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[title]Annoyance Theater Don’t Act Like A Girl, Steamwerkz: The Musical and Sparkle Hour were just a few of this Uptown theater’s LGBT 2012 offerings.
Big Dipper This bear-cub rapper sings cheeky hip-hop songs about man love while celebrating body types of all kinds. Woof!
Circuit The darling of the ’90s circuit boom closed its doors permanently in November.
Darby v. Orr Lambda Legal’s landmark June lawsuit puts Illinois on the road to marriage equality.
Equality Illinois In November, the Chicago-based org expanded its LGBT outreach by opening field offices in suburban Westmont and Springfield.
Frog n Snail Reviews have been mixed, but we happen to like the playful creations at out chef Dale Levitski’s new Broadway bistro.
Gay4Good A service org that offers volunteerism for our community isn’t just a good idea, it’s a great one.
Howard Brown Health Center CEO Jamal Edwards announced an end to his two-year tenure in August after a TOC investigation.
Ike Holter The out playwright behind the Inconvenience’s winter smash Hit the Wall gave the Stonewall rebellion an energetic jolt.
Joe Biden The Veep came out in support of same-sex marriage in May, forcing his boss’s hand just days later.
Kinky Boots Harvey Fierstein plus Cyndi Lauper and a story about drag queens equals queer overload.
“Let’s Have a Kiki” Thanks to this goofy anthem from the Scissor Sisters, we all know what to do when life gets us down: “Lock the doors, lower the blinds, fire up the smoke machine and put on your heels.…”
MDNA Tour Madonna’s ninth concert tour found the queen of pop killing armed intruders and reinventing the drum corps. As a live performer, she’s still got it.
Nuts & Bolts: A DIY Dance Party The West Side is bursting with queer nights. This spring addition, hosted by Trandroid, is among our favorites.
One Queer Roof Night owls A/S/L Media, Chances Dances, FKA, Queerer Park and Stardust/Cult united at Lincoln Hall in June for the first of (hopefully) many parties to come.
Phi Phi O’Hara, DiDa Ritz and the Princess This trio of local dragtestants gave us a solid reason to cheer season four of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Quinn, Christine The out New York City Council speaker delivered a rousing speech at Chicago’s Victory Fund brunch in September and is leading among Democrats in the race to become NYC’s next mayor.
Ricketts, Laura Her dad backed Romney big time, but the out Cubs co-owner remains a staunch supporter of both Obama and LGBT causes.
Senator-elect On January 20, neighboring Wisconsin sends the first openly gay senator, Tammy Baldwin, to Washington.
“This Will Have Been: Art, Love and Politics in the 1980s” The MCA’s fascinating look back at the Reagan era was bursting with queer artists and themes thanks to guest curator and out lesbian Helen Molesworth.
Underwear parties SoFo, Scarlet, Jackhammer and Hydrate. Is there any bar left where people aren’t taking off their clothes?
Victor A. Salvo Jr. In a year of soul searching for Halsted Street, Salvo pulled off a nice morale booster with the Legacy Walk, memorials to queer heroes that turn B-town’s pylons into a walking museum.
Wood Finally, fancy food in the heart of the ’hood.
X-rated The Men’s Room parties, a monthly shindig happening at a location we can’t disclose, aren’t for the prudish, but they are fun.
Yes on One, Six and Seventy-Four That is how voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington voted, respectively, to bring marriage equality to their states. Minnesotans, meanwhile, voted no to a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman.
Zebra Katz and Njena Reddd Foxxx The Brooklyn-based noisemakers both dazzled us with live shows at the South Loop’s Shrine and Stardust at Berlin.