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PASSAGES Singer/actress Olivia Newton-John dead at 73
Olivia Newton-John—the Australian singer who charmed generations of viewers in the 1978 blockbuster movie Grease and had such music hits as "Physical," with both garnering many LGBTQ+ fans—died Aug. 8 at age 73, according to media ...
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PASSAGES Journalist Chuck Colbert passes away at 67
Journalist Charles "Chuck" R. Colbert—who had written for several LGBTQ+ publications, including Windy City Times—passed away June 30. He was 67. He was a freelance journalist based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to his biography on The ...
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PASSAGES Lesbian writer/activist Elana Dykewomon dies at 72
Tributes have poured in following the death of Oakland-based esteemed lesbian writer/activist Elana Dykewomon, who passed away Aug. 7 at age 72, according to EuroWeekly. She received the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction in 1998 ...
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PASSAGES Chicago Latino Theater Alliance Executive Director Myrna Salazar dies at 75
The Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA) announced that co-founder and Executive Director Myrna Salazar passed away Aug. 3—two weeks after celebrating her 75th birthday. According to a press release, "Salazar ...
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PASSAGES Janan Lindley, wife of longtime activist/former bar owner Marge Summit
Janan Lindley died in hospice at home with her wife, Marge Summit, by her side July 29 of cancer. She was 82. Lindley was born June 20, 1940 and was raised in New Orleans. She studied at Loop College and from ...
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Reports: Chicago trans woman murdered in West Englewood neighborhood
A Chicago trans woman was attacked and died the late evening of July 11/early morning of July 12, according to reports. An individual was found with multiple stab wounds after Chicago Police Department (CPD) answered a ...
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Former Japanese prime minister dies after being shot
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died on July 8 after being shot while giving a campaign speech on a street in central Japan, CNN reported, citing public broadcaster NHK. Japanese publication Nikkei also reported that ...
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PASSAGES Local trans leader Maritxa Vidal
Maritxa Vidal, a leader in the Chicago trans community, has died at age 64. She passed away June 9. As a child, Vidal immigrated from Cuba with her family hoping to find a better life. Vidal is a longtime advocate for ...
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Dan Wolf, owner of The Bagel, dies at 77
Dan Wolf, the longtime owner of the iconic The Bagel Restaurant & Deli, has died at age 77. According to an obituary at legacy.com, Wolf was of the few child survivors of the infamous Theresienstadt concentration ...
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Clela Rorex, first County Clerk to issue same-sex marriage licences, has died
-- From a press release
BOULDER, CO - Out Boulder County and the family of Clela Rorex are saddened to announce the death of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer pioneering ally, Clela Rorex. On March 27,1975 Clela issued the first ...
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PASSAGES Onetime Gay Chicago publisher Craig Gernhardt
Craig Gernhardt—who once was the publisher of the now-defunct Gay Chicago—has died at age 61, according to Tribute Archive. His father, Gay Chicago Magazine co-founder and Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame inductee Ralph Paul Gernhardt, passed ...
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PASSAGES Legendary Chicago transgender activist, icon, mentor Mama Gloria Allen
Legendary Chicago Black transgender activist, icon and mentor "Mama" Gloria Allen died June 13 in her residence at Chicago's LGBTQ senior living facility Townhall Apartments in Lake View. The cause of death is unknown at this ...
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PASSAGES Transgender icon Mama Gloria dies at 76
-- From a press release
Chicago transgender icon and activist Gloria Allen, who founded and ran a charm school for homeless trans youth and was the subject of the award-winning documentary "Mama Gloria" and the critically acclaimed play "Charm," has died ...
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PASSAGES Former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan dies at 76
Former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan has passed away "peacefully at home" after several lengthy illnesses at age 76, The Chicago Tribune reported. Ryan was the state's attorney general from 1995 to 2003, and was the ...
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Local trans icon June LaTrobe dies
June M. LaTrobe—a Chicago trans icon known for her activism—has passed away. She turned 81 on June 1. Being an advocate for the trans community, LaTrobe participated in many events (such as protests) and often took ...
