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LETTER: Unnecessary legislation
To the Editor: At a time when Illinois lawmakers should be supporting healthcare heroes who are working tirelessly during the COVID-19 pandemic, we instead receive unwelcome new legislation that will drive up the costs of practicing ...
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OP-ED: New Year's Eve circuit parties go on despite COVID-19 travel concerns
This past New Year's Eve, thousands of gay men flocked to Mexico to attend a New Year's eve "White Party" hosted by long time party promoter Jeffrey Sanker—the host of the annual white party in Palm ...
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OPINION Where do we go from here (redux)?
The year 2020 has been a stressful one. With George Floyd's death as an inflection point about race and racism in America, an unprecedented presidential election and social unrest during an ongoing pandemic with a rising ...
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VIEWS Taking care of your mental health during a COVID holiday season
By Adam Ouanes
This holiday season is unlike any before, and it leaves many people feeling unsure about how to get into the holiday spirit. It's not unusual for many people to find this time of year overwhelming, but ...
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The Amazon Trail: Rats fleeing a sinking ship
I've heard the idiom "like rats fleeing a sinking ship" often lately, and while the metaphor is apt for what's going on in the United States, at our house it's even more befitting. Merriam Webster notes, ...
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VIEWPOINT Harris stands on shoulders of giants
The struggle to get President-elect Joe Biden to the finish line first with 270 electoral college votes was unquestionably an epic battle. However, Biden's battle wasn't a century-long one like women finally winning the right to ...
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Lilly Wachowski: Refuse Fascism, at the Ballot Box and in the Street
Video below
In a rare, public and political statement, filmmaker Lilly Wachowski (co-creator of The Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta, Sense8) published this personal essay on the literary website, LitHub.com, calling on people to "Refuse Fascism, at the ...
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VIEWPOINT Is Pope Francis' support of civil unions just lip service?
Pope Francis has expressed support for civil unions in the Catholic Church. Once again, the pontiff has sent shockwaves across the globe to 1.3 billion of his followers with another LGBTQ- affirming statement. However, this one ...
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LETTER Pope Francis appoints America's first African American cardinal
Pope Francis has appointed 13 new cardinals world wide. Archbishop Gregory is listed as elevated to cardinal by his Holiness. The archbishop served in Chicago for 10 years under Cardinal Joseph Bernadine, being transferred to Atlanta ...
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LETTER Thank you, Pope Francis
I never thought I would live to see the day when a pope would endorse civil rights for LGBTQ couples. Praise God for His Grace. Also, the many Roman Catholic individuals and organizations who worked so ...
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR Nomination of Amy Coney Barrett
Women-Church Convergence, a coalition of Catholic-rooted organizations including DignityUSA, deplores the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. We have serious concerns about the judgment of any nominee ...
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR Lambda Legal responds to nomination of Judge Barrett
--From a press release
Lambda Legal sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging its members to oppose Judge Amy Coney Barrett. The rushed confirmation hearings began today for President Trump's nominee to fill the seat of the late ...
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LETTER Vote
President Trump, you have had almost four years to lead the United States and have failed us by your own choosing. Whether it be in foreign policy and domestic policy you have not protected the United States ...
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VIEWPOINT As a gay bipolar man, I've learned to live with suicidal thoughts
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 20. LGBTQ+ youth seriously contemplate suicide at almost three times the rate of heterosexual youth. In addition, LGBTQ+ youth are almost five ...
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LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH My Notorious RBG moment
In the 1990s, the U.S. Senate was attempting in every possible way to censor this new thing called the internet. The senators soon came up with an idea to stop information that might be objectionable to ...
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OP-ED: Ruth Bader Ginsburg bent the moral arc toward justice
Like so many Americans across the country, I, too, am mourning the news that U.S. Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died due to complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer. She was 87. As a soft-spoken firebrand ...
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LETTER Culture and diversity
Dear editor: I want to respond to the Windy City Times article of Aug. 19 titled "Organization leaders discuss board diversity strategies," which was itself a reaction to the survey in the July 22 issue concerning ...
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MOMBIAN True stories, trans tales and more in new picture books
New books can be a delightful relief in these days of quarantine. Here are some of the many new LGBTQ-inclusive picture books that just came out last month. (See Mombian.com for even more.) The Fighting Infantryman, ...
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VIEWPOINTS Get involved in Michigan now
You probably feel anxious and frustrated by the political climate and the risk that the Republicans will cheat their way to victory or the Democrats will bumble their way to defeat. The best thing you can ...
