If you’re not familiar with the Boystown neighborhood in Chicago’s trendy West Lakeview district, it’s located near legendary Wrigley Field and is only a short distance from the lakeshore, as the name implies. It’s described as being one of the largest and most active LGBT communities in the midwest and they host the annual Pride Parade every June. It’s a magnet for the more affluent among the woke class and features a large number of nightclubs and other entertainment venues. But you won’t be finding it on any maps in the near future because Boystown is getting a new name. Why? Because the name was deemed offensive to certain individuals and groups for being gender exclusive. (Free Beacon)
Boystown, a prominent LGBT neighborhood in Chicago, is changing its name, citing the need to be more inclusive to all genders.
The Northalsted Business Alliance changed the name of “Chicago’s Proudest Neighborhood” to Northalsted after some residents complained the name “Boystown” was exclusive. The business alliance said they are already working on a new marketing campaign as well as new signs and flags for the district featuring its new name.
LGBT activist Devlyn Camp created a petition to rename the neighborhood in July, which received more than 1,300 signatures.
So this was all kicked off by someone starting an online petition. And the petition garnered 1,300 signatures. You’re telling me that it only takes 1,300 online accounts in a city the size of Chicago to demand this sort of a change? That probably wasn’t enough people to fill up four or five Boystown nightclubs on a typical Friday before the plague blew into town.
Also not being prominently mentioned is the fact that an extensive survey was conducted to see how people felt about this proposal. The results showed that nearly 60% of respondents wanted to keep the name the same and 80 percent said they did not find the name to be offensive. So this important, woke change in the name of inclusivity is actually being undertaken despite the fact that the majority of their target audience likes the name and almost nobody found it offensive.
And why would they? If the neighborhood had been named after some fifties-era “good old boys’ club” or He-Man Woman-Haters Association, you could probably understand a bit of antipathy. But the area was named after a popular column written in the 90s in a newspaper specifically published to support and inform the LGBT community. It was a gay name with gay roots supporting gay causes. But 1,300 signatures later it has to go, I guess.
Is this going to cause some massive issues for Chicago going forward? Highly doubtful. Much like so many other bits of our history, the name of Boystown will probably just be forgotten over time and fade from the cultural memory. The name of the original newspaper column will similarly be relinquished to local historians. And “Chicago’s Proudest Neighborhood” will hereafter be known as Northalsted. That really rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?
I wonder if this will be the start of a new trend. What other neighborhoods in America’s cities will face the wokeness analysis and have to be renamed? Residents of the Tenderloin District in San Francisco’s Little Saigon neighborhood should probably be looking over their shoulders. That name is almost certainly offense to the vegans so a petition is probably coming their way already. Remember, you’ll only need 1,300 signatures and then you’ll be off to the races.
