Trans 100 marks the beginning of a new era
Apr. 10, 2013At Ebert's funeral, waiting for Westboro
Apr. 9, 2013
I wasn’t initially planning on going to Roger Ebert’s funeral. Like many Chicagoans, I mourned his death and memorialized him in private, sharing my sorrows about his loss amongst friends who counted themselves fellow “Ebert superfans.” My colleague, Leah Pickett, broke the news to me and at first, I was upset with her for suggesting it was even possible. Ebert couldn't die. However, the Chicago Sun-Times confirmed her story. Just as quickly as we had to process the news of his semi-retirement, there was this.
NOM lies about Bears' donation
Apr. 5, 2013
On Wednesday, Dan Savage and Equality Matters gave Chicagoans a heart attack when they informed us that our beloved Bears (the sports team kind) may be collaborating with a hate group. Equality passed along an email from Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse of the National Organization for Marriage, who runs NOM’s Ruth Institute Gala. The “esteemed” doctor (probably a mail-in thing) specifically trumpeted coveted donations from the Bears organization, which included signed memorabilia from Brian Urlacher and Walter Payton.Dr. Doom wrote:
“This year, we're planning on sending our graduates off with a bang! And we've got some help!
It's time to break up with HRC
Apr. 1, 2013When you look at the pink and red Human Rights Campaign equal sign that many queers and their allies displayed on Facebook last week, you might see a simple testatment to marriage equality. You might see a promise to fight for equal rights.
"The Drop" dance party raising funds for "What's the T?" remount
Mar. 29, 2013
Last summer’s “Where’s the T?” was an event. It’s rare in the Chicago queer community that everyone is talking about one thing (if so, it’s often in a bad way), but the play was that kind of phenomenon. It brought us together, for a brief yet beatific moment. It was like going to church.
For those who didn’t catch one of its many sold-out shows, “What’s the T?” was a play developed to highlight the intersections of racism, classism and sexism in Boystown -- through the lens of youth experiences. The play followed a youth who was kicked out of his house for being trans and came to Boystown for the resources and solace it promised, finding the neighborhood as prone to oppression and gentrification as it is to providing respite.
You can support equality without being into marriage
Mar. 27, 2013
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that intelligence is the “ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”
I thought of Fitzgerald today as SCOTUS deliberated on Prop 8 and God was flooded with prayers from queer people to strike Scalia dead and friends flooded my Facebook feed with equal signs to show their support for marriage equality. It should have been an easy decision, right? I click a button, make a red mathematical mark my profile pic and then go back to watching Bob’s Burgers instead of being productive.
But I didn’t do it. I couldn’t do it. I support marriage equality, but my support deserves more explanation than a simple photograph can explain, and I saw a number of fights break out on Facebook as people struggled to articulate their mixed emotions on marriage to friends and family. Our politics are complicated. A picture might speak a thousand words, but in this case, those would be the wrong ones. These are my thousand words.
We need to give up transphobia
Mar. 27, 2013
Trigger warning: Transphobia. A lot of transphobia.
A month ago, my friend Todd Clayton came out as a recovering transphobe in an incisive essay for the Huffington Post entitled “The Queer Community Has to Stop Being Transphobic.” In the piece, Clayton details his own journey on transphobia and inclusion, how a Lana Wachowski speech opened his eyes to the quiet bigotry in his own life. He hadn’t openly attacked trans people or worked against their freedoms.
