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PASSAGES Designer Virgil Abloh dies at 41
Designer Virgil Abloh—the first Black artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection and the founder of the Off-White label—died at the age of 41 after privately battling "a rare, aggressive form of cancer, cardiac angiosarcoma," a ...
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Broadway titan Stephen Sondheim dies at 91
Stephen Sondheim, one of the giants of Broadway songwriting, died Nov. 26 at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, according to media reports. He was 91. Among the works in the legend's oeuvre are Company (1970), Follies ...
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EXCLUSIVE: Family and friends mourn loss of Brianna Hamilton
Janiece Lewis said her older sister Brianna Hamilton was her first best friend. The two oldest of four girls, spending time together was, for them, "a different kind of love." In between playing Barbies and dress-up, ...
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Colin Powell dies from COVID-19 complications
Colin Powell—the first Black U.S. secretary of state, whose leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape the country's foreign policy in the last years of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st—died from ...
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Trans woman D'isaya Dior Monaee Smith, a victim of violence, dies
D'isaya Dior Monaee Smith was shot and killed Sept. 6 at the Prestige Motel in Dolton, Illinois. She was 27. A Human Rights Campaign report showed that, in 2020, a record 44 transgender, nonbinary or gender-nonconforming ...
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NATIONAL Carl Bean dies, LGBT History Month, military events, Dykes on Bikes
Archbishop Carl Bean—an openly gay former Motown singer, longtime AIDS activist and leader in the LGBTQ church movement—died at age 77, The New York Daily News reported. In a statement entitled "The Giant Sleeps," the Unity ...
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Former bishop who pushed for LGBTQ+ inclusion dies at 90
Retired Newark Bishop John Shelby Spong—a best-selling author and cleric known for his progressive theology and his support of women and LGBTQ+ clergy in The Episcopal Church—has died at age 90, Episcopal News Service reported. "It ...
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PASSAGES Pioneering lesbian business owner Susan Mazer dies
Susan Mazer died August 31 due to COVID-19 complications. She was 77. At the time of her death, Mazer was living in Port Saint Lucie, Florida with her wife Janet Norton. Mazer was born May 10, ...
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Celebration of life for Roman Buenrostro taking place Oct. 5
A celebration of life for the late Chicago advocate Roman Buenrostro will take place Tuesday, Oct. 5, 3-6 p.m., at Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Buenrostro was an LGBTQ- and HIV/AIDS-rights activist who passed away ...
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The National Black Justice Coalition mourns death of Pooh Johnson
--From a press release
SHREVEPORT, LA — The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) mourns the loss of Pooh Johnson, a 25-year-old Black gender-nonconforming person. Pooh was found shot to death inside a car early in the morning on August 23, ...
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PFLAG National mourns passing of past president Paulette Goodman
--From a press release
WASHINGTON—PFLAGers everywhere mourn the death of Paulette Goodman, who served as PFLAG National President from 1988 until 1992. Goodman was born in a Jewish family, ...
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James Hormel, the first LGBTQ U.S. ambassador, dies
James Catherwood Hormel—the first openly gay man to represent the United States as an ambassador—died Aug. 13 at age 88. ...
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Bernie Hansen's gay-rights legacy remembered
Activist Arthur Johnston recalled the late 44th Ward Alderman Bernie Hansen as perhaps "the most unlikely gay-rights alderman." Johnston—one of the activists involved with, among other endeavors, the push for the city's Human Rights Ordinance i ...
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Photographer/activist Ed Negron's funeral will take place Aug. 3
On his own Facebook page, one of the brothers of the late Chicago photographer/activist Ed Negron has revealed the details of his impending funeral. According to Leo Negron Rodriguez, Negron's funeral will take place at ...
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PASSAGES Writer, attorney, activist Takeia R. Johnson
The local organization Affinity Community Services announced the recent passing of Takeia R. Johnson. According to Johnson's LinkedIn profile, she was editor-in-chief and lead writer at Inclusion at Work as well as a Ph.D. student focusing ...
