WITH ALL THE recent Gay Games hoopla, Chicago is finally getting some overdue credit for being gay friendly. In 1961 Illinois was the first state to decriminalize any private sexual behavior between consenting adults. In 1988, the City Council passed the Human Rights Ordinance, outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation and including GLBTQ folks in hate crime protections. Ten years later the rainbow pylons lining North Halsted Street were erected, giving the nation one of its first officially recognized gay ghettos. Mayor Daley loves the gays so much he wants to gay-marry us. If your sexual preference strays in any way from one-on-one penis-vagina action, as far as places to live go, you could do worse.

But who can afford to go out like that all the time? And if you’re under 21, it’s not even an option. Sometimes it might seem like everyone else is having a great big boozy butt-sex party 24-7 but that you, youngster, are not invited.

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What’s a young, fixed-income sexual deviant to do? If your ID is liquor friendly and money’s your only problem, there are plenty of ways to make the system work for you. By taking advantage of nightly specials at many venues you can get the most of your thin dollar and cut down on your grocery bill as well. Just watch the savings stack up! The week starts with perhaps one of the most famous good deals in town—the free buffet at Big Chicks (5024 N. Sheridan, 773-728-5511, bigchicks.com). Every Sunday at 4, owner Michelle Fire lays out a spread that goes much further than your typical weenies in a crock. In summer the fresh-off-the-grill fare can include burgers, chicken, and brats with a host of sides, and in winter look for steaming pans of lasagna or southern fried chicken. There are always veggie options as well. The buffet is 100 percent free and all-you-can-eat.

Trans-mission, the multigenderfriendly dance party every first and third Thursday at Star Gaze (5419 N. Clark, 773-561-7363, stargazechicago.com). Both of these parties are mixed women/men/others, as is the queer rock ’n’ roll cabaret Flesh Hungry Dog Show, held every third Friday night at Jackhammer. For mostly women, Dirty Girl Thursdays at the Lakeview Broadcasting Corp (3542 N. Halsted, dirtygirlthursdays.moon fruit.com) is an upstart ladies’ night that usually doesn’t charge a cover.

Community Leaders

TRACY BAIM Publisher of Windy City Media Group, the local gay media conglomeration that includes Windy City Times,

Nightspots, Identity, and Windy City Queercast, Baim is also covice chair of the Chicago Gay Games.

C.C. CARTER Slam poetry champion and queer-arts organizer extraordinaire.

RICK GARCIA Ever since his days as one of the “Gang of Four” activists, who worked tirelessly to pass the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance in 1988, Garcia has had one of the most visible GLBTQ faces in town, whether in his role as director of public policy for Equality Illinois or as the lone man weaving through the crowd with a giant rainbow flag at last spring’s immense immigration rights march.

FAUSTO FERNOS Identifiable around town by his Groverblue hair, Fernos and his partner, Marc Felion, produce and host America’s most popular queer podcast, The Feast of Fools.

MICHELLE FIRE Somewhere between mom and Mae West, the proprietor of the bar Big Chicks and its neighboring restaurant, Tweet, has achieved icon status, thanks partly to her free Sunday buffets but no less for her flashes from the Big Chicks float in the annual Pride Parade.

MISS FOOZIE The transvestite, bouffant-blonde Hostess of Halsted Street. ’Nuff said.

SCOTT FREE Free, 2005 Outmusic musician of the year, hosts Homolatte, the bimonthly queer words and music series at Tweet, and the annual Alt Q music festival at the Old Town School of Folk Music in addition to recording and performing his own political folk-punk tunes.

CHUCK RENSLOW In 1958, Renslow opened one of the first openly gay establishments in the country, the Gold Coast Leather Bar. He went on to found the International Mr. Leather competition, which takes place here every Memorial Day weekend, found the Leather Archives and Museum, and open both the Chicago Eagle Leather Bar and the bathhouse Man’s Country.

TAMALE Comedienne, burlesque performer, bartender, go-go dancer, and all-around gal-about-town, Tamale is a frequent attraction at Chix Mix parties and other queer performance-oriented ventures. | KB

howardbrown.org/hb_brownelephant.asp), which benefits the Howard Brown Health Center. And speaking of health, both Howard Brown (4025 N. Sheridan, 773-388-1600, howardbrown.org) and Chicago Women’s Health Center(3435 N. Sheffield, 773-935-6126, chicagowomenshealthcenter.org) offer services on a sliding scale. At Howard Brown that includes HIV and STD testing and treatment, general health care, and, for women, insemination services. At Chicago Women’s Health Center it mostly means lady business. The city’s GLBTQ cultural scenes offer many options that don’t discriminate against age or income level.Gerber/Hart Library (1127 W. Granville, 773-381-8030, gerberhart.org), Chicago’s 25-year-old GLBTQ lending library and archive, offers queer culture aplenty, with a regular schedule of lectures, art exhibits, film screenings, and book groups—and friends, they are all free. Scott Free’s free queer words and music series,