Meditations with the Bell

My student made a video explaining the meditations that I do in class.  See it here on YouTube or embedded below:

Here is a list of meditations using the bell:

Listen for the silence. 

Listen for the constant change. 

Listen for how far the noise travels.

Quiet the noise inside of you.

Where does the real you begin and the part of you influenced by society end?

Practice the pause.  When in doubt, pause.

Listen to how the bell resonates despite other noise. 

Enjoy the ringing while it lasts.

Here is another meditation that a student shared with me:

How to Meditate with An Orange

There are many ways to do this, but ultimately it comes down to preference, current location, and whether you have a knife or other utensil around.

Some oranges are easier to peel with your hands than others (clementines and mandarins are great choices for peeling with your hands), and you may want to make less of a mess if you’re trying this on your desk at work than if you’re trying it in your kitchen.

Regardless, here are instructions for two different methods:

Peel It with Your Hands

This is the most tactile experience. If you’re like me and more of a hands-on, mind-racing-when-sitting-still kind of person (ahem, ADHD), this might be a good choice for you. This experience focuses very heavily on feeling and using your hands.

You can peel the orange as you normally would, but instead of placing your effort on getting it peeled quickly and efficiently, simply focus on what your hands are doing, what the orange and the peel feel like beneath your fingers and nails, the aroma already wafting up to your nose from the peel, and the sound of the peel pulling apart from the fruit.

Once it’s peeled, take a moment to look at the orange. How much pith covers the wedges? You can peel some of the pith off of the fruit and focus on how it comes off. Does it rip apart into small pieces, or does it come off in long strands, like thread?

Next, start pulling the wedges apart. You can do this any way you wish. Again, you can pull the pith out of the center and focus on how it feels.

Cut It with A Knife

* Note: Please use a sharp, serrated knife, a chef’s knife, or similar. If you plan on trying this exercise with kids, please try the “Peel It with Your Hands” version above.

Use your knife to slice the ends of the orange off. With its now flat bottom solidly on the table, slice around the contour of the fruit, from top to bottom, until a curved slice of the peel is removed. Turn the orange slightly and continue cutting down the sides in curved strips. You should try to remove this pith during this process, so you should be slicing through the ends of the flesh.

Feel the knife glide down the sides of the orange, noting any changes in texture as you may hit the peel or the flesh. Feel the curvature of the fruit, and observe the thickness of the skin as it drops off.

Note its scent. Is it tangy, or sweet? Try to imagine how it tastes.

Once the orange has been peeled, give it a good look. Examine the juice sacs or vesicles (the small pockets of juice within the flesh). How big are they? Do they vary in size or shape? Next look at the membranes or walls separating the wedges. They’ll appear as white lines dividing each segment. Look at it from the top and from the sides. How big are the wedges? Are there any that are oddly sized or shaped?

Next, slice your orange into segments. You can do this by making a slice on the side of the separation wall, and then making a slice on the side of the other wall. These two slices should intersect at the middle and free the wedge. You may choose whether to cut off the membranes entirely or leave them attached to your orange slices.

Continue paying attention to the consistency of the orange flesh and the aroma escaping from the slices.

Eating the Orange (After Either Method)

Once you’ve successfully disassembled your orange, bring a wedge up to your face. Examine it with your eyes. Smell it. Pop it into your mouth and bite down. Focus on the flavor of the juice as it bursts from the skin. Is it sweet, tangy, or tart? All three? Does it taste good? Does it remind you of something?

Next focus on the texture of the wedge. Feel the texture of the skin, and the flesh of the orange inside. Listen to the sounds it makes while you chew and swallow.

Continue until you have finished the orange.

