Logo Online has released a feature, “The Best Gay Bars in America.” And two local stomping grounds have made the list. Now a word of caution, by best, they don’t mean shiniest with polished service and sleek, contemporary finishes. Rather, they tap into their hearts for the kitschy, dive-y, and messy bars that are diverse, appealing to young and old, gay, lesbian, trans, and beyond. The sort of places that flirt in the wee-hours with......

Who’s your daddy? Gary Iriza, Mr. Palm Springs Leather 2008, is your daddy, sir. Iriza took the leather sash at the XXX International Mr. Leather (IML) Competition Sunday night. (The XXX stands for 30th anniversary, people.) IML is a beauty pageant of sorts, celebrating masculinity and a lifestyle of leather. IML has its roots in the Mr. Gold Coast contest, held in the historic Gold Coast Leather Bar. It expanded to a larger venue in......

Howard Brown announced a partnership this week, forming the Chicago Elder Services Community Initiative, that is designed to create a model of care for local LGBT elders. On board is also Council for Jewish Elderly-Senior Life, Heartland Alliance, Midwest Palliative & Hospice CareCenter and Rush University Medical Center. The goal is to build and sustain a suite of comprehensive programs that meet the needs of LGBT elders, striving to be a “one-stop-shop.” The Gay and......

The Little Dog Laughed, About Face Theater's current production up at Center on Halsted, is supposed to have a nude scene in it. But the Chicago version has the boys in their manpanties, and the playwright is none too pleased with the sanitized version of his work. Douglas Carter Beane's Little Dog, about a closeted movie star, the male sexworker he falls in love with, his vicious agent, and some shrewy chick they know, ran......

Stormy weather, by Stephen Gay.......

Image by Stephen Gay......

Wow, Alderman Tom Tunney has been having an interesting couple of months. First he gets a ticket for talking on his cell phone while driving and may have received special favors from the police department, then he makes a sweet deal and moves his flagship Ann Sather's, and now it's being reported that Tunney was the victim of an attempted holdup yesterday afternoon just a block from his 44th ward office. Five teenagers, who apparently......

Interview: The Movie Queens...

Seth Anderson's "raindrop porn" (heh) and Stephen Gay's brick wall make us want to put together a Pat The Bunny-style book about the textures around town. Suck on that, "daddy's beard."......

The Reeling Film Festival is in its last days, but there's still time to catch what's sure to be one of the most fascinating movies in the program. Quearborn & Perversion, a new documentary by Columbia College alum Ron Pajak, tells stories of lesbian/gay Chicago life spanning the years 1924-1974. It's surely a beautiful irony of history: what is today the epicenter of the Viagra Triangle was, in the 50's, the epicenter of gay life;......

The Rev. Jeffrey Lee, a moderate in the eyes of religious leaders, was elected as the 12th Bishop of Chicago at the diocese convention in Wheeling on Saturday. Lee was selected over seven other candidates, one of whom is an openly lesbian priest, the Very Rev. Tracey Lind. Theological conservatives are condemning the vote and Lee, saying it doesn’t demonstrate enough restraint in maintaining the traditional view that the scripture condemns homosexuality. And some are......

Let's all give a warm welcome to our newest commenter, Mr. Neil Steinberg! A 16-year-old spotted her rapist at Dunkin Donuts and called the police, who promptly arrested him. A flight from here to New York was searched following a bomb threat, and the FBI is investigating non-specific, "third-hand" threats that al-Qaida is planning on attacking Chicago malls during holiday shopping time. Doomsday, Daley, CTA, Springfield...this is pretty much a Mad Libs at this......

Let's face it: we're spoiled when it comes to movies. Not only do the best (and worst) theatrical releases play here, but we also have scads of film festivals to choose from year-round. No sooner are CIFF and the Korean Film Festival over than Reeling is upon us. Since 1981, Reeling, Chicago's gay and lesbian film festival, has been unspooling a vitally diverse cross-section of queer filmmaking. This year's schedule includes nearly 70 programs,......

Aside from small-scale studies linking sexual-minority youth with high suicide attempt rates, there isn't a ton of concrete information about the higher risk of suicide among GLBT youth — U.S. data does not track sexual orientation as a factor in suicides. Still, there was a study in New Zealand that showed that they were six times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers, and it seems generally agreed upon that the risk is......

Want to go to a play--but you don't know how? The Trib has you covered. This "Theater 101" article is full of such helpful tips as "If the show starts at 8:00, get there at 7:50." Honest to God, we can't tell if the item "Applause: When the play ends, there's a blackout, then the lights come back on and all the actors come on stage to take a bow. This is when you should......

