Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  IDENTITY

Friends Remember Thom Ford
2007-08-01

This article shared 3081 times since Wed Aug 1, 2007
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


As news of the Rev. Thom Ford's untimely passing has spread through the LGBT community, several people have sent messages expressing sadness and memories:

—Father Tommy Avant Garde of the ball-culture family known as House of Avant Garde: 'Pastor Thom Ford was a great inspriation and motivating force in my early years of community service work. He took me on as a [ protege ] and helped me develop my strengths, be aware of my weaknesses and see my potential.

—Community activist Robert Castillo: 'Rev. Ford was a bright light in the city's LGBT community and will be missed. Our community has lost a much needed voice for inclusion of LGBTs in spritual life and a selfless volunteer.'

—Rev. Deborah Lake of Sankofa Way: 'I met Rev. Ford in 1999 or so during a conference in Chicago. I was facilitating a workshop that dealt with homophobia in Black churches, and Rev. Ford introduced himself to me. ... I will miss him. Our community will miss him.'

—Lora Branch of the Chicago Department of Public Health: 'Rev. Thom Ford was not only active in the Church of the Open Door ministries but also served as a tireless AIDS services advocate. ... Thom Ford was intelligent, insightful and filled with compassion. He greeted everyone with a warm embrace and a heartfelt 'How are you?' I will miss Thom very much and am deeply saddened by this tragic loss for our community.'

—Activist Renae Ogletree: 'The loss of Rev. Ford is great, in particular for the African-American LGBT community. ... He was always such a calming and thoughtful person, [ and ] even when I felt spiritually challenged by some of the politics of the church, Rev. Ford never changed. ... I will miss the energy and the spirit of community that he brought.'

Ford, a former pastor at the Church of the Open Door who often served as a sign-language interpreter at events, died of a heart attack on June 30.

**************


This article shared 3081 times since Wed Aug 1, 2007
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

United Church of Hyde Park hosts LGBTQ+ storytelling event
2024-03-25
About 20 people had gathered around four round tables in the community room of the United Church of Hyde Park, 1448 E. 53rd St., on March 23. They were listening quietly to a man tell the story of how, on a ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Dorothy Elizabeth McGroarty
2024-03-14
Dorothy Elizabeth McGroarty, 82, of The Breakers at Edgewater Beach, and a former resident of Andersonville, passed away Feb. 16 surrounded by her loving family. Born in Dearborn, Michigan, Dorothy was raised on Chicago's South and ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Bryan Dean Wilson
2024-03-14
Bryan Dean Wilson, 64, of Chicago, passed away March 11. Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Bryan graduated from Washington High school in Cedar Rapids before earning his B.S. in Biology from Mount Mercy University, also in ...


Gay News

PASSAGES: Former Chicago Commission on Human Relations chair Clarence Wood
2024-03-13
LGBTQ ally and former Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) Chair and Commissioner Clarence N. Wood died March 5. He was 83. Wood was born April 14, 1940, in Alabama. While primarily raised in Alabama, Wood ...


Gay News

Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77
2024-03-12
On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixner—known for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)—died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ Victory Fund remembers co-founder David Mixner
2024-03-12
--From a press release - Today, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker released the following statement on the passing of LGBTQ+ civil rights activist and LGBTQ+ Victory Fund co-founder David Mixner: "Today, we lost David Mixner, a founding ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Charles R. Tobin
2024-03-03
Charles R. Tobin, 81, peacefully passed away on Dec. 23, 2023, in the company of his husband, after living with Lewey body dementia for several years. Charlie was born and raised in the Fernwood neighborhood on ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Trailblazing judge and attorney Patricia M. Logue passes away
2024-02-26
The Honorable Patricia Logue ("Pat" to her friends, Trish" to her family) was a brilliant lawyer, a trailblazing jurist and a hero to the LGBTQ community. Pat's legacy includes numerous landmark cases she litigated over her ...


Gay News

Oklahoma non-binary student dies after being assaulted
2024-02-21
Officials acknowledged there are unresolved questions about a 16-year-old non-binary Oklahoma student who died one day after a fight in a high school bathroom, NBC News noted. Chuck Hoskin Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, ...


Gay News

Bring Chicago Home Campaign releases open endorsement letter from 100+ faith leaders
2024-02-19
--From a press release - CHICAGO — With just over a month before the March 19th primary election, prominent Chicago faith leaders will today release a letter—signed by over 100 religious leaders—endorsing the Bring Chicago Home campaign to restructure the Real ...


Gay News

GLAAD remembers Cecilia Gentili, transgender Latina, actress, activist, health care activist, journalist
2024-02-06
--From a press release - (New York, NY - February 6, 2024) GLAAD, the world's largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, is responding to the death of transgender actress and advocate Cecilia Gentili and elevating voices of transgender and political leaders honoring ...


Gay News

More information emerges about death on Atlantis gay cruise
2024-02-04
By Lu Calzada - Further details have emerged following the death of a Chicago man on a Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas Atlantis cruise targeted towards gay men. Following a Reddit post by the man's sister — which has ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Imperial Court's Scott Archer remembered as selfless, devoted
2024-02-04
By Alec Karam - As the old saying goes, we all have an angel on one shoulder, and a devil on the other. Well, Scott Archer was all angel, his best friend Herman Coen believes. "Everybody wanted to talk to Scott, because Scott was Scott," ...


Gay News

WORLD Marriage in Greece, UK politics, cruise death, HRC grants
2024-02-02
The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece unanimously agreed at a recent meeting that it is "strongly opposed" to the Greek government's promised bill on same-sex marriage and adoption, Balkan Insight reported. The conservative New ...


Gay News

Broadway star Chita Rivera dies at 91
2024-01-30
Chita Rivera—a Broadway legend with more than seven decades of credits—has died at age 91 after a short illness, People Magazine reported. "It is with immense personal sorrow that I announce the death of the beloved ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.