The Chicago Anti-Bashing Network's 2nd Annual Matthew Shepard March & Rally Against Anti-Gay Hate is Sat., Oct. 7. Sam Garrison, longtime gay-rights activist from Roanoke, Va., will deliver the keynote address. Garrison is the leader in the fight against Virginia's sodomy laws and police entrapment of gay men and is Roanoke's only openly-gay lawyer. Call ( 773 ) 878-4781 or ( 773 ) 878-3697.
______
That's A Family!, by the filmmakers who produced the award-winning It's Elementary, will have its Chicago premiere Thursday, Oct. 5 at the Piper's Alley Theatre, 1601 N. Wells. Dozens of city and suburban organizations have signed on as sponsors of the screening, which will benefit the national educational distribution campaign for the film coordinated by Women's Educational Media. That's A Family!, directed by Academy Award-winner Debra Chasnoff, is the first film for school-age children that acknowledges a wide range of family types. That's A Family! is narrated by—and stars—children who are being raised in an array of family structures, including single parent, multiracial, divorced, guardian, adoptive, and gay and lesbian-headed households. Organizations are needed to sign on as supporting the film. Call ( 773 ) 871-0273.
______
Community historian, independent scholar, and Windy City Times columnist Marie Kuda will be presenting two slide illustrated lectures as part of the annually proclaimed Lesbian & Gay History Month. The Oak Park Area Gay & Lesbian Association will sponsor "Image/Artist: Gays & Lesbians as Artists and Subjects from the Mona Lisa to Mapplethorpe," an irreverent survey of the fine arts and photography, at the Buzz Cafe, 906 South Lombard in Oak Park ( 708 ) 524-2899, Wed., Oct. 11, 7 p.m. The Logan Square GLBT Neighbors will sponsor "Henry Blake Fuller & His Chicago," a look at the early gay and lesbian history of the city through the life of Fuller ( 1857-1929 ) , an acclaimed writer who published the U.S.'s first homosexually themed literature and was a keystone in Chicago's cultural development. The event is Saturday, Oct. 21, noon at the Logan Square Branch of the Public Library, 3255 Altgeld, ( 773 ) 278-8563.
National authority on HIV and AIDS policy A. Cornelius Baker will deliver the Bon Foster Memorial Civil Rights Lecture Oct. 20, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said. U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez is the honorary chair for this annual event, which draws hundreds of attorneys and activists for the lesbian and gay community and those living with HIV/AIDS. The luncheon will be held at the Palmer House Hilton on Friday, Oct. 20. Baker is the executive director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C. Call ( 312 ) 663-4413
______
Horizons Community Services has hired Karen Hutt as director of its LGBTQ Youth Services Program. Prem Pahwa has been hired as the agency's first Youth Services Counselor. Bonnie Wade joins the Youth Services Program as North Side Prevention Case Manager. Ernest Patterson has also been hired as the agency's South Side Prevention Case Manager.
Hutt brings to Horizons more than 25 years of experience in developing, implementing, and managing programs for youth of all backgrounds. She is also Co-Founder and Pastor for Education Programs and Leadership Development at Chicago's Church of the Open Door.
In other Horizons news, Stephen Majsak has been named the agency's Director of Development, effective Oct. 30. Majsak will replace Paul Fairchild, who announced that he will be leaving the position he has held since August of 1997.
Majsak comes to Horizons with an extensive background in development and marketing. After receiving his MBA from UCLA in Arts Management/Marketing, Majsak joined the Account Executive Training Program at Leo Burnett, USA in Chicago. Following Burnett, Majsak worked for the Keebler Company as a Regional Marketing Manager.
Majsak's development experience includes Howard Brown Health Center, as well as more than 12 years development experience in the arts and cultural arena for the Court Theatre/ University of Chicago, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and in his most recent position as Director of Development and Marketing at the Chicago Architecture Foundation.
Majsak will replace Paul Fairchild, who resigned to pursue other opportunities. "Horizons is well positioned for the future," stated Fairchild. "I am proud to have played an important role in the agency's growth."
Horizons received the Unity Award from Cook County State's Attorney, Richard Devine last week, in recognition of Unity month.
______
Howard and Mary Robbins, founders of the world-renown Lyric Opera of Chicago's public-outreach lecture series, will present an in-depth talk about the Lyric's upcoming production of John Harbison's opera, "The Great Gatsby," which will run through Nov. 3 at the Civic Opera House. The lecture will be presented Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. at Gerber/Hart Library, the Midwest's foremost repository of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender culture. The lecture is part of the first-ever citywide "Chicago Book Week: City of Big Readers" festival ( Oct. 9-15 ) as well as part of an ongoing series of Lyric Opera lectures at Gerber/Hart Library to discuss all eight of the company's productions during the upcoming 2000-01 season. Call ( 773 ) 381-8030.
______
Gerber/Hart Library will be among the dozens of venues offering programs during the city's first-ever autumn literary festival called "Chicago Book Week: City of Big Readers." The festival, coordinated by the Chicago Public Library ( CPL ) , will take place Oct. 9-15 and "will showcase the city's book industry, local authors and libraries," according to Jamey Lundblad, the CPL's marketing director and coordinator of the citywide festival.
Gerber/Hart will offer the following programs: Tuesday, Oct. 10: Reception and Tours of Gerber/Hart Library, 7-8:30 p.m.: Founded literally in a closet in 1981 and coming up on its 20th anniversary, Gerber/Hart Library contains more than 14,000 books as well as a vast archive of historical material—from Stonewall-era protest signs to matchbooks from long-closed gay/lesbian bars to womyn's music festival memorabilia, etc. This event will include one-on-one tours ( followed by refreshments ) of the library's year-old 4,000-square-foot facility in the city's Edgewater neighborhood, 1127 W. Granville, as well as displays of items, including videos of gay pride parades of the past, taken from Gerber/Hart's temperature-controlled archives. Gerber/Hart board members and volunteers will be available to talk about the library and its resources, and participants from the Newberry Library's eight-week seminar "From Wilde to Winterson: A Look at Gay-Themed Literature of the 20th Century" also are scheduled ( at this time ) to take part.
Wednesday, Oct. 11: Lyric Opera of Chicago Lecture on "The Great Gatsby," 7-8:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 12: The Literature of AIDS at the Start of the 21st Century, 7-8:30 p.m.: Michael Lloyd, Gay Chicago's "Living with HIV" columnist, will moderate a roundtable discussion about how the literature of AIDS has evolved during the first 20 years of the epidemic and how it might change as we enter the 21st century. Excerpts from various works will be discussed, and each participant is strongly encouraged to bring a short ( no more than three-minute ) excerpt from an AIDS-related work that they have found particularly helpful or moving.