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Red Stars tie again; Cubs win, White Sox lose; NU softball; ex-Bear dies
The Chicago Red Stars battled the Washington Spirit to a 1-1 tie on June 1 at SeatGeek Stadium. The Red Stars' previous game, against the Portland Thorns, also resulted in a tie (2-2). An early header ...
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Late photographer/leatherman Ed Negron honored with street sign
On May 30, during Memorial Day/International Mr. Leather (IML) weekend, the leather shop 64TEN honored late photographer/leatherman Ed Negron with a tribute and honorary street-naming ceremony. The events were held at the corner of Clark Street ...
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Los Angeles LGBT Center mourns passing of legendary LGBT activist, leader Urvashi Vaid
-- From a press release
LOS ANGELES, May 14, 2022—"The world has lost a giant in the movement for LGBTQ freedom, justice and equality. After a valiant battle with cancer, Urvashi Vaid died today," said Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Lorri ...
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PASSAGES Urvashi Vaid dies, The National LGBTQ Task Force releases statement
-- From a press release
WASHINGTON, DC……Legendary attorney, LGBTQ activist, and author Urvashi Vaid, known for her extensive career an advocate for LGBTQ rights, women's rights, anti-war efforts, immigration justice and many other social causes ...
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PASSAGES Dr. David Ostrow dies at 74
Longtime researcher Dr. David Gene Ostrow, of Chicago, died unexpectedly on Feb. 16 at home. He was 74. The cause of death was end-stage renal disease, according to the Tribute Archive website. Ostrow was born on ...
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LGBTQ+-rights activist, Steamworks co-founder Rick Stokes dies at 87
Rick Earl Stokes, famously "the other gay candidate" who ran against Harvey Milk for San Francisco supervisor in 1977, died May 3 at age 87, according to the Bay Area Reporter. Stokes died in San Francisco ...
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PASSAGES Playwright/disability-rights activist Susan Nussbaum dies
Susan Nussbaum—a Chicago playwright, novelist and longtime disability-rights activist—died April 28 at age 68. Nussbaum won the 2012 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Social Engaging Fiction for her novel Good Kings Bad ...
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Chicago theater actress Hollis Resnik dies at 66
Chicago theater actress Hollis Resnick, who had a glittering resume, has passed away at age 66. The Chicago Tribune's Chris Jones tweeted, "Sad to report that Father Jim Heneghan tells me that the great Chicago actress ...
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Loved ones mourn loss of Elise Malary
Angelina Nordstrom remembers their close friend Elise Malary through candid photos and videos they loved to surprise her with. "My favorite thing was to catch her off-guard with the camera, to capture random moments of her ...
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Shattered Globe Theatre and Chicago Dramatists to host 'Remembering Joel Drake Johnson' on April 30
-- From a press release
CHICAGO (April 8, 2022) — Shattered Globe Theatre and Chicago Dramatists will celebrate the life and legacy of longtime Chicago playwright Joel Drake Johnson—a member of the LGBTQ+ community—at a ...
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Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright dies
Madeleine Albright, the first female U.S. secretary of state, has died of cancer at age 84, according to media reports. President Bill Clinton chose Albright as the country's top diplomat in 1996, and she served in ...
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Chicago Black trans woman Tatiana Labelle found dead
Chicago Black trans woman Tatiana "Tee Tee" Labelle, 33, was found dead in a trash can at about 12:45 p.m. on Friday, March 18, in the Chatham neighborhood alley located in the 8400 block of South ...
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PASSAGES Behavioral-wellness manager Tony Hollenback
Tony Hollenback—a former Chicagoan who resided in Santa Barbara, California—has passed away. He was 52. Journal & Topics noted that Tim Hollenback said of Tony, "During a dental procedure, my brother Tony ...
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PASSAGES Mogul Marilyn Miglin, wife of Andrew Cunanan murder victim, dies at 83
Marilyn Miglin the Chicago beauty mogul who rose to fame as a saleswoman on the Home Shopping Network and was thrust into the national limelight again in 1997 when her husband, business tycoon/philanthropist Lee Miglin, ...
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Actor William Hurt dies at 71
William Hurt who garnered three consecutive Oscar nominations for Best Actor in his movies for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987), winning for his gay role in ...
