It’s been a long time coming, but Federal Judge Vaughn Walker overturned the 2008 California ruling that defined marriage in the state as between one man and one woman. The case will most likely be headed to an appeals court–being determined on August 6–but it is an indication that more federal recognition could be on its way. Walker stated in his summation that the proposition was unconstitutional because it violated federal due process and equal protections laws for gay and lesbian people. This follows up a recent Massachusetts ruling that declared the federal Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional on the same grounds.

Using direct action and strong rhetoric to put the LGBT-rights movement back on track
by Kevin Sparrow

Throughout history, different pieces of evolution, society and even thought have become outmoded and re-adapted. The tailbone remains as a reminder that we came from tail-carrying species; aristocracies crumbled because the larger population had needs that were not being addressed; the Earth is no longer seen as the center of the universe or solar system because scholars could prove that it revolves around the sun. One major area that seems slow to learn from the lessons of the past is politics. Civil rights movements from women’s suffrage to African-American equality have required a dedication to their cause by grassroots groups, but these have also become subdued over time–women still consistently earn lower than men and economic disparity effects large portions of the Black community–because the sound of the movement dies down.

The same is happening with LGBT rights today: great strides of visibility that were achieved in the 1970s and ’80s coupled with greater hate crime and protection legislation in the ’90s was due to the work of small groups and organizations, like the Gay Liberation Front, ACT UP and Queer Nation,  who knew that the road to equality was paved with raised voices and confrontation. We are now looking at a movement that tries to lobby political leaders on Washington Hill with mouthpieces such as the Human Rights Campaign and to ameliorate tensions between queer and straight people through media with GLAAD. Working within those systems, both have contributed to a movement that often falters because it does not want to be seen as overbearing or assaultive, so it asks the entire community to be more considerate and patient when no progress on legislation for LGBTs is made and to avoid using strong and even inflammatory rhetoric that our anti-gay counterparts use.

Well, fuck it. The only way to progress toward rights is to not be docile about it; we have to confront the organizations that oppose us directly, whether they be NOM, AFTAH or ultra-bigoted Westboro Baptist Church, by walking right up to them and telling them why their hate is harmful and not being willing to understand a position that discriminates against so many people. Whether or not it changes the minds of those we directly address, it has the indirect effect of influencing others who may become motivated to join an LGBT-rights cause, to fight for particular legislation to end DADT or start ENDA or even make a conversation easier between a parent and a queer child. If silence persists, everyone is left to believe that the issue is solved and LGBT people are complacent with remaining in discrimination. Which we are not.

One upcoming outlet to try this line of direct action is at the Gay Liberation Network protest against the AFTAH academy being promoted in Arlington Heights. Peter LaBarbera’s Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality is launching a series of lectures aimed at youth (around age 14 and up) that details and attempts to indoctrinate them in a discriminatory view that homosexuality is immoral and that, because of its immorality, LGBT people should not be granted equal rights. The protest will begin at 7:30 PM outside the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights (502 W. Euclid Ave). If you are coming from Chicago, you can meet up with GLN outside Ogilvie Transportation Center (5oo W. Madison) at 6 PM and take the Metra to the suburbs. And once you get there, don’t stop till your voice gives out.

We’ve been braised by the Chicago sun numerous times this summer while standing in multitudinous crowds, but what could one more weekend hurt? Especially when it’s Lollapalooza. The annual music fest is Chicago’s largest, taking place in Grant Park across 7 stages and from before noon on Friday until nearly midnight on Sunday. This weekend, enjoy some of our suggested awesome queer and not-so-queer, but still dear, musical acts.

On Friday, enjoy the oddly melodic Devo (4 PM) and Dirty Projectors (5 PM) if work lets you out to play. Follow up with former Mondayers Chromeo (7 PM), and wrap up the night with your choice of the sexy Strokes or Her Royal Strangeness Lady Gaga.

Saturday brings the sublime Rogue Wave (1 PM) or the spicy Dragonette (1:45 PM), or strategize a way to see Stars (2:15) in the daytime. Savor the afternoon delight of Grizzly Bear (4:15 PM), then dance the night away with Cut Copy (7:30 PM) and Empire of the Sun (9 PM). In the interim, try some of the francophilic pleasures brought by Phoenix (8:30 PM).

If you find yourself able to crawl out of bed and into the morning light on Sunday, might we suggest a toast to HEALTH (11:30 AM)? Take a chaser of Didi Gutman (from Brazilian Girls)’s DJ set (1:30 PM), and then head to Yeasayer at 4 PM. Time your heartbeat to the earthy tones of Erykah Badu at 5 PM and get a bit surreal with MGMT (6 PM). Go out with a blaze with The Arcade Fire (8:30 PM). Hopefully, these recommendations keep your weekend flowing from start to finish.

