Cyon Flare is an energetic, entertaining performer, as recognized in the LGBT community as Sidetrack. For the past seven years, Flare has walked tall and proud, in those ever-present high-heeled boots, with glitter, eye-liner and some outrageous outfits.
Cyon Flare is everywhere gay in Chicago—from clubs to events, such as International Mr. Leather (IML), Pride, Market Days, and more. Smiles are plentiful around the extra-large diva, never without a hand-held fan for those warm summer nights. Cyon's flare for the dramatic is commonplace, so are camera flashes everywhere she struts.
But beyond the bright lights and countless admirers, the real-life Cyon Flare—Robert Mitchell, 42, a Lakeview resident who works full-time at the Center on Halsted as a program coordinator for a youth intervention program called Our Voices Advocating Heath (OVAH)—is living a real-life nightmare that is about to get worse.
Mitchell, on April 30, is being evicted from his Chicago apartment for being delinquent on rent payment. He admits he owes $5,650 in back rent.
"This is very tough," Mitchell said in an interview. "Personally, I am wiped out. No exaggeration, just wiped out. It's hard to sleep at night wondering what's the next step. What the hell am I going to do? The point of wondering these things is a drain unto itself.
"However, I've learned to trust my spirit and trust the spirit of the community. This experience has reminded me to not be afraid to ask for help. To believe that there is someone paying attention."
That is exactly what he is doing, what he is hoping, again, just as he had to do in late last year.
"I was inspired to ask my community for help back in November/December, 2012, during a hard time, when things really started to boil. [Then,] for the first time, I shared in detail the problems and struggles that I've been experiencing with my mom, [with] the apartment company I rent from, and [from] the bar/club community. I was so detailed that my community was moved and a few souls reached out to help me financially."
Members of the LGBT community donated $1,600 to Mitchell late last year, when they heard his plight. "I was able to make a payment on [some] back-rent, but was still not able to catch up," Mitchell said. "Regardless of not being caught up, the community showed me that they were with me even during the holidays. Even though these blessings came to me, I still felt embarrassed, but it was my community that reminded me, 'just ask.'
"I am so thankful to those who [assisted] financially; I was humbled."
Mitchell's financial woes date back to last July, when he moved his mom—Ida Mitchell, or Momma Flare, as she's often called—to Chicago from their native Detroit, as she endured multiple health issues. She suffers from heart disease, a history of aneurysms, high blood-pressure, strokes, heart attacks, and already has had two open heart surgeries … and she's only 59.
"Though I spoke with her every other day [when she was living in Detroit], she wasn't being completely honest about her health and, like many moms, my mom didn't share with me in detail what was going on with her health," Mitchell said. "Because of my own financial problems, I hadn't made it over to Detroit to see her in over a year."
Until last summer, that is, when he went to Detroit to see first-hand what was happening with Momma Flare.
"I could hear it in her voice that she was in pain, but more so, hurt by neglect from the family," he said. "When I got there [last] July, my heart was broken by what I saw. She was not the person I knew; she had lost so much weight, hadn't had her proper medication, the house was trashed, she was living in filth, and no one knew anything. When I saw her in July, the look on her face was full of pain, even though she was happy to see me. I broke down and cried, screamed and yelled at my [family for neglecting her.]"
Mitchell knew he had to do something, immediately. "I told her that I was going back home to Chicago and getting ready to move her and [her dog] in with me [in Chicago].
"Feeling desperate, angry and hurt, I knew that I had to save my momma."
Two months later, she moved in with Mitchell.
"What brought on this financial crisis was the fact that I sacrificed rent/bills to move my mom from that hellhole she was living in," Mitchell said. "At the moment I live in Boystown on Roscoe [Street], with Momma and her [dog.] It's a really nice place; I love it. It's a large, two-bedroom [apartment] with lots of storage space to hold big boots and big head dresses. Before moving my mom here, I lived with one of my best friends, Franklin Johnson. We lived here for one year together before Franky moved in with his husband, Dan, last August.
"As a result of making those sacrifices to move my mom to Chicago I am being evicted because I fell behind in rent. At first, it was just one month, then two months, [and now] a total of $5,650."
Mitchell said he has emailed and called his apartment management company, detailing the financial crisis he is enduring. "They sympathized, but rent still had to be paid," said Mitchell, who struggled to pay the $1,600 monthly rent at the time, especially after Johnson moved out. "I tried looking for a cheaper place with the current [rental] company, but had no luck."
Making matters worse, Momma Flare had a stroke and a seizure late last year, and had to be admitted to Illinois Masonic Hospital.
