"Water Reclamation District recognizes AIDS Garden as LGBTQ+ landmark," Windy City Times
Windy City Times: The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) passed a resolution on June 5 recognizing June as Pride Month and honoring the Chicago Parks Foundation for sponsoring the AIDS Garden Chicago.
Commissioner Precious Brady-Davis, who made history as the first Black transgender woman elected to public office in Cook County, introduced the resolution to recognize the AIDS Garden as the city’s first public monument dedicated to those lost to HIV and those continuing the fight.
She also reflected on the historical significance of the site where the AIDS Garden now stands. For decades, it was known as the Belmont Rocks, a stretch of limestone slabs along Lake Michigan’s shoreline just south of Belmont Harbor where Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community gathered. It was a rare space for LGBTQ+ visibility, joy and connection during times of widespread discrimination.
“The AIDS Garden is more than just a public park,” Brady-Davis said. “The LGBTQ+ community … has always curated places of peace, reflection and freedom, and time and time again, we’ve been drawn to the lake, to the water, to nature, to the spaces that remind us who we are when we are whole, and what it means to be part of something bigger: community.”
Today, the AIDS Garden includes guided markers, a native perennial garden, a grove of ginkgo trees and a 30-foot Keith Haring sculpture.
Brady-Davis shared a personal reflection about the site, connecting it to her work a decade ago at the Center on Halsted managing an HIV prevention grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It brings me so much joy that today we are honoring the Chicago Parks Foundation that saw a need to create a landmark that shows the fight of longtime activists,” Brady-Davis said.
Chicago Parks Foundation Executive Director Willa Iglitzen Lang accepted the resolution on behalf of “all the communities that have fought the fight.”
“Sometimes people forget,” Iglitzen Lang said. “And yes, this is an AIDS Garden. We were purposeful in not calling it a memorial, because it stands really as a testament, not just to those who lived and died, but also those who still live on today.”
Commissioner Marcelino Garcia also reflected on the personal and political resonance of the resolution.
“This resolution is very important to me. Many different parts of my life are tied to it,” he said, noting both his early government career at the Chicago Park District. “It’s a testament to society that significant places are part of our history, and we need to acknowledge those events and those locations.”
Garcia also pointed to how recognizing Pride Month creates an opportunity to foster unity during a time of increasing polarization.
“It’s shameful that our society is creating laws to divide people rather than to bring people together,” Garcia said. “So for me, Pride is a month when we should all come together.”
As the resolution noted, the MWRD celebrated Pride this year by raising the Pride flag at its main office and treatment plants and hosting a lunch on June 2 to honor “peace, equality, and community.”
“May this garden continue to bloom,” Brady-Davis said in closing. “May it be a place that honors our resilience, reflection, and invites the LGBTQ+ community to be whole and seek healing by the water.”