“I’m really tired of the emphasis on the closet…”
Category: Queer Politics, Culture, and History
“a much larger story of corruption, bribery, organized crime and the political machinery of Mayor Daley.”
John D’Emilio, professor of gay history and women’s studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) , presented his latest research on Chicago’s gay history February 9 at the university’s Institute for the Humanities, where he currently holds a yearlong fellowship. Speaking to a packed room, D’Emilio gave a speech provocatively titled “Rethinking Queer History. Or, Richard Nixon, Gay Liberationist.”
She is acutely aware of how the term “safe space” translates differently for women, depending on their ethnic and racial background, and that white women have historically been reluctant to make it out to what might be defined as a “Black space.”
The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) is currently hosting a series of LGBT immigration public forums in cities across the country. These events are designed to bring about public discussion of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) and to educate LGBT Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and allied organizations on immigrant rights. The group hosted one such exhaustive and detailed presentation March 8 at the Merlo Public Library in partnership with its local members and ally organizations Invisible to Invincible (I2I): Asian and Pacific Islander Pride of Chicago; Trikone-Chicago, an LGBT South Asian Group; and Akabaka Productions, a Queer Muslim Group. The panelists were Ben de Guzman of NQAPIA, Chicago queer Muslim activist Ifti Nasim and local immigration attorney Mimi Wilson.
The historic Women and Children First Bookstore witnessed an equally historic and unique family literary event when Jennifer Brier and Elana Dykewomon co-presented their separate and recent works March 20.
Kenny Fries is a well-known gay writer and poet whose works have addressed the intersection of disability rights and queer identity. The author of the memoirs The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin’s Theoryand Body, Remember: A Memoir was in Chicago as part of a visit that included workshops at UIC followed by a presentation at Access Living March 19.
In a move that will send ripples throughout Chicago’s LGBTQ community, Howard Brown Health Center announced that two of its key staff members have been placed on paid administrative leave: President/Chief Executive Officer Michael Cook and Chief Financial Officer Mark Joslyn. The news came through a brief March 30 press release, issued via Leslie Schreiber, director of media relations at Winger Marketing.
Howard Brown Health Center (HBHC) recently placed two of its key personnel, CEO/President Michael Cook and CFO Mark Joslyn, on paid administrative leave. Since then, some hints about the reasons for their ouster have emerged. The Windy City Times report prompted an open letter from David Ostrow, soon followed by a press release from Michael Cook announcing his resignation; both documents have brought more questions and speculations into the open. Meanwhile, HBHC’s press releases have also prompted more unanswered questions.
Alison Bechdel’s immensely popular Dykes to Watch Out For comic strip has been running since 1983. Since its appearance, the interconnected lives and attachments of Mo, Sydney, Jasmine, Toni, Ginger and others have been cultural reference points of queer/dyke popular culture.
Violence is usually discussed within the context of heterosexual families and social groups. It’s widely assumed that people in same-sex households, communities, and relationships are either incapable of causing harm to each other, or that their needs can’t be met by mainstream anti-violence groups. As a result, significant issues like intimate partner violence or the particular needs of transgender youth seeking shelter from abusive homes are not addressed. This leaves portions of the LGBTQ community without the conventional resources available to heterosexuals who seek relief from abuse.