Windy City Times' 30 under 30
Windy City Times' 30 under 30
Copyright by The Windy City Times
June 21, 2007
ASHLEY “RHETT” LINDSAY 30, SPECIAL EVENTS COORDINATOR
Ashley “Rhett” Lindsay, a native of Mill Creek, W. Va., came to Chicago in 2000 after graduating with a degree in public relations from West Virginia University. Since his arrival in the Windy City, he has served as trade-show coordinator for a large trade-show management company; account executive for a public relations agency; and coordinator of student orientation programs at a local college.
He currently serves as the development associate/special events manager for Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN), and has played an integral part in the creation of TPAN’s newest fundraising event, Chicago Takes Off, which debuted in February 2007. He also coordinates the logistics and fundraising efforts for TPAN’s Ride for AIDS Chicago and annual gala. In addition to major events at TPAN, he also coordinates and serves on TPAN’s program events committees, including Man Alive, a gay men’s health summit; Women Living, an HIV/AIDS event for women; PULSE at NorthEnd and Positively Aware at Hydrate, two social events hosted by TPAN; and other outreach programs and events.
Rhett is also the new director of Chicago’s award-winning Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps (ROTC), a campy, all-male, 30-member volunteer, rifle-precision drill troupe that performs at Chicago’s LGBT events. This is his third year of performing with the group. As director, he manages the group’s visual design group (choreography), fundraising efforts, scheduling, membership recruitment and retention and represents the group at events such as Chicago’s Pride Fest, the Pride Parade and Northalsted Market Days. The group has also performed in cities throughout the United States and Canada, and plans to join other U.S. gay color guards for Sydney, Australia’s Mardi Gras in March 2008.
DID YOU KNOW? Rhett has also volunteered for Chicago Human Rights Campaign’s gala dinner, working primarily with production and logistics. He has also been employed part-time at Banana Republic since 1999.
CHRISTINA SANTIAGO 25, FEMINIST ACTIVIST
A Bronx native, Christina Santiago has been working for the Lesbian Community Cancer Project and Howard Brown Health Center as the women’s health patient navigator for the past year and a half doing exacly what she loves—working with lesbians to address their health needs. As a self-identified Puerto Rican lesbian and feminist activist, Christina tends to have many things she is passionate about: breast cancer advocacy, access to healthcare and empowering the lesbian community, just to name a few. Annually, she touches the lives of over 250 lesbian and queer women from the time they walk in the front door until after they receive their care.
Educated at the University of New York at Albany, Christina was very active in the feminist community and holds her degree in women’s studies and sociology. She is also a certified domestic violence advocate.
Christina is looking forward to continuing her work here in Chicago as a healthcare resource and guide for the LBTQ community.
DID YOU KNOW? Prior to going to college, where she inevitably “came out,” Christina considered becoming a nun.
RYAN KERIAN 27, LEGAL EAGLE
Ryan Kerian serves on Center on Halsted’s board of directors and chairs the Center’s associate board. This board of young leaders serves the underrepresented 18-to-35-year-old LGBT community. The board hosts events, develops programming, raises money and promotes inclusiveness. Under his leadership, the associate board has raised over $75,000 since its March inception.
As a young lawyer at Latham & Watkins, one of the nation’s most LGBT-friendly legal employers, Ryan recruits LGBT candidates and coordinates meetings addressing LGBT issues. Through his efforts, Latham has become a major sponsor of Center on Halsted. Ryan was also recently featured in a Crain’s Chicago Business article on issues affecting openly gay professionals in the workplace.
Ryan began his activism by co-founding an LGBT support group in college. He later served as co-chair of Outlaw, the University of Chicago Law School’s first and only LGBT student organization. He promoted awareness of LGBT issues and helped develop the school’s efforts to increase student body diversity, leading to school initiatives to recruit gay and lesbian candidates. During his tenure, Outlaw hosted prominent speakers, including Kenji Yoshino, author of Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Human Rights.
