Peña: Bars were always the center for people to meet. On how bars helped connect Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community José Pepe Peña: For me, it’s been the easiest thing I’ve ever done in my life. When you fall in love, everything is easy. We’ve had a first date that’s lasted nearly 49 years.
And then I said, ‘So, what are you doing after work tonight?’ He came over that night and never left. So I waited for an appropriate amount of time to go by - about a minute and a half - when he told me this. And then one day he said to me, ‘By the way, I broke up with my partner today.’ And his partner was, oddly enough, same name as me: Art. I used to go to the bar where he was a bartender … to have a beer. Art Johnston: I knew from the moment I met this man that I was head over heels in love - and I had to wait a while from when I first met him.
