Chicago celebrates artist/activist Chilli Pepper at street sign unveiling
The late legendary performance artist and LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist Chilli Pepper was celebrated with an “Honorary Chilli Pepper Way” street sign by the City of Chicago on the sunny Fall morning of Oct. 3 (the day after Chilli’s birthday) at the corner of North State and…
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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…
SAVOR Starbucks’ holiday menu, The Secret Kitchen celebrates Navratri and ‘Gong Show Karaoke Night’
Harlem night: Marking a rare return to Chicago and The Auditorium, Dance Theatre of Harlem will make its first engagement in the city since November 2016 when it performs Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the venue. The company’s return to The Auditorium will include the legendary Firebird, a reimagining of the Russian folk tale…
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Fall Fashion Show offers trans and non-binary Chicagoans a chance at expression
On Oct. 2, FashionBar LLC presented its 9th Annual Fall Trans Media Fashion Show at Water Tower Place, 875 N. Michigan Ave. The presentation was the second of the year and featured clothing and designs from IAMTONYLONG, Out of the Closet, Haley from the Third Period and Brown Elephant and served as a fundraiser for Vernita Gray Council for Philanthropy and Broadway Youth Center. Guests were treated to…
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)…