Ryan also led a team of students who helped to write an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief supported a first amendment challenge to the Solomon Amendment, a regulation withholding federal funding from universities prohibiting campus military recruiting. Additionally, Ryan co-founded Bundle Up, a quarterly social event for LGBT graduate students that continues to bring students together today.
DID YOU KNOW? Ryan was a little sunburned following the Pride Parade last year after running from float to float shirtless and giving high fives to everyone who would let him. This summer he is soaking up the sun by training for the Chicago AIDS Marathon.
ERIK ROLDAN 28, SOCIAL WORKER
Erik Roldan was born and raised in Chicago and grew up in Lakeview. After graduating college in 2000, he has dedicated his daytime to social work, helping adults with disabilities and recently, doing outreach for people who live in public housing.
In September 2003, he launched Think Pink with co-host Alison McDonald as an outlet for his queer politics and love of music. (Since December 2006, Think Pink has been co-hosted with Ruth Batacan). His passion for sound has also led to rabid vinyl collecting—he owns over 3,000 records. Currently, he is trying to expand the scope of Think Pink through a queer music blog and promoting queer events in Chicago. Look for upcoming shows/events at www.myspace.com/thinkpinkradio amd spot him hosting the new monthly party at Kitty Moon in Rogers Park.
DID YOU KNOW? Erik’s parents immigrated to the United States from Guatemala, and Erik speaks fluent Spanish.
JACQUELINE LUNA 25, ADVOCATE
Luna is a queer Latina activist who is focusing her energy on creating positive change and awareness within and between the LGBTQ and Latino communities. She is the first administrative assistant for Amigas Latinas, an organization that empowers Latina lesbian, bisexual and questioning women by offering safe spaces and resources. She also is the bilingual women’s advocate for Sarah’s Inn, where she provides individual and group support and advocacy for victims/survivors of domestic violence.
Prior to her work with Sarah’s Inn and Amigas Latinas, Jacqueline was a case manager at Rainbow House, a domestic violence agency that provided shelter, until May of 2006, to survivors of domestic violence. During her time there she initiated several changes, including the beginning steps to transition the shelter to becoming transgender accessible.
Jacqueline graduated from DePaul University in 2004 with a major in psychology and a minor in Latin American and Latino/a Studies. She is an active member of the Chicago LGBTQ Immigrant Alliance (CLIA), was a volunteer Coordinator for Noche de Arco Iris: Queer Prom 2007 and is a member of the organizing committee for this year’s Chicago Dyke March.
Recently, she was accepted to University of Illinois at Chicago’s Jane Addams College of Social Work, where she will pursue her Master’s with a concentration in community health and urban development. During her first year, she will be interning for Center on Halsted’s Mental Health program. As a result of limited resources for queer people of color in the South Side of Chicago, Jacqueline and her best friend, Felicia Ramos, are in the beginning stages of creating a safe space for queer people of color that will be focused on health and healing.
DID YOU KNOW? She is also the proud mother of Freakin’ Cat and Mole, her two cats.
JENNY URBAN 27, CHEF/MUSICIANJ
Jenny Urban is a leader in the culinary training field as Head Chef of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and in previous jobs, where she trained the homeless and refugees. She brings diversity to each leadership position. Jenny created a gay-friendly atmosphere at the Uptown restaurant that she opened, Café Too. As executive chef, she created a partnership with the Gay Games to establish a meeting space for the Gay Games’ committees, as well as catering for the volunteers and employees of the event. During her time there, she helped Café Too become a gay brunch hotspot after winning the Free Press 2005 Golden Spoon Award, which named Café Too as the best neighborhood addition. Jenny’s work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Windy City Times, Dykediva.com, Time Out Chicago, The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times.
