October 8, 2008
Key West gay couple allowed to adopt foster child
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP)—Two months after the foster child came to live in Wayne LaRue Smith’s two-story Key West home, the brown-eyed 5-year-old boy looked up from the kitchen table and, in a plaintive voice, asked what seemed a simple question. “Will you be my daddy?” At first, Smith, a foster father who has cared for 33 children in state custody, could not say yes... Full Story / Comment
Editorial
Across the country, courts and voters have been weighing the rights of GLBT families. In Florida, which out-and-out bans gays from adopting, a Key West man was granted the right to adopt a five-year-old son. In Montana, a court ruled in favor of a woman who sought parental rights to children adopted by her former partner. Conservatives in Arkansas are trying to put on the November ballot a measure that would ban unmarried couples from serving as foster parents... Full Story / Comment
Two weeks ago, vice-presidential Sarah Palin hopeful went on national television said that homosexuality is a choice. Palin’s remarks came during an interview with Katie Couric on CBS News. While Palin acknowledged that one of her “absolute best friends” is a lesbian she also declared that her friend “happens to have made a choice that isn’t a choice that I have made... Full Story / Comment
Freestyle: arts, entertainment & lifestyle
Not all art exhibitions are to be found in galleries and museums. Restaurants, design shops and doctor’s offices frequently display art to cover the walls and create a patron-friendly environment or promote art or artists they feel committed to. Currently Northstar Healthcare is co-sponsoring “The [blank space] Exhibition,” a display of work by artists associated with or supportive of the Skokie-based Refuge... Full Story / Comment
“Anita O’Day: The Life of A Jazz Singer” (White Whale)—Co-directors Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden have painted a warts-and-all portrait of jazz vocalist Anita O’Day with their documentary “Anita O’Day: The Life of A Jazz Singer.” That doesn’t mean that they don’t also have the utmost regard and respect for their subject, it’s just that they set out to be as honest as O’Day herself... Full Story / Comment
Releasing the ‘Pressure’: an interview with lesbian novelist Allison Nichol
I first met writer and lawyer Allison Nichol almost 20 years ago. At the time, she was a lawyer for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Chicago, where she tried and won the first American With Disabilities Act case. Now living in Washington, DC, with a longtime partner, Nichol works in the Disability Rights branch of the Justice Department. Her first novel, “Contents Under Pressure,” (Intaglio Books, 2008, $16.95), a good-humored and suspenseful murder mystery is a delight... Full Story / Comment
With gay marriage still on the minds of many, the following “pairs” of discs were like matches made in homo heaven. Listen to them individually or collectively. One-named wonders: In 2004, more than 20 years after the death of groundbreaking gay glam god Jobriath, the compilation “Lonely Planet Boy” hit shelves. An assortment of tracks culled from his two Elektra Records albums, released... Full Story / Comment
In high-def: Shades for the new season
The après skier wears Prada.The golfer wears Adidas Adivista. The tennis player wears Oakley Enduring. The runner wears Split Thump. The hiker wears Cocoons. The ballplayer wears Under Armour. Recommendations to wear sunglasses to cut the sun’s glare and protect the eyes did not end with... Full Story / Comment
Book nook: Creating a home library
When the days grow shorter and the nights grow darker, Chicagoans more and more find comfort in their homes, whether an Andersonville flat, a Loop loft or a Boystown condo. And trend surveys find that the hours spent reading spike in the cool and cold weather months... Full Story / Comment
At Cuatro, a party every night
Cuatro is Spanish for “four” and the boite on Wabash and 20th has got four of the components necessary for a great restaurant. First and foremost among these is the food. Cautro has that nailed; the food is among the best example of nueveo Latino cuisine that I’ve ever tasted. For example the coctel vuelve a la vida combines raw ahi tuna, with seared baby octopus, squid and shrimp in a fresh tasting Acapulco-style... Full Story / Comment
October 4: Worshipped and adored comedian Kathy Griffin is at the Chicago Theater, 175 N. State, tonight, tomorrow night and Thursday night. Call (312) 462-6300... Full Story / Comment
The New Fashion Must: A To-Die-For Closet
According to Carrie Bradshaw in the “Sex and the City” movie, women come to New York looking for only two things: love and labels. She forgot to mention the third thing: a fabulous closet in which to store all those labels... Full Story / Comment
Freetime
Midlife Crisis No. 232: There’s No Place Like Gnome
I’m a Blue Dumpster Queen, and cans, paper and plastics are all separated in my house and sent off to be recycled. I also recycle yogurt cartons and use them to bring on seeds for my garden and old clothes are dropped off at charity stores where I bought them in the first place. Which begs the question: What can we do with our old Log Cabin Republican friends now that they’ve completely lost their minds by endorsing Sen. John McCain and Pakak Palin, his bimbo halfwit Alaskan sidekick who believes in witchcraft and banning books, and can’t keep her legs together for five minutes... Full Story / Comment
SCORPIO: Too much conflict has you wondering what you’re doing here. Work, love, everything is off kilter. You think it will change if you just bear down and endure it. On the other hand, maybe all of this is a sign that it’s time to leave... Full Story / Comment
A recent study by GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) revealed a noticeable increase in LGBT characters appearing in primetime broadcast series following what has been described as a “three-year slump.” ABC lead the pack in recent years, with programming that included “Brothers and Sisters,” “Ugly Betty,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Cashmere Mafia... Full Story / Comment
1978: The Lesbian Experience, a rap group for women, meets at the Broadway Methodist Church, 3342 N. Broadway. The lesbian newspaper Blazing Star sponsors the group and says: “We want the group to be a place for lesbians to come together and talk, to share our life experiences, and to support one another... Full Story / Comment
