or Chicagoan David Zak, a longtime LGBTQ+ activist and veteran of community and arts programming in the Windy City, “visibility itself can be a form of activism, especially when it gives voice to people or experiences that haven’t always been represented.”

Take, for instance, the trolley ride that his social club, Chicago PrimeTimers, takes every year in the city’s Pride Parade.

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“I think there’s something especially moving for people about seeing older LGBTQ+ adults proudly participating in Pride,” Zak tells LGBTQ Nation of the annual ride. “Sometimes, younger people along the route will stop cheering and suddenly become emotional when they realize the trolley is carrying LGBTQ+ seniors. You can almost see them imagining their own futures.”

Chicago PrimeTimers was founded in 2001 and welcomes primarily older gay, bi, and trans men for all kinds of socializing, from restaurant outings, happy hours, and theater events to museum visits, beach days, and holiday parties.

“This spring alone, our activities included group trips to see Brokeback Mountain, the play with music at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, along with visits to the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago and the Driehaus Museum to see its Tiffany lamp collection. Last year, members also attended The First Homosexuals exhibition at Wrightwood 659.”

Throughout the year, members regularly attend films, plays, cabaret performances, concerts, lectures, and community events together, or just meet up for dominoes.

The club’s emphasis, says Zak — whose term as Chicago PrimeTimers’ board president ends this fall — “is really on friendship, connection, and reducing social isolation.”

“As people get older, social circles can shrink due to retirement, moves, illness, or loss,” Zak says. PrimeTimers can pick up the slack.

That’s been true for the board president, as well.

“It’s been very meaningful,” Zak says of his membership. “I’ve met people through the group who have become genuinely important parts of my life.”

Among all the socializing, the group’s high-visibility trolley ride is a standout event.

“For me personally, I’m always moved during the parade not only by the recognition that our seniors receive, but also by the awareness of how many people from our community never had the opportunity to make it this far. So at times, it can be a very emotional journey, as well.”

Asked if politics comes up at an event that began in political protest, or if members prefer to keep it light, Zak replied, “Both.”

“PrimeTimers is primarily social, so most events focus on friendship and enjoyment. But as older gay men, many members have lived through major political and cultural changes affecting LGBTQ+ rights, so those conversations naturally come up sometimes, too.”

“With more than 230 members, the club represents pretty much the full range of political viewpoints and parties in America these days, which makes for some lively but thoughtful discussions,” he says, on and off the trolley.

Longtime Chicagoans along the route will “shout out that they remember when being openly gay in public felt impossible,” Zak says.

“The experience gives everybody on that trolley a chance to say, ‘We’re still here, goddammit, and we’re not going away.’”