THE VOICE OF CHICAGO’S GAY, LESBIAN, BI AND TRANS COMMUNITY SINCE 1985 June 3, 2009 • vol 24 no 36 www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com Arrests on Halsted: Radicals Clash with Police BY YASMIN NAIR 29-31. This reporter was a participant in the pharmaceutical industry and the effects of in- convergence (but not in the nighttime events of tellectual property rights laws; the politics of Gay Idol Reports of an event on the night of May 30 have May 30) and spoke to fellow attendees as well as passing; the ex-gay movement; gentrification surfaced amidst rumors that a group of straight members of Bash Back! and eyewitnesses. and squatting and confronting sexual assault in Semis page 21 people marched through Lakeview’s North Hal- Preliminary reports indicate that there was no queer communities. There were also several cau- sted Street, and then set upon and attacked a straight onslaught or march upon gays/queers. cuses designed for the transgender community, group of gay individuals. What is known is that Instead, the people we spoke to indicate that genderqueers and cisgender people. (“Cisgen- a gathering involving a large group of people the trouble arose between police and Bash der” refers to “someone who is comfortable in resulted in several arrests. Back! convergence attendees. The only reports the gender he or she was assigned at birth.) Windy City Times has spoken to several sourc- of straight people marching down Halsted came Following a full day of such meetings, a es who were at or around the supposed events. from those who admitted to only having heard group of convergence attendees numbering The main participants involved in the event that on hearsay. from 100-200 got on the Red Line el. There were participants in a three-day convergence The Bash Back! convergence was organized were approximately two to three cars filled with organized by a local radical queer group Bash around several workshops and caucuses. Work- Turn to page 5 Back! Chicago. The event took place from May shop topics included the growth of the AIDS Obama Proclaims Pride Month Illinois union page 4 bill on hold BY WES LAWSON At the end of a long day of meetings within the Illinois House, State Rep. Greg Harris decided not to bring Senate Bill 1716 or House Bill 2234 to the floor on Sunday, for one crucial reason: the economy. “We are still engaged in the financial disaster that is currently gripping Illinois. This is not a Prop 8 time to put the bill on the house floor,” said Harris via telephone May 31. “This is not unique Ruling: to Illinois, as states like California are in similar Reactions page 6 financial crises, so right now, we just want to make sure that people aren’t going to be out on the street.” SUMMER “This bill will be a high-profile and contro- versial vote,” Harris continued. “It’s only been around a couple of months, and it definitely has been gathering steam recently. But right now, MOVIE/MUSIC we’re voting on measures to provide services for senior citizens and other financial things. This nightspots is a terrible time to bring it up both strategi- n cally and politically. Were we not embroiled in pick it up PREVIEW these financial affairs, this would be a different take it home story.” One of the bills Harris is attempting to pass is House Bill 3923, a health-insurance reform bill that will give consumers appeal rights, transpar- ency into insurance rates and profits, and other pages 11, 14-18 protections that will be available for the first time in Illinois. Also being voted on was House Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray (clockwise, from bottom left), Cyndi Lauper, Jason Antone, Pet Shop Bill 7, which calls for campaign-finance reform Boys’ Neil Tennant and Swing Out Sister are all part of Windy City Times’ summer music/movie Turn to page 6 www.WindyCityQueercast.com preview. CHICAGO’S BIGGEST GLBT CONTEST! Produced by Windy City Media Group THE FINALS AT PRESENT SIDETRACK SATURDAY, JUNE 13 See page 19 for more details 2 June 3, 2009 The 34th Annual Phonograph & Music Box Show & Sale Saturday & Sunday, June 13 & 14, 2009 Featuring the WORLD’S LARGEST SELECTION of • cylinder & disc • horned & upright phonographs • high quality music boxes • roller organs • vintage radios • rare 78 r.p.m. & cylinder records • early coin-operated phonographs & music boxes • hard-to-find parts & service for your machines shoW hours sat., June 13, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. sun., June 14, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. general admission sat. & sun. $8 per person (good both days) previeW admission $40 per person during setup on fri., June 12, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. SHOW & SALE HELD AT ROUTE 20 & S. UNION RD. UNION, IL 815.923.9000 45 MIN. NW OF O’HARE AIRPORT. EXIT I-90 AT US 20 HAMPSHIRE/MARENGO FOR HOTEL INFORMATION LOG ON AT www.WildWestTown.com $2 OFF EACH ADMISSION WITH THIS AD June 3, 2009 3 index NEWS N.H. next for gay marriage? 