It’s official: Chicago no longer has a ‘Boystown’

North Halstead area of Chicago, also known as “Boystown”
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Chicago’s LGBTQ ‘hood has long been called ‘Boystown’, but business leaders have decided its time for a re-brand.

The move comes after a petition gained steam over the summer which described Boystown as the “only gendered nickname” of any city’s LGBTQ district.

It argued:

“Systemic transphobia, racism, and sexism have plagued our neighborhood for decades, and it begins at the top, with the all-male board of the Northalsted Business Alliance. It begins with the BOYSTOWN signs down our street announcing that this neighborhood is ‘for the boys,’ though the signs hang above our diverse Legacy Walk of several LGBTQ icons in our history.

“To promote the inclusion of transgender, nonbinary, lesbian, and intersex individuals, we submit this petition for the Northalsted Business Alliance to simply follow the other LGBTQ neighborhoods across the world by marketing the area based on its location, North Halsted, not the majority gender of those people who sit on the Northalsted Business Alliance board This is only the beginning of the many changes needed in the North Halsted area.”

The petition…

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