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Chicago photographer, activist Ed Negron dies [UPDATED]
Ed Negron—an activist, Army veteran and substance-abuse counselor who served for many years as a dedicated bisexual volunteer, mentor, leader and advocate in the LGBTQ, Latino and recovering communities—passed away ...
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PASSAGES Author, cultural theorist, scholar Lauren Berlant dies
Author, cultural theorist and scholar Lauren Berlant died June 28 in a Chicago hospice facility of a rare form of cancer. They were 63. Berlant (who used they/them pronouns professionally) was born Oct. 31, 1957 in ...
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Prominent lesbian educator/activist/author Sally Gearhart dies at 90
Sally Gearhart—the first out lesbian to receive a tenure-track position at San Francisco State University and a prominent LGBTQ-rights advocate—died July 14, according to The Bay Area Reporter, which cited an email Jean Crosby sent to ...
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PASSAGES Ray Marchman
Ray Marchman, a onetime Chicago resident, passed away in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on June 6. He was 87. According to an obituary on Dignity Memorial's website, Marchman was born in Miami in 1933—the only child of ...
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PASSAGES Fritzie Fritzshall, Auschwitz survivor, innovator in Holocaust education
--From a press release
As a Survivor of the Holocaust and the President of Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, Fritzie Fritzshall devoted her life to combatting hatred and prejudice, inspiring people to become Upstanders instead of bystanders, and speaking ...
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Fifth annual Pulse Nightclub memorial in downstate Illinois on June 12
On Saturday, June 12, at 7 p.m. in Bloomington, Illinois, local organizations will remember the 49 lives lost at the Pulse Nightclub in 2016 with their fifth annual outdoor memorial service, according to a joint press ...
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NATIONAL Press secretary, LGBTQ passings, poll results, Pride items
Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made history as the first gay woman to lead a White House press briefing in the James S. Brady Briefing Room, and the second Black woman to do so, LGBTQ Nation ...
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Remembering Kay "Tobin" Lahusen
Much of LGBTQ history, and history in general, has been lost. Even after photography was invented, the lens (and pen) was often directed subjectively, documenting what the mainstream media thought were the significant moments of the ...
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White Party organizer Jeffrey Sanker dies
Gay circuit-party impresario Jeffrey Sanker—owner of the Los Angeles-based White Party Entertainment company—died May 28 after a long battle with liver cancer, the Los Angeles Blade reported. The Blade said ...
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PASSAGES Kay "Tobin" Lahusen, a founding mother of the gay rights movement, 91
Kay Lahusen, 91, died in gentle hospice care at Chester County Hospital on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, after a brief illness. She was born in Cincinnati in January 1930 and as an infant was adopted and ...
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NATIONAL Victory Institute, activists pass on, Mikayla Miller, Nina West
On May 2, The Victory Institute inducted 21 leaders to its newly formed LGBTQ Victory Hall of Fame, according to PrideSource.com. Twenty members were inducted as part of the founding class while U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin ...
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PASSAGES Social-justice activist, dominatrix Mistress Velvet dies
PASSAGES Social-justice activist, dominatrix Mistress Velvet dies By Carrie Maxwell Social-justice activist and dominatrix Mistress Velvet (who used they/them pronouns) died by suicide May 9 in Chicago. They were 33. ...
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PASSAGES Lesbian-feminist musician, activist Alix Dobkin dies
Lesbian singer-songwriter and feminist activist Alix Dobkin died May 19 due to complications from a brain aneurysm and stroke. She was 80. Dobkin—who was known by many as the Head Lesbian—was born Aug. 16, 1940 in ...
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Former Illinois Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood dies at 66
Corinne Wood, the former Illinois lieutenant governor under Gov. George Ryan, died after a 15-year battle with breast cancer, CBS Chicago reported. She was 66. Wood served as the state's first female lieutenant governor from 1999 ...
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Actress Olympia Dukakis dies at 89
Olympia Dukakis—who won an Oscar for her supporting role in the 1987 hit Moonstruck and starred in Look Who's Talking and Mr. Holland's Opus as well as iterations of TV's Tales of the City—died May 1 at her home in New York City ...