4 Obama and Pride Month 4 Abortion doctor killed 4 Interim alderman chosen 5 Halsted arrests 5 Responses to Prop 8 ruling 6 Civil-union bill on hold 6 Chicagoans’ protest 7 Pro-life rally is countered 7 Durnil on ‘American Idol’ 8 Queer prom; Quotelines 9 Larry Pike and Chicagoan Dick Uyvari Views—Monroe, Wikhelm 10 (right) were recently honored by the International Gay Bowling Organization. SUMMER MUSIC/MOVIES Read more on page 22. Amy Ray of Indigo Girls 11 Photo courtesy of Dick Uyvari KATM: Summer movie preview 14 Bradley Cooper interview 15 Pop Making Sense 16 Cyndi Lauper; Neil Tennant 17 Swing Out Sister 18 ENTERTAINMENT Billy Masters 20 Gay Idol semifinals 21 OUTLINES Calendar 18 Real estate; classifieds 19 Sports: Uyvari’s honor 22 Sports: Sky, Red Stars 22 Homofrecuencia held its fifth Queer Prom at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th. See more images on page Cover photos and credits (from top): Windy City Gay Idol 9, www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com and semifinal by Kirk Williamson; official portrait of President Barack Obama; and a photo of the May 26 Prop 8 protest www.QueerTVNetwork.com in Chicago by Emmanuel Garcia Photo by Emmanuel Garcia 8ii\jkjfe?Xcjk\[1Gfc`Z\ IX[`ZXcj:cXj_n`k_ >Xp@[fc J\d`j ;FNECF8;K?@J @cc`ef`jle`fe Y`ccfe_fc[ FYXdX GifZcX`dj Gi`[\Dfek_ >fkfnnn%N`e[p:`kpD\[`X>iflg%Zfdkf[fnecfX[Zfdgc\k\`jjl\jf] Gifg/ Ilc`e^1 JLDD<I I\XZk`fej N`e[p:`kpK`d\jXe[E`^_kjgfkj% DFM@<&DLJ@: n GI<M@<N K_\eZc`ZbfeXepX[Xe[Y\kXb\e[`i\Zkcpkfk_\X[m\ik`j\iËjN\Yj`k\ www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com nightspotsn ONLINE INDEX CAN YOU National AND world news PHIL —Quebec’s anti- DABEATZ? homophobia plan Photo by Kirk Williamson —America’s Gay Bachelor May 27, 2009 contest (right) #989 Can you Phil DaBeatz? We certainly felt DaBeatz on the Mad Boy Party Cruise with DJ Phil DaBeatz —ExxonMobil does not inSIDE Meet your new Bears, beards and beers at International Mr. Bucks. Leather! page 16 page 8 add orientation and gender identity to policy Photo of Mr. Massachusetts (Brendan O’Hara) courtesy of O’Hara views & LETTERS AMY & stephen Read very effective downtown viewpoints by local activist Victor Salvo and the White House’s www.WindyCity Jeffrey Crowley (left), Queercast.com and a powerful letter about young Black gays in Chicago. ‘SPRING’ into action TVN Parker Posey (right) talks with Windy City QueerTVNetwork.com Times about her movie with Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch. Also on the entertainment front, Check OUT OUR we chat with Glenn Doug- video CHANNEL fOR las Packard of the new videos WEEkly reality-TV show Brooke www.QueerTV Knows Best. Network.com 4 June 3, 2009 Splaine said opponents of same-sex marriage ing less than domestic terrorists and should N.H. next sought language that would enable anyone who Abortion doctor be treated as such by our society and law en- objected to same-sex marriage to be exempt forcement.” to Ok from the state’s anti-discrimination law, which killed in He added, “Dr. Tiller was an extraordinarily prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, kan. church brave and committed person who refused to be gay marriage? and sexual orientation, among other things. But intimidated as he defended the the reproduc- their efforts, he said, were rejected. BY ANDREW DAVIS tive rights of all women—the price for his un- BY Lisa KEEN Splaine acknowledged, however, that he ex- flinching bravery was his life. My heart goes out KEEN NEWS SERVICE George Tiller, 67, one of the few doctors in the pects the June 3 vote in the House to be “very to his family, friends and co-workers. I know Dr. nation who performed late-term abortions, was close” still. The first bill lost by one vote in Tiller would want nothing less than every pro- After two aborted take-offs, same-sex marriage shot to death in a Wichita, Kan., church May April, but passed minutes later on a “reconsid- choice person in the country re-doubling our ef- in New Hampshire is once again poised at the 31. eration” vote 186-179. The House voted a third forts to protect the fragile right to privacy that top of the runway. On Wed., June 3, the state Suspect Scott Roeder, 51, is in custody; he time when the Senate sent it a revision of the he so valiantly defended and cherished.” legislature is expected to pass its third version was located almost 200 miles away near Kansas first bill, passing the bill on a 178-167 vote.