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PASSAGES OPALGA member Jan Grillos dies
Jan O. Grillos, a longtime member of the Oak Park LGBTQ+ organization OPALGA+ who was formerly from Denver, passed away March 2. Grillos was a systems programmer for United and Frontier Airlines, Sales Executive for several ...
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PASSAGES Civic leader, LGBTQ+ ally Josephine Minow dies at 95
Josephine Baskin Minow—a civic leader with an interest in social justice and Chicago and Jewish history—has died at age 95, The Chicago Tribune reported. Minow was the past president of the Juvenile Protective Agency and a ...
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PASSAGES Longtime LGBTQ activist, journalist Maxsonn 'Max' Smith
Longtime LGBTQ activist and journalist Maxsonn "Max" Smith died Feb. 9 due to complications from the stroke he suffered in early 2021 and COVID-19. He was 67. Smith was born April 4, 1954, in Hickory, North ...
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French co-discoverer of HIV dies at 89
French researcher Luc Montagnier—who won a Nobel Prize in 2008 for discovering HIV and, more recently, spread false claims about the coronavirus—has died at age 89, ABC News noted. Montagnier died Feb. 8 at the American ...
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Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist Guy Warner dies at 79
Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist Guy F. Warner died Feb. 1 of liver-related complications. He was 79. Warner was born Feb. 2, 1942, and grew up in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood; he was the oldest of seven children. ...
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Gay Maryland mayor dies by suicide
The Maryland city of Hyattsville released a statement announcing its city's openly gay mayor, Kevin Ward, had died by an apparent suicide, The Washington Blade reported. On Twitter, the city posted, "It is with great sadness ...
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PASSAGES Renowned author, professor, LGBTQ+-rights activist Arnie Kantrowitz
Renowned author, professor and LGBTQ activist Arnie Kantrowitz died Jan. 21 in New York City's Upper East Side Rehabilitation Center due to complications from COVID-19. He was 81. Kantrowitz was born Nov. 26, 1940, in Newark, ...
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Fashion designer Thierry Mugler dies at 73
Openly gay French fashion designer Thierry Mugler (full name: Manfred Thierry Mugler) has passed away at age 73, according to media reports. Madonna, Lady Gaga and Cardi B are among those who have worn his designs. ...
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Former Iowa Mr. Leather and computer programmer Ken Ballard dies at 43
Former Iowa Mr. Leather, computer programmer and gay Chicagoan Ken Meverick Ballard died Jan. 11 in his Lake View home at the age of 43. The cause of death is currently unknown. Ballard was born July ...
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PASSAGES Pansy Kings performance artist, education advocate Murray McKay
Pansy Kings performance artist, education advocate, curator, designer and LGBTQ activist Edward Murray McKay died Jan. 4 of cancer. He was 53. McKay was born Oct. 2, 1968, in Brussels, Belgium. The family moved to Toronto ...
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Fashion icon Andre Leon Talley dies at 73
Andre Leon Talley—the fashion icon and former creative director of Vogue magazine—died Jan. 18 at age 73. Details were not immediately revealed. In addition to his agent, Talley's Instagram account confirmed Talley's passing, noting that ...
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PASSAGES Allen Anthony Schuh
Allen Schuh loved Christmas, so as a final gift he got to see his beloved lights and ornaments one last time before passing quietly away Dec. 28, 2021. Born July 9, 1940, in Chicago's South Side, ...
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PASSAGES Veronica Drake
Veronica Drake a onetime Chicago resident and longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist recently passed away in October. She was 58. She last resided in Florida. According to an obituary at Marvin C. Zanders Funeral Home, Inc., Drake was born Sept. 15 ...
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PASSAGES Jeffrey Wayne ("Jef") Morgan
Jeffrey Wayne "Jef" Morgan, of Chicago's West Rogers Park neighborhood, passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack while shoveling snow on Jan. 2. He was 58. Jef was the well-loved manager at Little Jim's on ...