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PASSAGES: AIDS activist, anti-imperalist organizer Tryfan Morys Eibhlyn Llwyd
Longtime AIDS activist and anti-imperalist organizer Tryfan Morys Eibhlyn Llwyd (also known as Arawn Eibhlyn, and who uses the pronouns they/them/their) died March 3 in Louisville, Kentucky due to natural causes. They were 70. Llwyd was ...
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Body of 19-year-old Chicago Black trans woman found in June 2020, identified April 2021
On June 6, 2020, the body of an unidentified young Black trans person was found in an abandoned building at 7908 S Laflin in Chicago. https://twitter.com/KaylaraOwl/status/1292173435750277123 . Koko Nia Labeija was born 29 May 2001 in ...
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PASSAGES Retired Chicago Police Commander Nancy Y. Lipman dies
Retired Chicago Police Commander Nancy Y. Lipman died April 11 due to complications from ovarian cancer. She was 61. Lipman was born Jan. 21, 1960 in Chicago and graduated from Morgan Park High School. She also ...
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PASSAGES Donald Duane Slater
Donald Duane Slater, age 73, of Kalamazoo Michigan made his transition on April 8, 2021 in his home, of natural causes. Don worked in several bars in the 1970's and 80's. Among them the Glory Hole ...
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Longtime LGBTQ activist Julie Valloni dies
Longtime LGBTQ activist Julie Valloni died March 28 in Rockford, Illinois due to complications from a hip fracture. She was 80. Valloni was born July 12, 1940 and grew up in Chicago where she graduated from ...
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PASSAGES John Stephen Hunt
John Stephen Hunt—a writer, world literati and global human-rights activist based in Chicago—died March 17 of natural causes in Chicago. He was 85. Hunt came out as a 20-year-old gay man during his U.S. Army Service. ...
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Longtime Chicago LGBTQ, HIV/AIDS activist Roman Buenrostro dies
Longtime Chicago LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist Roman Buenrostro died March 25 due to complications from cancer. He was 54. Buenrostro was born Jan. 18, 1967 in Chicago. When his father retired, the family moved to Southern ...
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PASSAGES Roman Buenrostro
Roman Buenrostro, a past AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) Director of Special Projects passed away on March 25, 2021. He was a longtime LGBTQ+ leader and activist for people living with HIV and a co-founder of the ...
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PASSAGES Downstate activist Buff Carmichael passes away
Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist Buff Carmichael II, who was publisher of the Prairie Flame newspaper, passed away March 21 at his home in Springfield after a long illness. He was 73. A longtime State of Illinois employee, ...
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WORLD Court rulings, trans kids' books, activist dies, Naomi Campbell
A Chinese court upheld a ruling that a textbook description of homosexuality as "a psychological disorder" was not a factual error but merely an "academic view," according to the South China Morning Post. The Chinese LGBT ...
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PASSAGES Maya Kali Evans dies at 53
Maya Kali Evans (formerly Curtis O. Love)—a tattoo artist and caregiver who resided in Newark, Illinois, and who previously lived in Chicago and Philadelphia—passed away peacefully Feb. 18, 2021, at home in Newark. She was 53. ...
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PASSAGES Dr. Gary B. Beringer, epidemiologist, dies at 70
Epidemiologist Gary B. Beringer, Dr. P.H., age 70, passed away suddenly Wednesday, Jan. 27 at his home in Chicago, IL. Gary, an only child, is survived by his wife, Nancy M. Abbate, who worked closely with ...
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Queer musician Ari Gold dies at 47
New York City-based dance artist Ari Gold has died at age 47 after a long battle with cancer, according to out.com. Gold—who was also known as Sir Ari and GoldNation— released seven albums as a part ...
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PASSAGES Robert Thomas Cichocki, J.D. dies at 70
Robert Thomas Cichocki, J.D., passed away peacefully at home in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood on Feb. 5. He was 70. After earning his B.A. from Wayne State University and his J.D. from The John Marshall Law ...
