By Tully Satre
In 1998, Mayor Richard M. Daley completed a
multi-million dollar restoration on Halsted Street with nearly two-dozen
rainbow-linked bronze pylons. One of the unique charms of the city in
the past decade and a half has been its official nod towards the vibrant
gay community.
Seeing a street lined with monuments that mark the city’s official
acceptance of the gay community, it is hard to imagine this was ever a
place you could lose your job for being HIV-positive. A mere seven years
prior to the city’s official recognition of its own gay neighborhood,
Chicago had a very different attitude towards the gay community,
especially people infected with HIV–a virus associated with gay men.
(Although AIDS discrimination is no longer officially sanctioned, it
does of course still occur.)
Prior to revealing his HIV status to his superiors in 1991, Dr. Larry
Spang recalls how a fear-induced media began affecting his performance
at work. “Even though we knew we were being very careful, we were still
very nervous,” Spang explained of HIV-positive doctors. “If somebody
found out you were positive,[it] could end your career.”
Spang was the chief dental officer at the Metropolitan Correctional
Center (MCC) on the corner of Clark and Van Buren. MCC is a federal
prison famous for its jagged triangular shape, mustard exterior and
razor-thin windows. Spang recalled losing sleep as headlines rolled in
daily with high tales of patients becoming infected by their doctors,
“Every day I would open the newspaper and see another headline,” he
said.
