Yasmin Nair

LGBTI Health Summit looks at Obama’s LGBT health record

Post author By Yasmin Nair
Post date August 26, 2008

The LGBTI Health Summit came in the thick of very intense national conversations around health care, especially at various Town Halls across the country. Despite the national spotlight on an issue that clearly has the attention of more than the approximately 50 million uninsured, the gay community’s response to the health crisis has been relatively muted.

Chicago Chronicles Queer Politics, Culture, and History Race, Sex, Gender, and Sexuality

James Dobson and the National Radio Hall of Fame

Post author By Yasmin Nair
Post date August 20, 2008

Why pretend that judgments about the value of someone’s work are strictly apolitical and impartial?

On Books and Publishing

Ruth Perkinson’s Piper’s Someday

Post author By Yasmin Nair
Post date August 13, 2008

The figures of the lower class like, Victor and Clover, are pitted against lesbians and gays who are, it seems, uniformly heroic and literate and kind.

Chicago Chronicles Queer Politics, Culture, and History Race, Sex, Gender, and Sexuality Reporting

Minority workshop focuses on LGBTQ families

Post author By Yasmin Nair
Post date August 1, 2008

LGBTQ families are frequently non-normative, and not just because they’re headed by queer people. Queer families may consist of single women raising children with sperm donors who maintains links with their offspring. Two men might raise children together even after breaking up.

Chicago Chronicles Queer Politics, Culture, and History Race, Sex, Gender, and Sexuality Reporting

Sex workers hold local conference

Post author By Yasmin Nair
Post date July 23, 2008

Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP), a national group that works on the decriminalization of prostitution, held its third annual conference in Chicago. Members attended panels on topics like sex trafficking and the issues facing transgender sex workers.

On Books and Publishing Queer Politics, Culture, and History

Alistair McCartney’s The End of the World Book: A Novel

Post author By Yasmin Nair
Post date July 16, 2008

This is the sort of book writers might write for other writers.

On Books and Publishing Queer Politics, Culture, and History

Michael Luongo’s Gay Travels in the Muslim World

Post author By Yasmin Nair
Post date July 2, 2008

When it comes to travel, it seems that only Westerners travel ironically and self-consciously and write tales of their adventures, while Easterners merely fester in their chains.

On Books and Publishing

Ryan White’s mother speaks at Center

Post author By Yasmin Nair
Post date July 2, 2008

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), the latest statistics on HIV indicate that the populations at greatest risk for new infections are African-American men who have sex with men, and African-American women. This is a marked shift from the early years of the epidemic, when HIV/AIDS was perceived—and stigmatized—as a white gay men’s disease.

On Books and Publishing

Bash Back! makes point at parade

Post author By Yasmin Nair
Post date July 2, 2008

Chicago’s annual Pride Parade is a popular spectacle for queer Chicagoans and their straight allies. But even its most ardent supporters often wonder if Pride, meant to commemorate Stonewall, has retained its insurgent and activist roots. This year, a new group named Bash Back! decided to reclaim some of what it feels is the original spirit of Pride: protest, critique and anti-assimilationist politics.

Chicago Chronicles Prison industrial complex Queer Politics, Culture, and History Race, Sex, Gender, and Sexuality Reporting

March highlights Boystown tensions

Post author By Yasmin Nair
Post date July 1, 2008

The Coalition for Justice and Respect organized a “Unity March Against Racism and Harassment” in the Boystown area. This was the latest such event in Chicago to address the tensions that have pitted youth of color against police officers, condo dwellers, and business owners.