Because no one asked, here are my (far too many) thoughts on the name “Boystown”, where I’ve lived for the past three and a half years.

Boystown doesn’t make me feel unwelcome for the very obvious reason that I’m a cis gay man. But it’s not really about me!

So I wholly understand why it doesn’t feel the same to the thousands of lesbian, trans, GNC, non-binary, and other people who live and visit the area, and specifically its bars, on a regular basis. But I also worry a lot of the solutions being proposed aren’t real improvements.

Removing the name Boystown in favor of a generic name already in use (East Lakeview/North Halsted) is somewhat self-defeating to me. Those names are commonly used, but obviously are used to brand the neighborhood based solely on geography, without any connection to any community.

Again, those two specific names are already in use in the neighborhood, formally and informally. One need only look at the signs adorning lightposts on Broadway and Halsted to see that. It’s used for various street fests we have in normal summers.

Worse to me would be a real-estate jargon term like “NoHa” which brings to mind not progress or inclusivity, but rebranding gentrified neighborhoods (usually formerly non-white ones) to sell luxury condos and apartments. SoNo for Cabrini Green being obvious recent example.

So the already in use names are fine, but being completely divorced from anything LGBTQ-focused seems like a loss to me. Rainbow Way? I’m sorry that’s just cheesy as hell. Full stop. I guess it is at least trying to be connected to the community though? Still, I hate it!

Personally? I like Queerstown as a name, and probably will use it informally myself, but I’m also certain it would probably be misunderstood by many outside the LGBTQ community, which is a relevant consideration. Straight Real Estate Agents won’t put “Queerstown” in a listing!

Thus, while I won’t pretend to have a perfect solution, I’ve tried to think about it. My best idea is to work to make the name Boystown more inclusive with marketing that specifically is designed to make non cis-gay men feel welcome and explicitly so.

Some examples off the top of my head would be “Boystown means Queerstown.” “Boystown means Trans Lives Matter.” “Boystown means Black Lives Matter.” “Boystown means LGBTQ+.” “Boystown means Equality.” “Boystown means Community.”

There are signs, posters topiaries throughout the neighborhood that all could easily be used/repurposed to spread this message, just as they are emblazoned with the name Boystown now.

To me that might strike a balance between preserving a commonly used, LGBTQ-specific name (albeit a dated and not sufficiently inclusive on its own one) while at the same time specifically recognizing that nothing should be just be about cis (usually white) gay men.

Just my thoughts! I could be wrong! My proposed solution might be just as much a lukewarm whitewashing as I feel some of the other options are. Look forward to people replying “sorry that happened or congrats I ain’t reading all that.”

Oh and people can offer their thoughts here too. Even people that support renaming Halsted “Rainbow Way” https://northalsted.com/survey/?fbclid=IwAR1Ji_03KF7zPCO4vWq7u4H4qUFVjlksP4i4xokBRT2MLq_ZK4Nr0S7nEso