Chicago celebrates artist/activist Chilli Pepper at street sign unveiling
The late legendary performance artist and LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist Chilli Pepper was celebrated with an “Honorary Chilli Pepper Way” street sign by the City of Chicago on the sunny Fall morning of Oct. 3 (the day after Chilli’s birthday) at the corner of North State and…
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FILM Queer Fright: Filmmaker Zach Lorkiewicz brings “psychosis incarnate” feature debut to Chicago
After graduating from Columbia College, gay filmmaker Zach Lorkiewicz headed for Los Angeles. While he has found a successful creative home there, his ties to the Midwest remain strong. “The Night Jane Went Insane,” his colorful seven-minute grand dame freak-out, had its local premiere in 2023. Now his feature film debut, a horror film entitled It…
First circuit argues over NEA funding “gender ideology”
A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Boston heard arguments Wednesday morning (October 7) in a lawsuit which challenges whether President Trump’s executive order saying “Federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology” can be applied to arts funding. Four theatre groups, including two which are LGBTQ-focused, filed a lawsuit last…
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SAVOR The Carlyle Club opens, Chicago Marathon specials start and Eden celebrates Lebanese flavors
In fashion: Chicago Fashion Week® will hold events and activations for its third edition, taking place Oct. 8–18. The calendar includes more than 80 events and activations in partnership with local fashion organizations, retailers and fashion designers. Just a few of the events include a vintage pop-up (Oct. 10-11, 12-6 p.m.) at Design at 329,…
Nation & World
IN BRIEF Dignity USA leader steps down, Club Q lawsuit, GLAAD Media Awards, Ukrainian law, gay men disappear, Ginger Minj, ‘Rock Out,’ ‘Glee’ reboot
Warning: This column mentions violent activities. NATIONAL Marianne Duddy-Burke has decided to step down from being executive director of the LGBTQ+ Catholic organization Dignity USA. On Facebook, she stated, in part, “The past few years…
Theater / Dance
THEATER Lookingglass Theatre tells a tall tale of Tennessee in ‘Kowalski’
“I don’t want realism. I want magic!” Blanche DuBois says in the 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire. A new Lookingglass Theatre Company production, titled after that play’s main character, Stanley Kowalski, is a magical fantasy Blanche would surely appreciate. Kowalski is a fictional story where Marlon Brando visits Tennessee Williams in his Provincetown, Massachusetts, beach house…
Music
MUSIC Riot Fest went boldly where no punk celebration had gone before
The legendary three-day punk rock music gathering known as Riot Fest returned to Chicago’s historic Douglass Park, 1401 S. Sacramento Dr., where it has been held annually since 2015. From Sept. 18-20, the anti-establishment event embraced raw energy on five stages, each beginning with the letter R: Riot, Roots, Rebel, Rise and Radical. Historically, punk…
Film / TV / Gossip
BUSINESS Yvonne Welbon uplifts Black women and gender-expansive creatives with Sisters in Cinema
When lifelong Chicagoan and Sisters in Cinema Founder and CEO Yvonne Welbon started her Master of Fine Arts in film and video program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1991 she knew the name of only one African American woman director, Julie Dash. “When I asked one of my professors to help me find…
Books / Art
Trans
IN BRIEF Election items, ‘Witt v. Air Force,’ Mount Sinai’s anti-trans move, Switzerland’s government, Freddie Mercury mural, WNBA, Janet Jackson, ‘Tip Toe’
Warning: This column mentions details of killings. NATIONAL In Indiana, six candidates for Owen County township offices in the November election are coming out to voters, introducing themselves on two billboards, WISH noted. The promotion, paid for by the Stonewall Democrats of South Central Indiana, marks the first time the organization has endorsed any candidates…
Lesbian
Chicagoans reflect on Gloria Steinem’s relationship with LGBTQ+ community
Gloria Steinem is being remembered as a feminist leader and icon. But the Chicagoans who interacted with her said she never made the movement about her—it was about all of us. “She treated everyone like a peer,” said Illinois State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, who met Steinem several times, starting when Cassidy worked for the National Organization for Women’s (NOW)…