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PASSAGES Black trans activist Ke'Yahonna Stone, victim of gun violence, dies
Ke'Yahonna Stone was shot at Castle Run Shopping Center's Epic Ultra Lounge parking lot in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the early morning hours of Dec. 26. She was taken to the hospital and died Dec. 28 after ...
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LGBTQ Illinois police sergeant to be laid to rest Jan. 7
Bradley, Illinois, Police Sergeant Marlene Rittmanic who was killed in the line of duty on Dec. 30, 2021 will be laid to rest Friday, Jan. 7, NewsChannel20.com reported. A visitation will be held for Rittmanic at 2-7 p.m. ...
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Michigan's first out gay man dies at 91
Jim Toy—the person widely considered to be Michigan's first openly gay man and one of its most prominent LGBTQ activists—passed away at age 91, MLive.com reported. Toy died on New Year's Day, said Washtenaw County Commissioner ...
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WORLD Trans model dies, museum exhibit, Tunisia case
April Ashley—reportedly the first Briton to undergo gender-confirmation surgery—has died at 86, according to an Out item that cited The Liverpool Echo. Ashley, who was born in Liverpool, was the first known trans model to appear ...
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LGBTQ travel expert Jeff Guaracino dies at 48
Philadelphia native, author and Visit Philadelphia President/CEO Jeff Guaracino died Dec. 28, following a long battle with cancer. He was 48. Guaracino worked to boost the economies of both his hometown and Atlantic City as head ...
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Former Democratic leader Harry Reid dies at 82
Harry Reid, the former Democratic Senate leader who spearheaded epic legislative battles through three decades in Congress, has died at age 82 following a long battle with pancreatic cancer, according to media reports. Reid rose from ...
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Human-rights champion Archbishop Desmond Tutu dies at 90
Archbishop Desmond Tutu—a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his stances for human rights and against South Africa's white minority rule—died Dec. 26 at age 90. According to Reuters, the presidency conveyed news of ...
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PASSAGES Information technology specialist Erik Burns dies at 45
Tribune Media Service Delivery Vice President and former information technology (IT) project manager Erik Burns died Dec. 10 after a 13-month battle with stage four metastatic colon cancer. He was 45. ...
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Author/feminist bell hooks dies at 69
Acclaimed author and activist bell hooks died Dec. 15 at age 69. The writer (real name: Gloria Jean Watkins) was born in 1952 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, per NBC News. Her first published work, a book of ...
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Wisconsin LGBTQ+-rights activist Dick Wagner dies at 78
Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist and onetime Dane County, Wisconsin, Supervisor Dick Wagner has died at age 78, NBC15.com reported. According to a friend, Wagner was found at tiny Kerr-McGee Triangle Park, which he helped create in the ...
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Author Anne Rice dies at 80
Writer Anne Rice, whose Interview With The Vampire sold more than 150 million copies, died at age 80 on Dec. 11, according to media reports. Her son Christopher Rice, an out gay man who is also ...
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PASSAGES Designer Virgil Abloh dies at 41
Designer Virgil Abloh—the first Black artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection and the founder of the Off-White label—died at the age of 41 after privately battling "a rare, aggressive form of cancer, cardiac angiosarcoma," a ...
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Broadway titan Stephen Sondheim dies at 91
Stephen Sondheim, one of the giants of Broadway songwriting, died Nov. 26 at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, according to media reports. He was 91. Among the works in the legend's oeuvre are Company (1970), Follies ...
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EXCLUSIVE: Family and friends mourn loss of Brianna Hamilton
Janiece Lewis said her older sister Brianna Hamilton was her first best friend. The two oldest of four girls, spending time together was, for them, "a different kind of love." In between playing Barbies and dress-up, ...
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Colin Powell dies from COVID-19 complications
Colin Powell—the first Black U.S. secretary of state, whose leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape the country's foreign policy in the last years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st—died from ...
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Trans woman D'isaya Dior Monaee Smith, a victim of violence, dies
D'isaya Dior Monaee Smith was shot and killed Sept. 6 at the Prestige Motel in Dolton, Illinois. She was 27. A Human Rights Campaign report showed that, in 2020, a record 44 transgender, nonbinary or gender-nonconforming ...