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VIEWPOINT The common thread of LGBTQ+ stigma and mental health
The relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and mental health has always varied from country to country. But when religion enters the conversation, a whole new aspect escalates the stigma. Countries all over the world have high ...
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR Wear a mask
Dear editor: Wear a mask. Illinois made great strides fighting COVID-19, but it will take sustained effort and discipline to keep the virus under control. Illinois doctors are asking everyone to take two simple actions when ...
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My case for being in Congress
By Dani Brzozowski
"I already told my family that if I catch this virus — God forbid — I'm not going to the hospital. I'll pop myself or cut myself rather than die in the hospital, miserable and alone." ...
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR A word, please...
Dear editor: We just finished reading your WCT's interview with Jay Manuel (in the Aug. 5 issue), and we have an important question. Did you ask or even challenge him about the book's title, and the ...
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LETTER What's in a name? And striving for racial equality
What's in a name? Dear community: The growing debate over the name change of Boystown is reflective of a broader cultural tectonic shift on race, gender, sexual orientation and trans issues that take place in many ...
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VIEWPOINT Coming-out letter
Mom, Starting this letter is by far one of the toughest things I have done in a long time, and trust me, I've done plenty of difficult things. First of all I want to note that this letter is not intended ...
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VIEWPOINTS In support of the fair tax
Passage of the fair tax will improve the lives of the state's LGBTQ community. As CEO of Equality Illinois, the state's civil rights organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer Illinoisans, I can attest that ...
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VIEWPOINTS 'All Boys Aren't Blue' is the audacious memoir of a Black queer man
George M. Johnson could not have known about this moment in history when he wrote his memoir, All Boys Aren't Blue, but for this white male reader, the sounds of courageous protestors in our streets were ...
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LETTER Taking a stand
Dear community: We must stand opposed to racism, whatever the cost. The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis was not just a case of excessive force or brutality. It was a murder—plain and simple. Police officer ...
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VIEWPOINT Uncle Charley
I was 17 when I finally figured out that my Uncle Charley was queer. We didn't have the word "gay" in 1953—it just was not in our vocabulary. So, we said "queer" or "fairy" or sometimes the Yiddish word "faygele," which ...
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Stand up and be counted
As the LGBTQ+ navigator of Chinese Mutual Aid Association, I want to encourage everyone, both LGBTQ+ individuals and cisgender/straight allies, to get counted in Census 2020. Many of you might wonder whether completing the Census really ...
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LETTERS On justice, racism, solidarity
Demanding justice Dear familia: In June, another transgender woman of color was murdered—this time, in our own home, in the Southwest Side of Chicago. Today, we honor Selena Reyes-Hernandez. Selena was murdered because of transphobia. This ...
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LETTER Standing up against racism
Dear community: June is Pride Month. Over 50 years ago, on June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. It was one of a long history of raids that the queer community had been regularly ...
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Holocaust Museum: Pride without the parade, a quiet time to learn and reflect
Due to the pandemic, millions across the globe have been living under "shelter in place" ordinances for months. For those of us in the United States, including here in Chicago, state-wide ordinances have forced social hubs ...
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MOMBIAN
Supporting LGBTQ families requires that Black Lives Matter
Black lives matter. Black LGBTQ lives matter. And we will never have a just world for LGBTQ families until we have racial justice. Black same-sex couples are roughly twice as likely as white same-sex couples to ...
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LETTER Black lives matter
Dear community: Today and every day, Black Lives Matter. Like so many of you, I am reeling after the last week and this weekend. WE ARE NOT OK. Our country, our city and many of us are not OK. In fact, ...
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LETTER Say their names
Dear community: SAY THEIR NAMES Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. Nina Pop. George Floyd. Tony McDade. Regis Korchinski-Paquet. We know you are tired. We know you are hurting and filled with anger. We are tired of adding ...
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Remembering a leader: Larry Kramer
We lost a great leader this week with the death of Larry Kramer. Larry was an accomplished man and activist who earned a degree from Yale, an Academy Award nomination as a screenwriter, two Obie Awards ...
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Planning your legacy: VA benefits for LGBTQ veterans and servicemembers
Dear community: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) stands strong in supporting our LGBTQ servicemembers and veterans. As members of the LGBTQ community, we understand you may face many challenges. The last thing you need to ...