Here is a bell for meditation:

Assessment 2: Quantitative

The assessment for Socialization and Social Structure (Unit 2) will be open beginning today at your class time.  The assessment will remain open until your class starts on Monday.  You may take the test at any time during this window and from anywhere that is convenient for you.  So, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE IN CLASS TODAY, however, in case you want to review, ask questions or need anything else, I will be in class at the usual time and place.    A few important reminders regarding the assessment:

• You will have 75 minutes to complete the test from whenever you access it.  
• You must answer each question in order as they show up on the screen (no skipping ahead or back). 
• You have access to whatever resources may help you, but remember to monitor your time.  
• Note that there are questions regarding the assigned readings from this unit.

If you are unhappy with the score you earn on this quantitative assessment, or, if you for any reason are not able to complete the quantitative assessment on time, then you have the option to submit a qualitative assessment instead.  I hope this takes the pressure off the quantitative test and instead you see that as just a different way of demonstrating what you learned from our unit and not a high pressure exam.

2.10 Debriefing the Social Dilemma

Debriefing the Social Dilemma

Mark Granovetter's Strength of Weak Ties

Recall the research from Mark Granovetter (1973) about peer/friend networks called The Strength of Weak Ties from our lesson on peers/friends.  Here is a review of how Granovetter's research applies to today's social media landscape;

...individuals with few weak ties will be deprived of information from distant parts of the social system and will be confined to the provincial news and views of their close friends. This deprivation will not only insulate them from the latest ideas and fashions but may put them in a disadvantaged position...Weak ties might bring you the crucial information about a new job opportunity, a new start up business or new connections into other areas of your peripheral business. Your relationship with your weak ties should be maintained and cultivated, knitting your networks together to encourage information free flow between the different parts of your networks. This information flow could be information you need to get ahead in your own work, or it might be recommendations and information about your skills and abilities to get you the job / contract / opportunity you’ve been looking for.

 

Resources from the Movie:

• My guide to the movie for intro to sociology is here.
• Social Dilemma Documentary website (https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/)
• Full, unedited Social Dilemma Transcript available here.

Articles/Publications by the people in the documentary:

• Our Brains Are No Match for Our Technology by Tristan Harris, New York Times

• The Dark Psychology of Social Networks by Jonathan Haidt, The Atlantic

• Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff, Harvard Business Review

• The Truth About Algorithms by Cathy O’Neill, RSA

• Want to Work for Google? You Already Do. by Joe Toscano, TEDx Talks

• Free Speech Is Not The Same As Free Reach by Renée DiResta, Wired

• Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier

• Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil

  
  
  

Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab

Here is the Stanford University Behavior Design Lab featured in the movie.

Stanford U. Persuasion Through Mobile Design Lab is run by BJ Fogg, behavior scientist at Stanford, https://www.bjfogg.com/

In 2006 we created a video to warn the FTC (and others) about problematic areas related to persuasive technology. See the video here: https://vimeo.com/117427520

(BJ’s quick note: This video above has a slow pace, and it’s not my best look, with the shaved head and all. However, do listen to what I was predicting and warning people about. At least go to minute 10 and see what I say about the political use of persuasion profiles. We recorded this video in 2006 to warn policymakers of the impacts persuasive technology could have. Remember, this message was recorded in 2006 not 2016 and the message rings true more and more every day.)

Simone Stolzoff from Wired (2018) explains in The Formula for Phone Addiction Might Double As a Cure,

Ten years ago, a Stanford lab created the formula to make technology addictive. Now, Silicon Valley is dealing with the consequences.

"IN SEPTEMBER 2007, 75 students walked into a classroom at Stanford. Ten weeks later, they had collectively amassed 16 million users, $1 million dollars in advertising revenue, and a formula that would captivate a generation. The class—colloquially known as "The Facebook Class"—and its instructor, BJ Fogg, became Silicon Valley legends."

False News Travels Faster Than True Stories On Twitter

2018 Research from MIT

Research project finds humans, not bots, are primarily responsible for spread of misleading information.

“We found that falsehood diffuses significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth, in all categories of information, and in many cases by an order of magnitude,” says Sinan Aral, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and co-author of a new paper detailing the findings."

Here is an article from Slate explaining the research.

