If you are an LGBTQ+ parent or part of an LGBTQ+ family, finding a welcoming vacation spot is important. Where can you go where you can hope to be treated with respect and kindness? Here are some vacation ideas, from big-time cruises to summer camp-style adventures where LGBTQ+ families can be themselves. Cruises are great […]
Tag: LGBT
Posted inCommunity
Celebrate the holidays with gifts from LGBTQ+-owned businesses
This season, we’re helping take the stress out of picking the perfect gifts for the loved ones on your list. From vegan soap to fierce fashion, all of the products and businesses featured are LGBTQ+-owned. Not only are you getting terrific gifts, you are also helping support a community of queer and transgender artisans and […]
Posted inCaring for Community
Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ elders foster a caring community
The sages John Lennon and Paul McCartney asked and answered the great question: Does it worry you to be alone? No, because you get by with a little help from your friends. But that thought is incomplete: your friends might need a little help from you as well. That, at its core, is what caregiving and care receiving are all about. A caregiver recognizes a need and steps up to fill it. Over the course of our lives, it’s the rare person who has not been both the provider and recipient of care.
Posted inCaring for Community
Growing number of care providers catering to LGBTQ+ seniors
With the Baby Boomer population aging into retirement, more LGBTQ+ seniors are looking for affirming care and resources in their golden years, nervous about having to return to the closet in the absence of such care.
Posted inNews
LGBTQ+ History Month is a celebration of community
As I write, it’s National Coming Out Day. Since 1988, this day in October has been a day of solidarity for those who have come out. It is also a hopeful, supportive, gentle opportunity for anyone in flux, transition or considering coming out. We all have coming out stories. It is important to voice them. […]
Posted inOpinion
Queer media is here to help combat anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination
Nobody understands the LGBTQ+ community like LGBTQ+ media. Bringing people the news and opinions from our various local LGBTQ publications is what News Is Out is all about. We show you the beating heart of what drives and impacts LGBTQ people. We inform you of your rights and alert you to those trying to take […]
Posted inFeatured
Why is there LGBTQ+ media? One word: information
Take monkeypox, for example, specifically its relationship to our community. LGBTQ+ media reports a depth and breadth of information you won’t get from mainstream media. We immediately understood the impact monkeypox would have on the LGBTQ+ community and began writing about it and taking it seriously much earlier than mainstream media. The reason is that […]
Posted inCommunity
Queer-owned and LGBTQ+ affirming coffee houses across the country
Updated as of 11/7/23. LGBTQ+ people have always found ways to create community. From clandestine speakeasies to club floors crowded with celebratory dancers, we have found ways to celebrate love and life. While gay bars have become a beacon for many in the community and tend to dominate conversations regarding gatherings, we hear far less […]
Posted inOpinion
It’s a time for protests, not parades
If there was any doubt that a government-led backlash against the LGBTQ+ community was gaining force, it was made plain when the U.S. Supreme Court reversed itself (Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization) and ruled that Roe v. Wade was unconstitutional after nearly 50 years of being the law of the land. What had been […]
Posted inOpinion
Creating a forever family takes looking inside
My heart was racing as we walked to the front door of the foster home. I could hear the roar of children inside. With much anticipation, Tony and I knocked and could feel the rush of excitement in the air. Inside were two children: JJ, 3, and Elijah, 8. JJ rushed toward Tony and jumped […]
Posted inTop Stories
New report shows support for LGBTQ+ inclusion in small business
MetLife and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently teamed up to survey small business owners on their feelings about LGBTQ+ topics and inclusion and the results were encouraging. Business owners were asked a variety of questions from importance of diversity and inclusion to whether they were actively working to recruit LGBTQ+ employees. Seventy-seven percent of […]
Posted inOpinion
Expanding allyship beyond Pride month
Windy City Times usually receives its fair share of emails—hundreds each day. However, starting in late May that number increases exponentially, as June is Pride Month. Believe me, we love the fact that companies and businesses take action to support LGBTQ+ individuals, organizations and events. However, we wonder how much of the support is based […]
Posted inBooks
6 books featuring transgender or nonbinary heroes
Just as the great Bonnie Tyler once sang, “I need a hero!” so too do we. Today, as transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals are under new threats every day it seems, this Pride month feels like a fitting time to celebrate transgender and nonbinary heroes. From princes fighting for their kingdom and acceptance to a teen […]
Posted inTop Stories
Yes, we still need Black LGBTQ+ Pride events
Most of us know the story of the Stonewall Inn: We’ve heard how Black, Brown, and trans individuals in a small Greenwich Village bar rose up against the police in June 1969. While we often credit that night with sparking the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, the larger queer community ignores the continuation of the story: […]
Posted inMusic and Podcasts
6 ways to experience LGBTQ+ history this Pride month
Pride month is a perfect time to reflect on the people and events that helped us get where we are today. For many LGBTQ+ people, they never got to see their bravery and sacrifice blossom into the joyful celebrations we now have around the world. This June, you can honor their legacies and learn more […]
Posted inCommunity
8 brands giving back big time for Pride
Whenever June rolls around, your social media feeds begin to fill up with brands and businesses looking to join in on the celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. With so many brands competing for your pink money, how do you know who is actually working with the community to make a difference, or simply participating in […]
Posted inOpinion
The term Pride started in Los Angeles
For the gay patrons of the Black Cat bar in Silver Lake, it was a rotten way to start 1967. But in the aftermath of that horrific night, the LGBTQ+ community adopted a word that would help define a movement. As balloons fell from the ceiling of the neighborhood gay tavern at midnight on Dec. […]
Posted inTravel
Spaces for queer women experience a renaissance in Portland, Oregon
Update: Doc Marie’s is now scheduled to open on July 1. Spaces for lesbians and queer women have been on a steep downward trend for decades. Since the late 1980s, 90% of the estimated 200 lesbian bars in the United States have shuttered. Those that remain have faced intense challenges due to Covid-19, forcing some […]
Posted inNews
LGBTQ+ youth are on the frontlines of massive setbacks for equality
A joint report by member publications of News is Out: Bay Area Reporter, Dallas Voice, Philadelphia Gay News, Q Voice News, Tagg Magazine, Washington Blade, and Windy City Times. The LGBTQ+ community is experiencing wide-reaching attacks from state governments, with most proposed and passed legislation focusing on LGBTQ+ youth. News is Out explores what’s happening, […]