Drag Queens Aren't 'Adult Entertainment' in Chicago Anymore

CHICAGO—Thanks to the efforts of Alderman Tom Tunney, the Chicago city zoning code will no longer classify female impersonators, sometimes called "drag queens," in the same business category as adult book and video stores and strip clubs. Tunney represents the 44th Ward, which includes the Halsted Street entertainment area in the city section known as Boystown, and until 2006, the Zoning Commission defined "adult cabaret" as businesses that offered "topless dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators." Tunney got that definition changed to remove the "male or female impersonators" part, but the "land use" sections of the Code still barred clubs outside the adult zone from offering impersonator entertainment. However, on April 23, the Zoning Commission enacted a revision that struck the "impersonator" language from the rest of the city's Code, and now, any club in the city can get a "public place of amusement" license even if they offer drag shows, and will no longer have to file an "adult entertainment" affidavit to obtain such a license. "We actually have an issue right now where people are being stopped from the licensing process because of the definition," noted Zoning Administrator Patti Scudiero. "This cleans it up and makes it consistent across the board." The City Council is expected to ratify that change at a meeting in mid-May. Apparently, female impersonators are a very popular form of entertainment in Chicago, and while clubs had previously gotten around the ban by holding "special nights" that featured the impersonators, if they had attempted to feature them regularly, they would have run afoul of the adult business "setback": They would be unable to operate if they were fewer than 1,000 feet from schools, churches, parks or residential areas. "That's 95 percent of the land in Chicago," Tunney noted back in 2006. Tunney told the Chicago Tribune that "approving the change would be a sign Middle America is more accepting of male and female impersonators." "It's really entertainment for everybody, and of course there's just a lot more of it on TV. It's just much more accepted," said Tunney, the first openly gay alderman ever elected in Chicago. "We're a different generation ...  If somebody walks on stage, and they're a female acting as a male, what part of that is so objectionable? It's commonly accepted as mainstream entertainment. It's an artistic form now. There's not the fear surrounding it that there was 40 or 50 years ago." Club owners agree. "They’re popping up all over the neighborhoods—even more than I thought they would," said  Jim Flint, owner of the Baton Show Lounge. "TV has made it even more mainstream. There's drag all the time on different shows. You turn on the TV and see it every night."