Legacy Walk marks Cannon and Pulaski’s contributions to history
On the unseasonably warm and sunny afternoon of Oct. 10, Open Hand/Chicago Co-Founder, LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS ally/activist and Legacy Project Co-Founder Lori F. Cannon and U.S. Revolutionary War Brigadier General, Father of the American Calvary and hero Casimir Pulaski were inducted into the Legacy Walk…
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Public health activist Julio Flores on supporting Chicago’s LGBTQ+ youth
Julio Flores didn’t have a traditional educational path into public health. He went straight from high school into volunteer and full-time work. Nevertheless, in recent years, he has becoming a formidable force for queer advocacy in Chicago. Now, he’s in his fourth year as program director for Alliance, the branch of the Public Health Institute…
IN BRIEF Kansas challenge, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Elliot Page, queer Taipei bar raided, Pet Shop Boys, ‘Heated Rivalry,’ Robin Roberts
Warning: This column mentions violent activities. NATIONAL While transgender and intersex Kansas residents challenge the state’s driver’s license and restroom restrictions, Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach contended that the plaintiffs have not shown the law harmed them, The Advocate reported. And to challenge their claims that the law could basically reveal them as trans or…
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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…
Nation & World
IN BRIEF Anti-trans Democrat; Renee Good; Mamdani and Jetten meet; Australia’s act; Indian film ‘Dorothy;’ ‘Rocky Horror’ bobbleheads; theater companies
Warning: This column mentions violent activities. NATIONAL The U.S. Education Department formally revoked the Biden-era Title IX guidelines that gave sex-based discrimination protections to LGBTQ+ students, The Hill reported. Schools now must revert to the…
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)…