Current Issues

The Windy City Times is an award-winning Chicago-area GLBT newspaper that has been around since 1985. Each issue covers news, entertainment, and "Outlines," a section which has a multitude of things like real estate, sports, and classifieds. The focus is mostly local but national news is also covered. It would be a good resource for Chicago area GLBT community. The paper comes out weekly and has several distribution posts including several in Oak Park.

The Advocate is arguably one of the best magazines for the GLBT community. It comes highly recommended for its depth and breadth of focus on real issues concerning its readers. Its strength in relation to other magazines is its news and political coverage but it also reports on the entertainment and art scene. The magazine has print and digital editions that are available through subscription. The website offers non-subscribers a view of selected articles from the current issue. The ISSN is 0001-8996.

365 Gay, from LOGO television, is a website that offers the daily news concerning the GLBT community written by their own staff writers as well as video of interviews and stories from their news center. Wired GLBT adults may find this a good alternative to magazine sites like that of The Advocate which require a subscription. The site offers RSS feed for aggregation in readers.

Real Momentum Gay Documentaries is a series of documentaries that tackle current issues facing GLBT persons presented by LOGO television. Many of those documentaries can be viewed in full on the LOGO website. Some are also available for purchase as DVDs. The short films put real faces on interesting current issues issues like those of the "gender queer," a section of the GLBT community that is often under served and misunderstood, or the surge of homeless GLBT youth. The documentaries also profile leading gay rights activists of the past and present.

Big Gay News,produced by Lavender Media, Inc, is a daily podcast that reviews international GLBT news. The show covers what's happening in GLBT rights and entertainment in stories from across the nation. Again, this is an excellent tool for the wired adult, allowing one to hear about current issues on the go. The website links directly to the news stories mentioned in the podcast, as well as having short summaries of selected stories on the site itself. The website offers aggregation of headlines through RSS feeds and translation into 12 languages. The podcast is available for free download through iTunes and comes highly recommended by iTunes customers.

This Way Out is an internationally syndicated radio show run by volunteers. The show is also now being offered as a podcast available by (free) subscription through web-based podcatchers and iTunes. The transcripts of the NewsWrap segment of the show are available on the website. According to the website, in the Chicago area, the show airs on station WLUW/88.7 FM on Tuesdays at 9:30am. Like Big Gay News, this show allows adults to keep up to date of issues in the car and with their iPods.