As a leading queer drummer, Jenny plays with 2005 Out Music Awards musician of the year Scott Free., with the Scott Free Trio playing at such venues as Jackhammer, Schuba’s and Homolatte. The Trio also played The Windy City Radio Show (Windy City Media Group) and on TV as the musical guest for OUT-TV’s Queer Eye with Jack E. Jett. When Jenny is not busy touring with the Trio, she can be heard playing as the founder of the lesbian-based Foster Avenue Beach Sunday drum circle.
DID YOU KNOW? Jenny was expected to be part of the opening act for the Chicago Gay Games on the night that her partner went into labor with their beautiful daughter, Isis.
WILL LOCKETT 28, SOCIAL-JUSTICE ADVOCATE
Will Lockett is a young activist who is passionate about creating change, ending oppression and speaking out against injustices. He is interested in public demonstrations as a means for affecting change.
In addition to being a volunteer for Sankofa Way for over a year, Will is founder of the group Black LGBT & Allies for Equality, which advocates for the Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and same-gender-loving community. The group fight for justice, respect and human rights using education, grassroots organizing, non-violent direct action and awareness raising public demonstrations. Through his work, the membership of the group has grown from four to 40 members in roughly one year.
In the past year, through his group, he has demonstrated for justice and respect for Black lesbians and gays on Chicago’s South Side after a gunman opened fire at a gathering of mostly Black gay men. He has called out homophobic injustice from preachers, even in front of their churches on Sunday morning. Will has also protested the anti-gay lyrics of rapper DMX and reggae musician Buju Banton at their concerts.
In addition, he has petitioned Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to speak out against the proposed Nigerian legislation to make gay people and their associates illegal, and helped scare off a racist hate group from completing an anti-gay measure at a local Black church. His group has also called out the media emperor, ClearChannel, and their anti-gay content on their Black radio stations. His work continues, calling out anti-LGBT hatred and exclusion in the African American community. Black LGBT & Allies for Equality has enjoyed victories and success, but the struggle continues.
DID YOU KNOW? Will’s favorite junk-food items are pizzas from Giordano’s and Home Run Inn.
NICK RUTAN 23, POLITICAL ACTIVIST
Nick Rutan, who was born in Indianapolis, is the older brother to three sisters. While in high school, he started a men’s volleyball team. After graduation, Nick was recruited by Cardinal Stritch University to play volleyball, and this is where his activism began. At the university, LGBT students and allies had no group to turn to and, worse, they were becoming marginalized. It became his mission to start a support group for LGBT students in order to have a real pressence on campus.
Nick then wanted to get involved on a larger scale. He joined DignityUSA and, at a convention in Philadelphia, made a contact at the Human Rights Campaign that connected him to the organization’s Youth College program, which he soon joined. There, he worked on the campaign of Congressinal candidate Tammy Duckworth in 2006.
Soon, Nick moved back to Chicago to become involved in Richard J. Daley’s mayoral campaign. After meeting Alderman Vi Daley at an Equality Illinois dinner, he joined her runoff campaign. Nick feels that each candidate he has worked for has a passion for equality that the LGBT community has benefitted from.
DID YOU KNOW? Indianapolis’ Holy Rosary Street Festival, which Nick’s grandfather started in 1984, recently greeted over 35,000 people and grossed over $250,000.
ANNE HUFFMAN 29, LEGAL SPECIALIST
Anne Huffman, has lived, worked and played in Chicago for the past 11 years. Thanks to her childhood love of Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes, she realized that she was destined to work in the criminal justice field. Huffman received her BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from Loyola University of Chicago in 2000, and immediately began working for Con. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., where she developed her love of politics.
Huffman then worked in the child welfare and social service field at Maryville Academy and Uhlich Children’s Home and Treatment Center. For the last four years, she has worked as the GLBT and Hate Crime Specialist with the Victim Witness Unit for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. She acts as an advocate for the GLBT community by attending court with victims and their families, writing orders of protection for victims of domestic violence and assisting all GLBT and hate crimes victims with the daunting challenge of maneuvering their way through the court system. In September, Anne will be speaking on two panels as an expert on GLBT domestic violence and on hate crimes at the Lavender Law Conference, a national conference dealing with the intersection of the GLBT community and the legal profession. Huffman is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Forensic Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
DID YOU KNOW? Huffman sings loudly while driving, can say the alphabet backwards, plays a mean game of poker and is a self-professed parallel parking champion.