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Original Supreme Mary Wilson dies at 76
Mary Wilson, a founding member of The Supremes, died Feb. 8 at her home in Las Vegas at age 76, media outlets reported. Wilson was an original member of the iconic Motown group known for hits ...
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PASSAGES Gordon Keith Richardson
Gordon Keith Richardson of Washington, D.C., passed away on Feb. 4, 2021, at the age of 60 from complications of COVID-19. Keith was born in Leadville, CO, and raised primarily in St. Charles, Missouri. He graduated ...
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Former CTU President Karen Lewis dies at 67
Former Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis has died at age 67, The Chicago Tribune reported. She led a seven-day strike in 2012 (the first in a quarter-century) and was a one-time mayoral hopeful who ...
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PASSAGES Elzie Bates
Elzie Bates was born at home April 6, 1931, in McComb, Mississippi. His birth was never officially recorded so for most of his adult life, his many friends celebrated his birthday on the day of Elzie's ...
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PASSAGES Carmen Vazquez, social justice activist
--From press releases
The National LGBTQ Task Force: The National LGBTQ Task Force is deeply saddened to announce the death of Carmen Vàzquez, long-time LGBTQ+ and social justice activist. Carmen died on Jan. 27, 2021 of COVID related complications. ...
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Pioneering AIDS researcher Dr. Joseph Sonnabend dead at 88
--From a media release by HIVPlusMagazine
Pioneering AIDS researcher and clinician Joseph Sonnabend, 88, died Jan. 24, 2021 at the Wellington Hospital in London, after suffering a heart attack on Jan.3, 2021. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a physician mother and ...
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Broadcasting legend Larry King dies at 87
Broadcasting icon Larry King has died at age 87, CNN.com reported. King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Ora Media, the studio and network he co-founded, tweeted. No cause of death was given, but ...
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PASSAGES Kevin McCarthy
Kevin Creedon McCarthy, of Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood, passed away after a brief illness on Jan. 11. He was 53. Raised in Arlington Heights, Kevin studied communications at the University of Missouri before embarking on a long ...
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PASSAGES George H. Gibson
George Horner Gibson died at his home in Chicago on Jan. 3, 2021. He was 88. Gibson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. He graduated from Furman University with bachelor's ...
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PASSAGES Chicago activist Benny Montgomery dies
Benny M. Montgomery Jr.—a longtime Chicago-based LGBTQ-rights activist who had worked as a constituent services administrator for U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and former Congresswoman Cardiss Collins, among other politicians—passed away ...
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Chicago trans woman Eshay Key, 25, dies in Christmas shooting
Column by Sue Kerr
Just a week after writing about the ugly shooting death of a 19-year-old Black gender nonconforming young adult while they were at a Christmas party, I was hopeful there would be no more deaths to cover ...
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'Party Monster' killer Michael Alig dies at 54
Michael Alig who was at the center of the LGBTQ "club kids" scene in late 1980s and early '90s Manhattan, and whose involvement in the murder and dismemberment of his drug dealer was chronicled in the 2003 film Party Monster died Dec. 25th ...
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PASSAGES Chicago gay pioneer Richard Cooke dies
Richard Cooke, a longtime Chicago resident and familiar East Lakeview presence along with his dachshund Governor, died in the early morning hours of Dec. 12, after suffering a heart attack earlier in the week. He was ...
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PASSAGES Ravinia producer Stephen R. Smoot, 57
--From a press release
Stephen R. Smoot, who produced hundreds of concerts for Ravinia Festival since 2005, died suddenly on Friday, Nov. 27. He was 57. Known for his quick wit and generous impulse to shine the spotlight on others, ...
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PASSAGES LGBT activist, former Oak Park, Illinois mayor Joanne Trapani dies
LGBT activist and former Oak Park, Illinois Mayor Joanne Trapani died Nov. 29 due to complications from her endometrial cancer diagnosis. She was 71. Trapani was born in Corona, Queens, New York City on Aug. 5, ...
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PASSAGES Joanne E. Trapani
According to Facebook posts, Joanne E. Trapani, one-time village president of Oak Park, has passed away. Read about her life and work in the community at the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame: http://chicagolgbthalloffame.org/trapani-joanne/ . and at ...
