A longstanding partner of the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame, the Chicago History Museum is proud to host a free induction ceremony open to the public on Nov. 5, 2026

CHICAGO (October 29, 2026) – The Chicago History Museum will host the Annual Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. The Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame, the only city-sanctioned LGBT Hall of Fame, will welcome 13 LGBT-identified individuals, two LGBT-identified organizations and three friends of the community or allies. The event will take place at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago, and is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is requested and available at chicagolgbthalloffame.org/RSVP/.

“The Chicago History Museum is proud to host the 2026 Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony,” said Michael Anderson, Edgar D. and Deborah R. Jannotta President & CEO of the Chicago History Museum. “Our mission is to tell Chicago’s stories in all its diversity, and this year’s inductees have shaped that story through their staunch support, leadership and activism. We congratulate each of them and thank everyone who works to keep this wonderful tradition alive and strong.”

According to the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame, the 2026 inductees include:

Individuals

• Bradley Balof, who has strengthened Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community for more than 24 years by supporting cultural events and storytelling, raising over $1 million for Center on Halsted, stewarding the Northalsted Business Alliance, and leading major celebrations that foster belonging, visibility and community investment.
• Pat Cummings, who has advanced Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community through decades of activism, volunteer service, advocacy and photography documenting and preserving its history.
• David Dodd, who has advanced Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community—particularly Black LGBTQ+ people—through advocacy, HIV/AIDS education, mentorship, communications leadership and the production of more than 500 affirming events and two decades, fostering visibility, opportunity, connection and cultural pride.
• Maya Douglas, who has advanced LGBTQ+ visibility through four decades of nationally recognized performance, judging, mentorship, and media appearances, while supporting Chicago’s community through fundraising, creative work and ongoing contributions to Dance Divas benefiting the Chicago Dance Health Fund.
• Coquie Hughes, who advances LGBTQ+ visibility, access, mentorship and participation through award-winning filmmaking, youth training, accessible smartphone-filmmaking education, media innovation, community service and national creative leadership.
• Saundra DeAnne Johnson, who advanced LGBTQ rights and health by helping secure LGBTQ inclusion in Chicago’s Bud Billiken Parade, co-founding ACT UP Chicago’s Women’s Caucus, advocating for Black communities and women living with HIV/AIDS, helping establish an AIDS ward for women and providing case management, food support and compassionate care to people affected by HIV/AIDS. (Posthumous Induction).
• Simone Koehlinger, has strengthened LGBTQ+ health in Chicago for over three decades by expanding HIV prevention, testing, treatment, housing, mental health and supportive services; advancing culturally responsive public health; and building collaborative systems that have helped thousands access care, achieve viral suppression and improve their quality of life.
• Ray J. Koenig III, who has advanced Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community through marriage-equality advocacy, leadership at Chicago House, anti-discrimination public service and historic visibility as the first openly LGBTQ+ president of The Chicago Bar Association.
• Mimi Marks, who has advanced LGBTQ+ visibility and community life through celebrated performances, international transgender pageant achievements, advocacy for transgender equality and HIV/AIDS fundraising and awareness.
• Angelique Munro, has strengthened Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community for over 30 years by fundraising for HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ organizations, creating opportunities for LGBTQ+ performers, educating future professionals about transgender-affirming care and advancing transgender visibility through advocacy, employment and media.
• Alderman Lamont J. Robinson, an openly gay Black elected official, who has advanced LGBTQ+ visibility and equality, mentored emerging leaders and supported more inclusive access to healthcare, education, housing, economic opportunity and public safety for Chicago’s marginalized communities.
• Marshall Titus, who has advanced LGBTQ+ visibility as a Black gay soul artist, using his music video “I Will” for TPAN’s A Day with HIV campaign to challenge HIV stigma and promote testing, disclosure and openly expressed love.
• Michelle Wetzel, who has advanced LGBTQI rights and wellbeing through decades of HIV/AIDS advocacy, legal defense, supportive housing, healthcare access—including gender-affirming care—and organizational leadership, while strengthening LGBTQI community services and visibility through education, partnerships and Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles.