 

Touchscreen

Watch slam poet Marshall Soulful Jones perform his poem called touchscreen.   Here are the lyrics.

Debrief Questions and ideas for your assessment:

What are your general thoughts about the film?  

What is your biggest takeaway? What do you think the claim/thesis of the film was?   

What action can you take?

From the documentary website: https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/take-action/

Here is a summary of the individual actions you can take today:

• Uninstall apps from my phone that are wasting your time such as social media apps and news apps.
• Turn off notifications. Turning off all notifications. I’m not using Google anymore, I’m using Qwant, which doesn’t store your search history.
• Never accept a video recommended to you on YouTube. Always choose. There are tons of Chrome extensions that remove recommendations. 
• Before you share, fact-check, consider the source, do that extra Google. If it seems like it’s something designed to really push your emotional buttons, like, it probably is. Essentially, you vote with your clicks. If you click on clickbait, you’re creating a financial incentive that perpetuates this existing system. 
• Make sure that you get lots of different kinds of information in your own life. I follow people on Twitter that I disagree with because I want to be exposed to different points of view.

What action above might be beneficial to you the most?

How much do you use social media? Does social media use you?

If you have a cell phone that monitors usage, check your usage - how many hours do you spend on it on average?  What apps do you use the most?  Have you ever tried to take a digital break or a digital detox?  Below are some resources with tips and food for thought:

• From Spike Blog, Take a Break From Tech, the Benefits of a Digital Detox (2021), "the average user touches his phone no less than 2,617 times per day"
• From Lifehacker, How to Take A Digital Break (2021)
• From Berkley's Greater Good Magazine, Five Reasons to Take a Break From Screens (2018),
• From CNN, Treat Your Phone Like a Bad Relationship and Breakup (2023)

Try to take a digital break and take note of how you are affected.  What do you experience while on the break?

Here is a 2021 Study about the use of social media from the PEW

Open this link and think about what is true for you.  Below are some charts from the findings, some things to write about include your thoughts about the findings and in what ways these are either true or different for you:

 

Anti-Social Media

Felmlee and Faris published Toxic Ties; Networks of Friendship, Dating and Cyber Victimization in Social Psychology Quarterly (2016) about the ways that social media can strain relationships among friends and dating partners.  LGBTQ teens are most at risk followed by straight cis-females and then lastly, straight cis-males.

 

Social Media Used for "News"
A 2021 PEW study showing social media use and news.  

More Americans get news on social media than from print newspapers. In 2018, one-in-five adults said they often get news on social media. And Facebook continues to dominate as the most common social media site used for news by Americans: About four-in-ten Americans (43%) get news on this site.  

Which of the platforms in the graph above do you often get your news from?

The growing trend of getting news online is particularly concerning because a 2020 study found that:

Americans Who Mainly Get Their News on Social Media Are Less Engaged, Less Knowledgeable

Those who rely on social media for news are less likely to get the facts right about the coronavirus and politics and more likely to hear some unproven claims.

Social media users were the second most likely group to have low political knowledge.

Social media users were more likely to have heard 

conspiracy theories about the pandemic.

Social Media and You 

Have you ever stopped to think about what social media knows about you?  Think about the last time you bought something at a store.  If the salesperson was a stranger, would you tell them everything that your social media knows about you?  Look at this post from Tech News and the chart that they included from clario (below):

Social Media Bingo

https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/start-a-conversation/

Other Resources:

Research and Effects of Digital Devices on Students

Besides being good for society, democracy, and living in a world with a shared reality, there are more personal and practical reasons for being mindful of social media.

See this post for a list of research-based conclusions why digital media is bad for your learning and your grades

One Sec App will help you be mindful of how you use your smart phone. 

