Articles that involve reporting and analysis
Governor Rod Blagojevich recently announced that he was appointing Roland Burris to the Senate seat previously occupied by President-elect Barack Obama. The move has generated controversy, censure and ridicule. The governor is being decried for equal parts hubris and arrogance, while Burris has been criticized for participating in what many claim is an unethical move.
Chicago gay groups participated in two protests this past week, both propelled by the November passage of Proposition 8 in California and subsequent protests against them nationwide. The first was a feeder march outside the Hyatt Global Headquarters building at 71 S. Wacker. This was part of an action that began in California in the spring of 2008, when gays discovered that Doug Manchester, owner of the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego, had donated $125,000 to the efforts behind Proposition 8. Since then, protesters have asked the Hyatt Corporation to sever ties from Manchester (Hyatt manages the hotel for him). The second protest was a rally at the James R. Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph, where people gathered to rally against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996. Both rallies occurred on January 10.
Two prominent Chicago LGBT activists are making significant career transitions.
Mary Morten is stepping down as the interim executive director of Chicago Foundation for Women. Morten was the first African American and first out lesbian chair of the board in 1999. She became the interim executive director in November 2007.
Illinois voters were stunned this past week by the news of Governor Rod Blagojevich being arrested on corruption charges. Along with his chief of staff John Harris, who has since resigned, Blagojevich was charged with, among other allegations, holding out President-elect Barack Obama’s soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat for a “pay-for-play” deal. The two men were both out on bail December 9, the day of their arrest.
A proposal for a Chicago gay high school was abruptly taken off the agenda of the Chicago Public Schools November 19 board meeting. Supporters and opponents of the proposal came to the downtown office of CPS, only to be handed a memo from The Office of New Schools informing them that “[t]he Social Justice Solidarity High School proposal has been withdrawn from consideration during today’s Board meeting.”
Five years ago, the Cook County Clerk’s Office established a domestic-partnership registry, with John Pennycuff and Robert Castillo being the first to register. Since then, 1,500 couples have registered for domestic partnership benefits, with the most recent (as of Oct. 1) being Jim Konold and Tim Hackett.
