* Ralph Paul Gernhardt - 1934-2006

Started Gay Chicago Magazine
Radio broadcaster-turned-publisher filled niche in underserved community

By Aamer Madhani
Chicago Tribune staff reporter
Published June 6, 2006 - Metro section, page 5

Soon after moving back to Chicago to teach at Columbia College, Ralph Paul Gernhardt recognized there was no good way to find out what was happening in the gay and lesbian community.

So in 1972, he started a hot line that people could call and hear a tape-recorded message listing party locations and gay-friendly clubs.

News of the hot line spread, helped by stickers advertising its phone number that Mr. Gernhardt had posted on pay phones in clubs throughout the city.

The hot line wasn't a big moneymaker, but it demonstrated to Mr. Gernhardt there was a huge untapped market--and the idea for Gay Chicago magazine was formed.

"He was willing to stick his neck out during a time when most publications wouldn't have the guts to put `gay' in the publication's name," said Stacy Bridges, the associate publisher of the magazine.

Mr. Gernhardt, 72, the co-founder and publisher emeritus of the 30-year-old publication, died Sunday, June 4, in his home in the city's Ravenswood neighborhood after a long battle with lung cancer.

In the city's gay community, Mr. Gernhardt is celebrated as a pioneer.

He recruited his friend Dan Di Leo, a veteran newspaper editor, to co-publish the magazine. Di Leo died in 1989.

When they started the publication, the co-publishers were taking a huge leap of faith that it would catch on, said Mr. Gernhardt's son, Craig, who now is the magazine's publisher.

During the first years of the magazine, its skeleton crew didn't even have a proper office. Instead, the staff worked out of Mr. Gernhardt's second-floor apartment on Wells Street in the Old Town neighborhood. The publication's offices now are located on the 3100 block of North Broadway.

But the publication, which was touted as an entertainment guide geared toward the city's gay community, quickly drew readers.

In 2004, Mr. Gernhardt was inducted into the city of Chicago's Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame for his contributions to the community through the magazine.

While the magazine was primarily an entertainment guide, Mr. Gernhardt wasn't afraid to take on issues facing the gay community, such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic and discrimination.

The magazine promoted safer-sex practices, wrote favorably about anonymous HIV testing programs and distributed free condoms.

"He was a force to be reckoned with," said Alderman Tom Tunney (44th Ward), whose ward includes the Lakeview neighborhood where Gay Chicago is published.

Gene Janowski, who wrote a column for the magazine from 1977 to 1981, said Mr. Gernhardt was attracted to people with strong opinions. The two struck up a friendship over noisy conversations about politics and gay issues.

Over drinks, he said, Mr. Gernhardt recruited him to contribute to Gay Chicago.
"I loved to argue, and he liked to push the envelope," Janowski recalled. "He said if we didn't offend a few people with every issue that we put out, then we probably weren't doing our jobs."

Mr. Gernhardt also started the Grabby Awards, the magazine's version of the Oscars for the gay erotic video industry. The awards started out as yearly awards his critics would bestow on the year's most notable porn videos, but it soon evolved into an awards night that would draw big names from the gay porn industry.

The 14th annual Grabby Awards was held last month in front of a near-capacity crowd in the Vic Theater, but Mr. Gernhardt was too ill to attend.

Mr. Gernhardt was born in 1934 on the city's North Side. After graduating from Grant Community High School in Fox Lake, he enlisted in the Air Force and served in post-war South Korea as well as in Wyoming.

After his service, Mr. Gernhardt returned to Chicago to begin training in radio broadcasting. His 17-year career in radio included stints at stations in Michigan, Wyoming, Colorado, Louisiana, Texas and Tennessee, his son said.

In 1959, he married Marilyn Ridgedale, with whom he had two children. The couple divorced in 1966, and she died in 1987.

In addition to his son, Mr. Gernhardt is survived by a daughter, Christy Street; two sisters, Joy Smage and Carol Francis; and three grandchildren.



Blognotes: I want to thank Aamer at the Chicago Tribune for honoring my father and his life with this tribute.

Visitation will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in Drake Funeral Home, 5303 N. Western Ave. A service will start at 1 p.m. Thursday in the funeral home.