The Power Within
During LGBTQ+ History Month, we honor those who built Chicago House from the ground up and instilled the spirit of collective care that has moved this organization forward for more than 40 years.
One of those people was Thom Dombkowski, a Chicago House founder and our first executive director. Dombkowski was also a central figure in Chicago’s leather community and served for many years as Chief Judge of International Mr. Leather. His activism stretched across the HIV/AIDS response and LGBTQ+ community, and he was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 1992.
At one International Mr. Leather competition, Thom took the stage with a challenge: raise more than $2,000 for Chicago House. He put his own skin in the game, promising to shave his head if the crowd reached the goal. They did. Off came the hair.
But the story worth remembering is not the stunt. It is what Thom said before it.
“This is a joyful occasion as we celebrate our lifestyle and celebrate ourselves as leathermen—and women,” he told the crowd. “Yet it is edged with sadness as we take the rollcall of our fellows.”
He understood the tension of those years: celebration alongside grief, pride alongside an epidemic that was taking people from us far too quickly. And he understood something else. The HIV/AIDS crisis had revealed the extraordinary strength already present within LGBTQ+ communities.
“One of the few silver linings about the plague is having the opportunity to learn about ourselves, both as individuals and as a community,” Thom said. “What I have found is that we have a hell of a lot of strength within us.”
Then came the question that still feels remarkably current: “If we don’t take care of each other, who are we going to ask to do it?”
That question has always been part of Chicago House. We were built because people recognized that waiting for someone else to act was not an option. Today, the circumstances have changed, but the responsibility has not. We continue to believe that people facing HIV, housing instability, and other barriers should not have to navigate them alone.
Thom ended his speech with a declaration that could still serve as a Chicago House motto: “We must never forget that we are our brothers’ keepers.”
During LGBTQ+ History Month, we remember that legacy not simply by looking backward, but by carrying it forward.