Keehnen: There were raids at the Rocks periodically. And that’s a very, very complicated ball of wax, and it’s something I’ve wrestled with for years. So there is this kind of insurance policy that privileged gay men have against being represented.
And she loved them and was excited about the possibility of showing them, and then she saw a member of her board in the background in one of the photographs. I showed these photographs to Sandra Phillips, who was the chief photography curator at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. It was an assertion of a right to claim a place, of our right to be here and to be ourselves and to have fun.
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Owen Keehnen: The Rock and being out and gay and proud in the the sunshine - rather than in a darkened bar, which, even at the time, the bar windows were darkened - it was a political statement. Here are some highlights from their conversation. Morning Shift host Tony Sarabia talked to Ischar and Keehnen about “the Rocks” and why it was important to the LGBTQ community. While photographer Doug Ischar documented the scene over two summers in the 1980s, it’s only now that author Owen Keehnen is gathering stories for an oral history of the area and what it meant to the community at the time. It was an area around Belmont Harbor known as “the Rocks.” To stay up to date on the stories that matter.Įven into the 1980s, queer culture in Chicago was confined to a few night spots in a neighborhood that had not yet been dubbed “ Boystown.” But there was one spot where gay men felt comfortable being out and proud in broad daylight. WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information.