KEVIN HAUSWIRTH 23, COMMUNICATIONS/POLITICS
Kevin Hauswirth got his start in LGBTA activism in the frat houses of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by forming an organization to react to the assault of a fellow gay fraternity member on campus. The organization, Greek Allies, got the attention of The Advocate and Kevin is now a regular contributor and the most published member of the magazine’s Gen Q Editorial Advisory Board. His activism and work with the Advocate earned him the Human Rights Campaign Chicago’s College Student of the Year Award in 2006.
After interning with a United Nations organization in Switzerland, and at Fleishman Hillard Communications’ Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Hong Kong, Kevin earned his BA from the University of Illinois and returned to Chicago to become a political activist.
In 2006, he hit the campaign trail as a regional field director for Con. Melissa Bean, D-Ill. Working in the district’s largest county, he built a county-wide field operation from the ground up and ran a winning election day operation. Kevin also supported fundraising and LGBT outreach activities for City Clerk Miguel Del Valle.
Currently, Kevin is an associate at O’Malley Hansen Communications and serves as a member of the Illinois LGBT Advisory Committee for Obama for America and Sen. Dick Durbin’s Professional Steering Committee, and is co-chair of Bean’s Young Professionals Finance Committee. He also drives policy and community outreach initiatives as a member of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Junior Board.
DID YOU KNOW? Kevin recently launched www.HomosAreAHoot.com to sell shirts he made in college to draw awareness of National Coming Out Day and raise money for LGBT non-profits.
MATTHEW STREIB 25, JOURNALIST
Matt Streib has always felt that a major stumbling block in correcting the ills perpetrated against gay people worldwide is that the void created by lack of information is often filled with prejudice and conjecture. To fix this, he has started a career in international journalism, working to shed light on the global gay community.
He began working in journalism when he wrote the first gay column in a major college newspaper at Cornell University in 2003. After college, he moved to Baltimore, where he worked as the news editor for Baltimore OUTloud, Maryland’s largest gay newspaper, for almost two years. Before coming to Chicago, Matt spent six months working in an editorial capacity for a news service in Beirut. He is currently working towards a Master’s degree in journalism and religion at Northwestern University.
Matt’s columns and articles have appeared in publications in numerous countries and languages. His favorite to this day is a column critical of Turkey, which the Turkish prime minister’s office translated and lambasted on its Web site. He has covered the gay experience in places such as Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Nigeria and France. Most recently, he visited the Netherlands, where he focused on the experiences of gay immigrants from the Middle East, examining how they deal with the transition into one of the world’s most liberal cultures, and what they miss about their homelands. Later this year, he will travel to Bangladesh, where he will undertake a similar exploit.
In the future, Matt would like to work for a major international news organization, where he can cover the momentous events shaping our world. Hopefully, he’ll be able to make sure that gay issues are incorporated in ways that current media lack.
DID YOU KNOW? Matt is 25, and still can’t drive.
ANDREW WALENSA 23, OPALGA LEADER
Andrew Walensa has been working with Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association (OPALGA) since he stumbled into their youth group at the age of 16. With the help of Susan Abbott (Youth Program Director) and OPALGA, Andrew has grown from a shy, closeted drop-in group participant to a strong, gay leader. He is an intricate part of the OPALGA Youth and Young Adult Network. Currently, Andrew is the weekly facilitator of Spectrum, OPALGA’s 18 and up drop-in group.
Andrew is also one of the founders and leader of OPALGA’s OUTspoken, a creative art group where youth and young adults use art to show the world from a LGBTQ perspective. The OUTspoken workshop experiments with different mediums of art (poetry, creative writing, visual art and acting) to share their stories and make social comments on society. The OUTspoken workshop prides itself in creating a community of LGBTQ artists that inspire each other to create and share their artistic work. Since its creation in 2004, OUTspoken has performed at numerous events, established a quaterly underground magazine called the OUTspoken ZINE and has held several showcases.
