RESOLUTION HONORING JIM FLINT
WHEREAS, Jim Flint grew up in Peoria with 13 brothers and sisters, and he left home at the age of 14, and at the age of 17, he served in the U.S. Navy from 1959 to 1962.
AND WHEREAS, In 1964, he moved to Chicago and soon got jobs bartending at gay bars, starting with the Annex at 2865 N. Clark.
AND WHEREAS, Jim Flint opened the Baton Show Lounge at 436 N. Clark Street in 1969.
AND WHEREAS, the Baton Show Lounge got its name from Jim's ability to twirl a baton outside the bar while wearing roller-skates to help draw a crowd to attend the shows.
AND WHEREAS, up until the early 1970s, the police would regularly raid Chicago gay bars if someone was seen touching or dancing with another person of the same gender unless the bar owner would pay off the police or the mafia in order to avoid getting raided. Jim Flint organized other bar owners to have this extortion stop by calling for investigations of extortion.
AND WHEREAS, Jim Flint was one of the founding members of the Windy City Athletic Association, which gave members of the LGBTQ+ community a chance to participate openly in amateur sports leagues.
AND WHEREAS, His political activism included leadership in the 1980s-era Prarie State Democratic Club.
AND WHEREAS, Jim Flint was also president of the Chicago Knights MC, a leather and Levi's club that raised money for Toys for Tots.
AND WHEREAS, He helped organize community forums that led to the establishment of Chicago House, a hospice residence for people with HIV/AIDS.
AND WHEREAS, In 1980, Jim Flint founded Miss Continental, an annual female impersonation pageant, and later formed Miss Continental Plus in 1991 for plus-size competitors, Mr. Continental for male entertainers in 2003, and Miss Continental Elite in 2004 for competitors who are 40+ in age.
AND WHEREAS, Jim Flint served as the past vice-president of the 46th Ward Democratic Organization from 1984 -1986 and also ran for Cook County Board as an openly gay candidate in 1987
AND WHEREAS, He was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1991, and in 2000, Flint was the first Chicagoan to be inducted into the North American Amateur Gay Athletic Alliance Hall of Fame for contributions to gay softball.
AND WHEREAS, Jim Flint was a member of the Rainbow Coalition, the Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization, the Lake View Citizens' Council, and Operation PUSH.
AND WHEREAS, Jim Flint was arrested on 16 different occasions for standing up for the rights of others and was found not guilty each time an arrest was made.
AND WHEREAS, on July 27, 2021, Jim Flint will be celebrating his 80th birthday.
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor, and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, assembled this 23rd Day of June 2021, do hereby join with members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, We declare July 27, 2021, Jim Flint Day in the City of Chicago.
Aid. Maria Hadden
Aid. Tom Tunney Aid. Raymond Lopez
Aid. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa