Convert Them Co Opt Them Or Kill Them The Ugly Fight To Pass The Lgbtq Inclusive Chicago Human Rights Ordinance

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When the bill was rejected by the City Council in 1986, an angry community immediately set out to revamp and reintroduce the ordinance. A newly formed organization, Gay and Lesbian Town Meeting, spearheaded the campaign. Its leaders included, over a two-year period, Rick Garcia, Art Johnston, Laurie Dittman, Jon-Henri Damski, Jonathan Katz, Irwin Keller, and Kit McPheeters, with crucial behind-the-scenes advice from Mayor Washington’s liaison to the LGBT community, Kit Duffy, and Peggy Baker and Jon Simmons, who succeeded Kit as mayoral liaisons to the community. Town Meeting formed a winning strategy: combining grassroots organization with behind-the-scenes political maneuvering. When Washington died in 1987 and was replaced by Eugene Sawyer, the Town Meeting leaders convinced Sawyer to support the ordinance, which he had previously opposed; the Town Meeting activists also courted the support of white conservative aldermen who had been foes of Washington.