In 2005, Andrew was honored with a leadership award form National Youth Advocacy Coalition for the work he has done with OPALGA and the GLBTQ community. Additionally, he is a senior at Columbia College Chicago, where he is majoring in advertising art direction, and is ready to dive into the exciting world of the visual communication industry. His goal is to impact the world through art and advocacy.
DID YOU KNOW? Andrew is afraid of needles and blood, and once passed out at a piercing parlor.
DAN RODRIGUEZ-SCHLORFF
27, MINISTER
The Rev. Dan Rodriguez-Schlorff is an activist and ordained minister. As an activist, he crusades for marriage equality, ballot fairness, media democracy and single-payer universal healthcare. He has broken several glass ceilings in Illinois politics, as the youngest person to run for Illinois State Treasurer; the first openly gay candidate to run for any statewide office in Illinois; the first person of Asian descent to run for a statewide executive office in Illinois; and, by gaining well over 150,000 votes in the general election, helping the Illinois Green Party become a constitutionally “established” party in spite of the state’s fear-based election laws.
From 2003-2006, Dan co-chaired the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry Chicago. As a political activist and financial resource, Schlorff has appeared on radio and television programs, including News at Noon ( WGN-9 ) ; Chicago Tonight and Candidate Free Time ( WTTW-11 ) ; and Chicago Public Radio.
As a minister, Dan marries same-sex couples, preaches across the Midwest and serves Broadway United Methodist Church as a candidate for authorized ministry. While already recognized by the Congregationalist movement as an ordained minister, Dan also seeks fellowship with both the Unitarian Universalist Association and Metropolitan Community Church.
Dan holds degrees from Meadville Lombard Theological School and Olivet Nazarene University. He is a certified senior advisor and is soon to complete his training towards becoming certified also as a financial planner. Dan sings with the Windy City Gay Chorus and resides in Lakeview. He works with Bradford Community Church ( Unitarian Universalist ) as Director of Religious Education and with Adair Associates as Director of Resource Development.
DID YOU KNOW? Dan once felt called by God to marry outside his gender and travel across the country with his wife and seven children, preaching the “purifying” gospel of Jesus Christ.
JUSTIN HILL
23, ADVOCATE
Justin Hill’s interest in HIV/AIDS and its impact on marginal communities stems from his work with AIDS activist/academician Dr. Cathy J. Cohen, the Black AIDS Institute and the Human Rights Program at the University of Chicago ( U. of C. ) .
After graduating from the U. of C. with a degree in law, letters and society, Justin worked as the psychosocial coordinator for Test Positive Aware Network ( TPAN ) . There, he tracked and monitored clients who utilized the psychosocial support and, from this data, drafted Ryan White Title 1 reports. In addition, his work with HIV-positive clients with a history of substance abuse emboldened his belief in the need for responsive activism, policy and advocacy. He now works for AIDSCare, helping the agency analyze the link between homelessness, HIV/AIDS and poverty-stricken communities.
Justin, 23, has facilitated or been a part of several HIV/AIDS conferences, projects and events. He is an executive board member of Leaders in the Fight to Eradicate AIDS ( LIFEAIDS ) . As a part of the board, he helped host the 3rd Annual Teach-In and Town Hall meeting for students at Tuskegee University. At the 2006 Toronto International AIDS Conference, Justin served as both a community rapporteur and a youth delegate. He has also served on the International AIDS Conference’s Scholarship Working Group as well as their Youth Advisory Committee.
Most recently, Justin helped found 4 Brothers Chicago, a networking group for young gay Black men in Chicago. In addition, he is also working with academician Yvonne Welbon, along with U. of C. graduate students, on a Black Queer Media Maker project.