Queer Activism in Chicago

Queer Clout by Timothy Stewart-Winter, from the publisher,

Tracing the gay movement's trajectory since the 1950s from the closet to the corridors of power, Queer Clout is the first book to weave together activism and electoral politics, shifting the story from the coastal gay meccas to the nation's great inland metropolis. Timothy Stewart-Winter challenges the traditional division between the homophile and gay liberation movements, and stresses gay people's and African Americans' shared focus on police harassment. He highlights the crucial role of black civil rights activists and political leaders in offering white gays and lesbians not only a model for protest but also an opening to join an emerging liberal coalition in city hall. The book draws on diverse oral histories and archival records spanning half a century, including those of undercover vice and police red squad investigators, previously unexamined interviews by midcentury social scientists studying gay life, and newly available papers of activists, politicians, and city agencies.

As the first history of gay politics in the post-Stonewall era grounded in archival research, Queer Clout sheds new light on the politics of race, religion, and the AIDS crisis, and it shows how big-city politics paved the way for the gay movement's unprecedented successes under the nation's first African American president.

Here is a review from Michael Diambri.

Henry Gerber House, 1710 North Crilly Court.

  From the National Park Service:

In 1924 Henry Gerber founded the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. While he was in the Army, Gerber was stationed in Coblenz, Germany. While there, he experienced a more open homosexual community than in America. After his return to the U.S. in 1923, Gerber distanced himself from what he saw as a disorganized, politically unaware gay subculture, choosing instead to live in relative anonymity in a boarding house in Chicago, Illinois. In contrast to the more mainstream, community-oriented homosexual movement he experienced in Germany, American gay subculture was largely relegated to saloons, speakeasies, and the realm of prostitution, a marginalized place in society that was often seen as lascivious and criminal. When he founded the Society for Human Rights, Gerber melded his experiences with the German homophile movement with the American ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence, continually referencing the importance of law and order, and a person's right to pursue happiness.

The Society for Human Rights published the earliest-documented homosexual periodical, Friendship and Freedom. Subscription rates were low, a problem that Gerber attributed to the fear of persecution felt by many homosexuals, which kept them from joining organizations or otherwise publicizing their sexual interests. Gerber himself was a victim of the social and political hostilities of the time; in 1925 he and several other group members were arrested. Although never charged, his belongings were confiscated and there were highly prejudiced legal proceedings and extensive, negative media coverage. As a result, the Society for Human Rights withered away.

Henry Gerber's enthusiasm for activism was severely dampened following these warrantless arrests. He went back to living a lower-profile life but continued writing about the position and plight of homosexuals and continued networking and building community with gay allies. In 2015, the Henry Gerber House became the nation's second National Historic Landmark designated for its association with LGBTQ history.

Chicago’s Labor Movement Is Looking Very Queer These Days (2023) from The Nation,

...a wave of labor organizing at queer institutions in Chicago—one that comes as queer people across the country grapple with a rising social and political backlash against LGBTQ+ people, all while deep-pocketed corporations abandon the queer customers to whom they’ve pandered for years...

Unions can be a way that most queer workers find community and protection, and it’s so important,” Balay says, citing the decades-long history of queer labor organizers fighting for landmark protections for workers, often during particularly hostile periods of anti-gay backlash.

In an era where corporations abandon Pride campaigns and cave to pressure from anti-LGBTQ+ bigots, and politicians use queer lives to score points with voters, unions have cemented themselves as a way for queer workers to ensure their safety in workplaces that serve predominantly queer clientele.

 

On June 14, 1977 Chicago had its first big gay-rights protest

On this day in 1977, singer, orange-juice industry spokeswoman, and former Miss America Anita Bryant arrived in Chicago for a concert at the historic Medinah Temple (now a Bloomingdale’s outlet at Wabash and Ohio). The concert had been booked months earlier, before Bryant achieved a new national notoriety as leader of an anti-LGBTQ initiative in Dade County, Florida, where citizens voted to overturn an antidiscrimination ordinance that had been passed by the county commission earlier that year. The law prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, public service, and accommodations. The vote to repeal the law happened on June 7, 1977.

So a group of Chicago LGBTQ activists, including me, decided to organize a picket of the June 14 concert in Chicago. We were warned by gay establishment leaders that it would be an embarrassing failure. Back then, it seemed, the only time LGBTQ people turned out en masse was for the Pride Parade.