News
The Iowa Supreme Court announced it will hear oral arguments on that state’s law defining marriage as only between a man and woman. An earlier ruling declared that the law was unconstitutional. The ruling stood long enough for one gay couple to get married. Lambda Legal had filed a lawsuit in Polk County in 2006 challenging the state’s marriage laws on behalf of six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in Iowa. Iowa? A gay marriage mecca... Full Story / Comment
Study traces AIDS virus origin to 100 years ago
NEW YORK—The AIDS virus has been circulating among people for about 100 years, decades longer than scientists had thought, a new study suggests. Genetic analysis pushes the estimated origin of HIV back to between 1884 and 1924, with a more focused estimate at 1908... Full Story / Comment
McCain gives interview to gay paper
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) last week became the first Republican presidential candidate to be interviewed by a gay publication. An interview with McCain appeared Oct. 1 in the Washington Blade, with the candidate providing written responses to the newspaper’s questions... Full Story / Comment
Ark. judges oppose proposed foster, adoption ban
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.— A collection of 13 retired judges, including three former chief justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court, said Monday they’re opposing a ballot measure aimed at banning gay and lesbian couples from becoming adoptive or foster parents... Full Story / Comment
Decision issued in Montana parental rights case
MISSOULA, Mont.—A district judge Sept. 30 ruled in favor of a Turah woman who sought parental rights to children adopted by her former same-sex partner. Michelle Kulstad sought joint custody of two children—an 8-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl—adopted by Barbara Maniaci... Full Story / Comment
Pa. Episcopal diocese OKs split over Bible, gays
MONROEVILLE, Pa.—Clergy and lay members of the theologically conservative Pittsburgh diocese voted overwhelmingly Saturday to break from the liberal Episcopal Church, with which it differs on issues ranging from homosexuality to biblical teachings on salvation. Assistant Bishop Henry Scriven said the vote means the Pittsburgh diocese is now more firmly aligned with... Full Story / Comment
Gay elders’ distinctive challenges get closer look
NEW YORK—Frank Carter was once a globe-trotting professional dancer; his world is smaller now. He battles multiple health problems, walks with a cane and rarely leaves his compact Manhattan apartment. As an 86-year-old gay man, with no family nearby and many acquaintances long since dead, he’d seem a likely prospect for isolation... Full Story / Comment
Michigan voters to decide on medical marijuana
DETROIT—Michigan may become the latest state to let some severely ill patients use marijuana to treat pain, nausea and other symptoms. If the Nov. 4 ballot proposal is approved, Michigan law would allow doctors to recommend marijuana for patients with cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS and other conditions the state agrees are covered under the law... Full Story / Comment
Odd couple: Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan
NEW YORK—At 19, Rachel Maddow shared a house with friends in Philadelphia and wasn’t paying much attention to the 1992 Republican National Convention on television until Pat Buchanan took to the podium. She was transfixed. Buchanan’s combative conservative speech, which denounced gay rights, was a milestone for people on two... Full Story / Comment
Trans politician wins legal battle
ATLANTA—The state of Georgia’s top court ruled in favor of a transgender politician who was slapped with a lawsuit by two political opponents who claimed she misled voters by running as a woman. The Georgia Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling on Monday found that the two political opponents who filed the lawsuit failed to produce evidence... Full Story / Comment
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a bill that would have made the birthday of gay political icon Harvey Milk a statewide “day of significance.” In his veto message issued Tuesday, the governor said that while he respected the measure’s intent, he thinks Milk’s “contributions should continue to be recognized at the local level.” Conservative groups had lobbied Schwarzenegger not to sign the legislation... Full Story / Comment
Opinion
In case you hadn’t noticed, we are in the middle of October’s annual observance of Gay History Month. Nor would anyone’s failure to notice be surprising. Gay History Month has been institutionally homeless in recent years, so no organization is really publicizing it. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation was once... Full Story / Comment
I have a new theory about Sarah Palin. I think she’s dangerous. Not in an aw-shucks, super-cute, cowgirl kind of way. In a ruthless, Karl Rove, evil genius sort of way. Except she’s not as smart. Sarah Palin, I think, may be an actual, comic-book villain made real... Full Story / Comment
Theater
Oobleck Election Play 2008: The Trojan Candidate
The latest attack-dog play from the company who did away with directors, Theater Oobleck’s fifth election spectacle is their last chance to savage the toxic legacy of the unspeakable V.P. Dick Cheney. Do they ever! Here the creature (co-director Jeff Dorchen, whose literally spitting image of Dick Cheney is scary stuff) suffers heart attacks as others get hiccoughs. His doctor gives this disgustingly diseased patient 10 months to live... Full Story / Comment
So it’s come to this: A pastiche score, a dreadful book and lackluster direction from a Tony winner. This is how far the jukebox musical can fall. Not that there was ever much honor in cobbling together such a show. Still, if assembled with a modicum of wit and, above all, the right set of songs (which mostly means singling out an enthusiastic pre-existing fan base), producers have... Full Story / Comment
When Remy Bumppo picked this vintage drama to start their season, they had no way of knowing how incredibly appropriate it would become. Though written 103 years ago (and here powerfully adapted by David Mamet), this engrossing domestic drama mirrors our financial meltdown both in its details of trust betrayed and its burning lesson that accountability equals honesty... Full Story / Comment
