Chuck Renslow called me recently after I mentioned the VD bus going from bar to bar in the ’70s testing customers. He told me the bus was sponsored by his leather bar, the Gold Coast, and also the Chicago Health Department. Here is a partial pre-AIDS gay men’s medical history of Chicago.

On Aug. 24, 1965, at the second meeting of the Chicago gay-rights group Mattachine Midwest (MM), Thomas R. Thiebaudt presented a program with slides called The VD Problem and the Homosexual. Thiebaudt was the director of the VD Information-Education Section of the Chicago Board of Health. He spoke to the group again Oct. 26, 1966, at the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave.

In May 1966, MM formed a health education committee under the leadership of Roy Corkin; they arranged ‘strictly anonymous’ testing of VD. At the meeting, a group of physicians dealt with mental health, venereal disease and the doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Walter C. Alvarez emphasized ‘the utmost importance that the homosexual make his physician aware of his sexual orientation.’

In May 1974, a VD Testing and Treatment Center opened at Liberty Hall, 2440 N. Lincoln Ave. It was sponsored by Gay Horizons and the Chicago Gay Medical Students Association and opened every Wednesday from 8-11 p.m. The clinic was professionally staffed and maintained a completely confidential record system. It was funded by private donations. At some point this became the Howard Brown Memorial Clinic (HBMC); named after Dr. Howard J. Brown, co-founder of the National Gay Task Force and New York City’s first Health Services Administration. Brown died Feb. 1, 1975.

The Chicago Gay Medical Students Association had formed in May 1973, ‘to serve as a vehicle for communication among gay medical students, interns, physicians, and other health workers who feel that there is a need for both a better understanding within the medical community of the health problems of gay persons and to provide a responsible and professional organization to which gay persons can go for medical assistance.’

Six months after opening, the HBMC estimated they had given consultations to 909 people, mostly men, and that over 300 had been treated.

On Feb. 19, 1975, HBMC opened at a new location at 1250 W. Belden, in a facility of the Belden Manor Shelter Home. The move was prompted by a money shortage.

In mid-August, 1975, Gary Chichester, general manager of Man’s Country, announced plans for a traveling bus to test gay men for VD, but the plan was temporarily postponed by the Chicago Board of Health, who thought publicity for the bus would have a negative affect on a planned facility opening on Clark and Diversey. However, the Board of Health approved a VD program at Man’s Country. Chichester predicted the VD bus would start later in the year.

The VD bus finally rolled onto the streets Sept. 23-29, 1975. It was hosted by drag queen Wanda Lust. During its first week, 1,000 persons were tested. The anonymous numbered results of the tests were published in GayLife Oct. 15.

In May 1976, the HBMC celebrated its 2nd anniversary. Since May 1974, over 4,000 patients had visited the clinic, and the incidence of VD among them had been at a higher level than the statistics reported by the Chicago Board of Health.

The HBMC reported serious financial problems in July 1976, and many bars and organizations held fundraisers.

The Executive Board of Gay Horizons met Aug. 23, 1976, and voted unanimously to allow the HBMC to become a totally separate organization. By this time, The HBMC had relocated to 2205 N. Halsted St. Gay Horizons continued with its switchboard, counseling services, and gay youth efforts.

The HBMC moved to a larger facility in September, 1978. Now located at 2676 N. Halsted St., it was thought to be the largest testing facility of its kind in the world supported solely by donations.

On Sept. 5, 1979, the HBMC was recognized as an official clinic by the City of Chicago’s Board of Health. This would allow the clinic access to federal funds for research and administrative expenses.

The June 19, 1981 issue of Chicago GayLife marks a new era in the lives of lesbians and gay men. On the cover is a letter from Mayor Jane M. Byrne proclaiming June 28, 1981 to be Gay Pride Day in Chicago. To the right of this, a photograph shows a volunteer at the Gerber/Hart Library assisting Bill Gamber, who was researching the history of HBMC in connection with the gay medical facility’s 7th anniversary.

Under those two items on page 1 there was a photograph and article headed ‘Final Gacy victims buried,’ and another article titled ‘Chicago cleric objects to pro-gay Pentecostal stand.’

The last article on the cover is headed ‘Gay blood drive Sunday.’ It begins: ‘Members of Chicago’s gay community are being urged to donate blood for the city’s first gay and lesbian blood drive ….’

It’s a bitter irony that on Page 2 of this issue of GayLife a seemingly insignificant little article also appeared under the headline, ‘New pneumonia linked to gay lifestyle.’

‘A type of pneumonia has been found in five young men, two of whom died, and may be linked to ‘some aspect of homosexual lifestyle,’ according to the U.S. Public Health service’s Center for Disease Control. Between October 1980 and May 1981 the five, all active gay men, were treated for pneumonia caused by the pneumocystis carinii parasite. The center reported in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: ‘The fact that these patients were all homosexual suggests an association between some aspect of homosexual lifestyle or disease acquired through sexual contact.”

The memory section in this column contains just that—memories—and are only to be used as a starting point for research. E-mail sukiedelacroix@ozhasspoken.com