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THE AMAZON TRAIL Is there a doctor...
It's that time again. I need to find a healthcare provider. I live in a rural community where there is a large turnover of medical professionals and a constant shortage of qualified staff. The health organization ...
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VIEWS LGBTQ discrimination is a disgrace
Named plaintiff in landmark Supreme Court gay marriage case talks cases now before court
Re the New York Times article, "Aimee Stephens, 59, Plaintiff in Transgender Rights Case" (obituary, May 14): Our world has long been gripped by questions of mortality and legacy, perhaps more than ever in recent months ...
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LETTER Handling the pandemic
Dear community: How is our community responding to the coronavirus pandemic? The key seems to be a social-distance approach that many of our medical and political leaders are counseling. Our religious communities are putting the people ...
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OP-ED: Census 2020 is complicated for LGBTQ people, but it counts
By now, everyone should have received a mailing from the U.S. Census Bureau to get counted. I have complicated feelings about the census. While the census is critically important to ensure a fair allocation of funding ...
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MOMBIAN: COVID-19 pauses family-building for many LGBTQ people
Nina Willbach and her wife, a Philadelphia couple, have been trying to get pregnant since last June via assisted insemination. In March, they were told that their most recent attempt didn't work—and they couldn't try again ...
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LETTER In praise of Pritzker
To the Editor: Illinois physicians and hospitals commend Gov. J.B. Pritzker for his steadfast leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Every day he faces tough choices and he is clearly making decisions with the interests of Illinoisans ...
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OP-ED The media needs to stop reporting about Queen Latifah's sexuality
Does the media's cat and mouse game of chase with Queen Latifah lead many of us—especially in the LGBTQ+ community—to another "Gotcha!" moment of her coming out- that ain't!? A recent Zoom version of Red Table ...
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LETTER Administrative errors
Dear Editor: For war against an unforeseen enemy, we need a war administration. If the framers of the Constitution had foreseen the current lack of steady and effective leadership, they surely would have included a mechanism ...
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OP-ED: COVID-19 LGBTQs, minorities disproportionately affected
These are some truly historic times. And in what may come as no surprise to many, the coronavirus pandemic is adversely affecting many more people in marginalized communities, such as the LGBTQ demographic and racial minorities. ...
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THE AMAZON TRAIL A giant
"We lost a giant today," tweeted California state Sen. Scott Weiner, who is chairman of the LGBTQ caucus. A giant is exactly what the ninety-five-year-old Phyllis Lyon was, along with her partner Del Martin, who died ...
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Teachers Union: South Side Black residents need ready access to services
CHICAGO, April 6, 2020—Registered nurses at Provident Hospital are holding a media availability during their shift change to describe how the closure of Provident Hospital's emergency department could impact the health and safety of the patient ...
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LETTER Missing Marc
Dear Editor: I want to add some thoughts about the contributions Marc Loveless made beyond those mentioned in his obituary in the March 18 issue of Windy City Times. Marc was involved in the Illinois Regional ...
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COVID-19, closed churches and LGBTQ Catholics
BY FRANCIS DEBERNARDO
Is anyone anywhere around the globe thinking about anything other than COVID-19, the coronavirus that has paralyzed almost all human activity? I imagine that very few are. The cloud of the virus hangs over everything from ...
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OPEN LETTER Census 2020: The LGBTQ+ community counts
It's a new decade, and that means it's time to complete the Census. The Census is done every 10 years, and informs funding for neighborhood improvements, school districts, public health, the building of new roads and ...
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THE AMAZON TRAIL Mick's potato fertilizer
When I asked for advice about growing potatoes, our friend Mary wrote, "Here is what Mick does: blood meal, green sand, or wood ash, bone meal, a handful of each above item for each potato you ...
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Stop comparing coronavirus to early HIV/AIDS. Just stop.
People ask me if our lives today feel like the early years of HIV/AIDS, and I want to scream. There is no comparison. Just stop. No one cared about people dying of AIDS in the early years of the pandemic. The ...
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Open letter about Coronavirus and the LGBTQ+ communities
New York, NY - Over 100 national and local organizations have signed on to an open letter to health and media outlining how COVID-19 may pose an increased risk to the LGBTQ+ population and laying out ...
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VIEWS In 2020, being queer could be key to a courageous career
by Steve Yacovelli
Remember, in The Wizard of Oz, how the Cowardly Lion—when he got to see the wizard—was like, "What? I already had courage? WTH?" I mean, it was kinda poopy that the wizard made the poor cat ...
