November 19, 2008
Breaking News
Friday Nov. 20, 1:00pm
At the last minute, the design team behind plans to create a new Chicago public high school catering to disenfranchised students, including LGBTQA youth, pulled the plug. The proposed Social Justice High School Solidarity Campus—what some gay activists called a “watered-down” version... Full Story / Comment
Thousands protest Prop 8 in Chicago
Thousands of GLBT people and their allies, protesting the passage of California’s Proposition 8, rallied in Federal Plaza and then spontaneously took to the streets of downtown Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 15. An estimated 5,000 people gathered in Federal Plaza. Local same-sex marriage supporters organized rallies in other cities, such as Springfield, Champaign...Full Story / Comment
Freestyle
With “Little Honey” (Lost Highway), the seemingly unstoppable and prolific Lucinda Williams continues the creative streak that began in 1998 with her groundbreaking comeback album “Car Wheels on a Gravel... Full Story / Comment
“Quid Pro Quo” (Magnolia Pictures/HDNet)—Isaac (Nick Stahl), an NYC public radio DJ, has been in a wheelchair since the age of eight. In April of 1989, his parents were killed, and he was left a paraplegic, in a car accident with an underage driver... Full Story / Comment
Freeview: movie review & calendar
“Quantum of Solace” (MGM/Columbia)— In Haiti, in London, in Germany, in Italy, and in Bolivia, on land, in the air or on water, British Secret Service agent 007, James Bond (Daniel Craig, by far the hottest Bond ever), kicks ass and takes names, as well as a few... Full Story / Comment
If Dickens had been typically Irish, his “Christmas Carol” would resemble Conor McPherson’s sad homage, a sobering tribute to the dark side of Yuletide. The Scrooge here is John, a fiftysomething Dublin alcoholic and funeral worker drinking deeply on Christmas Eve, a lost liver inspecting his life at the bottom of a bottle. He’s... Full Story / Comment
Bundled and beautiful: Cold climate clothing
When the weather outside is frightful, warm clothes are so delightful. We’ll start with the foot. Ames Walker’s support wool dress socks keep toes cool in the summer, warm in... Full Story / Comment
‘Bound’ for glory: an interview with Janie Porche
n Chicago’s increasingly cluttered music scene, it’s a pleasure to find a band that has distinguished itself through its musicianship, distinctive songwriting and dedication to its craft. Not to mention the fact that the band members also hold down day jobs in the midst of touring and live performing... Full Story / Comment
Doug and Mike Starn are 47-year-old twins who have been working collaboratively as photographers since they were teens, and professionally so since they were graduated from Boston’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1985... Full Story / Comment
Chicago Theater, 175 N. State, hosts an evening with The Smashing Pumpkins, “White Crosses.” Call (312) 462-6300... More / Comment
Boystown Dominates: A-List Neighborhood Remains Steady During Downturn
It is a gay neighborhood and a yuppie neighborhood. It’s home to Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs, and the site of the nation’s first officially recognized gay village... Full Story / Comment
Opinion
It’s time for our full civil rights
This is what it feels like to be at the center of history. Right now. This surge of anger. This steady conviction. These regular protests and speeches and op-eds proclaiming our full civil rights as Americans... Full Story / Comment
Every year I think about writing a Thanksgiving column, but—wouldn’t you know—every year I would think of it too late to get it into the paper in advance, making it pretty uninteresting, if not entirely useless. So this year I am writing well in advance... Full Story / Comment
News
Focus on the Family seems set on making our lives miserable, but it seems they’re not doing so great a job keeping their own house in order. The Colorado Independent this week reported that the Colorado Springs-based organization will cut 202 jobs... Full Story / Comment
After California loss, gays get right to wed in Connecticut
WEST HARTFORD, Conn.—Same-sex couples exchanged vows Wednesday for the first time in Connecticut amid cheers and tears of joy, while gay activists planned protests across the country over the vote that took away their right to marry in California. Surrounded by red roses and smiles, Jody Mock and Elizabeth Kerrigan, who led the lawsuit that that overturned the... Full Story / Comment
Maine bishop opposes gay marriage
