For over three decades, St Sukie de la Croix, 74, has been a social commentator and researcher on Chicago's LGBT history. He has published oral histories, lectured, led historical tours, and documented LGBT life via columns, photographs, humor features, fiction, and the book "Chicago Whispers" (University of Wisconsin Press, 2012). The "Chicago Sun-Times" dubbed him "the gay Studs Terkel." He came to Chicago from Bath, England, in 1991. He's written columns for local and national outlets including "Chicago Free Press," "Gay Chicago," "Nightlines/Nightspots," "Outlines," "Blacklines," "Windy City Times," and GoPride.com. In 2008, he was a historical consultant and interviewee for WTTW's "Out & Proud in Chicago." His plays, "A White Light in God's Choir" and "Two Weeks in a Bus Station with an Iguana," were performed by Chicago's Irreverence Dance & Theatre Company in 2005-06. A popular lecturer, he's spoken at venues from Chubb Insurance to Boeing and Horizons Gay Youth Services to the Chicago Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. His 2012 publication, "Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall," with a foreword by historian John D'Emilio, received glowing reviews and solidified his place as a leading historian. That year he was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame. He moved to Palm Springs in 2014. His novels include "The Blue Spong and the Flight from Mediocrity" (2017) and "The Orange Spong and Storytelling at the Vamp Art Café" (2020). Other works: "The Memoir of a Groucho Marxist: A Very British Fairy Tale" (2018), "Out of the Underground: Homosexuals, the Radical Press and the Rise and Fall of the Gay Liberation Front" (2019), and "St Sukie's Strange Garden of Woodland Creatures" (2019) with illustrator Roy Alton Wald. Alongside Owen Keehnen, he launched the Tell Me About It Project, producing "Tell Me About It" series (2019-2020). He continued his Chicago LGBTQ history series with "Chicago After Stonewall" (2021), tracing the movement post-Stonewall through the founding of the Chicago Gay Liberation Front and the first gay newspaper, "Gay Life." His latest history book is "Last Call Chicago: A History of 1001 LGBTQ-Friendly Taverns, Haunts & Hangouts," co-authored with Rick Karlin. In 2024, he reunited with Roy Alton Wald for "St Sukie's Lunatic Asylum for Demented Toys," a richly illustrated adult storybook. He also created the "Twilight Manors in Palm Springs" series, chronicling the madcap adventures of Brian and Stéphane across six books.