Related: Remembering heroes on Chicago’s amazing Legacy Walk‘Boystown’ was a nickname that the area earned in the late 80s and early 90s.
It became so common that it was formally adopted by the Northalsted Business Alliance, and adorns banners around the area. In 1997, then Chicago Mayor Richard Daley affirmed the area (Halsted Street from Grace Street to Belmont Avenue) as the first official gay neighborhood in the U.S.However, there are now moves afoot to potentially rename the district.
Late last month, a petition was launched to find a new name.The petition’s author, Devlyn Camp, says that unlike other LGBTQ districts, such as The Castro in San Francisco, ‘Boystown’ is the only gendered queer district name in the U.S.