Equality Illinois Mourns the Passing of Mayor Jane Byrne
CHICAGO (November 14, 2014) – Statement by Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, the state’s oldest and largest advocacy organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Illinoisans, on the passing of former Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne:
“Mayor Jane Byrne was a pioneer. The first and only woman elected mayor in Chicago, she recognized the LGBT diversity of the city. Mayor Byrne proclaimed the first Gay Pride Parade Day in the city in 1981 and was the first major political figure to appear in the city’s Pride Parade in 1985. She set the standard for public officials in the city and the state as the first to publicly build a bridge to the LGBT community.”
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