On December 21, 1988, with a vote of 28-17 the City Council passed the Human Rights Ordinance. This Passage of the ordinance on Human Rights, was a turning point in Chicago LGBT history because it granted the queer community social equality under the law and made it illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ individuals and other kinds of diversity and other such as people with disabilities, marital status, race, age, religion and several other categories.
It was because of the strategies of the late Mayor Harold Washington, and the powerful “Gang of four”; Laurie Dittman, Rick Garcia, Arthur (Art) Johnston and the late Jon-Henri Damski; who served as a fierce group of activists and were instrumental in the final passage of the ordinance.
We are grateful for their efforts and countless others in our community, who have contributed and committed to the equality we have been granted today.
To learn more about this historic ordinance visit: https://www.equalityillinois.us/issue/anti-discrimination/