Mitchell's monthly rent, when he renewed the apartment rental contract late last year, was increased to $1,630.
With bills mounting, Mitchell earlier this year tried negotiating to lower the rent, and/or break the lease. His request was rejected and, on April 2, the eviction process began.
"I never see myself as two people, two entities—Cyon Flare and Robert Mitchell," he said. "It's taken the reality of being looked at as 'an untouchable thing who never suffers' for me to realize that I wasn't taking care of Robert, the always-fun person, the man behind the Flare.
"I wanted so much to be thought of and respected as one person, but [club] managers [and] owners, and community members have almost killed that in me."
That's because, he said, some in the community have repeatedly asked Flare to work for a mere $50 and drink tickets, or no pay at all.
"It's the total disrespect of the work, the craft, the energy and flare that goes into all of what I do that gets battered and bruised by some. The first reality that was the hardest to learn was that I am two [people, not] one. I had to learn how to separate Robert Mitchell and Cyon Flare. But I had to do it while still keeping the strong connection of what many people think of as a 'persona' close to what is actually my spirit dressed up. So for business sake I am keeping them, Robert and Cyon, separate. Now Robert is learning how to survive and protect both, while keeping and protecting his joy."
Mitchell insisted that Flare's often-outrageous outfits have not contributed to his legal/financial woes. "Since I moved my mom to Chicago, the only money that was spent from September until now [for Flare] has been on make-up, lashes, and a few small accessories. "I recycle a lot of my looks, and actually am in desperate need of new [looks,]" he said. "My costumes have not contributed to my financial struggles."
Flare's outfits range from $100 to $1,000, "but I have been reusing the same costumes for months now. When I moved Momma in, I stopped shopping and I have to say that my Beatnix family saves my life with amazing discounts. Plus, one of my best friends is my costume designer, and he gives me great deals so that I can work within my budget."
Mitchell is determined to get past his current woes, to work smarter and continue to value his skill and himself.
"My goal is to protect myself as a business and build new business relationships," Mitchell said. "I am working to help fight the stigma of HIV/AIDS and help educate our community on HIV prevention and awareness, to help change the minds of our community, changing the [perception] many people still think of HIV as a death sentence. HIV is a call to life, not death. What's ahead is me working with the youth more in our community, helping to inspire them to reach, to rise, to get up, to not be afraid of who they are and what they like. I want to inspire the community as a whole. I want people to know their HIV status without fear.
"Personally, I still need help raising funds for moving, including security deposit and the first month's rent in a new apartment. Mom and I have to be out [of my current apartment] by 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 30. I'll be moving in with Franky and Dan while looking for a new home. As long as we're out by then, Franky and I won't have any eviction on our records and the case will be dismissed."
* Donations for Cyon Flare/Robert Mitchell can be made at: www.cyonflare.com/content.html .
More about Cyon Flare and the real-life Robert Mitchell:
—Mitchell has worked at Center on Halsted for more than a year, primarily with young gay Black men and trans-identified youth, ages 18-24, encouraging them "how to be better healthcare advocates for themselves," he said. "I'm very grateful to be doing what I love do at the Center."
—Is single. "I have come to accept that it's not been my time to have a relationship and I've learned to deal with it. But I'm always open to nice walks, enjoying the warmth of a genuine presence."
—In June 2005, Mitchell came up with the name Cyon Flare. "Cyon is derived from the color (cyan) and although I love the color, I preferred a different sound. I wanted a name that I could be called 24 hours a day, and a name that wasn't specific to one gender," he said. "I wanted a name that made you feel something positive, something different. I wanted my name to resonate a kind of energy whenever it was spoken. Flare is taken from solar flare or sun flare. The sun nurtures, guides, inspires and leads us out of darkness. I wanted my name to represent 'light energy.'"
—Moved to Chicago during the summer of 2006.
Update, April 28, 2013
After the Windy City Times first reported about Cyon Flare's financial woes, more than $3,000 has been donated to aide the popular performer, which is being used to purchase moving supplies and a storage space at U-Haul. "Unfortunately I haven't found a new home yet," Robert Mitchell, the real-life Flare said Saturday. "A very special Thank-you to all of you who donated a piece of your heart to help me during this tough time in my life. A few of you have emailed me saying, 'I wish I could've done more.' Please believe me when I say that what you think of as 'Not Much' is everything to me. It's not the money you're giving, it's a part of your soul, a part of your love that comes through and blesses me and my mom. So please accept my humble 'Thank You' for encouraging me and helping me to make this move. I said it before, I can not [or] could not do this with out you—my community. I love you."
A successful fundraiser for Flare was held Saturday night at Big Chick's.
