LGBTQ residency and booming economic development by gay-related businesses in the North Halsted area helped cement the political clout of the LGBTQ community. As the area continued to attract gay businesses and residents, the street was developing into an LGBTQ identity within a few years.Īs Jackson and Nargis of WBEZ radio noted, the turning point for the LGBTQ community came with the growing populations and property ownership of LGBTQ residents (Jackson, Nargis, 2017). Gradually, medical clinics, gay community centers, and gay bars came and centered in the North Halsted area during the 1970s.
According to Tracy Baim, the co-founder, and publisher of Windy City Times, there once were gay areas dispersed across Chicago before the 1960s, yet the discrimination against them pushed individuals and businesses out to the northern side of the city. During the 1960s, homosexuality was still considered as a crime and being gay meant discrimination in one’s personal life and workplace, and even being hospitalized. While Boystown has played a crucial role in the LGBTQ community’s fight for legal equality and social acceptance, the formation of Boystown was due to persecution.
