Here's a custom-made "Obama Pride" sign on the outside of SideTrack, an LGBT bar in Chicago where owner and local activist Art Johnston expects anywhere from 500 to 700 raucous gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender folks will come to celebrate -- they hope -- tonight. I will also be reporting from this space, since it will be a streaming who's who of Chicago LGBT activists.
Opened by Johnston and his partner, Jose "Pepe" Pena, in 1982, SideTrack is sort of an LGBT institution in Chicago, continually hosting political events and fund-raisers for the community. When it first opened, Johnston said, they had about 800 square feet, which has now expanded out to around 14,000 square feet. The video bar has massive screens in a maze of rooms, and Johnston plans on tuning into CNN for the evening. But he has also hired four people to research LGBT-specific races across the country so they can deliver the gay news that CNN will inevitably miss throughout the night. The festivities will also include a balloon drop when/if Senator Obama wins the presidency.
"We're treating it like New Year's Eve," says Johnston, who notes that he and his team might be willing to call the election for Barack earlier than other news orgs. "We don't care what CNN is going to do. We're gonna have the best political team on the block." (Kerry Eleveld)
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