conductor, and educator AARON COPLAND (Appalachian Spring, Third Symphony, Fanfare for the Common Man) who won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, was a Kennedy Center honoree, and a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He passed away from complications due to advanced Alzheimer’s disease and respiratory failure on December 2, 1990 in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. To learn more about the utterly American music icon read… http://www.legacyprojectchicago.org/person/aaron-copland

12/01/2023

: GLENN BURKE – the first (and still the only) gay major league baseball player known to have been outed to his team while still actively playing. Burke’s career was short-lived – and suffused with challenges and tragedy – but he played with heart and honesty and remains an inspiration to whomever will one day have the courage to step into his shoes. Burke, who was inducted onto the Legacy Walk in October 2023, passed away from complications due to HIV/AIDS on May 30, 1995 in San Leandro, CA. His bronze memorial can be found at 3411 N. Halsted. For more information on Legacy Walk 2023 Inductee check out… https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/glenn-burke

12/01/2023

: DANIEL SOTOMAYOR – the first nationally syndicated, openly gay, and openly HIV+ political cartoonist in the world, not only co-founded of ACT-UP/Chicago, but also used his considerable drawing talent to capture the riveting, horrifying (and very often inspiring) history of AIDS through nearly 150 brilliantly executed cartoons between 1988 and 1992. He died at age 33 of an AIDS-related illness in Chicago, IL on February 2, 1992. He was inducted onto Chicago’s Legacy Walk in October 2022 to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of his passing. His bronze memorial can be found at 3444 N. Halsted. Read more about Daniel at… https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/daniel-sotomayor

12/01/2023

: FREDDIE MERCURY, gay lead singer of the glitter rock band Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are the Champions, Don’t Stop Me Now, Another One Bites the Dust, We Will Rock You, You’re My Best Friend) combined his raw talent with a hyper-sexualized appeal to transform contemporary music – catapulting Queen into the pantheon of ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ while turning Mercury into a legend in his own time. He passed away from complications due to AIDS-related illness on November 24, 1991 at age 45 in in Kensington, London, England; and was honored with a bronze memorial on Chicago’s Legacy Walk, which can be found at 3246 N. Halsted. Read more about 2020 Legacy Walk Inductee at… http://www.legacyprojectchicago.org/person/freddie-mercury

12/01/2023

: Stonewall Award-winning activist, author, and film aficionado VITO RUSSO (The Celluloid Closet) was one of the earliest gay activists to study the impact of the media and entertainment industry’s depiction of LGBT people on society. He also organized q***r cinema screenings for the Gay Activists Alliance and later was co-founder of both the Gay and Le***an Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (Act-UP). He passed away at age 44 from an AIDS-related illness in Manhattan, N.Y. on November 7, 1990. His bronze memorial can be found at 3411 N. Halsted. To learn more about go to… http://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/vito-russo

12/01/2023

: Flamboyant, fabulous, glittery, gender-non-conforming gay singer SYLVESTER (You Make Me Feel Mighty Real, Dance Disco Heat, Do Ya Wanna Funk) produced one platinum and five gold records which are now part of the soundtrack of LGBTQ History. He passed away from complications due to AIDS at age 41 on December 16, 1988 in San Francisco, CA. Read more about the disco-fueled legacy of 2020 Legacy Walk Inductee, Sylvester, at https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/sylvester and check out this dedication video tribute created for his induction at https://legacyprojectchicago.org/video/sylvester-video-legacy-and-induction. His bronze memorial can be found at 3246 N. Halsted.

