ABSTRACT
Alderman Eugene Sawyer was a black South Side alderman and ward committeeman. He had never headed a major council committee or introduced a single major piece of city legislation as alderman. In a dramatic turn of events, Eugene Sawyer was selected by the city council to be acting mayor. Sawyer remained loyal to the machine until late in the Byrne administration but then supported Washington in the 1983 election and in Council Wars. The human rights ordinance, the most important feature of which extended civil rights protection to gays and lesbians, had originally been defeated during the Washington administration by a vote of 30-18. Mayor Sawyer resubmitted the proposal and it was approved on June 23, 1988, by the city council Committee on Human Rights and Protection by a vote of 7-1 despite strong objections by Chicago church leaders and some aldermen.
