The late Chicago icon Chilli Pepper will be one of seven trailblazing individuals who will be inducted into The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City on June 26, according to a media release.
This year’s ceremony is especially significant as all honorees are transgender advocates, recognized for their enduring impact and leadership at a time when the trans community faces escalating attacks and erasure.
According to the release, “Pepper is best known for her ‘80s appearances on talk shows [with hosts] like Phil Donahue and Oprah Winfrey to discuss life as a trans woman and debunking harmful stereotypes about the trans and queer community at-large. She was also a fierce activist, largely revered for her AIDS awareness activism.”
Windy City Times noted that, upon coming to Chicago, Pepper soon won the Miss Gay Chicago title in 1974 and remained here. She was working at the Blue Dahlia on North Avenue when Baton owner Jim Flint cajoled her into moving to the Baton where she remained a top draw for decades. Pepper even had a usual booth at the Pump Room—a sign of her celebrity. She was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2007.
The other individuals inducted will include drag artist, activist and trans woman Ruddy’s Martinez; electrical engineer, computer scientist and transgender activist Lynn Conway; physicist, novelist and writer Alan L. Hart; RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Jiggly Caliente; transgender performer, actress and entertainer The Lady Chablis; and Sam Nordquist—a trans man from Minnesota who was tortured for a month before being found dead in Hopewell, New York, in February.
Event details can be found here. Admission is free, but an RSVP is required.