But a spontaneous, unexpected turnout of 3,000-plus people proved the naysayers wrong.

Ten Historic LGBTQ Moments in Chicago from Do312 and  Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame 

Frankie Knuckles and Chicago House Music

Renowned DJ and music producer Frankie Knuckles earned his title of “The Godfather of House Music” for his influential role in developing and popularizing the genre. His journey in Chicago started as the music director for The Warehouse, an invite-only nightclub of Black and Latino gay men, often considered birthplace of house music. Knuckles helped in creating a safe haven for queer people of color and eventually founded his own nightclub, Power House.

 

Miss Continental Pageantry System

The Miss Continental pageant was founded in 1980 by Chicagoan Jim Flint and was the first beauty pageant to allow trans women to participate. The pageant system soon expanded with branches to include male entertainers, plus-size competitors, and entertainers over the age of forty. The competition has seen legendary past winners like Chilli Pepper, Mimi Marks, and Mokha Montrese - and even Drag Race stars Naysha Lopez, Brooke Lynn Hytes, and Roxxxy Andrews. Based out of the historic Baton Lounge, Miss Continental remains active to this day (celebrating over 50 years of the pageant) and garners thousands of attendees each Labor Day weekend.

 

The Stroll

The Stroll was the colloquial name given to the section of State Street between 26th and 39th in the 1910s and 1920s. This bright light strip was buzzing with Black Chicagoans and the art and culture they created, particularly thriving during the Jazz Age. The Stroll was also home to numerous cabarets, vaudeville theaters, and dance palaces offering Black queer people more freedom in their personal lives. Artists who migrated during this time include openly gay ragtime piano player Tony Jackson, blues singer Gertrude “Ma” Raineywith songs alluding to her sexuality, and several other trans women, drag queens, and “female impersonators”.

 

South Side Ballroom Culture

The ballroom scene in Chicago dates back to the 1920s in Bronzeville and the South Side. One of the first documented balls, the Finnie Balls, was led by a gay street hustler named Alfred Finnie. These grew and amassed huge gatherings on special events like Halloween. Balls in Chicago were also amongst the first to have a drag presence, even before New York. Due to the city’s long history of segregation, old-school balls stayed primarily on the South Side of Chicago, but still provided a space for non-black queer people. The culture of voguing and ballroom competitions continues to this day and is imperative to maintaining a community for Black queer youth. The Annual Midwest Ball is one of the biggest in the US.

 

The Intersection Of Black and LGBTQ Activism

Police harassment disproportionately affected Black and LGBTQ communities in Chicago. This led a lot of LGBTQ activists to align their organizations with Black political leaders who increasingly challenged police brutality through protests and lawsuits. The 70s and 80s also saw the foundations of transgender political organizations like the Transvestites Legal Committee and the Black Panther Party chapter in Chicago working with the Chicago Gay Alliance and the Mattachine Midwest to focus on entrapment police harassment and raids. The first black mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington, was influential in repealing laws against sodomy and homosexuality. Another pivotal moment of intersectionality was the Ad Hoc Committee of Proud Black Lesbians and Gays. The organization was founded in 1993 to represent the Black LGBTQ+ community in the Bud Billiken Parade. While the initial application was denied, the group was able to participate the following year with the help of Lamda Legal and marched near the front of the parade, celebrating themes of visibility, youth education, and anti-violence.

Jane Addams and Hull-House

Jane Addams was a settlement activist and reformer who was an important leader in the women’s suffrage movement, based out of Chicago. She founded one of America’s biggest settlement houses, Hull-House on the North West Side of Chicago, with her romantic partner Ellen Gates Star. While contemporary language about sexuality and gender did not exist at the time, Addams exclusively had relationships with women who were also activists. The Hull-House complex grew to thirteen buildings in Chicago and over 500 settlement houses across the nation, and still stands today as the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum.

