The first hotel company to receive a 100% score of the HRC Corporate Equality Index, Kimpton Hotels are boutique hotels and the staff is GREAT! Most importantly they are GLBT supportive inside and out. Throughout all levels of employment, GLBT is represented, and they also outreach to the community through their project KGLEN (the Kimpton Gay & Lesbian Employee Network)
The Burnham Hotel Chicago was AMAZING to our pup. We had a sleek room, with a window seat overlooking beautiful State Street. The historic stairway in the lobby is worthy of a sneaky peek!
If I remember correctly, when we used to live in Chicago, the Windy City times hit newsstands every Thursday. This week marks their 25th anniversary and is Chicago’s oldest Gay & Lesbian newspaper. The Windy City Times started in 1985 with a small voice, but a long-term dream that LGBT topics would not only come from The Windy City Times, but that their own newspaper would continue, as other media, to have our news stories and issues mainstream.
Co-founder and current publisher Tracy Baim says “25 years is an important milestone because the modern gay rights movement had just begun its strongest push in the 1960s and 1970s.”
She says now that gay issues are covered better in the mainstream media, niche publications are crucial for covering the community in more meaningful ways.
Stanley cup winners, the Chicago Blackhawks will show their Pride on Sunday as Blackhawk Brent Sopel will march with his wife and children in the Chicago Pride parade to honor the late Brendan Burke.
“When Brendan came out, Brian stood by him, and his whole family stood by him, like every family should. We teach our kids about accepting everybody. Tolerate everybody, to understand where everyone is coming from.”
Brendan Burke was an openly Gay athlete and son of the General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs who, at the young age of 21, died in an auto accident in Indiana with his friend earlier this year.
Thats our team! Family is your family and you must stand by them and teach each other to love and accept who they are.
What an amazing neighborhood to visit and live! The charm of the city life with a small town feel-the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago is also known as Boystown, but it’s so much more than that. Cafe’s, bookstores, art galleries, small businesses, and clubs line the streets. It is conveniently located between Wrigley Field and Lake Michigan. If you go this summer (especially for Pride, because its one of the best) stay at a Gay friendly Kimpton Hotel in the Loop, hop the red line and get off at the Belmont stop and head east. It is a beautiful walk and so many lovely shops to peruse. With the support of Mayor Daley of Chicago, this neighborhood has grown to be a go-to place to live and visit. If you are planning a getaway, don’t forget to include Chicago!
PIEHOLE was a wonderful pizza joint. We lived around the corner from it years ago and it was a great place to get a slice of pizza at any hour of the night. The owner, Doug Brandt, was unable to renew it’s lease and has not yet found a more reasonable place to relocate. Mr Brandt truly reached out to the community, especially the youth. Since Piehole was located in the heart of Boystown, and was not a bar, LGBT youths would frequent the place causing quite a stir, but Brandt turned lemons into lemonade.
“Brandt took a different tack, reaching out to groups such as Youth Pride Center and the Center on Halsted to try to provide a welcoming space for everyone. He hired some youths in the groups and also held events such as “Soul at the ‘Hole,” an open mic night.
“It was great,” Brandt said. “It started off because we’re not a 21-and-over establishment and we had some youths coming in. We had an excellent relationship with YPC and the Center on Halsted.”
Brandt said some perceptions of the youths are off-base. All but a few of them, he said, are just out to socialize in a safe community.
“We just saw an injustice,” he said. “We didn’t discriminate against anybody. We just can’t believe that a community like the gay community that’s fought discrimination would want to discriminate. If they are 18, they have a right to be out on the street.”
Lets hope Piehole reopens soon so that it will feed the community again!
If I remember correctly, when we used to live in Chicago, the Windy City times hit newsstands every Thursday. This week marks their 25th anniversary and is Chicago’s oldest Gay & Lesbian newspaper. The Windy City Times started in 1985 with a small voice, but a long-term dream that LGBT topics would not only come from The Windy City Times, but that their own newspaper would continue, as other media, to have our news stories and issues mainstream.
Stanley cup winners, the Chicago Blackhawks will show their Pride on Sunday as Blackhawk Brent Sopel will march with his wife and children in the Chicago Pride parade to honor the late Brendan Burke.
PIEHOLE was a wonderful pizza joint. We lived around the corner from it years ago and it was a great place to get a slice of pizza at any hour of the night. The owner, Doug Brandt, was unable to renew it’s lease and has not yet found a more reasonable place to relocate. Mr Brandt truly reached out to the community, especially the youth. Since Piehole was located in the heart of Boystown, and was not a bar, LGBT youths would frequent the place causing quite a stir, but Brandt turned lemons into lemonade.
