It’s a place where the Chicago Pride parade grew to a citywide celebration of diversity and self-expression that draws an estimated 1 million people each year. Jo MaMa - the drag persona of Chicago artist and bartender Joe Lewis, 35 - said employers have made some progress. “We’ve got to keep those feet to the fire, and maybe escalate a little bit,” said Drag March organizer Jo MaMa, a Chicago drag queen who has been working with local bars and nightclubs for the past year on issues such as staff diversity training and enforcement of anti-racism policies. I’ve been out with friends who are lesbians, and they’ve been told by gay men in the bars, ‘Why are you here? This isn’t your neighborhood.’”Ī year later, the push for inclusion continues, with a second installment of the Drag March for Change scheduled for June 13. “I’ve worked in the neighborhood for years, and I’ve seen firsthand how people are treated in the North Halsted area, particularly transgender people of color, particularly women. “It’s something I’ve been passionate about for a long time,” Camp told the Tribune at the time. The petition authors called for Boystown, an unofficial but nearly universal nickname, to be dropped, as a first step toward deeper change.
In the midst of the tumult, Devlyn Camp, 29, a podcast producer, co-wrote a petition calling for a name change that has garnered more than 1,500 signatures.