Organizations

• ADODI Chicago, which advances the well-being, visibility, connection and health of Black same-gender-loving men through support groups, social and artistic programs, sexual-health education and HIV support.
• Hell in a Handbag Productions, which has advanced Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community for 25 years by creating opportunities for queer artists, celebrating queer camp and self-expression, fostering inclusive community through theater and raising over $100,000 for LGBTQ+ nonprofits.

Friends of the Community

• Brad Cummings, who uplifted Austin’s West Side and the LGBTQ+ community through his stewardship of the Austin Voice, HIV/AIDS awareness efforts, founding of the Austin AIDS Planning Coalition (later WHARP) and support for Pathfinders Prevention & Education Fund and allied organizations. (Posthumous induction).
• Sharyl Holtzman, who has advanced Chicago’s LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS communities through direct aid, fundraising, event production, activism, memorial work, advocacy and preserving the legacies of community leaders.
• Rev. Dr. L. Bernard Jakes, who fosters an affirming, safe and welcoming church community for LGBTQIA people; promotes HIV testing and combats stigma; supports people living with HIV/AIDS; and provides clothing, food, and other assistance to displaced and unhoused LGBTQIA youth and adults.

According to the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame, it is the only city-sanctioned LGBT Hall of Fame in the world and was founded in 1991 to honor Chicago’s people and entities, nominated by the community, who have made significant contributions to the quality of life or well-being of the LGBT community and the city of Chicago. The first Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame ceremony took place during Pride Week 1991 at Chicago City Hall. Then-mayor Richard M. Daley hosted the ceremony, and photos of the inductees were later displayed in City Hall. Learn more about the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame at chicagolgbthalloffame.org.

A longstanding partner to the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame, the Chicago History Museum has documented and shared LGBTQIA+ history for more than two decades. In 2003, the Museum launched OUT at CHM, a public program series on Chicago’s LGBTQIA+ history. That work eventually led to an exhibition, “Out in Chicago: LGBT History at the Crossroads,” which was open from May 2011 to March 2012. The exhibition received the Allan Bérubé Prize from the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History before it closed in March 2012.

The Chicago History Museum’s collections preserve this rich history for researchers and the public. The Lee A. Newell II photograph collection, donated in 1997, holds roughly 13,000 photographic prints and negatives documenting Chicago’s LGBTQIA+ nightlife and activism in the 1980s and 1990s, and can be accessed at the Museum’s Abakanowicz Research Center. Online, the Chicago History Museum’s LGBTQIA+ History in Chicago hub features a host of digital and in-person Museum resources, including Studs Terkel Radio Archive: LGBTQ Culture & Rights and more information on exhibitions and past programs, as well as the LGBTQIA+ Studies LibGuide, a guide intended to aid research relating to LGBTQIA+ individuals and history. Additionally, in 2024, the Museum partnered with the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives to mark the centennial of Henry Gerber’s Society for Human Rights with an OUT at CHM event. Currently on view, the Gay Liberation Movement of the 1960s and ’70s is highlighted in the Museum’s exhibition “Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s-70s.”

The Hall of Fame itself recognized the Chicago History Museum in 2010 for decades of preserving LGBT historical documents and artifacts and for OUT at CHM, and the Museum has hosted the induction ceremony for many years.

For questions about event logistics, please contact Lauren Edstrom, Chicago History Museum Development Events Manager, at [email protected]. For any press-related questions or if you’d like to cover the event, please contact Emily Miller, Public Communications Manager, at [email protected].

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ABOUT THE CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM

The Chicago History Museum is situated on ancestral homelands of the Potawatomi people, who cared for the land until forced out by non-Native settlers. Established in 1856, the Museum is located at 1601 N. Clark Street in Lincoln Park, its third location. A major museum and research center for Chicago and U.S. history, the Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration, and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, publications, special events and programming, the Museum connects people to Chicago’s history and to each other. The Museum collects and preserves millions of artifacts, documents, and images to assist in sharing Chicago stories. The Museum gratefully acknowledges the support of the Chicago Park District on behalf of the people of Chicago.