this should be boystown’s moment of reckoning. finally.

The call to rename Chicago’s gayborhood is rightfully gaining momentum.

When a Change.org petition cropped up several weeks ago calling for the Northalsted Business Alliance to stop (due to its exclusionary nature) promoting East Lakeview as Boystown last month, the reaction from some internet trolls appeared to be one of shock and bemusement: Here’s another example of cancel culture gone too far, another group of snowflakes triggered, the Facebook comments read. 

Although the ongoing protest movement sparked by George Floyd’s killing at the hands of police almost surely was the catalyst for this call for a re-examination of the neighborhood’s long-standing nickname, the roots of this reckoning go back many years.

As RuPaul’s Drag Race star Shea Couleé name-checked during a powerful speech as part of the Drag March for Change last month, it wasn’t long ago that a group of “concerned citizens” launched a movement they called “Take Back Boystown” in response to a series of violent incidents in the neighborhood in 2011. That movement was rife with racism, as commenters on the group’s Facebook page claimed that “savage monkeys” and a “ghetto mentality” had taken over a neighborhood “built and created by gay whites with hard earned money.” 

The group hosted “positive loitering” vigils that claimed to be centered on deterring crime, but sent another message in the eyes of many: that the neighborhood was too welcoming to the youth of color who relied on institutions like the Center on Halsted and Howard Brown Health for much-needed services, as well as a sense of community or belonging.

A float during the 2011 Chicago Pride Parade, taken by the author.

In the years that have passed, the neighborhood has fallen far short of the vision as some sort of uber-queer mecca of inclusivity. It has continued to be a scene dominated by white, cisgender gay men.

In 2012, while I was still a reporter at HuffPost, I reported on a popular neighborhood bar, Wang’s, that had a “men only” policy after 11 p.m. I discovered this policy for myself when I and a group of friends of various genders had been denied entry to the bar one night despite it clearly being open and permitting other, all-male groups to enter after we had passed by. (Sidebar: The story was picked up by national outlets and even featured on Chelsea Lately, in one of my proudest journalistic achievements.)

In 2013, area residents were again up in arms about the Broadway Youth Center’s request for a special-use permit to operate inside a church, because of claims that it attracted “riffraff” to the neighborhood. (Translation: “Riffraff” is wealthy white talk for “Black people.”)

In 2016, Chicago police forced Pride at Montrose, known as the city’s Black Pride, to get shut down early due to what police claimed were concerns over a barricade that was too short. Organizers felt otherwise.

In 2019 came reports of racism at a number of popular Boystown businesses. Progress Bar instituted a since-reversed ban on DJs playing rap music, while the owner of Beatnix called the police on a Black customer who had reportedly expressed concerns over a Confederate flag vest that the store had for sale. 

And earlier this year, Berlin and Roscoe’s both dropped the drag queen T Rex from hosting events in partnership with their venues after a coalition of Black queer people came forward with reports of her history of discriminatory behavior toward Black performers. (Sidebar: The final time I DJed at Berlin, I was told by a party promoter that I was lucky the owner was not there for my set because the rap music I’d played is typically not allowed in the venue. So, there’s that…)

The problem is clearly bigger than T Rex, and bigger than the neighborhood business group and whatever text they decide to put on a sign. While it’s likely that many people will continue to call East Lakeview “Boystown” no matter what comes of this outcry (see: many Chicagoans will forever call it the Sears Tower), embracing a more inclusive new name for the neighborhood is a step that acknowledges its checkered past on these issues. It can’t be all that’s done, but it’s a start.

In the meantime, the alliance just launched a survey aimed at collecting feedback on a potential name change for the neighborhood. Queerville? Rainbow Way? Maybe simpler is better: In the early 1970s, pre- “Boystown,” the neighborhood was called New Town. Personally, that’s got my vote.

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Read: I just ravenously finished Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half and it’s an incredible read. There really aren’t words beyond that to describe it. Bennett recently gave an interview to Vanity Fair on the significance of her new novel’s release in this current historical moment. This quote in particular really stuck out to me:

I think really the question that white folks need to ask themselves is, are you ready to lose something? It’s one thing to acknowledge the privilege, it’s one thing to educate those around you. But you have to be willing to lose something, and I think that’s the hard part that people aren’t willing to face right now. It’s like, So now that someone has given you this knowledge, what are you going to do with it?

Give: The incredibly talented tattoo artist Julia Campione at Good Omen Tattoo is running a raffle that will award new ink up to $300 in value to anyone who donates to one of two great Chicago orgs, the Brave Space Alliance or Grow Greater Englewood. More details on Instagram if you want to contribute to the cause.

Listen: French-Colombian Singer-songwriter-producer Gabriel Garzón-Montano just came out with a new single and a stunning new video for it ahead of his next album, Agüita, due out in October. This song is sexy, summery and fun — exactly what we need right now.