PORTLAND, Maine—The leader of Maine’s Roman Catholic diocese issued a letter to be read at weekend Masses opposing gay marriage. Bishop Richard Malone’s letter calls on Catholics to work to preserve the traditional sacrament of marriage by opposing efforts to legalize same-sex marriage... Full Story / Comment
Doctors say marrow transplant may have cured man with AIDS
BERLIN – An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said. While researchers—and the doctors themselves—caution that the case might be no more than a fluke... Full Story / Comment
Community remembers trans hate crime victims
Dozens of community members held a solemn candlelight vigil Nov. 16, marking the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. Roughly 75 people huddled together Sunday evening on the rooftop of the Center on Halsted as snow fell. The vigil’s organizers snuffed out blood-red candles that represented each of the... Full Story / Comment
2008 Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame Inductees honored
Community members gathered at the Chicago Cultural Center Thursday evening to honor the 2008 inductees into the Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. Mayor Daley was sick, so Dana Starks, Chairman of the Mayor’s Commission on Human Relations addressed the accomplishments of the honorees... Full Story / Comment
n to picket a local movie theater owned by a company headed by a Proposition 8 supporter. Alan Stock, the CEO of Cinemark Corporation—the Texas-based holding corporation of the Century, CineArts and Tinseltown Theater chains—donated nearly $10,000 in support of the passage of California’s... Full Story / Comment
Across nation, gay advocates protest marriage ban
BOSTON—Gay rights supporters waving rainbow colors marched, chanted and danced in cities coast to coast Saturday to protest the California vote that banned gay marriage there and urge supporters not to quit the fight for the right to wed... Full Story / Comment
Mormon church decries ‘attacks’ after Prop. 8 vote
SALT LAKE CITY—A day after two Mormon churches received envelopes containing white powder that turned out to be nontoxic, the church headquarters issued a statement saying “attacks on churches and intimidation of people of faith have no place in civil discourse over controversial issues... Full Story / Comment
Foley breaks silence on sex scandal
NEW YORK—Even today, two years after Mark Foley’s very public fall from grace, the former congressman can’t explain why he sent lurid, sexually explicit computer messages to male teens who had worked as Capitol Hill pages... Full Story / Comment
Clerks confused over when gay marriage ban begins
FRESNO, Calif.—County officials throughout California are clamoring for legal advice over how to interpret last week’s passage of a ballot initiative to ban gay marriage, saying there’s confusion over when it takes effect... Full Story / Comment
More countries make spreading HIV a crime
LONDON—An increasing number of countries worldwide are making spreading HIV a crime, according to a new report from the International Planned Parenthood Federation... Full Story / Comment
Pa. businessman faces death in 2006 intern slaying
MEDIA, Pa.—A businessman who frequently hosted gay sex parties in his home drugged a company intern, tried to rape him and then strangled him when the 23-year-old victim awoke and tried to fight off the attack, a prosecutor said Monday... Full Story / Comment
SACRAMENTO—The artistic director at California’s largest nonprofit musical theater company resigned Wednesday amid protests over his donation to a campaign to ban gay marriage in the state. Scott Eckern stepped down from his job at the California Musical Theater in Sacramento after some gay and lesbian activists called for a theater boycott... Full Story / Comment
Minority groups ask to annul gay marriage ban
SAN FRANCISCO—Five civil rights groups asked California’s highest court Friday to annul the state’s new same-sex marriage ban on the grounds that Proposition 8 threatens the legal standing of all minority groups, not just gays... Full Story / Comment
Wanda Sykes says she’s ‘proud to be gay’
LAS VEGAS—Comedian Wanda Sykes says the passage of a same-sex marriage ban in California has led to her be more outspoken about being gay... Full Story / Comment
Editorial
Many film fans across the country were disappointed this week to learn that Alan Stock, CEO of Plano, TX-based Cinemark Theaters had in October donated just under $10,000 in support of Proposition 8 in California... Full Story / Comment
We have come through a historic election and many of us were involved in important ways, working for the issues that we care about. Regardless of how one feels about the presidential results, the votes on... Full Story / Comment
