October 15, 2008
‘World’ view: an interview with filmmaker Tom Gustafson
Over the years, GLBT short films that have played the festival circuit have been expanded into feature-length movies with varying degrees of success. Angela Robinson’s “D.E.B.S.,” for instance, lost something in the transition. But with Tom Gustafson’s “Fairies,” a short film that left audiences craving more, the end result, “Were The World Mine,” pays off in every way imaginable... Full Story / Comment
Editorial
During conservative radio commentator Chris Baker’s talk show on KTLK in Minneapolis last Wendesday, Baker and fellow commentator Langdon Perry were discussing whether Americans were entitled to healthcare as a right. Perry asked about treatable diseases that someone can live with “if you just get some basic drugs... Full Story / Comment
Lambda Legal applauds Friday’s decision by the Connecticut Supreme Court awarding full access to marriage to the state’s gay and lesbian residents, making Connecticut the third state in the nation to grant marriage equality to same-sex couples... Full Story / Comment
Freestyle: arts, entertainment & lifestyle
Splashy sports cars and powerful yet fuel-thrifty diesel engines highlight the 2009 model year. The retro-styled Dodge Challenger arrives, reminding us of the 1970s, when gasoline was priced at less than a dollar a gallon... Full Story / Comment
Freeview: movie reviews and calendar
“Tru Loved” (Regent/here!)—High school student Tru (Najarra Townsend), named for Gertrude Stein by her lesbian moms Leslie (Alexandra Paul) and Lisa (Cynda Williams) and gay dads Emmet (Thomas Saunders) and Dom (Peter Bedard), has relocated from the alternative family-friendly safety of San Francisco to Agoura, California. She’s not happy about the move, which was made to further house... Full Story / Comment
Party wear… Who do you love? fashion
“What are you gay for?” asks the new series of bumper stickers from the Gay Geek Store. One answer might be “I’m gay for marriage.” Another might be “I’m gay for Obama.” A third is “I’m gay for Jesus.” And a fourth is the insider-ish “I’m gay for “VaJayJay... Full Story / Comment
Divis’s Geometric Spirituality
The Josef Glimer Gallery, a recent arrival in the River North arts district, is hosting the first one-man exhibition of the work of painter Brian Divis (pronounced: Deevis). With degrees in Design from Eastern Illinois University and Education from Loyola University, Divis combines a career as... Full Story / Comment
‘Two’ queer for words – part 2
Continuing the theme of “pairs” of discs, matches made in homo heaven, if you will, listen to the discs below individually or collectively. They are certain to make your GLBT history month observations more enjoyable... Full Story / Comment
Live performance calender compiled by the Chicago Free Press. Full Story / Comment
Deals, Squeals and Reels with Meals
I was never a big fan of the television show “Dharma & Greg.” However, there is one episode that sticks in my mind. It opened with Dharma and her friend walking up and down the aisles of the grocery store dressed up like June Cleaver from Leave it to Beaver. When asked why they were dressed that... Full Story / Comment
MARSING, Idaho (AP)—When she added on to her home, Jeri Rutherford found a way to go green—literally. A 170-square-foot dining-room addition has helped cut her power bills by as much as 20 percent... Full Story / Comment
Freetime
Midlife Crisis No. 233: Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered
Is it me is or is there something sinister and creepy about Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin? This woman has all the charm, grace and finesse of a vaginal yeast infection. Her motherly voice and folksy manner belie the fact that at any given moment she could throw back her head, laugh maniacally, shoot out a 25-foot scaly lizard tongue and impale her enemies... Full Story / Comment
GEMIN: Other people’s judgments have hurt you deeply. Trying to prove that your integrity is above question will take time. If others cast you as selfish it’s their issue. You know who you are. Don’t knock your self out kissing up to them... More / Comment
“Wrangler: Anatomy of An Icon” (TLA Releasing)—Titular gay porn legend Jack Wrangler is a very active participant in Jeffrey Schwarz’s informative, and unexpectedly sweet, documentary “Wrangler: Anatomy of An Icon.” Wrangler’s voice is the first one you hear (and the one you hear the most... Full Story / Comment
CFP reviews 'L.A. Tool and Die' & '2x10'. Full Story / Comment
News
The words “bride” and “groom” will reappear on all marriage license applications issued in California starting next month, state health officials said. In a notice posted on its Web site, the California Department of Public Health says it is making the change because many couples still wanted the option of identifying themselves in traditional terms... Full Story / Comment
Connecticut court rules gay couples may marry
HARTFORD, Conn.—A sharply divided Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay couples have the right to get married, saying legislators did not go far enough when they approved same-sex civil unions that were identical to marriages in virtually every respect except the name... Full Story / Comment
Marriage ruling not the end of debate in Conn.
