Nothing Personal: Chronicles of Chicago's LGBTQ Community 1977-1997

As a columnist in Chicago's gay and lesbian press between 1977 and 1997, Jon-Henri Damski chronicled a crucial period in the history of the 'Second City's' LGBTQ community. His articles in a series of newspapers and magazines charted the lives of people at all strata of the queer world, from street kids to politically connected power brokers. He covered the rise of LGBTQ political power and self-empowerment, the hard-fought and victorious campaign to pass gay-inclusive Chicago Human Rights Ordinance, the tough realities of physical and emotional violence in relationships, and the tragedy of AIDS; but his eye--the eye of a street poet, a beat reporter, and a historian--was always focused on the human face of great events. Influenced by classical literature, the Beat movement, and writers ranging from Walt Whitman and Nelson Algren to Jean Genet and Camille Paglia--and the real-life conversations he heard on the streets and in the bars, bathhouses, park bushes and all-night diners--Damski provided a compassionate, drily humorous, sexy and insightful account of the world in which he moved.