After Nikki Araguz lost her firefighter husband, Thomas, on July 4 to injuries sustained on the job, her devastation went beyond his death. Araguz is now in a legal battle to retain her husband’s estate as his immediate family is claiming their marriage is illegal because Araguz is transgender; in Texas, transgender people are legally considered to be their birth sex, and due to DOMA, two people of the same sex cannot be married. Araguz is challenging this and hoping to vindicate her relationship.

A federal judge halted a proposed Arizona law to ban gay and lesbian domestic partnership benefits. The bill was put into motion toward passing as part of a budget plan signed last September, but has so far been kept from being signed into law.

Lieutenant Dan Choi was released from service last week, becoming the latest of 59 Arabic linguists fired by the U.S. military’s DADT policy. Choi had been on suspended leave awaiting a formal discharge and working as an LGBT rights activist in the meantime.

Target is currently under scrutiny for recent political donations. The Minnesota-based chain provided $150,000 to political action committee MN Forward, which then distributes money to politicians like conservative gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer who financially supports rabidly homophobic Christian rock group You Can Run But You Cannot Hide.

Just 5 days ago, Argentina set a historic precedent as the first Latin American nation to legalize same-sex marriage. The 33-27 Senate vote was a fitting passage as part of President Cristina Fernandez’ administration, and even received lauds from Mexico City which offered a free honeymoon to the first gay Argentine couple to marry.

After months of humiliation and injustice for wanting to attend her high school prom with her girlfriend, Constance McMillen has finally received a settlement from the northern Mississippi school district that refused her entrance and canceled the official prom to prevent McMillen’s attendance. McMillen received $35,000 in damages, and the ACLU, who led the prosecution of the school district, were able to effect an agreement from the school district to enforce a non-discrimination policy for gay students.

An adjunct professor at the University of Illinois was recently fired for making disparaging comments about homosexuality in his Catholicism classes. Kenneth Howell was appointed to teach these Catholic studies classes by St. John’s Catholic Newman Center through a partnership with U of I that began in 1971; the university will now be reviewing this policy to assess if it violates the separation of church and state and hope to have a firm new policy by the fall semester.

Instead of focusing on musicians this week since we’re exhausted from the fantastic weekend we spent at Pitchfork, we would like to turn your attention to something equally fantastic, especially in the city of Chicago: slam poetry. Before the National Poetry Slam steals away our local poets in August, two local teams will be battling it out on the mic at Butterfly Social Club (722 W. Grand, off the Grand Blue Line stop)–this event features Team Green Mill (Roger Bonair Agard, Robbie Q Telfer, JW Baz, Tristan Silverman, Amy David) and Team Mental Graffiti (Marty McConnell, Emily Rose, Billy Tuggle, Andi Kauth, John Davis) going head-to-head in a friendly but spirited competition. Stop by tomorrow, Monday, July 19 at 8 PM to see the show; and for those of you who want the opportunity to jam the mic yourself, stop by early to sign up for the open mic preceding the show.

UPDATE: The show was incredible–beyond the Mental Graffiti and Green Mill performers, student performers from Young Chicago Authors competed and rivaled their more established counterparts. Stand-out performances from Tristan Silverman describing the challenges of runner Caster Semenya and Andi Kauth meditating on bulimia were well-matched by amazing poems performed surrounding them from J.W. Baz, Emily Rose and Amy David.

Summer is very often a time of ambivalence: too much gorgeous weather to stay inside, but too hot to disabuse yourself of the air conditioner. Let Cul de sac suggest you take some of the guesswork out of this summer weekend and attend the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park (off the Ashland-Lake Green Line stop). Here are few highlights for your ears to chill to while your flesh melts:

Robyn (Friday, 6:25 PM) – She’s come a long way from “Show Me Love,” blasting away her old sweet-girl image with a “Konichiwa Bitches.” She is now working on a more fleshed out approach to albums with the multi-part Body Talk series, while still churning out dance floor fodder for your favorite gay bar.

Broken Social Scene (Friday, 7:20 PM) – They may still be your fags, but Broken Social Scene has gone through some changes since their sonic departures over the past few years with solo albums by members Feist, Kevin Drew, and Brendan Canning and separate band project releases for Metric with Emily Haines and Stars with Amy Millan. Their recent release Forgiveness Rock Record expands their atmospheric instrumentation and harmonies with more bombastic rock tones.

Panda Bear (Saturday, 7:25 PM) – Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox strikes off on his own as a lonely panda for this year’s tour. His new album, Tomboy, doesn’t hit the streets till September but enjoy the ambient beats in the shade this weekend.