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NATIONAL Carl Bean dies, LGBT History Month, military events, Dykes on Bikes
Archbishop Carl Bean—an openly gay former Motown singer, longtime AIDS activist and leader in the LGBTQ church movement—died at age 77, The New York Daily News reported. In a statement entitled "The Giant Sleeps," the Unity ...
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Former bishop who pushed for LGBTQ+ inclusion dies at 90
Retired Newark Bishop John Shelby Spong—a best-selling author and cleric known for his progressive theology and his support of women and LGBTQ+ clergy in The Episcopal Church—has died at age 90, Episcopal News Service reported. "It ...
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PASSAGES Pioneering lesbian business owner Susan Mazer dies
Susan Mazer died August 31 due to COVID-19 complications. She was 77. At the time of her death, Mazer was living in Port Saint Lucie, Florida with her wife Janet Norton. Mazer was born May 10, ...
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Celebration of life for Roman Buenrostro taking place Oct. 5
A celebration of life for the late Chicago advocate Roman Buenrostro will take place Tuesday, Oct. 5, 3-6 p.m., at Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Buenrostro was an LGBTQ- and HIV/AIDS-rights activist who passed away ...
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The National Black Justice Coalition mourns death of Pooh Johnson
--From a press release
SHREVEPORT, LA — The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) mourns the loss of Pooh Johnson, a 25-year-old Black gender-nonconforming person. Pooh was found shot to death inside a car early in the morning on August 23, ...
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PFLAG National mourns passing of past president Paulette Goodman
--From a press release
WASHINGTON PFLAGers everywhere mourn the death of Paulette Goodman, who served as PFLAG National President from 1988 until 1992. Goodman was born in a Jewish family, ...
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James Hormel, the first LGBTQ U.S. ambassador, dies
James Catherwood Hormel the first openly gay man to represent the United States as an ambassador died Aug. 13 at age 88. ...
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Bernie Hansen's gay-rights legacy remembered
Activist Arthur Johnston recalled the late 44th Ward Alderman Bernie Hansen as perhaps "the most unlikely gay-rights alderman." Johnston one of the activists involved with, among other endeavors, the push for the city's Human Rights Ordinance i ...
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Photographer/activist Ed Negron's funeral will take place Aug. 3
On his own Facebook page, one of the brothers of the late Chicago photographer/activist Ed Negron has revealed the details of his impending funeral. According to Leo Negron Rodriguez, Negron's funeral will take place at ...
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PASSAGES Writer, attorney, activist Takeia R. Johnson
The local organization Affinity Community Services announced the recent passing of Takeia R. Johnson. According to Johnson's LinkedIn profile, she was editor-in-chief and lead writer at Inclusion at Work as well as a Ph.D. student focusing ...
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Chicago photographer, activist Ed Negron dies [UPDATED]
Ed Negron an activist, Army veteran and substance-abuse counselor who served for many years as a dedicated bisexual volunteer, mentor, leader and advocate in the LGBTQ, Latino and recovering communities passed away ...
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PASSAGES Author, cultural theorist, scholar Lauren Berlant dies
Author, cultural theorist and scholar Lauren Berlant died June 28 in a Chicago hospice facility of a rare form of cancer. They were 63. Berlant (who used they/them pronouns professionally) was born Oct. 31, 1957 in ...
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Prominent lesbian educator/activist/author Sally Gearhart dies at 90
Sally Gearhart—the first out lesbian to receive a tenure-track position at San Francisco State University and a prominent LGBTQ-rights advocate—died July 14, according to The Bay Area Reporter, which cited an email Jean Crosby sent to ...
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PASSAGES Ray Marchman
Ray Marchman, a onetime Chicago resident, passed away in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on June 6. He was 87. According to an obituary on Dignity Memorial's website, Marchman was born in Miami in 1933—the only child of ...
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PASSAGES Fritzie Fritzshall, Auschwitz survivor, innovator in Holocaust education
--From a press release
As a Survivor of the Holocaust and the President of Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, Fritzie Fritzshall devoted her life to combatting hatred and prejudice, inspiring people to become Upstanders instead of bystanders, and speaking ...
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