 

Henry Gerber and the Society For Human Rights

German immigrant Henry Gerber founded the Society For Human Rights, the nation’s first gay rights organization, as well as Friendship & Freedom, the first American publication for gay men. Unfortunately, both the organization and publication faced an early demise following the arrest of several of the Society's members. His legacy lives on in the Henry Gerber House, designated a Chicago and National Landmark, and the Gerber/Hart Library. Gerber’s organization was also influential in the founding of the Mattachine Society and its Chicago chapter.

 

Chuck Renslow and Chicago’s Leather Scene

Chuck Renslow was an openly gay artist and activist who was extremely influential in developing Chicago’s world-famous leather and kink scene. Renslow started as a photographer and founded a male physique photography studio with his partner Dom “Etienne” Orejudos, a homoerotic artist. Together they founded the country’s first gay leather bar, Gold Coast Bar, as well as Man’s Country Bathhouse. Renslow also founded Chicago's August White Party (now a popular circuit party format) and the International Mr. Leather competition that garners thousands of attendees from around the world. Renslow’s legacy is secured in the Leather Archives and Museum that he co-founded with Tony DeBlase.

 

Lesbian Pulp Fictions Novels

With very little LGBTQ media available at the time, lesbian pulp fiction novels emerged as cheap and disposable entertainment that developed its own circulation subculture amongst (closeted) lesbian and bisexual women. These paperbacks gained immense popularity with their overtly lesbian themes and titillating art. Chicago’s Newss­tand Library Books publisher led the pack with pulp novels made available at bus stops and newspaper stands until a judge declared the books obscene and non­-mailable. Popular local author Valerie Taylor also served as an LGBTQ activist and co-founded the Mattachine Society and the Lesbian Writers' Conference in Chicago. As part of their "Femme Fatale" series, Feminist Press has reissued three of Taylor's novels.

 

The Gay Liberation March For The Stonewall Riots

In June 1970, Chicago was one of four cities in the US that led a Gay Liberation March to commemorate the Stonewall Riots in New York. The rally started in Washington Park also known as Bughouse Square, a popular site for political and artistic discourse as well as a cruising area for queer men. The march grew rapidly gaining support from local organizations in the 70s and 80s, and eventually developed into the Annual Chicago Pride Parade we now see on the Northalsted strip. The Newberry Library in Washington Park continues the tradition of the Bughouse Square Debates via mounted soapboxes for all speakers and performers to use.

 

Chicago Tribune, 30 Key Moments in Chicago's LGBTQ History, 

1889: Social reformer and activist Jane Addams opens Chicago’s Hull House, a settlement house, on the city’s West Side. Addams “had at least two long-term same-sex relationships — one of which, with Mary Rozet Smith, lasted 40 years,” according to the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.

1914: Pearl Hart graduates from John Marshall Law School in 1914. Known as the “Guardian Angel of Chicago’s Gay Community,” Hart is one of the first female attorneys to practice criminal law in Chicago and frequently defends countless gay men arrested in bars and tea rooms.

1924: The first American gay rights organization, The Society for Human Rights, is created by German immigrant and Chicago resident Henry Gerber. The state of Illinois officially recognizes the group on Dec. 10, 1924. 

1935: Street hustler and gambler Alfred Finnie hosts the first Finnie’s Ball in a basement tavern near 38th Street and Michigan Avenue on Chicago’s South Side. The festivities continue for decades, with thousands of attendees participating in female impersonation contests. A 1953 Ebony magazine article said, “More than 1,500 spectators milled around outside Chicago’s Pershing Ballroom to get a glimpse of the bejeweled impersonators who arrived in limousines, taxis, Fords, and even by streetcar.”

1950: Jazz trumpeter Ernestine “Tiny” Davis opens the club Tiny & Ruby’s Gay Spot with her partner Ruby Lucas in the 2700 block of South Wentworth Avenue in Chicago.

