Last weekend Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), representatives of Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office, North Halsted Street business leaders and residents joined 23rd District Chicago Police Department Cmdr. Gary Yamashiroya and other 23rd District police on a late-night neighborhood beat walk on Halsted and Belmont.

The purpose of such walks is to identify potential criminal activity and to make it clear to those who are out in the gay bar district for criminal purposes that such activity won’t be tolerated. It’s a good effort that in most ways not only succeeds in those goals but also builds a sense of community and cooperation between police, business owners and staff and residents.

But North Halsted Street isn’t just any residential and business area. It’s one of the world’s premier late-night gay bar and entertainment districts. As such, it’s a complex area that attracts a lot of different people at all hours of the night.

Those people include GLBT youths from all over the city who can’t get into the nightclubs because they’re underage. North Halsted has attracted them for years, just as GLBT youths are drawn to Greenwich Village in New York, St. Catherine Street in Montreal and Zona Rosa in Mexico City.

Some of the kids may dress a bit differently; many of them are youths of color; and sometimes they get a little loud or boisterous. But, as a community that talks a lot about welcoming diversity, we need to be clear about one thing: These kids are not a law enforcement issue.

The issue—the problem—is that we as a community haven’t given them anywhere to go but the street. It’s been that way for years—there are no underage clubs, no juice bars, nothing but the sidewalks. That unfortunately leaves them vulnerable to dealers and predators and often gives those bad elements a cover to blend in with, making it harder for police to identify who the bad guys really are.

We can do better than that, and now that we have a first-class GLBT community center in the heart of North Halsted Street’s historically gay district, we have a golden opportunity to fix this.

Imagine what the Center on Halsted could provide for these GLBT youths. Imagine the Center open until 3 or 4 in the morning on weekends. There could be a free dance once or twice a month. There could be basketball and volleyball games and movie nights. About Face, Gayco, Bailiwick and other theater companies could come in once or twice a month to perform for the youths. Whole Foods could use its first-floor cafe to provide juice and snacks.

Wouldn’t SAGE, our GLBT seniors group, welcome the chance once a month to discuss Chicago’s rich GLBT history with youths? Wouldn’t Equality Illinois leaders be happy to come in every so often and talk GLBT politics with these kids? Wouldn’t some of our elected officials jump at the chance to come by around midnight every once in a while to talk issues with a group of future GLBT voters?

The point is that there would be no shortage of programming for such a late-night effort to tell these kids that our GLBT community is their GLBT community, too.

Let’s make it happen. Let’s all pull together—as private citizens of our community, as public officials, as business leaders—and give the Center the support and encouragement it needs to give our youths the kind of activities and late-night programs they need and deserve.

We have the facility to do this. All we need now is the will.