|
|
| |
|
 | | Jeffrey E. McCourt | | | Inducted 2007 [Posthumous] | | | Photo: JASON SMITH | | Jeffrey E. McCourt (1955–2007), founding publisher of Windy City Times, award-winning journalist, businessperson, and activist, for helping to win mainstream respect and political victories for Chicago's LGBT communities, including passage of the City's 1988 Human Rights Ordinance. | |
|
| Publisher, businessperson, theater producer,
and activist Jeffrey E. McCourt made Psignificant contributions to Chicago and its
LGBT communities during the 1980s and 1990s.
As founding publisher of Windy City Times
newspaper, he helped to build a high-quality
independent press. Under his leadership, the paper,
which McCourt co-founded in 1985 and ran until
1999, nurtured emerging journalistic talent,
winning numerous awards for its news coverage
and features.
| |
| McCourt’s standards raised the bar for LGBT newspaper publishing nationwide and
led to national advertising contracts with mainstream corporations. He believed that
journalists working for the LGBT press should be paid full-time wages in line with
daily newspaper salaries. While maintaining Windy City Times as an independent
voice, he embraced advocacy journalism and supported activism aimed at winning
mainstream respect and political victories for Chicago’s LGBT communities. During
the 1986–88 stages of a long campaign to pass a Chicago human rights ordinance that
would prohibit sexual-orientation discrimination, the newspaper’s offices were
known as “Ordinance Central” because of McCourt’s generosity in allowing activists
to use space and equipment. The paper’s editorials galvanized community and
political support for the ordinance after initial defeats. | |
| Journalist Albert Williams recalled how, in the wake of the ordinance’s earlier failure
to pass, McCourt’s newspaper called Chicago politicians to account. “We were very
influenced by the idea that the community needed to take control of our own issues
rather than just depending on our friends,” he remembered. “Jeff gave the gay and
lesbian community a newspaper that was willing to fight.” McCourt also supervised
Windy City Times’ investigative reporting into the City of Chicago’s funding for
AIDS prevention and treatment. After a reporter on the paper revealed that Chicago
ranked near the bottom of the top 10 cities in the United States on HIV/AIDS funding,
McCourt worked with 46th Ward Alderman Helen Shiller to craft and push through
the City Council an ordinance doubling the city’s AIDS budget. He was also
instrumental in founding the National Gay Newspaper Guild and worked hard to
overcome prejudice against the regional gay press within the marketing industry.
Besides journalism, McCourt’s major passion was for the theater. Prior to Windy City
Times, he contributed entertainment coverage to Chicago’s GayLife newspaper. He
co-produced the 1994 local premiere of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America at the
Royal George Theatre. He later served as president of the board of American Blues
Theatre (now the American Theater Company), where he co-produced a 1997 revival
of Lillian Hellman’s Toys in the Attic. His philanthropic activities included
substantial gifts to Children’s Place, a pediatric AIDS treatment center, where he also
volunteered. | |
| McCourt was born on December 21, 1955, in Newburgh, New York. Prior to his
involvement in the newspaper business, he worked in the financial world as an
options trader. He died in Chicago of complications from AIDS on March 26, 2007,
having distanced himself from LGBT community involvement after selling Windy
City Times to Tracy Baim, one of the paper’s original co-founders, in 2000. Most of
his final years were spent at an extended care facility on Chicago’s Near North Side. | |
| This biography is as of the induction date. It has not been updated. |
| Your feedback is important to us. Please feel free to Contact Us with any correction, suggestions, or feedback. By using this link it will identify the specific item on which you are providing feedback. |
|
|
| |
 |
|
© 1999-2013 Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame |
|
3712 North Broadway, Suite 637, Chicago,
Illinois 60613-4235 USA |
|
773-281-5095 |
|
Site Last Updated 04/13/2013 •
Contact
Webmaster |
|
|
|
|