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Award-winning journalist Deb Price dead at 62
Deb Price, the award-winning journalist and author who wrote the first nationally syndicated column on LGBT issues in mainstream newspapers, has died in a hospital at age 62 in Hong Kong, where she had lived for ...
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PASSAGES Adrian Ford
Adrian Robert Ford, of Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, died unexpectedly Nov. 17. He was 74 Born in Rochester, New York, on May 11, 1946 to Clarence and Ruth Ford, Adrian grew up in Webster, New York, ...
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PASSAGES Marsha M. Wetzel
Marsha Marie Wetzel, advocate for the LGBTQ community, died peacefully at her Greenview Place home in Chicago, Illinois, on Nov. 1, 2020. In keeping with her faith, she passed on All Saints Day. She was preceded ...
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PASSAGES Kevin Putz
Evanston resident Kevin Andrew Putz has passed away, He was 56. Kevin was the beloved husband of Michael McNamara; son of Sharon Putz and the late Dr. Gerard J. Putz; loving brother of Michael (Connie) Putz ...
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PASSAGES Activist John Chester remembered
Longtime LGBT activist and former Chicagoan John Chester passed away Oct. 10 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he had been living since retirement. He was 78. Chester, who was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian ...
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PASSAGES Transgender advocate, journalist Monica Roberts dies
--From a National LGBTQ Task Force press release
"This week, the LGBTQ+ community lost one of our fiercest voices in Monica Roberts, an activist who not only lifted up the stories of trans people and inspired generations of countless transgender and non-binary people but ...
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WORLD Egypt arrests, Trans Legal Mapping Report, designer dies
In Egypt, authorities are accused of using dating apps and social media to track down and arrest queer folks in their latest attempt to "clean the streets," Out.com noted. Human Rights Watch interviewed 15 people who ...
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Oct. 3 vigil to honor Ramos Vargas
Chicagoans will gather in Humboldt Park the evening of Saturday, Oct. 3 to honor the memory of Michelin Ramos Vargas, a transgender woman who was murdered in Puerto Rico on Sept. 30. The event begins at ...
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PASSAGES Timothy Ray Brown, who was cured of HIV, dies of cancer at 54
After a five-month battle with leukemia, Timothy Ray Brown—publicized as the first known person to be cured of HIV, and also known by many as "The Berlin Patient"—has died of cancer, according to the International AIDS ...
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PASSAGES Former Northalsted bartender Eric Sangster dies at 37
Northalsted bartender Eric Sangster died Sept. 17 unexpectedly at the age of 37. At the time of this article's publication, Sangster's cause of death is unknown. Sangster was born June 4, 1983, on a Jacksonville, North ...
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg films out Sept. 25
As a tribute of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's life and legacy, Focus Features and Magnolia Pictures will be re-releasing On the Basis of Sex and RBG—both films about Ginsburg—Friday, Sept. 25 in theaters, ...
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Trans Puerto Rico icon dies at 73
Soraya Santiago—the first person from Puerto Rico known to have undergone gender reassignment surgery and a longtime icon for the U.S. territory's LGBTQ community—has died of cancer, ABC News reported. She was 73. Santiago had frequented ...
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PASSAGES Gay business owner/nightlife figure Bob Yeaworth dies
Gay business owner and promoter Robert "Bob" Yeaworth died Sept. 14 from complications due to his ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) diagnosis. He was 64. Yeaworth was born Sept. 17, 1955 in Cincinnati, Ohio, ...
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PASSAGES Wayland D. Rogers
Wayland D. Rogers—a singer, conductor, teacher and celebrated composer based in Chicago—passed away Sept. 9 after a long illness. He was 78. Rogers was born to Othal and Dova (Barrier) Rogers on Dec. 26, 1941, in ...
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NCLR mourns LGBTQ equality champion Justice Ginsburg
--From a press release
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) mourns the tragic loss of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — a true champion for LGBTQ rights in her 27 years on the U.S. Supreme Court. ...
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