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 | | Star Gaze | | | Inducted 2006 | | | | Star Gaze, a women's bar that for 8 years has been a contributing and supportive member of the LGBT communities, with consistent commitment without qualification to LGBT organizations and individuals.
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| Ever since its opening in 1998, Star
Gaze has been much more than a bar. It has been a contributing and
supportive member of Chicago’s lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)
communities. | |
| Its owners, Mamie Lake and Dustin Fermin,
seem never to have said no to a request for
support, whether it was to hold a fund-raiser at the bar or to assist in a
personal crisis. | |
| They have walked with many of their customers through whatever was
occurring in their lives and have always lent a listening ear and an offer to
help. | |
| Shortly after opening, Star Gaze held a fund-raising event for Test
Positive Aware Network (TPAN). The bar has held fund-raisers for
ONYX/Chicago; given support to the Royal Imperial Sovereign Barony
of the Windy City; and served as the birthplace of the comedy group
Hysterical Women, besides nourishing other local talent. | |
| Star Gaze has annually sponsored the Lesbian Community Cancer
Project’s “Coming Out Against Cancer” benefit and other fund-raisers for
that organization. The bar has sponsored events for POW-WOW
(Performers or Writers for Women on Women’s Issues), Chicago Black
Lesbians and Gays, the Literary Exchange, and Gerber/Hart Library. | |
| Star Gaze has also been the league sponsor of three Chicago
Metropolitan Sports Association teams in softball, basketball, and
football. | |
| Since 2004, Star Gaze has been the home of an annual Hall of Fame fundraising
buffet dinner, for which it prepares and serves all the food without
charge. The bar has also held fund-raisers for at least three cancer
survivors and at least one for Hurricane Katrina relief . | |
| Through Star Gaze and individually, Lake and Fermin have earned a
reputation as selfless public citizens. In the words of Star Gaze’s
nominator, “this bar and these two women embody the best spirit of
community and have demonstrated that over and over again.” | |
| This biography is as of the induction date. It has not been updated. |
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Illinois 60613-4235 USA |
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Site Last Updated 04/13/2013 •
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