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OPINION 'Trans-formal' education
"The year started well, but substitute teachers were not told about Dave's name," my friend Pat told me. "My son was called a distinctly feminine name in a time and at a place where no one knew he was transgender. Without ...
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VIEWS Warren's America would center our voices
Days before I marched in my first Pride Parade in 2015, I waited anxiously for the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision that guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry. I still recall the profound image ...
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VIEWS College for LGBTQ students
Finding yourself and becoming comfortable with your identity is something that people within the LGBTQ community struggle with every day. There is coming to terms with your sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and how you choose ...
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THE AMAZON TRAIL The tabloid edition
Bath Door Balks at Booting Hostage Hostage Trapped for NINETY-MINUTES Suspect Subdued with Electrical Weapon A woman in a remote town in Oregon suffered a harrowing 90 minutes before her rescue by three brave public servants. ...
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LETTER Impeachment
Dear Editor: President Donald J. Trump has been impeached. These words, for me, mean an intentional check on Trump's efforts to corrupt the 2020 election. Dec. 18 was a reckoning for my ancestors who lived on ...
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MOMBIAN LGBTQ parenting: The year in review
This past year saw many challenges to LGBTQ equality—but there was still some progress. Let's review the parenting-specific news of the year. Some setbacks The Trump administration's Department of Health and Human ...
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THE AMAZON TRAIL All I want for the holidays is a left earbud
Not really. My greatest wishes would be for world peace, a year of pain-free good health for all my family, friends, and neighbors, and a brand-new president and Senate majority leader. It would, however, be nice ...
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MOMBIAN Childhood stories of LGBTQ, other social justice activists
Every social justice hero was once a child. Some became activists as children; others did so as adults because of things they experienced when they were young. A new middle-grade book from the prolific Robin Stevenson ...
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LETTER GroceryLand anniversary
Dear Editor: Twenty-five years ago, our beloved GroceryLand opened its doors and served its first participants! On Christmas Eve in 1988, a steadfast and caring crew of volunteers—led by Heartland ...
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THE AMAZON TRAIL The Terminator
This week I went to the movies. It's been a long time since I've said that. Do people even say "the movies" anymore? I married a movie geek. My sweetheart can tell you within a nanosecond who starred in which and ...
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LETTER Voice your choice
Dear Editor: On Nov. 5, New York City overwhelmingly approved ranked choice voting by referendum. We should do those residents one better and enact ranked choice voting for all of Illinois. The Illinois Senate currently has ...
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Halloween unmasks our troubled history with race
Halloween is one of this country's favorite yearly activities. Unfortunately, Halloween can be America's scariest, too—especially for those of us seen as costumes you wear rather than the human beings that we are. Asian Americans, Native ...
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LETTER Response to hate
Dear Editor: God's presence is always reflected in us. As a person of faith, I believe in Jesus Christ. No wonder this generation is starving for the community, connection and relationship when we see attacks on ...
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MOMBIAN LGBTQ-inclusive books, and hope, in rural schools
LGBTQ students in rural schools are more likely to face bias and discrimination than those in urban and suburban ones, but their schools are also less likely to have LGBTQ-inclusive resources to support them. That's why ...
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GUEST COLUMN Ignorance and shortsightedness lead us to the Supreme Court
Jonathan Matthias Lassiter
We will always find ourselves going back to the courts to fight for inclusion until we place the needs of the most vulnerable people first. Those in the mainstream are less inclined to protect those who ...
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LETTER Attorneys needed
Dear Editor: According to the report "The Justice Gap," low-income Americans receive no or inadequate legal help for 86 percent for their non-criminal legal problems. These individuals include senior citizens, veterans and those with disabilities. They ...
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Activists halt U.S. Conference on AIDS to protest CDC
Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surely saw it coming. Protests are part of the DNA of the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA), and conference organizers have ...
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VIEWS Visibility isn't the goal
In mid-July, I interviewed non-binary rapper CJ Run. In discussing the coming out of gay country rapper Lil Nas X, Run articulated something interesting regarding queer visibility. "Around the country there are a lot more queer-ish ...
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Stuff happens. Housing discrimination doesn't have to
Stuff happens—sometimes really awful stuff. Most of my 20+ years of involvement in the LGBTQ community in Chicago has been good stuff. I have been fortunate enough to be a member of the board of directors ...
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