12/01/2023

: RUDOLF NUREYEV first glimpsed the world of dance as a young child in the audience for a performance “Song of the Cranes”. He studied ballet in Leningrad and, during the Kirov Ballet’s tour to Paris in 1961, defected to the West – making him one of the most famous people in the world. As a transitional figure between Vaslav Nijinsky and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Nureyev’s superstardom over the next 20 years was a catalyst for ballet’s unprecedented rise in popularity among the masses. Known for his intense muscularity, unrivaled grace, and exotic looks, Nureyev became the living embodiment of ballet itself. Rudolf Nureyev passed away from complications due to HIV/AIDS in 1993. Read more about at http://www.legacyprojectchicago.org/person/rudolf-nureyev

12/01/2023

: A gifted dancer, ALVIN AILEY studied with some of the greatest names in Modern Dance. In his roles as choreographer and impresario, Ailey sought to give black dancers, who had few opportunities to dance with white companies, a chance to hone their craft. Today Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is one the most recognizable and beloved multicultural Modern Dance companies in the world. Ailey struggled throughout his personal life, which ended with his passing away from complications due to HIV/AIDS in 1989. His bronze memorial can be found at 3541 N. Halsted on Chicago’s Legacy Walk. Read more about at http://www.legacyprojectchicago.org/person/alvin-ailey

12/01/2023

: Acclaimed – and openly gay – author REINALDO ARENAS was a staunch supporter of Fidel Castro. But his initial belief in what he thought Castro stood for was shattered when the communist dictator began to crack down on homosexuals. Arenas spent years in prison – including three years in solitary confinement – before escaping to the United States. Though few of his works were published in Cuba, he was extremely influential throughout the world. While living in New York he contracted HIV/AIDS and opted to end his suffering through su***de in 1990. His bronze memorial can be found at 3345 N. Halsted on Chicago’s Legacy Walk. Read more about at http://www.legacyprojectchicago.org/person/reinaldo-arenas

12/01/2023

: SGT. LEONARD MATLOVICH stunned the American consciousness when he purposefully outed himself to his commanding officer in 1975 to force the military to confront its ban on g**s serving openly in the military. Matlovich, working with his mentor Frank Kameny, sought to challenge the military’s policy before the Supreme Court. But it was not to be. Thanks to Matlovich forcing the issue, America would wrestle with g**s in the armed forces for another 37 years before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would be overturned. Leonard Matlovich passed away from complications due to HIV/AIDS in 1988. His bronze memorial can be found at 3441 N. Halsted on Chicago’s Legacy Walk. Read more about at http://www.legacyprojectchicago.org/person/leonard-matlovich

12/01/2023

: KEITH HARING rose from obscurity through a self-styled path that took him from being arrested in the subways of New York for “defacing” public property with his graffiti-inspired creations, to Art World Superstar. A master of mass-market promotion, Haring’s artwork has graced everything from T-shirts, hats, watch faces, and liquor bottles to the Berlin Wall. In ten brief years Haring became one of the most famous artist of the 20th century. He passed away from complications due to HIV/AIDS in 1990. His bronze memorial can be found at 3342 N. Halsted on Chicago’s Legacy Walk. Read more about at http://www.legacyprojectchicago.org/person/keith-haring

12/01/2023

: Believing that LGBT people could benefit from the camaraderie and team-building of sports, former U.S. Olympian DR. TOM WADDELL founded the Gay Games, the largest international athletic competition in the world. Waddell was a loving, gregarious man whose infectious personality inspired a sense of community in others. He passed away from complications due to HIV/AIDS in 1987. Every four years the Gay Games are staged somewhere in the world in his memory. Read more about at https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/tom-waddell.

12/01/2023

Today the Legacy Project recognizes the first “World AIDS Day”. Along with the first “Day Without Art” in 1989, these commemorations forced mainstream America to confront the impact of AIDS on a social and cultural level – something which was all too easy for people to ignore before AIDS inevitably touched the lives of their own family, friends, and co-workers. The enumeration of countless lives of people claimed by the epidemic is a hallmark of . Throughout the day we will share some of the lives featured on the Legacy Walk which were claimed by AIDS.

