On Thursday, March 5, the California Supreme Court began hearing arguments about Proposition 8. Join the Impact Chicago organized a candlelight vigil on the evening of March 4 to draw attention to the issue. This was part of a nationwide series of such events designed to draw attention to what organizers feel is a critical testing point for the validity of the legislation. Similar vigils took place in cities like San Francisco; Santa Barbara, Calif.; and New York.
Category: Reporting
Articles that involve reporting and analysis
Gender JUST (Justice United for Societal Transformation) is a Chicago grassroots organization. In recent months, the group has been working on what it describes as the problems of heterosexism and violence against LGBTQA students in Chicago’s public schools. On March 4, Gender JUST hand-delivered a letter to Ron Huberman, the new Chicago Public Schools (CPS) chief, asking him to attend a public forum convened by the group.
When AT&T unveiled its U-Verse television programming service, the company waxed about the new technology that allows subscribers to access 320 channels. Recently, however, the company has come under fire for limiting access to public-access programming. The Illinois chapter of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers (NATOA) and CAN TV (Community Access Television) have joined a nationwide coalition to file a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). On its Web site, NATOA says that customers of “AT&T … can’t switch between commercial and PEG channels, set a DVR to record a PEG program, or depend on getting timely local emergency alerts. AT&T’s system deprives PEG channels of basic capabilities such as closed captioning.”
The passage of the anti-same-sex-marriage measure Proposition 8 in California created a furor in the LGBT community. Across the country, both groups and individuals have rallied at large protests and actions to show their support for overturning the measure. Anti-Prop 8 work has relied on the tools of Web-based technology and social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. These tools don’t just allow quick and easy ways to mobilize large numbers of people at protests; they also make it easy to disseminate information about events and the supporters of Prop 8.
The Illinois Safe Schools Alliance recently issued a report card for all Illinois teacher training colleges, based on their preparedness of teachers (K-12) in LGBTQ-related matters. The report is titled “Visibility Matters: Higher Education and Teacher Preparation in Illinois: A Web-based Assesement of LGBTQ Presence.” The Alliance looked at school Web sites to determine, broadly, the extent to which higher-education institutions with teacher training colleges were inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity issues. More specifically, they considered the extent to which these policies were reflected in the materials used in teacher education programs. Forty-one out of Illinois’ 57 programs received Fs. Only one, at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), received an A. Four received Ds, one got a B and the rest received Cs.
Nikki Patin is a Chicago-born performance artist and activist, who has appeared on HBO’s Def Jam. Her work combines burlesque, spoken word and music to address the themes of body image, race and class. Patin will be touring New Zealand and Australia from the end of February through April, and is hosting a series of fundraisers in town to pay for the upcoming trip. She will be signing copies of her book “The Phat Grrrl Diaries” at these events. Windy City Times spoke to Patin.
Democrat John Fritchey is currently the 11th District State Representative. He’s also among the many candidates seeking to fill Rahm Emanuel’s recently vacated seat in Illinois’s Fifth Congressional District. Fritchey has a reputation as a progressive and is backed by a number of labor unions. He spoke to Windy City Times about his views on gay marriage, DADT, hate crimes legislation and his stand on labor-related issues. The primary will take place on March 3 and the general election on April 7.
When Proposition 8 passed in November 2008, it prompted a series of actions across the country and legal challenges in California. On March 5, the California Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments against Prop 8. In order to highlight the importance of the upcoming trial, Gay Liberation Network (GLN) and Join the Impact.
