Philip Maziarz steadies his husband, Kevin Romero, as he changes batteries for a fire alarm on April 15, 2023, in a home they’re renovating in Uptown. (Shanna Madison / Chicago Tribune)
Mark Niehaus-Rincon, 67, has lived in Omaha, Nebraska, for 12 years but says “life is too short” to stay there.
He and his husband, Alex, a native of Omaha, have faced the silent treatment from others at their gym for 10 years. They’ve also dealt with uncomfortable and hostile workplace environments and homophobic slurs.
That treatment, combined with Nebraska’s current legislative agenda — which includes restricting women’s access to reproductive health care and limiting the rights of the LGBTQ community — helped push Niehaus-Rincon and his husband to relocate to Chicago. He said they are done compromising and hiding their true identities.
“We are just over it,” Niehaus-Rincon said. “We aren’t welcome here. … I am ashamed to say I live in Nebraska … and I don’t want to be ashamed of where I live.”
Niehaus-Rincon is not the only one relocating to Illinois from a state with a conservative legislative agenda and what he describes as an unwelcome environment.
Although there is no data cataloging these moves, real estate experts said a number of households have relocated to Illinois, or are preparing to relocate, in search of a safer and more welcoming environment for the LGBTQ community.
Roman Patzner, a real estate agent with Fulton Grace Realty in Chicago, said relocation activity picked up after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, ending the constitutional right to an abortion and leaving many in the LGBTQ community worried about whether their same-sex marriage rights would continue to be protected.
More here.
Leave a Reply