Windy City Times

History

Windy City Times was founded in 1985 by Jeff McCourt, Bob Bearden, Drew Badanish and Tracy Baim, who started Sentury Publications to publish the paper. In 1987, Baim left Sentury Publications to found a new newspaper called Outlines. WCT and Outlines were the two primary LGBT newspapers in the region for more than 12 years. In 2000, Baim purchased Windy City Times from McCourt, and merged the two publications.

In 2018, Baim became publisher of the Chicago Reader and remains as owner of Windy City Media Group.

Terri Klinsky is now publisher, Andrew Davis is executive editor, Matt Simonette is managing editor, Kirk Williamson is art director and Ripley Caine is business manager. Long-time writers include Rex Wockner, Yvonne Zipter, Bob Roehr, Richard Knight Jr., Jonathan Abarbanel. Jean Albright is Director of New Media and Circulation.

McCourt died in 2007.

In 2017, Journalist Gretchen Rachel Hammond was removed from her job after she published a story about three LGBT women who were expelled from a Gay Pride march for carrying a rainbow flag featuring a Jewish Star. Shortly after, she was hired as a reporter for Tablet.

Windy City Media Group announced on September 9, 2020 that, as of September 30, the biweekly print version would cease. News and feature coverage continue digitally at www.windycitymediagroup.com.

The site has archived 70,000 articles from Windy City Times and other previous products including Nightspots—a biweekly, four-color, glossy entertainment guide—and Identity, a monthly online magazine. WCMG has also produced a twice-weekly podcast, Windy City Queercast, online videos, and a weekly e-newsletter. All products are now archived at windycitytimes.com.

Awards

Windy City Times is a member of the National Gay Newspaper Guild, and has received numerous honors for its work, both from journalism organizations and from the LGBT community. Awards include from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, the Peter Lisagor Awards, and the Studs Terkel Award for Baim. Among groups honoring WCMG and Baim are Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame; ACLU of Illinois; Human Rights Campaign; NOW; March on Washington Chicago Committee; Dignity/Chicago; Affinity; Greater Chicago Committee; and Association of Latin Men in Action.

In 2021, the newspaper won the Barbara Gittings Award for Excellence in LGBTQ Media at the 32nd GLAAD Media Awards.

References

References

1. "Windy City Times (Chicago, Il) 1985-Current". Library of Congress.
2. Barnhurst, Kevin G.. (2007). "Media Queered: Visibility and Its Discontents". [[Peter Lang (publishing company).
3. (May 11, 2007). "Journalist who helped start Windy City Times is dead". [[The Advocate (LGBT magazine).
4. (11 July 2017). "Journalist who broke Chicago Dyke March story removed from reporting duties". [[The Times of Israel]].
5. (13 July 2017). "Being Gay Won't Save You from the LGBT Thought Police". [[The Weekly Standard]].
6. (8 August 2017). "Welcoming Gretchen Hammond to ''Tablet''". Tablet.
7. (9 Sep 2020). "Windy City Times moves to Digital Only". Windy City Times.
8. (April 8, 2021). "Disclosure, Schitt's Creek, Sam Smith, Happiest Season, I May Destroy You, CHIKA, Veneno, Star Trek: Discovery, The Boys in the Band, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo among award recipients at the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards".