A very specifically lesbian world.
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Category: Queer Politics, Culture, and History
The Chicago History Museum’s Out at CHM series hosted its first Latina/o event March 4. Titled “Queer Latinos: Art and Change,” the program showcased the work of two researchers, Lourdes Torres and Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes who presented on their Chicago-based work in the Latino/a community. They were introduced by Ramon Rivera-Servera, an assistant professor in the department of performance studies at Northwestern University.
“We have lost touch with the … pleasure of danger, we risk losing our difference,”
The Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark, hosted a two-person presentation on Chicago’s queer spaces January 28.
The Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL), a group of young immigrants, held a press conference Jan. 12 to announce its support for the 2009 Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act (CIR ASAP) of 2009.
Rage has dissipated into conciliation and a call for the status quo.
“A generation has grown up absorbing Richard’s art, and I have to believe that every one of them is a smarter, funnier, stronger, sillier, more generous person because of him.”
Things became quite intense at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, when five members of God Hates Fags (GHF) “also known as Kansas’ anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church (headed by the Rev. Fred Phelps) “showed up December 13 near the facility before a forum was scheduled to take place.
Several families of Chicago Public School (CPS) students, teachers and education activists turned out August 26 for a protest at CPS headquarters at 125 S. Clark, where the Chicago Board of Education was due for a budget meeting.
In June, Gender JUST, a local LGBTQA grassroots organization, organized a safe and affirming education community forum spotlighting Chicago Public Schools and the specific needs of LGBTQ students. At that meeting, the group secured a promise from CPS CEO Ron Huberman that he would meet with the group within 60 days. [Full disclosure: This reporter is also a member of Gender JUST.]
Joe Solmonese, executive director of Human Rights Campaign (HRC) , frequently finds himself in the eye of the LGBT political storm. In recent years, criticism of the nation’s largest gay organization has increased, whether for what many described as the betrayal over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) or its rumored agnosticism over “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). The organization recently unveiled a nationwide campaign, No Excuses, which aims to empower LGBTs everywhere to talk to their members of Congress about the issues facing them. Solmonese talked to Windy City Times over the phone about the campaign, and about a range of legislative and political issues.
