While Darcy Connors was a nursing home administrator in the South, she also operated a COVID-19 recovery center. Connors and her staff noticed that two of the patients in their charge had a strong connection with one another — they were obviously a couple but were reticent to inform the staff. “One of the partners […]
Author Archives: Matt Simonette
Matt Simonette is the executive editor of Windy City Times.
Posted inBIPOC LGBTQ+ Artist Spotlight
Take Up Space co-founders reach for community-building possibilities
Two Chicagoans are working to bring a new business—one part coffee shop, one part co-working space, one-part events venue—centering Black and queer identities to Lake View. Co-founder M. Rashaad Barnett said he envisions the business, to be named Take Up Space, as “a leader in co-working and community that defies the need for barriers of […]
Posted inArts and Entertainment
Patric McCoy exhibition unearths forgotten moments from Chicago’s Black queer history
It’s the unusual person who is able to transform their commutes to and from their office into anything meaningful, let alone a profound body of work documenting a generation. But Patric McCoy has done just that. McCoy, a retired scientist as well as an art collector, spent years carrying his 35mm camera on his bike […]
Posted inCommentary
A right-wing threat to HIV prevention
Reducing, and ultimately eliminating, new HIV transmissions—even as health care providers, advocates and community members already have many components of the needed toolkit already available—remains a formidable challenge for communities across the nation. Even in states and municipalities, largely respectful of their LGBTQ+ populations, funding difficulties can result in diminished funds allocated for HIV prevention […]
Posted inTop Stories
In praise of Drag Story Hour
Drag Story Hours have really come to the fore in our political consciousness in the last few years, as the radical right has strategically targeted events raising the visibility of individuals who are gender-nonconforming, transgender or nonbinary. I’m glad to say I’ve been to a Drag Story Hour (DSH). It was a joyous, but innocuous-seeming […]
Posted inCommentary
LGBTQ+ candidates are there as Chicago politics prepare to shift
The exhausting Chicago election cycle continues. Once the midterm and gubernatorial races were resolved, the Windy City was already midstream in campaigning for the 2023 municipal elections Feb. 28 (with runoffs April 4). Chicago could very well see a significant pivot in its municipal politics in 2023. A contentious term, not to mention some campaign […]
Posted inTop Stories
The youngest victims of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination
On Dec. 13, the Ohio State Board of Education voted 10-7 in favor of a non-binding resolution opposing proposed changes to the federal government’s Title IX protecting LGBTQ+ students. It was just one more blow for LGBTQ+ young people, who for much of 2022 have unwittingly found themselves at the center of one controversy after […]