December 3, 2008
Chicago officials stress HIV testing and awareness
Chicago kicked off its World AIDS Day events Monday at the Center on Halsted with a press conference that stressed the need for further awareness about the global HIV/AIDS epidemic... Full Story / Comment
Obama Addresses World AIDS Day
President-elect Barack Obama observed World AIDS Day Monday, releasing online his video remarks made for a health forum in Washington, D.C. In his remarks, Obama called for widespread cooperation in combating HIV/AIDS... Full Story / Comment
Boystown remembers World AIDS Day
About three-dozen community members gathered at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted St., Monday evening to commemorate the 20th annual World AIDS Day... Full Story / Comment
Vida/SIDA holds vigil, 20th celebration
About 100 people marched down the streets of West Town and Humboldt Park on Monday in a silent vigil procession in commemoration of World AIDS Day... Full Story / Comment
HIV/AIDS groups feeling effects of economy
Several Chicago HIV/AIDS organizations are already feeling the impact of a failing economy and expect worse times ahead. It may typically be the season for giving, but money—whether it’s in the form of individual contributions, grant... Full Story / Comment
State nearly done with Let’s Talk, Let’s Test review
The Illinois Department of Health (IDPH) this week said it is close to finishing its review of a Chicago HIV/AIDS organization’s financial documents... Full Story / Comment
African American HIV/AIDS state fund gone
Illinois’ African American HIV/AIDS Response Fund, which provided state money to dozens of HIV/AIDS non-profits and churches targeting the African American community, will receive no money for fiscal year 2009, which begins in July... Full Story / Comment
Researchers: HIV could be eliminated in a decade
LONDON—The virus that causes AIDS could theoretically be eliminated in a decade if all people living in countries with high infection rates are regularly tested and treated, according to a new mathematical model... Full Story / Comment
News
A popular Boystown bar that caught fire last week is still open for business. Around 1 p.m. on Nov. 25, an air conditioning unit above the dance floor of Roscoe’s, 3356 N. Halsted St., caught fire... Full Story / Comment
Miami judge rules against Florida gay adoption ban
MIAMI—Florida’s strict law banning adoption of children by gay people was found unconstitutional Nov. 25 by a state judge who declared there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting... Full Story / Comment
Gay marriage backers protest at Mormon display
MESA, Ariz.—Supporters of gay marriage were out in force when Mormons lit their massive Christmas displays on the grounds of the Mesa Arizona Temple... Full Story / Comment
Retiring justice unfazed by gay marriage criticism
BOSTON—Justice John Greaney didn’t write the Supreme Judicial Court’s landmark ruling making Massachusetts the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage, but five years later, a passage from his concurring opinion is sometimes used by gay couples in their wedding ceremonies... Full Story / Comment
NY county nixes marriage challenge
ROCHESTER, N.Y.—An upstate New York county has decided not to challenge an appeals court ruling in February declaring that a lesbian couple’s marriage in Canada should be recognized in New York... Full Story / Comment
Ind.: marriage likely off agenda for 2009
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—Lawmakers will face plenty of challenges when they meet in January for the 2009 legislative session, with the top priority being the creation of a balanced two-year budget amid a tanking economy. But one hot-button issue that’s likely to be left... Full Story / Comment
Local play sheds light on Iranian gay executions
A local playwright has turned local attention to a 2005 atrocity committed against two Iranian boys. “Haram Iran,” by Jay Paul Deratany, running through this weekend at the Athenaeum Theater, 2936 N... Full Story / Comment
Indonesian AIDS patients face microchip monitoring
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Lawmakers in Indonesia’s remote province of Papua have thrown their support behind a controversial bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips _ part of extreme efforts to monitor the disease... Full Story / Comment
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—A gay rights group that wants all Floridians to have the right to marry says it will hold a demonstration outside Gov. Charlie Crist’s wedding. A spokeswoman for Impact Florida says the group plans to demonstrate at Crist’s December wedding because he supported Amendment 2, which bans same-sex marriage... Full Story / Comment
Editorial
The national GLBT community, still rankled by losses in four referenda across the county, received the good news this week that a three-decades-old ban on adoption by gays and lesbians in Florida had been ruled unconstitutional... Full Story / Comment
Today (Dec. 1) is World AIDS day and I’m thinking about President-elect Barack Obama. As a 52-year-old Black gay man with HIV, I have many reasons to welcome the inauguration of Barack Obama. A big one is that an Obama administration has enormous potential to reinvigorate a struggle that has been allowed to... Full Story / Comment
Opinion
Let’s cool it with the boycotts
My grandfather used to quote the old axiom: Give me a lever, and I’ll move the world. What he meant was that the right tool makes the task possible... Full Story / Comment
Although Barack Obama stated his opposition to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on open gays in the military, the Obama team has let it be known that it will not try to repeal the law during the next session of Congress... Full Story / Comment
Freestyle
In observance of World AIDS Day, the gallery space at the Center on Halsted has mounted a single large work titled “Compliance: A pattern of living with HIV” by Chicago artist Cal Calvird... Full Story / Comment
‘Bare’ hug: an interview with writer Craig Seymour
Still looking for that last minute holiday gift? “All That I Could Bare” (Atria Books, 2008), by recent Chicago transplant Craig Seymour, is something to consider. Subtitled “My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington, DC,” this memoir is at times racy and raw, while also providing insight into a... Full Story / Comment
Home and health: Cures for homesickness
Sniffling? Coughing? Achy head? Maybe you’re homesick—as in sick from a sick home. Conversely, clean air in the home can help produce a clean bill of health. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that exposure to fine particles contributes leads to 17,000 premature deaths and more than 12,000 hospitalizations in the United States each year... Full Story / Comment
Oh, Mary (and Liza and Diana and…)!
Mary Travers, one-third of the legendary folk trio Peter Paul and Mary, released her first solo album in 1971. Simply titled “Mary,” the album opened with Mary’s version of the... Full Story / Comment
Amanda Palmer, openly bi lead singer of the Dresden Dolls, plays Metro, 3730 N. Clark St., at 7:30 p.m., with The Builders and The Butchers. Call (773) 549-4140... Full Story / Comment
Freeview: movie reviews and calendar
“La León” (Waterbearer)—Swarthy Alvaro (Jorge Román), rows his leaky boat up and down the waterways of his hometown in Argentina. He ekes out a living by harvesting reeds for basket makers and repairs books for the library. His nemesis is ferry captain Turu... Full Story / Comment
“The Boys in the Band” (CBS DVD/Paramount)—Newly remastered on DVD, William Friedkin’s 1970 film adaptation of the groundbreaking Mart Crowley stage play “The Boys in the Band” is still essential viewing, for gays and straights alike. Set during the... Full Story / Comment
CFP reviews 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', 'A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant', 'he Christmas Schooner'... Full Story / Comment
Holly Golightly continues to charm 50 years later
NEW YORK—The scene that made it excusable to wear a tiara to breakfast: Audrey Hepburn, gowned in Givenchy black with long gloves, fat pearls and oversized sunglasses. She peers through a Tiffany’s window with Danish and coffee in hand... Full Story / Comment
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire may be all right for a holiday activity, but sweating out a huge meal over a hot stove is not appealing to many. If you’re one of those folks who is “culinarily challenged,” you could consider ordering a pre-packaged holiday dinner that you just heat and eat. HomeBistro.com (no relationship to... Full Story / Comment
In the Footsteps of Norway’s Masters
When Edvard Munch’s iconic paintings, ‘The Scream’ and ‘Madonna’, were stolen in 2004 from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway’s most important painter joined the celebrity short list of Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Monet and Van Gogh—artists whose work was so coveted that it became a target for thieves... Full Story / Comment