1956: On Aug. 30, 1956, psychologist Evelyn Hooker delivers her paper “The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual,” which was published a year later, at the American Psychiatric Association Convention in Chicago. Her study challenged beliefs about gay men and found that they were not inherently abnormal. In 1973 the APA removed homosexuality from its list of psychiatric disorders.

1959: “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry becomes the first play written by an African American woman to open on Broadway. Hansberry, who grew up on Chicago’s South Side, featured same-sex attraction in some of her work and is credited with writing two pro-lesbian letters in “The Ladder,” an early lesbian publication, according to the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.

1961: Illinois is the first state to do away with sodomy laws on July 28, 1961.

1965: Lesbian pulp novelist Valerie Taylor and lawyer Pearl Hart, among others, establish Mattachine Midwest, the city’s first successful gay rights organization. The group publishes the Mattachine Midwest Newsletter covering police harassment, raids, legal issues, local events, meetings, community news and more.

1968: Attorney Ralla Klepak represents Chicago bar The Trip after it is illegally raided and loses its liquor license. The case makes it to the Supreme Court and Klepak is victorious.

1970: One of the first pride parades in the U.S. is held in Chicago on June 27, 1970, a day before the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York a year earlier.

1974: The Chicago Gay Medical Students Association creates Howard Brown Memorial Clinic, a place where gays and lesbians can receive counseling and sexually transmitted infections testing and treatment. The clinic eventually becomes Howard Brown Health Center.

1977: On June 14, 1977, thousands gather outside the Medinah Temple to protest Florida orange juice spokeswoman Anita Bryant, who opposed gay rights.

1984: Mayor Harold Washington delivers a speech at an LGBT rally in Lincoln Park, endorsing what was known as the Human Rights Ordinance. This is the first time a sitting mayor speaks at an event not connected to a campaign. Washington died before the ordinance was approved by the City Council on Dec. 21, 1988.

1985: On March 2, 1985, drugmaker Abbott develops the first blood screening test for HIV antibodies.

1985:On Sept. 9, 1985, Chicago House is incorporated in Illinois as a nonprofit with the goal of providing housing to those with AIDS.

1988: The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which honors the lives of those lost to the disease, is displayed at Navy Pier from July 7 to July 11, 1988.

1989: On Jan. 2, 1989, Open Hand Chicago begins regular meal deliveries for those impacted by AIDS.

1991: The Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, later renamed the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame, is created in Chicago, honoring people and organizations who have contributed to the city’s LGBTQ communities.

1992: The University of Chicago begins to offer benefits to gay and lesbian couples, one of the first colleges to do so.

1992: Daniel Sotomayor, the co-founder of ACT-UP/Chicago, a national organization committed to using direct action and civil disobedience to fight AIDS, passes away.

1994: Thomas R. Chiola is the first openly gay elected official in Illinois when he becomes a Cook County Circuit Court judge.

1995: Judges on a state appellate court note, “nothing in the (Adoption) Act suggests that sexual orientation is a relevant consideration, and lesbians and gay men are permitted to adopt in Illinois.”

1997: Chicago passes an ordinance that grants fringe benefits to same-sex domestic partners of city government employees.

2001: Illinois recognizes hate crimes against gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

2007: On June 1, 2007, The Center on Halsted, which began in 1973 as Gay Horizons, opens its doors on the corner of Halsted Street and Waveland Avenue. Now, more than 1,000 people use the center each day.

2008: Illinois legislators decide same-sex partners can make decisions regarding health care in certain circumstances.

2010: Illinois passes the Safe School Improvement Act, which prohibits bullying and the harassment of students based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

2013: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signs the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act, making Illinois the 16th state in the nation to embrace full marriage equality for same-sex couples on Nov. 20, 2013. Longtime activist Vernita Gray, and her partner, Patricia Ewert, are the first same-sex couple married in Illinois on Nov. 27, 2013.

2019: Lori Lightfoot, 56, is elected mayor of Chicago. She becomes Chicago’s first black woman and openly gay mayor. She is inaugurated May 20, 2019.