If you have a chance to see Patton Oswalt live, take it. A few months ago at the Lakeshore, we saw him do the best stand-up set we've ever seen — and lo, Chicagoist sees a lot of stand-up. Ever since, we've been dying to see him again, and tonight is our opportunity and yours: The Comedians of Comedy are doing a show at the Vic tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $29 and aren't......

Our public parks and forest reserves are being overrun by a nuisance population: Bird-watchers. Wait! No, not bird-watchers, gay cruisers. Yes, it's that old story again — bird-watchers continue to complain that their favorite woodsy areas are also popular cruising destinations. According to the Trib, "[i]n cruiser communities, birding areas are known to be prime hook-up spots," though the source of that information isn't mentioned. How do you know if someone's cruising? Look for "deliberate......

You've probably heard the news: J.K. Rowling outed Dumbeldore. Instead of shock and awe, we, along with Neil Steinberg, feel more of a yawn. She outed the oldest character, way too old for us to think about in a sexual way, and the revelation has no bearing on the books at all. It's not as if we're going to read them again and say "By Jove! Everything makes sense now!" and some mystery of the......

Folks sure are feeling God-y today. Both Neil Steinberg and Harold Henderson are both dipping their column toes in the divine waters. "That must be one hell of a galaxy that God's been busy constructing, somewhere far, far away, because He's sure careless when it comes to keeping tabs on his flock 'round these parts. If the Lord were on the ball, earthwise, then 24-year-olds would not kill themselves," Steinberg writes, in reference to Jim......

New York Times reporter Monica Davey took an "unscientific survey" of people at the Cultural Center yesterday, asking them questions from the new citizenship test. People didn't do too well. We decided to do our own "unscientific survey" of Chicagoist staffers and friends, and ... wow. Somewhere, our history teachers are in a corner gently weeping. Highlights of our wrongness: 42. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of......

Violent crime is up 1.9 percent nationally, but locally, it's down 3 percent. The city owes all of us noncriminals a pizza party. Crime dropped statewide as well. Uh, do we smell two pizza parties? The FBI released its yearly roundup of crime in the United States, and it's a real gold mine for info nerds like us. But the first thing we noticed was most of the tables say Illinois has "limited data......

If you were at last night's Estrojam (warning: makes noise) opening-night Panty Party at Funky Buddha, it's likely you're familiar with the festival. You're also probably a) hungover from all the $1 beers and mango vodka shots, and b) searching for your face on Last Night's Party, hoping for a new MySpace photo. The five-year-old, woman-centric music and culture festival continues all over the city this week with a bevy of concerts, films, workshops and......

Let's start with a tough question: Who is Chicago's greatest filmmaker? When it comes to experimental film some might advocate for James Fotopoulos, whose output is both prodigious and relentlessly probing. When it comes to documentaries, Steve James is more than formidable. And on the narrative end of things although neither Andrew Davis nor John Landis quite make the grade, they've both had their moments. We would argue that the title should go to Tom......

Every year at SXSW, we check out at least one band based on their wacky name alone. In this manner, we've discovered some great acts (I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly) and some bizarre ones (Here Come Old Vodka Tits, My! Gay! Husband!). Locals Casiotone For The Painfully Alone fall far closer to the former category than the latter, and the vulnerable songcraft that has garnered them national attention......

1. Porn stars playing Twister. And for a charitable donation, you can join in as well. 2. Gay cheerleaders of the Chicago Spirit Brigade soaring through the air. When you have a significant male presence on the squad, things people really get flying. 3. Shirtless muscle men. And an occasional shirtless woman. 4. Models wearing cutting-edge fashions, strutting their stuff. In an over-exagerated dance move, the rear seam in one model’s pants bursts open. 5.......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they......

From the tallest skyscraper in the City of Brotherly Love to Canadian tourism copywriting brilliance, here's what you should know from our -ist cities: This week, Phillyist took a gleeful listen to the White Stripes' exciting new release, watched in awe as their new tallest skyscraper was finally completed, found a cheaper way to get to Gothamist, invented a tasty new dessert, and brought back their Craigslist Round-Up feature with a bang. Bostonist watches......

The annual Pride Parade roared through the streets of Lakeview this afternoon. Through its 38 years, the parade has become more corporate and mainstream. Channels 2, 5, 7, and 9 had a presence, as did every major bank in the city, Jewel, Whole Foods, Pepsico, AT&T, and many other corporations. Former NBA star John Amaechi, the first NBA player to come out as a gay man, welcomed the crowd as the parade’s grand marshall. A......

The Pentagon confirmed last week that in the mid-90s, they had considered developing a “gay bomb.” The Air Force’s Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio (of course, Ohio), had proposed developing an aphrodisiac so strong, it would incapacitate the enemy troops by making them more interested in making love with each other, not war. The implication that an army of men could turn gay under the power of a pheromone or some other chemical alteration was......