LGBTQ+
Updates on Chicago’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and its allies, and LGBTQ+ news from around the country.
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This year’s edition of the parade kicks off at 11 a.m. Sunday near Sheridan Road and Broadway in Uptown.
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“May we all continue to strive to be our true, authentic selves as we continue our life journeys,” one wrote.
Over the decades, Chicago has become a premier place to practice the art of drag. Recently, the city has also become a safe haven for drag queens.
This year’s edition of the parade kicks off at 11 a.m. Sunday near Sheridan Road and Broadway in Uptown.
“The state can’t give or take away who you are,” said Sasha Buchert, a senior attorney at the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Lambda Legal. “But it certainly is nice to have a gender marker that reflects who you are.”
When I moved to Chicago in 2021, I started to come out of my shell more — before an anti-gay slur shattered the feeling of safety I’d slowly built up.
When two drag performers led “Old MacDonald” the kids imagined a world full of wonder and possibility. Why can’t we?
From parties, street festivals, family fun and much more, here’s what’s on Chicago’s Pride 2024 calendar.
Keith Zerbian writes that he used to enjoy going out in Boystown not for the drinks but for the camaraderie, which would often end with a late-night coffee. He talks about what it’s like to get a coffee today as a gay man at his suburban Dunkin’.
Drag performers glowed and glided. Pride-themed merch was sold and an overall feeling of unity and welcome was felt Saturday in Lake View.
Chicago Pride Guide
La edición del desfile de este año comenzará el domingo a las 11 a.m. cerca de Sheridan Road y Broadway en Uptown. Se reforzará la seguridad y habrá menos participantes que el año pasado.
This year’s edition of the parade will kick off at 11 a.m. Sunday near Sheridan Road and Broadway in Uptown. Security will be beefed up, and fewer participants will march than last year.
Illinois is one of the safest states in the nation for members of the LGBTQ+ community, with many protections, guest columnist Christopher Bigelow says. It’s the right thing to do as other states are making the opposite choice.
Local News
Reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ groups won a permit for a 1-mile march Aug. 18 past the Bean, Millennium Park and hotels where DNC delegates will be staying.
“This is an exhibit that reflects who I am, and I’m a complex person,” Csicsko told the Sun-Times.
Two measures to further protect transgender people are awaiting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature. But advocates say there’s more the state can do to help the LGBTQ+ community.
National News
Illinois already mandates insurance coverage for infertility, but state Democrats are working to further expand fertility access and coverage. “We’re protecting your rights in so many ways, but specifically regarding IVF,” Pritzker said, reacting to the Alabama decision.
In its landmark ruling, issued in response to a lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry, the court labeled what the suit called the LGBTQ+ “movement” operating in Russia as an extremist organization and banned it.
The Democrat became San Francisco’s mayor on the death of George Moscone, leading a center of gay culture roiled by violence just as the AIDS crisis was about to hit.
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Chicago House will offer housing to 13 families on West 63rd Street in a neighborhood with a high rate of HIV infection. The site will also contain office space for staffers overseeing residential units citywide.
Este año el evento fue organizado por Yollocalli, el programa de alcance juvenil del museo en La Villita y CALOR, organización de defensa de la comunidad LGBTQ+ dedicada a la prevención y a la concientización del VIH/SIDA en la comunidad latina.
This year, the event was put on by Yollocalli, the museum’s youth outreach program in Little Village, and CALOR, an LGBTQ advocacy organization focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness in the Latino community.
Sun-Times, Vocalo y WBEZ quieren destacar las historias LGBTQ+ de nuestra ciudad durante el Mes del Orgullo y más allá.
The Illinois Department of Human Services announced Monday that the new Transgender and Gender Diverse Wellness and Equity Program will provide organizations with comprehensive and medical care for transgender, gender-diverse and LGBTQ+ people.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and other local officials spoke of Chicago’s historically prominent role in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, while acknowledging recent threats to that progress.
Sun-Times, Vocalo and WBEZ are looking to spotlight LGBTQ+ stories in our city during Pride Month and beyond.
Soldier Field está listo para combatir los insultos homófobos en el partido de la Selección Mexicana
Durante la final de la Copa Oro 2019 contra Estados Unidos y un amistoso de 2022 contra Ecuador, los aficionados de México corearon un insulto homofóbico contra el portero rival.
Now a dad himself, the former ‘Younger’ actor credits the ‘Mattachine Family’ role for preparing him ‘in so many ways to be a father.’
During the 2019 Gold Cup final against the United States and a 2022 friendly vs. Ecuador, Mexico fans chanted a homophobic slur at the opposing goalkeeper.
Samuel Cundari, 30, is charged with making threatening posts on X directed at the children of two state lawmakers, gun control groups and the Illinois attorney general’s office. He’s also accused of posting about a potential bomb at a Springfield LGBTQ festival.
Wade hopes Translatable, which is funded by the Wade Family Foundation, will provide a community to “support growth, mental health and well-being, and that this space ignites more conversations leading to greater understanding and acceptance.”
Johnson’s Communications Director Ronnie Reese is under fire for a 2010 tweet that said, “I brake for gay pride, reluctantly.” Meanwhile, Ald. Debra Silverstein called a recent Facebook post by Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez “an antisemitic dog whistle.”
Citing financial woes, the provider of specialized care for low-income, LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive patients, said it will shutter its Diversey clinic at 2800 N. Sheridan Road and Thresholds South clinic at 734 W. 47th St.
The U.S. State Department issued a “worldwide caution” alert, saying it had learned of an “increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQI+ persons and events.”
Twenty-five more entries will be allowed to participate next month, still down from last year’s 199.
The comedian and her wife, Jax Smith, met in Chicago. They will lead the procession June 30.
More than 1,200 people have signed a petition to stop Johnson’s Chicago, a Florida-based male strip club, from opening at the shuttered LGBTQIA+ bar’s location.
The civil liberties group filed a federal lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws, a left-leaning group whose marching permit was denied by the city.
Howard Brown Health Workers United said 98% of votes cast supported ratifying the contract.