12/01/2023

Today the Legacy Project celebrates the birth of MATTHEW SHEPARD, a young college student whose tragic death would one day become a rallying point which led to the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 1998. Matthew, who was born on December 1, 1976 in Casper, WY, was inducted onto Chicago’s Legacy Walk in 2021. His bronze historic milestone – “The Legacy of Matthew Shepard” – can be found at 3418 N. Halsted. To read more about check out… https://legacyprojectchicago.org/milestone/legacy-matthew-shepard

12/01/2023

Today the Legacy Project celebrates the day CHRISTINE JORGENSEN burst into the public’s consciousness as the first person to be internationally acclaimed for having sex-reassignment surgery. (Today this is referred to “Gender Confirmation” surgery.) In a press conference at Idlewild Airport (now JFK) in New York City on December 1, 1952, Jorgensen was confronted by dozens of reporters after the secret of her transition was leaked prior to her return to the United States from Denmark. Jorgensen – who instantly became one of the most famous people in the world – knew any chance for a normal, quiet life was gone. So, she seized control of her destiny and used her celebrity to open people’s eyes and hearts during one of the most homophobic eras in history. Thanks to the generosity of Col. Jennifer Pritzker and the , this amazing woman was one of the (18) inaugural inductees to the Legacy Walk in 2012. Read more about at… http://legacyprojectchicago.org/personal/christine-jorgensen

11/30/2023

AS FEATURED ON THE LEGACY WALL
Today the Legacy Project remembers astoundingly influential gay South African anti-Apartheid activist SIMON TSEKO NKOLI on the anniversary of his death. His courageous stands against inequity helped transform South Africa into one of the few places on the continent where LGBTQ people were protected by constitutional law. Nkoli – who founded the Gay and Le***an Organization of Witwatersrand – was one of the first publicly self-identified HIV+ African men, leading him to establish Positive African Men in Johannesburg. He passed away at age 41 from an AIDS-related illness in Johannesburg, South Africa on November 30, 1998. Read more about Legacy Nominee at… http://legacyprojectchicago.org/Simon_Tseko_Nkoli.html

11/30/2023

Today the Legacy Project remembers gay novelist, essayist, activist, and playwright JAMES BALDWIN (Giovanni’s Room, Go Tell it on the Mountain, The Fire Next Time) on the anniversary of his death. Though he was a National Book Award nominee and a passionate, literary voice during the turbulent days of the mid-20th century Civil Rights Movement, Baldwin was pushed to the periphery in the march for social justice because he was openly, unapologetically gay. Nonetheless, Baldwin did his part to bring the message of essential justice to every corner of the land – especially college campuses. He passed away on November 30, 1987 from esophageal cancer at age 63 in Saint-Paul de Vence, France. It was an honor to include this amazing man among the inaugural inductees to Chicago’s Legacy Walk in 2012. His bronze memorial can be found at the northwest entrance to the streetscape at 3704 N. Halsted. Learn more about at… http://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/james-baldwin

11/30/2023

Today the Legacy Project remembers gay, Irish dramatist, critic, novelist, and poet OSCAR WILDE (The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, Salome) on the anniversary of his death. At the height of his career, Wilde was convicted of “gross indecency between males” for “the love that dare not speak its name” in a sensational trial that scandalized British society. The outcome of what was ‘the trial of the century’ in its time had a chilling effect on the hearts and minds of millions of closeted people. But it is also seen as the beginning of a nascent “LGBT Consciousness” among those who, until Wilde’s misfortune, had little evidence that they were not alone in the world. The unprecedented exposé on homosexuality among the upper class would begin to alter the intellectual perception of sexual variance, which until then had been thought of as the provenance of prostitutes only. Oscar Wilde passed away on November 30, 1900 at age 46 in Paris, France from a prolonged illness he had contracted while imprisoned for two years at hard labor. His bronze memorial can be found 3707 N. Halsted on Chicago’s Legacy Walk. To learn more about the life and times of 2012 Legacy Walk Inductee check out… http://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/oscar-wilde

11/29/2023

A LUSH LIFE…
Today the Legacy Project celebrates the birth of gay musical genius BILLY STRAYHORN (Lush Life, Take the A Train, Satin Doll) whose astoundingly beautiful songs became the standards recorded by Duke Ellington. He was born on November 29, 1915 in Dayton, OH. His memorial on Chicago’s Legacy Walk, which was dedicated in 2015, and can be found at 3411 N. Halsted. Read more about at… http://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/billy-strayhorn