THE VOICE OF CHICAGO’S GAY, LESBIAN, BI AND TRANS COMMUNITY SINCE 1985 Aug. 12, 2009 • vol 24 no 45 www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com South Side woman helps HIV-poz men LGBT Vets BY SAMUEL WORLEY Throughout the 1990s Byther-Smith struggled Honored page 6 with how to cope with her infection. When “AIDS was my destiny,” said Ida Byther-Smith, her husband—who had infected her and left founder of Jo-Ray House, a living space for men her—showed up at her door in 1996 after be- with HIV located in Chicago’s Roseland neigh- ing robbed, she told him, “You can have a bed- borhood, “but life was my choice.” room.” He lived under her care until his death in Byther-Smith found out that she was infected 1999. with HIV the same day—Nov. 7, 1991—that The arc of her relationship with her husband basketball player Magic Johnson announced his would presage the work that has consumed her own infection in a nationally-televised press for much of the past decade. After a near-death conference. The result of a routine test Byther- experience on Christmas Day in 2000—when she Smith needed for a job, the infection came as a was rushed to the hospital with a high viral load shock. She left the doctor’s office “running,” she Ida Byther-Smith. Turn to page 6 said, after telling the doctor he was a liar. Donna Summer page 16 Olson team Whole snubs gay legal help Lolla BY Lisa KEEN KEEN NEWS SERVICE Fun Aug. 10—Controversy over conservative Ted Olson’s lawsuit against Proposition 8 escalated this month, with Olson’s legal team arguing against allowing gay groups to participate in Gay Games the lawsuit. In a brief filed Aug. 7, Olson’s team argues Party page 22 against allowing a coalition of gay organizations to serve as intervenors, saying—among other things—that they have been “unwilling to say that they actually support [the] effort to vindi- cate their rights in this lawsuit.” The lawsuit, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, was filed August 5, 2009 #994 in federal court in San Francisco in May on be- half of two same-sex couples. It charges that California’s Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Con- stitution’s explicit guarantees to due process of nightspots law and equal protection of the law. n A group of gay legal and political groups ini- pick it up Market Gays tially issued a statement warning against “pre- At Market Days. page 13, 16-17 take it home inSIDE Happy birthday, Makin’ it rain at Spin’s mature lawsuits,” saying they could lead to an Mr. Flint. shower contest. page 12 page 10 “ill-timed” decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that could set back the movement toward equal page 16 marriage rights for same-sex couples. But one month later, three of those same groups—Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lollapalooza 2009 was hot in more than one way: Not only was there an incredible line-up of the Lesbian & Gay Rights Project of the ACLU— musicians (such as the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O, above), but temperatures hovered in the 90s filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the www.WindyCityQueercast.com for most of the weekend. Photo by Cambria Harkley; read more on page 16, and see many more photos on page 18 and at www.WindyCityMediaGroup.com. 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