Evette Cardona, Mona Noriega reflect on years of activism ahead of Pride Parade Grand Marshals role
Longtime LGBTQ+ advocates/activists Evette Cardona and Mona Noriega are among this year’s Chicago Pride Parade Community Grand Marshals. Cardona and Noriega were chosen alongside author, Press Forward Chicago Executive Director and Windy City Times Co-Founder/Owner Tracy Baim and the Alliance of Illinois Judges (Illinois’ LGBTQ+ judges’ association).…
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LGBTQ+ Justice Town Hall Forum focuses on effective advocacy strategies
City officials and local advocates gathered June 2 for Bridging Community Voices and Legal Advocacy, a Pride month forum examining the current LGBTQ+-rights landscape and effective advocacy strategies supporting meaningful, community-driven change. The discussion took place at the downtown Chicago headquarters of the Hinshaw and Culbertson LLP law firm. Panelists included Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater…
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PASSAGES Anthony Galloway
Longtime HIV and LGBTQ+ marginalized communities advocate Anthony Charles Galloway died May 27 due to cardiac arrest. He was 44. Galloway was born Aug. 29, 1981, in East St. Louis, Illinois where he spent his childhood and teen years. He attended St. Louis Community College and then moved on to Fontbonne University in St. Louis, where he received…
Nation & World
IN BRIEF Jason Collins, trans student stabbed, Warsaw’s pro-marriage move, Uganda drops bill, INK, Janet Jackson, Sally Field
NATIONAL Jason Collins—the NBA’s first openly gay player, who went on to become a pioneer for inclusion—died at age 47 after an eight-month battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer, according to media reports.…
Theater / Dance
THEATER/FILM Chicago celebrates Pride on stage and screen this month
Whether you are in the mood to laugh or cry, Chicago theaters are offering incredible entertainment options to help us celebrate Pride Month. Read below to discover some of Windy City Times’s favorite theater and film options for the month of June. Theater The complexity involved with being a 20th Century homosexual surely played a…
Music
Chicago singers help Belting for Life reach new heights
On May 11, the 11th annual Belting for Life Concert reached a new milestone. The event, a fundraiser for AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) was the most successful Belting for Life event yet, nearly selling out SPACE at 1245 Chicago Ave. in Evanston. Conceived, produced and curated by Christopher Pazdernik—and taking place on his birthday—Belting for…
Film / TV / Gossip
FILM The Chicago Critics Film Festival winds up with a Wilde week in the Windy City
The Chicago Critics Film Festival is curated by the Chicago Film Critics Association and is the only United States film festival programmed exclusively by critics. Founded in 1990, the Chicago Film Critics Association supports filmmaking and is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization. For its 13th edition, the CCFF was held from May 1-7 in 2026, at…
Books / Art
Trans
Advocates celebrate passage of bill ensuring more access to prescription hormone therapy
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. – The Illinois General Assembly has passed legislation that supports patients’ access to prescription hormone therapy by requiring insurance policies to cover up to a six-month supply. HB 5492 is the initiative of Equality Illinois, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Action, and Planned Parenthood Illinois Action. Sponsored by Illinois House Assistant Majority Leader Katie…
Lesbian
Chicago advocate Norma Seledon mentors a new generation
Norma Seledon’s mother was a teacher who often provided additional lessons to her six children after school. Seledon herself didn’t take a traditional path to teaching like her mother’s, but she still felt that call to help and mentor others. Now 63 with decades of service to the Latino and LGBTQ+ communities behind her, seledon…