Weekly news from the GLBT world http://www.windycitytimes.com/windycitytimes.html 2008-05-17T04:23:25-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://www.windycitytimes.com/images/publications/wct/2008-05-14/current.jpg text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Amy Wooten http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18338 Former state Rep. Larry McKeon, D-Chicago, passed away May 13, leaving behind a rich legacy as a both a politician and activist. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Yasmin Nair http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18350 Recent historical work reveals that Stonewall was not a singular moment of queer insurgency and that the mid-to-late 1960s was an era of queer radical political potential. According to Susan Stryker, professor of women';s studies at Vancouver';s Simon Fraser University, the 1966 police raid at San Francisco';s Compton';s Cafeteria, in the Tenderloin district, helped launch a national movement for transgender rights. For Stryker, the term transgender doesn';t name a kind of person but means anything that breaks apart and makes visible the ways in which people define their roles in society, such as through their gender or sexual identity and kinship structures. Events like the Compton';s raid reveal the radical potential of queer politics in general. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Suzanne Kraus http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18312 Are you a Milwaukee PrideFest Virgin? Yes, there is a first time for everything! Be brave! Be open! Be strong! And, of course, expect the best. Practically speaking, I hope this overview will encourage you to check it out for yourself. Is this going to be the year? You are going to love it! text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18313 Pictured: El San Juan Hotel & Casino text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Andrew Davis http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18325 Las Vegas is changing. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Ross Forman http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18326 They ate pizza and drank margaritas that September day in 1998, brainstorming their future. Partners Mike Jones, Danny Esterline and Greg Trzybinski had just finished moving furniture out of a cottage in Douglas, Mich., when they came up with the idea to buy a gay bar. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Rex Wockner http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18355 Gay man elected text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com JIM EDMINSTER http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18300 Has the Dyke Anti-Defamation League heard of this one from the Chicago Sun-Times ; May 1 ; ? Greek residents of the island of Lesbos have sued to prohibit the use of the word lesbian to describe sexual identity. So far, the inhabitants of Crete haven';t complained. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Ross Forman http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18337 Rachel Belcher knows she';ll be teary-eyed when she crosses the starting and finish lines for The Banco Popular Chicago Half Marathon Sept. 14. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18352 More brave souls stepped up to the mic as the Windy City Gay Idol series continued May 7 at @mosphere, 5355 N. Clark. ; And, as an added treat for audience members, there were giveaways of Mariah Carey';s and Estelle';s latest CDs. ; James and Judith were chosen to move on the May 31 semifinals at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted. The next event is the wild-card round, to be held May 29 at Spin, 800 W. Belmont. Photos by Kirk Williamson text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Owen Keehnen http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18293 Last week, Windy City Times ran the first of a two-part real-life story involving the journey to motherhood for lesbian couple Christy Webber and Jennie Rule. This is the conclusion of that piece. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Andrews Davis and Amy Wooten http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18294 Seldom has a transition been greeted with as much fanfare ; at least in the LGBT press ; as when the Center on Halsted opened its doors last spring. Since then, the Center has done everything from host forums to house various organizationswhile raising funds that seem to dwarf what most groups accomplish. ; April';s Human First Gala, for example, raised $1.1 million. ; However, the Center has also had to deal with controversy throughout its first year, including charges that the organization lacks diversity and has turned a blind eye regarding issues affecting minority youth. Windy City Times recently talked with the Center';s executive director, Modesto Tico Valle ; pictured ; , as he explained the organization';s triumphs and challenges. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Jonathan Abarbanel, Theater Editor http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18295 About Face Theatre has named Bonnie Metzgar as artistic director, concluding a six-month national search for a successor to Eric Rosen. A producer, director, playwright and dramaturg with broad national credentials and experience, Metzgar';s first order of business will be to assemble About Face';s 2008-2009 season. She';s expected to announce a three-play season in June as About Face enters a second year as a resident company at the Center on Halsted';s Hoover-Leppen Theatre. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Lola Lai Jong http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18296 **************** REVISED ON-LINE EDITION ******************** text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Scott C. Morgan http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18297 Carrying on traditions is the dilemma facing the characters in She Calls Up the Sun, Addae Moon';s 2002 drama that is concluding MPAACT';s 2007-08 season of revivals. Moon shows how traditions keep you rooted to your ancestors, but can also keep you from progressing in a world of change. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Catey Sullivan http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18298 David Cromer has a profound, unusually acute understanding of the aching, eternal poetry of melancholia. As for the mordant, pitch-black humor that accompanies ; and allows us to survive ; such bottomless sorrowhe gets that also. It';s his deep comprehension of that duality and his ability to bring it into perfect diamond-sharp focus on stage that makes Cromer one of Chicago';s most gifted directors. In his brilliant, minimalist staging of Thornton Wilder';s Our Town, he strips Wilder';s well-worn chestnut clean of sentiment and schmaltz and reveals a fable of Darwinian brutality and vitality. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Yasmin Nair http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18299 Arsham Parsi is the head of the IRQO ; Iranian Queer Organization ; . Parsi was born in 1980. As he tells it, he grew up in Shiraz with no contact with other gay people until he found queer communities on the Internet. Following that, he worked on HIV issues, until rumors of his sexual orientation began to spread and he feared persecution. According to Human Rights Watch, Iranian law punishes all penetrative sexual acts between adult men with the death penalty. Reports indicate that women and lesbians also endure lack of access to equal rights and persecution. Parsi fled to Turkey and then to Canada, where he applied for asylum. Today, according to Parsi, IRQO works for the decriminalization of homosexuality in Iran, and to increase awareness about queer issues among Iranians. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com David Byrne with Tony Peregrin http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18301 Once again, Chicago';s godfather of the LGBT music scene, Scott Free, gathers an elite ensemble of queer singer-songwriters for the annual Alt Q Festival at The Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln, May 17. The Outmusic Award winner will be joined by independent voice Cris Williamson, acoustic duo Coyote Grace, Edward Thomas-Herrera, alternative country';s The Erin Waters Show and Chicago';s very own cabaret darling, Mekole Wells. Now in its eighth year, the Alt Q Festival is the ultimate gathering of LGBT artists sharing their experiences. Highlights from the festival are hearing these out musicians introduce their material and interact with the audience. A meet-the-artists reception will follow the event, which benefits Black LGBT & Allies for Equality. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Ross Forman http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18303 ORLANDO, Fla.Rick Borucki has been a concierge here at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, a five-star luxury resort, arguably the nicest hotel in this market. It';s the only job that I';ve had in my life that I';d do for free, he said. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Steve Starr http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18304 Debra Messing was born Aug. 15, 1968, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her parents wished a quieter life for their daughter and her older brother, and moved the family to a small community just outside Providence, R.I. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18305 If Sen. Hillary Clinton needed motivation to continue campaigning to be the Democratic presidential candidate, she got it May 13. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Yasmin Nair http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18306 The Center on Halsted';s Sexual Orientation and Gender Institute ; SOGI ; convened a roundtable discussion on HIV/AIDS and the LGBTQ community May 11. Discussants included people from the Chicago Department of Public Health ; CDPH ; and healthcare professionals. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Yasmin Nair http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18307 Was Jane Addams a lesbian? Does that matter? And should Adams be posthumously inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame? text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18308 Steve Mange, senior policy advisor for Attorney General Lisa Madigan, is the new executive director of the Illinois Meth Project. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18309 Windy City Times is now accepting submissions for the fifth annual GLBTQ Pride Literary Supplement, edited by Kathie Bergquist and Owen Keehnen. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18310 Get out your suits and dresses, because Queer Prom 2008 is May 23. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18311 U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., held her 7th Annual Ultimate Women';s Power Lunch May 9 at McCormick Place, 2301 S. Lake Shore. Among the many distinguished speakers were U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and potential First Lady Michelle Obama. The featured guest was former United States CIA Operations Officer Valerie Plame Wilson ; pictured with Women and Children First Books owner Linda Bubon ; , who also promoted her book, Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House. Images: Schakowsky; and ; from left ; Roger Simon, Ald. Sandi Jackson and Mike Bauer. Photos by Kat Fitzgerald; see www.windycitymediagroup.com/photos/SchakowskyLnch2008-05 for more photos and www.MysticImagesPhotography.com for even more text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18314 At its second annual Lavender Graduation and Rainbow Banquet May 2, the University of Illinois at Chicago ; UIC ; re-launched its LGBTQA office as the UIC Gender and Sexuality Center. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18315 Irving Park United Methodist Church and Reconciling Ministries Network will hold a fundraising event called Testimonies of Hope in support of LGBT people. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18316 A local reseracher is seeking participants for a study about bisexual women';s health. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18317 The Crossroads Fund Youth Fund for Social Change gave Youth Pride Center ; YPC ; a grant to create 10 much-needed gay-straight alliances ; GSAs ; at South Side public schools. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18318 Men Nurturing Men announced that it will offer an eight-week peer-led support group for men. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18319 The AIDS Foundation of Chicago';s Junior Board held its signature event, Make a Statement: Design for the Cure, Thurs., May 8, at Le Passage, 937 N. Rush. The mission of this event was to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among those 21-35. Steven Rosengard ; of Project Runway fame ; hosted the fashion show and cocktail event, which featured a silent auction, live entertainment and a raffle. To kick off National HIV/AIDS Testing Month in June, models will wear T-shirts with such statements as Safe Sex Is the New Black. Photos by Kat Fitzgerald; see www.MysticImagesPhotography.com for more text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18320 Over the past 10 years more than 10,000 personnel have been discharged as a result of ; Don';t Ask, Don';t Tell ; , including 800 with skills deemed ‘mission critical,'; such as pilots, combat engineers, and linguists. These are the very job functions for which the military has experienced personnel shortfalls. General John M. Shalikashvili, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993 when the ‘don';t ask, don';t tell'; policy was enacted, no longer supports the policy because he now believes that allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military would no longer create intolerable tension among personnel and undermine cohesion. A recent Zogby poll supports this view. It found that three-quarters of Afghanistan and Iraq veterans were comfortable interacting with gay people. Lawrence J. Korb, assistant secretary of defense under President Reagan, testifying before the House Committee on Armed Services, April 16. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Amy Wooten http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18321 Michigan';s high court ruled 5-2 that the partners of gay and lesbian state workers can';t get health benefits because of the state';s 2004 ban against same-sex marriage. Michigan';s Supreme Court affirmed a 2007 appeals court ruling that local governments and state universities in Michigan can';t offer health insurance to same-sex partners of employees. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Marie J. Kuda http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18322 As part of the ongoing Chicago Gay History Project, Windy City Times will present a series on Chicago gay history events and people over the coming months. This essay focuses on the city';s cross-dressing ordinance. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Rev. Irene Monroe http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18323 When the nation celebrated Mother';s Day, I hope that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans did not forget our mother of the marriage equality movement, who died last week: Mildred Jeter Loving. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Patrick Finnessy http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18324 As an instructor of gender and women';s studies, I often challenge my students about what in life is or is not gendered. Can they, I ask, tell the difference between a biological male';s writing versus a biological female';s? Assuring me that they can, I present to them three separate pictures, and I ask them to write a short story about each picture. Then, I read them aloud, and students try to identify if it is a female author or a male one. We then discuss the results, and the class sees that they were correct about 50 percent of the time. Which is exactly about right. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Eric Eatherly http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18327 Family. Memory. A lost sense of history. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Mary Shen Barnidge http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18328 How did Circle Theatre know, planning its 2007-2008 season, that we';d have a winter like the one we just had or a spring ; ? ; like this one, and thus would be sooooo ready for a play celebrating the idyllic pleasures of wisteria and sunshine on the southern coast of Italy? Not that our weather compares to the February in 1922 England, rendered even darker by memories of the recent Great War, that spurs a plucky matron to take action against the gloom. Nor can we estimate the level of daring and audacity reflected in her impulsive decision to vacation in a rented castle on the continent. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Richard Knight, Jr. http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18329 Openly gay French writer-director André Téchiné, probably best known to LGBT film audiences for 1994';s The Wild Reeds, returns with The Witnesses, a beautifully nuanced character drama set in Paris at the outset of the AIDS epidemic. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Scott C. Morgan http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18330 The intensely personal is also intensely political in Heather Raffo';s 9 Parts of Desire. In this one-woman show, Iraqi-American playwright and actress Raffo becomes a forceful messenger to confront with many aspects to the moral morass that is the Iraq War. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Jonathan Abarbanel, Theater Editor http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18331 A middle-aged man loses his job after more than 20 years. His oldest son is a slacker seemingly destined to fail; his younger son is driven to success that doesn';t fulfill him. The father';s pursuit of the American Dreamespecially for his sonsremains unrealized. The parallels to Arthur Miller';s Death of a Salesman are striking, but Durango is set in 21st-century America, where Korean immigrant Boo-Seng Lee is the father of Isaac, 21, and Jimmy, 15. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Catey Sullivan http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18332 Imagine an ooky-spooky woodland wonderland whose inhabitants are defined by angsty-faced interpretive dance that';s an unintentional parody of interpretive dance. Tack on a narrative comprised of shopworn fairy tale clichés. Factor in some would-be lesbian erotica that';s actually about as erotic as, oh, a menstruating five-year-old represented by a wooden puppet. And welcome to the world of Laura Jacqmin';s 10 Virgins. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18333 Trumbo, now at Timeline Theatre, presents the life and letters of journalist, screenwriter and political prisoner Dalton Trumbo ; 1905-1976 ; . One of the Hollywood Ten cited for contempt of Congress in 1947, Trumbo spent 10 months in prison and 10 years blacklisted by Hollywood. In 1960 Trumbo received screen credit for Exodus and was acknowledged for authoring Spartacus, breaking the blacklist. The Fixer, Papillon and Johnny Got His Gun are other Trumbo works. Outstanding Chicago actor Howard Witt portrays the politically courageous writer in this two-character biography developed by Trumbo';s son. Performed Sundays and Mondays only at 7 p.m., Trumbo continues through June 2; 615 W. Wellington; 773-281-8463; $15. Photo by Lara Goetsch text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18334 As Told By the Vivian Girls, Dog & Pony at Theater on the Lake, through May 25. Viewers follow the action from room to room in this rare example of parade theater, inspired by recluse artist Henry Darger';s paintings and perverse Catholic fantasy of enslaved girls. JA text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18353 Country-singing legend and gay icon Dolly Parton entertained a few thousand people May 8-9 at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State. Not only did she croon many of her hits, but she also engaged in some vivid banter with her audience. Photo by Vern Hester text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18336 Written by Gene Robinson text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18354 The information that ran with the April 30 review of Lewis and Clark Reach the Euphrates was incorrect. The playwright is Robert Schenkkan, and it is at the Infamous Commonwealth Theatre at the Old Speakeasy, 4139 N. Broadway. Tickets are $20 and the contact number is 312-458-9780. Windy City Times regrets the error. text/html 2008-05-14T05:00:00-06:00 http://www.windycitytimes.com Terri Klinsky http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=18351 Last Saturday ; May 3 ; started out as a beautiful, sunny, spring day. Then I left the house. The dogs and I headed over to pick up our friend Kathy and head down to Montrose Beach for the 14th Annual Bark in the Park. Our wild spring weather took an ugly, windy turn that my hair is still complaining about. But it was the day of the Bark in the Park, and our dachshund group had been looking forward to it for months, so my hair, my short dogs and I persevered. The Bark in the Park is a 3.2-mile fundraising walk to benefit The Anti-Cruelty Society ; ACS ; . The ACS has been around since 1899 and, according to its mission statement, the organization exist [ s ] to prevent cruelty to animals and to advance humane education.