Beach House (3:20 PM) – The perfect summer locale, the perfect concoction of dream pop, the perfect murder (if this were an R.L. Stine novel). While these may not all be perfect explanations of duo Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, there is a certain amount of sinister that has to go into how well-crafted are the singles on their 2010 release Teen Dream.

Major Lazer (6:15 PM) – No beach house is complete without a good party, and a good party isn’t complete without rockin’ DJs (oh, the connections!) Diplo and Switch combine their auditory wizardry to break the news that partying is here to stay in the USA, in much more convincing way than Madamoiselle Cyrus.

Sleigh Bells (Sunday, 7:40 PM) – In true Pitchfork fashion, one of the closing evening bands is the much-buzzed–with good reason–Sleigh Bells. Their dissonant noise pop still allows room for lots of danceable beats and singable lyrics, like “keep thinking about every straight face yes/wonder what your boyfriend thinks about your braces” from current hit “Rill Rill.” We hope your straight boyfriend likes your braces, too.

Earlier today, Hawai’i Governor Linda Lingle vetoed a same-sex civil unions bill that had been sitting on her desk for weeks awaiting a decision. Today was the final day for a decision, following a lengthy public outreach process; had Lingle done nothing, the bill would have automatically passed and legalized gay civil unions in the state.

Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir wed her longtime partner Jonina Leosdottir on Sunday, June 27 after the enforcement of a gay marriage law passed in the country on June 12. Sigurdardottir is the world’s first openly gay leader and the first to be legally married in her own country.

On Wednesday, June 30, Lieutenant Dan Choi and Captain James Pietrangelo subpoenaed President Barack Obama to testify at their civil disobedience trial. The pair claim that they were not acting criminally as Obama’s direct orders were for the LGBT community to “pressure” him to overturn DADT and allow for other gay civil rights victories.

Google decided to change more than its logo on July 1: the search engine company decided to use employee suggestions to pay homosexual employees with partners more salary. This move was made to offset the costs gay couples in domestic partnerships face because extending their health benefits to their partners is considered taxable income, while those same benefits are untaxed for married couples.

A Georgian woman who was fired from her job after announcing her intention to transition was vindicated in Federal court when a judge ruled that her firing was unjust due to the Equal Protection Clause. Vandy Beth Glenn’s transition from Glenn Morrison was met with hostility by her former boss who fired her on moral grounds.

As of June 10, transgender Americans are able to acquire a passport for their preferred gender without having to go through sexual reassignment surgery first. The State Department has stated that transgender individuals only need documentation from a doctor that she or he has been through proper clinical treatment.

The U.S. Department of Labor will be announcing new regulations this week that will allow same-sex couples time off to care for newborns or significant others. The regulations will extend the Family and Medical Leave Act, a nearly twenty-year-old law that allows  heterosexual couples 12 weeks unpaid time to care for their spouses or loved ones and newborns.

Iraqi police raided a safe house in Karbala last Tuesday and arrested 6 LGBT people. One person has been located in a local hospital; the remaining five–two transgender people, two gay men, and one lesbian–have still not been located, but are speculated to be held at Baghdad’s Interior Ministry, according to UK-based organization Iraqi LGBT.

The Chicago Blackhawks are spreading the enthusiasm of their Stanley Cup win to the queers. Defenseman Brent Sopel will be accompanying the Cup during this year’s Pride Parade on Sunday, June 27 as part of the Chicago Gay Hockey Association’s float. The Chicago Cubs will also be the first major sports team to have a float in the Chicago Pride Parade as part of this year’s festivities.

Today may be the first day of summer, but Chicago has already been demonstrating what it proves best at this time: that it is a city with a soul of music. Between the Blues, Jazz and Gospel festivals, the ubiquitous Pitchfork and Lollapalooza ads and the free concerts in Millenium Park, there are plenty of opportunities to witness great performances and hear awesome music. But what if you want to get in on the action yourself and serenade this fair city? Logan Square’s Crown Tap Room has got you covered with a weekly Open Mic, every Wednesday from 9 PM to midnight.

If you’ll take note of the feisty femme with the literally dangerous curves in our sidebar, you’ll see that June 30th is the bar’s first Open Mic contest, awarding audience-picked winners with a recording session, a Japonais gift card and other fun prizes. Mix that with $2 PBRs and tequila shots–it’s better than mixing those things with allergy medication–and a free drink for performers, and that’s a summer night you’ll be singing about with more conviction than 30-year-old high schoolers. Kick back with Cul de sac at Crown Tap any Wednesday you choose and reveal your inner songster, slam poet or awkward dummyless ventriloquist.