As June approaches its end and the weather becomes increasingly unpredictable, one of the city's biggest and most rainbow-intensive annual parties also looms. This Sunday, the 41st annual Chicago Pride celebration in the city culminates with the raucous parade down Halsted, an event that typically attracts upwards of 500,000 drunk people and politicians to Boystown. But the parade is only part of the grandiose gayness the city has to offer for those looking to show some Pride this week. more ›

Richard Knight, Jr. is senior film critic for the Windy City Times and also one half of the gay cinema duo The Movie Queens. We've profiled them before and they're back with a new episode, delving into the homoeroticism of superhero movies. Batman's rubber nipples, Professor Xavier and Magneto's gay banter in X Men, and the completely unsubtle camptastic qualities of 300 all go under the microscope. If only they'd talked about the new Transformers movie! Then again, with all that crunching metal and stick shifting, perhaps it's worthy of its own episode. The Fast & the Bi-Curious indeed. more ›

Sex writer Amy Andre and the adult toy store Early to Bed are presenting a film festival of sorts, Queer Porn-ucopia. A compilation of red-hot queer lust scenes -- the hottest, supposedly, ever caught on film. Tickets are available at the door with a suggested donation of $8 to $10 going to benefit the Leather Archives and Museum. more ›

Memorial Day Weekend is under way, so pull out the grill, set up the yard games, and put on your leather. For 29 years now this Chicago weekend has been synonymous with International Mr. Leather—a leather beauty pageant, leather and fetish conference, adult superstore, and cocktail party rolled up into one giant event that attracted some 15,000 leather daddies, leather boys, leather mamas, and leather girls last year. (Folks, that’s an entire town of fetish... more ›

Chicago "chef/consultant" Dale Levitski (formerly of Trio Atelier, La Tache and Orange — Levitski has also spent some time at Stone Lotus) will be Chicago's only representative on season three of Bravo's "Top Chef," a vast improvement from season two, which didn't feature anyone from the Windy City. The self-taught chef uses something called "'flavor math,' where the right number of spices can bring the perfect flavor and taste." He calls it flavor math, we... more ›

Joel Bleifuss, of In These Times, released a "‘how-to’ guide to avoid offending anyone" offering wordsmiths around the Chicago area the opportunity to offer their expertise on political correctness (PC) and how PC has shaped the way we communicate. Rinku Sen from Colorlines, Tracy Baim from Windy City Times and Lott Hill from Columbia College in Chicago In These Times, by far one of the boldest of the cities publications, focuses mainly on the cultural... more ›

Surfing between the Police reunion on the Grammys last night and an all-new evening of animation on Fox (and if Family Guy's "My Drunken Irish Dad" song isn't being sung en masse this St. Patrick's Day, we'll be sorely disappointed), Avenues' chef Graham Elliot Bowles took on Bobby Flay on "Iron Chef America." Knowing that the Tribune had Bowles' appearance featured in yesterday's Sunday magazine, we didn't buy the Sunday paper yesterday and stayed away... more ›

Building, Antennae, Span, Earth -- and other crap like construction cranes. This is the sport of BASE jumping. Every time we hear about people getting all crazy Bond and jumping off of high stuff, parachuting down and then cruising away as fast as possible to avoid criminal charges, we are entirely nonplussed. Not only do we admit to having a little fear of heights, but we also get a little vertigo just by walking a little too close to the edge of the el platform. more ›

Now in its 13th year, the Chicago Underground Film Fest is almost becoming an institution. Yet after more than a decade of presenting challenging, weird and hilarious films, CUFF still manages to seem fresh. Music videos are no longer the delivery system for underground music. But many filmmakers still use film as a way to explore how one art form enhances the other. Several film series at the fest including Jeff Krulik’s "The Maryland Trilogy",... more ›

San Francisco is proud host of a new reality show called "How to Get the Guy" that's unfortunately not a descendant of Will and Grace, Queer Eye, The L Word, American Idol etc. Also a biodefence lab is coming to the East Bay and SFist teaches wine pairing. Getting on the wrong train sucks. Getting on the wrong train and becoming the victim of what will later be described as a "stabbing spree" really sucks.... more ›

Yesterday the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway was mistaken for an airport runway. Kidding, but a small plane did crash onto it. An IL couple is divorced with an 8-year-old little boy. Fine. But now they're in a huge legal battle over whether he should be circumcised. DePaul University, the largest Roman Catholic university in the US, has launched a course in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexualm Transgender and Queer studies. "Well you know boys, a nuclear reactor is... more ›

It’s Friday night and you’re facing the cinephile’s dilemma: do you brave the crowds and head out to the theater to see a new release or do you just wait four days and rent it on DVD instead? In the year 2035, this may be a common scenario. But this weekend, only those interested in seeing Steven Soderbergh’s Bubble will have this problem. The Tribune ran this piece from the L.A. Times about the film’s marketing strategy. more ›

Seems like in the past year or so, guys have been bombarded with reasons why it's okay for them to care about their appearances. The whole metrosexual craze soothed our inner hair gel fetish, we no longer had to hide our copy of GQ inside a Maxim to read it on the train, and the Queer Eye guys even made over four players from the Red Sox (favorite moment: Kevin Millar getting his back waxed and shouting, "I am now gay"). But learning how to pick a tie or trim your goatee is one thing--confidently walking into one of the most imposing citadels of feminine grooming, the nail salon, is quite another. more ›

WARNING: Do not click on the following links with your office speakers turned up. In fact, probably best to save this post for the privacy of your own home. more ›

Doing their bit to make the whole Church-State, Gay-Not-Gay, Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell, Queer-Eye-For-The-Straight-Catholic debate a little bit more confusing, members of the Rainbow Sash Movement showed up at Holy Name Cathedral on Sunday, wearing rainbow sashes to display their sexual orientation, and were then denied communion. Despite a warning from Cardinal Francis George that just this thing would happen, the Sash Folks decided to go anyway. At this point Chicagoist would make a joke, but religion and politics makes this topic into the third rail of all possible topics. Scary. more ›