🎤📚Chicago Misconceptions: Unpacking Anti-LGBTQ Stereotypes | CFC Lecture🍸

🎤📚 Chicago Misconceptions: Unpacking Anti-LGBTQ Stereotypes | CFC Winter Lecture Series 🍸 - FINAL LECTURE OF THE SEASON!!

Join us for the 12th & FINAL lecture of the season in Chicago for Chicagoans’ 9th Annual Winter Speakeasy Lecture Series — and a very controversial topic

Chicago's queer community has been confronted with unfair stereotypes throughout our city's existence. From the earliest days in Tower Town, to the tumultuous midcentury, to the AIDS epidemic and beyond, we'll unpack where the rumours started, how they hurt, if they were overcome, and what unkind beliefs persist today. Lecture by tour guide, historian, and preservationist Anthony Alfaro

🎤 Lecture by Anthony Alfaro— tour guide, historian & preservationist

🚨 REGISTRATION REQUIRED — PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

12th & FINAL LECTURE OF THE SEASON!
Lecture by Anthony Alfaro
📅 Tuesday, March 31, 2026

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🚨 REGISTRATION REQUIRED — READ FIRST
RSVPing on Meetup does NOT secure your spot.
You MUST register separately on Eventbrite to attend in person.

This event is FREE, but registration is required to enter the speakeasy area for the lecture.
🗓 Registration opens: Tuesday, 3/17/26 at 9:00 AM (set reminder)
⚠️ Space is limited — register ASAP
👉 Register here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chicago-misconceptions-unpacking-anti-lgbtq-stereotypes-registration-1975057441976

If registration is full:
• Join the Eventbrite waitlist — people cancel and waitlist guests DO get in
• Walk-ins are allowed, space permitting at 7 pm

⭐ NEW, BIGGER VENUE — but it still fills up fast!

****IMPORTANT!! PLEASE NOTE THAT TICKETS FOR THE EVENT ARE NOT YET AVAILABLE. IT IS CRUCIAL THAT EVERYONE SETS A REMINDER TO REGISTER ON EVENTBRITE ON TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2026, AT 9 AM. RSVPING ON MEETUP DOES NOT SECURE YOUR SPOT. YOU MUST GO BACK AND REGISTER VIA THE EVENTBRITE LINK TO CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE. ****

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## ⏰ TIMING & ENTRY DETAILS (VERY IMPORTANT)

• Meetup group meets: 6:00 PM
• Doors open: 6:30 PM
• Registered ticket holders admitted first
• Walk-ins admitted at 7:00 PM, space permitting
• Lecture begins promptly at 7:10 PM
➡️ Not registered? Arrive close to 7:00 PM and be flexible.

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📍 Venue
Bad Apple Lincoln Park
658 W Belden Ave · Chicago
Historic, handicap accessible, with great food & cocktails
🍔 YES — food is available during the lecture
✔ Food available during lecture
✔ Separate checks allowed
✔ More seating than past venues
https://www.badapplebar.com/the-bad-apple-lincoln-park

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🏙️ About the Series
Chicago for Chicagoans returns for their 9th Winter Speakeasy Lecture Series, designed to teach Chicago residents about the history of their own city.

Hosted at Bad Apple Lincoln Park, these pay-what-you-can events spark discussion about Chicago’s past — and how it continues to shape our future.

📅 NOW ON TUESDAY EVENINGS!

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🔍 This Year’s Theme: MISCONCEPTIONS
This season explores the unfair stereotypes, urban legends, and dubious assumptions surrounding Chicago’s past.

Each week features a different local Chicago historian & expert for 12 one-of-a-kind evenings of:
• Legendary tall tales
• Corrected mischaracterizations
• Disproven myths
• Lively discussion + tasty cocktails
Attend in person or watch the recorded lectures online afterward.

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📚 THIS WEEK’S LECTURE — 03/24/26
Chicago has always had a vibrant, resilient and pioneering queer community — but that community has also faced relentless stereotypes, prejudice and misrepresentation throughout the city's entire history. Tonight we pull back the curtain on all of it. 🏳️‍🌈✨

From the bohemian days of Tower Town in the 1910s and 20s — Chicago's original queer neighborhood long before Boystown existed — through the fear and repression of the midcentury, the police raids and bar culture of the 50s and 60s, the devastating AIDS epidemic of the 80s and 90s, and into the complex battles for acceptance and equality that continue today — this lecture traces the full arc of Chicago's LGBTQ history through the lens of the stereotypes that shadowed it every step of the way.

Where did these rumors and misconceptions start? How did they cause real, lasting harm to real people and real communities? Which ones were challenged and overcome — and which unkind, damaging beliefs quietly persist even now?

Join us as Anthony Alfaro — tour guide, historian, preservationist and Chicago native — brings his signature passion for storytelling and deep knowledge of Chicago's neighborhoods and communities to what promises to be a deeply moving, eye-opening and unforgettable evening. 🎤💛
Come with an open mind, come ready to learn, and come ready to have some of your own assumptions challenged! 🍸

🗓 Registration opens 3/17/26

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👩‍🏫 About the Speaker: Anthony Alfaro
Assistant Events Manager for Chicago for Chicagoans
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Anthony Alfaro was born and raised in Chicago's West Ridge neighborhood. After years of attending our events and leading North side neighborhood tours, Anthony joined our tiny-but-mighty volunteer administrative staff in 2022! When he's not exploring Midwestern backroads looking for thrifted treasures, professing his love for Woodstock, or sifting through Sanborn maps, you can probably find him at a local bar downing vintage cocktails and waxing poetic about Marshall Fields

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🌐 Learn More & Watch Recordings
Chicago for Chicagoans:
http://www.chicagoforchicagoans.org/
Effing Chicago:
http://effingchicago.com/

🎥 Recordings posted the following Thursday:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChicagoforChicagoans
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chicagoforchicagoans/videos
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chicagoforchicagoans

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💛 Support the Nonprofit
Chicago for Chicagoans is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Tax-deductible donations:
http://www.chicagoforchicagoans.org/donate.html

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🚇 Getting There
Public transit:
Google Maps or CTA Trip Planner
https://www.transitchicago.com/planatrip/

🚗 Parking:
• Metered parking on Lincoln, Fullerton & Halsted
• Some free side-street parking (watch signs)
• SpotHero lot directly across the street

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⚠️ NO-SHOW POLICY (PLEASE READ)
• 3 no-shows without updating RSVP = 3-month event freeze
• RSVP cut-off = event start time
• If late, message the host directly
• Failure to check in counts as a no-show
• Continued no-shows may result in removal from the group