Monday, September 23, 2013

Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame

Shame on me for not even knowing that the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame existed. (It has been around for more than 20 years) I only found out because of a Robert Feder tweet announcing this year's inductees. The list is here, by the way, and includes Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts and Kukla, Fran & Ollie's Burr Tillstrom.

I knew that Tillstrom was from Chicago, but had no idea he was gay. It's not even mentioned in his wikipedia page, not that it should be. In fact, I'm hoping it's not mentioned because it isn't really relevant to his art, but I suspect that the wiki-author just didn't know. Tillstrom died in 1985, and was popular long before "coming out" was considered socially acceptable.