HARTFORD, Conn.—Now that the Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex couples have the right to wed, opponents of gay marriage are pinning their hopes on an infrequent ballot question in a longshot bid to block the unions... Full Story / Comment
Community Supports Gay-Inclusive School
Community members speaking at a public hearing October 8 registered overwhelming support for the proposed gay-inclusive Pride Campus of the Social Justice High School. The meeting, held at the Center on Halsted, was a mandatory part of the approval process for the school, and was intended so that Chicago Public Schools could... Full Story / Comment
McDonald’s cuts ties with NGLCC
McDonald’s USA has not renewed its sponsorship of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. The Oak Brook based company made a $20,000 contribution to NGLCC for 2008 but will not be making another contribution for 2009, according to Chicago Sun-Times... Full Story / Comment
Mormons renew calls for Calif. gay marriage ban
SALT LAKE CITY— Mormons are being asked by their church leaders to step up their already considerable efforts to pass a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage in California. Senior elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a televised appeal to members Wednesday night and laid out a week-by-week strategy for boosting Mormon... Full Story / Comment
Magic critical of hosts after AIDS comments
MINNEAPOLIS—Magic Johnson criticized a pair of talk show hosts Friday for accusing him of faking AIDS but said he didn’t want them to be fired. Chris Baker and Langdon Perry of KTLK in Minneapolis made the remarks during Baker’s conservative radio show Oct. 8. After Johnson condemned the statements, the station said... Full Story / Comment
Ark. says it plans to drop unmarried foster ban
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Arkansas plans to reverse course and allow unmarried or same-sex couples to take on foster children on a case-by-case basis, even as voters prepare to decide the issue in November, the state Department of Human Services said Thursday. The agency announced that it would halt its plan to formalize a prohibition on unmarried foster parents... Full Story / Comment
S.African health minister strikes new tone on AIDS
CAPE TOWN, South Africa—South Africa’s new health minister broke dramatically on Monday from a decade of discredited government policies on AIDS, declaring that the disease was unquestionably caused by HIV and must be treated with conventional medicine... Full Story / Comment
n Rio, Catholics reverent and gays proud
Where else would it be possible for millions of people to march for gay pride, worship Brazil’s patron saint, compete in a half-marathon and celebrate Children’s Day activities—all on the same Sunday... Full Story / Comment
MINNEAPOLIS—Allan H. Spear, a former Minnesota state senator who was one of the nation’s first openly gay legislators, has died. He was 71. He died Saturday of complications after heart surgery performed Thursday, said Don Jorovsky, a longtime friend who used to work for Spear. Spear, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party— Minnesota’s version of the... Full Story / Comment
Opinion
As you have no doubt read or heard, on Oct. 10 the Connecticut Supreme Court struck down the state’s civil union laws and ruled 4-3 that denying the right of civil marriage to same-sex couples violated the equal protection provision of the state constitution. The ruling makes Connecticut the third state to permit same-sex marriage, joining California and Massachusetts... Full Story / Comment
Theater
Not to be confused with “Bye Bye Birdie” (the Elvis musical that set the standard), this songbook show is savvier than “Mamma Mia!” and funnier than “Movin’ On.” Reprising the King’s hit parade (“Jailhouse Rock,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” Love Me Tender,” etc.), Joe DiPietro’s connect-the-songs musical combines... Full Story / Comment
It’s perilous when a play confuses itself with a dream. You can’t wake up twice. Frank Galati’s latest Steppenwolf offering is a suitably fluid, pictorially imaginative but exasperatingly oblique adaption of a novel by Japanese fantasist Haruki Murakami (whose work was first seen at Steppenwolf in “after the quake”). It all but evaporates as... Full Story / Comment
Lifeline Theatre’s adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a worthy tribute to the novel that many scholars consider the last work of classic gothic horror fiction. In fact, with mystical dread and slow boiling tension, Lifeline Theatre has subtly created a modern classic of their very own... Full Story / Comment
