Mr. Nelson, As a theatre professor I must say that your response is extremely bold with zero back up. The show was really fantastic, of course there were things that needed to be tightened, but to say “the show was a mess” is very far off. I really enjoyed Night Blue’s interpretation of this production, and I found all of the actors (leads & ensemble) to be quite incredibly talented.

And you obviously have no theatre training because if you did you would know the show was a mess.

I completely disagree with this review. Although I thought there were definite opening night things to work out, seeing this rent on the intimate stage at TBC made the choices of the directors pop even more. The stand out actors quoted in this review are way off. Jonathan Hymen as Mark was perfect and his voice is a gem rarely heard in Chicago non-equity. Chris Froseth at Roger was a breath of fresh air. His new take on the obvious RENT rhythms we know and love were not new but perfectly placed. I’m not sure why I ever look at CFP for reviews on theatre because I am not sure your reviewers actually know theatre. You were obviously at a different show.

Great article. I’ve taken a few trips with Ski Bums and I’ve been to a few gay ski weeks. Always a really great time! Just got back from the Ski Bums trip to Cortina, Italy, and wow, that was a BLAST. Can’t recommend their trips highly enough.

I have eaten several times at La Ciudad Mexican Restaurant and I am a great fan of the place. It is owned by two brothers, Hugo and Armando. Armando is gay. It is a very friendly place and the fact that it has parking is great. I love the carne asada and the guacamole and I think the ceviche is wonderful. I also like the fact that it is BYOB is a positive. The restaurant has a modern welcoming design which is refreshing vis avis the usual tacky design associated with this type of restaurants.

The food in this restaurant is wonderful, the staff is super friendly and it has parking. It is BYOB. What else could you ask for!!! You must try their Guacamole, I tend to disagree with the article about the ceviche, I found the ceviche to be worth every penny. For dessert I highly recommend their scrumptious flan. Definitely a place that will become a favorite.

Jennifer – Gays Without Borders exists http://gayswithoutborders.wordpress.com/ !

Other ways of offering support are to help groups such as the ILGHRC http://www.iglhrc.org or help (especially financially) struggling African LGBT groups, like Sexual Minorities Uganda http://www.sexualminoritiesuganda.org or Gay And Lesbian Coalition of Kenya galck.org

For starters, the word “queer” may have meant something vile back in the day, some may still use it that way. But thinking in younger generations has changed, and the term “queer” is now something to identify as, whether you like it or not, Mr. Varnell. As for using “gay” when you mean “gay,” those of us, myself included, who identify as gay continue to use that term. Who are you to tell someone what they should identify as? Unless my history is very, very wrong (and I don’t think that it is), the word “gay” was once used as a synonym for happy, yet you seem to be just fine with identifying with that term. And you may not see African-Americans using the term “darkie” but there are other words that they have reclaimed, again, whether you like it or not.

As for your issue with the inclusion of our transgendered brothers and sisters being included in the discussion, I believe that your ideas are out-dated. Do you honestly believe that the GLBT community has made the strides that we have without the help of our straight allies? If so, you’re dead wrong. Likewise, our friends and family in the transgender community have helped us by adding their numbers to our cause. To ostracize them the way you have in your article is foolhardy at best.

Our community is one that can come together over a mutual issue, being different from the heteronormative ideas passed down to us by our society. Transgender people fall easily into that. Their gender identity, and in fact sexual identity, do not fall easily into heteronormative ideas. I think you need to educate yourself on the issues, sir, and when you have done so. When you have close, personal friends who have grown up feeling as if they were born into the wrong body, when you love someone who went through that hell, if you can say that you still feel the same way, at least you won’t be ignorant.

However, I do have one more thing to say: If we ignore the transgendered members of our community, what are we condemning them to? We all know how hard it is to gain acceptance and understanding from people who are apposed to us. And, as you have shown in this article, transgendered people have the same issue within the GLBT(etc.) community. You really think people who aren’t our allies, people who think we’re going to hell just for loving another man or woman, are going to find it any easier to understand and accept transgendered people? We need them, and they need us. They bolster our movement and we bolster theirs.

I hope you come around, Mr. Varnell, I really hope you do.

Wait- you close an investigation because people have credibility problems, but yet you didn’t even talk to 25% of the people in the lawsuit? Seems to me that it’s Anita Alvarez that has the credibility problem. And just because you’ve indicted other cops doesn’t get you off the hook! Those cops weren’t targeting homosexuals. Seems like the real problem is that everyone gets protection but us.

This is infuriating. How do we protest?

[...] this Chicago Free Press interview with Michael Cudlitz about Southland.  That’s a shame, because he made a point to bring out the significance of the character to GLBT folks as he was talking. It’s a shame this bearish guy [...]

Absolutely disgusting. Our best chance in history to win a State Senate seat…and the so called ‘leaders’ of our community walk away from one of our best candidates. Why? Because according to your endorsement “Heather Steans has deep pockets.” What? Has she gone to more galas than Jim? This is an absolute abdication of your responsibility as a voice in our community. Perhaps you should get your butts off of Halsted Street and little minions who control it long enough to know that you no longer represent the voice of gays and lesbians in Andersonville. If we lose this seat in what will likely be a very tight race, this opportunity will have been lost at the feet of the alleged leaders of our community who sold us out for money.

I am appalled that the CFP would endorse Steans. She is nothing but a Chicago machine party hack who has paid off everyone in sight to get these endorsements. It’s truly a sad day for Chicago and for the gay community when we would cannibalize our own just to score political points. Jim Madigan has done so much for the gay community, not just written checks to the political elites or insiders. I will no longer read this paper.

It was nice to meet some of the candidates at this event, but it really drove home to me and my group of friends how lawyer dominated/infested Equality Illinois and the largely self-proclaimed “gay leadership” are in this city: everyone so clearly on the make, and everyone oh, so full of himself–the lesbians in attendance as a rule being a little more down to earth and not having any speaking roles from the podium. By supporting a number of well-connected, old-style machine politicians apparently only because they are gay (e.g., John Cullerton, Deb Mell) while not supporting several promising outsiders (e.g., Marsalek, Fehn), Equality Illinois has been sending a decidedly mixed message for quite a while now. Does it really know the community it claims to represent? Or is the idea just to have a few gay people helping to run the current unjust system?