DID YOU KNOW? Justin secretly aspires to be the lead protagonist voice in a Disney animated feature.
NATALIE
FIGUEROA
24, AIDS ACTIVIST
Figueroa, 24, is a dedicated community activist who has worked in the HIV/AIDS field for 10 years. At the tender age of 14, she began engaging and educating the Belmont youth community around sexual health issues. She also took her experience of being a child of HIV-positive parents to local elementary and high schools to educate youth and adults around HIV/AIDS, proudly becoming known as the “condom girl.” Through her volunteer work at Children’s Place and Chicago House, working with children and families impacted by HIV, she was inspired to pursue a life of work in social activism. While in college, Natalie continued her work with Chicago House through the National AIDS Fund Americorps team. She had the opportunity of working with mothers and children who lived at Chicago House, helping with daily activities, conducting sex education classes with their children and holding seminars specific to the needs of the mothers.
Figueroa spends a few weeks during her summer with the families at Camp Getaway, providing social and emotional support to children impacted by the virus. She also has begun to volunteer with the Leftist Lounge-Chicago to promote awareness around the interconnected social justice issues, and makes it a point to integrate and speak out for HIV/AIDS issues, as well as queer and women’s rights.
Last year, she ran the Chicago Marathon and raised $4,000 for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Professionally, Figueroa is working at Howard Brown Health Center as a youth case manager with the PATH program, which serves the needs of HIV-positive youth ages 13 to 24. She provides case management to HIV-positive youth ages 16 to 24. She is currently working on a BA in social work from Loyola University Chicago.
DID YOU KNOW? Natalie’s guilty pleasure is singing along to R. Kelly songs!
KEN GASCH
26, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Gasch hails from Cleveland, Ohio, where he studied choreography and sociology at Case Western Reserve University. As a contracted teacher, he designed and taught literacy through fine arts in low-income neighborhoods as part of an initiative to bridge the socioeconomic gap between surrounding residential areas. He also has seven years experience teaching competition and exhibition choirs and drill teams at several area high schools.
Upon moving to Chicago, Ken taught basic gymnastics and movement,;worked as a puppeteer and interpreter at the Shedd Aquarium; and danced with the Boofont Sisters cabaret. In 2004, he choreographed “Africa & Plumbridge: The Musical,” premiering at the New York Fringe Festival, and served as dance captain for an independent musical film by SpeakProductions tht has played at over 40 festivals around the world and has won awards at festivals such as OutFest 2004 and the Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival.
Ken is the artistic director for HouseHold Arts Collective, a multidisciplinary non-profit that produces dance concerts, art galleries and other public events to benefit local charities such as the Center on Halsted, one if its first beneficiaries in 2004.
He is also currently helping to develop a youth dance program for Horizons GLBT Youth Group; assisting the Association of Latino Men for Action in managing production of special events; choreographing the opening entertainment at Human Rights Campaign’s annual gala; and has volunteered for two years at International Mr. Leather. Additionally, he plays on the only gay team in a co-ed recreational soccer league and plans on returning to the Chicago Riptide water polo team in the fall.
DID YOU KNOW? As a kid, Ken liked to see how many times he could jump rope off the back of his parents’ couch; his favorite K-Tel record was Goofy Greats; and his nickname was “Fudgebucket” ( for reasons we won’t go into ) .
VEA CLEARY
26, TRANS-RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Vea Cleary is a feisty and passionate young woman who currently works at the Broadway Youth Center ( BYC ) as a project coordinator for the new Life Skills Program, which works with young transgender women, where she helped developed the curriculum and works as an intervention specialist. While at BYC, she has also worked on the re-invention of the Transwomen Informing Sister Transwomen about AIDS ( TWISTA ) curriculum. At BYC, Vea has also been responsible for coordinating a federally-funded HIV prevention grant targeting trans youth of color.
Prior to her work at BYC, she worked with the Poor People’s Economic Human Right Campaign, as well as with Project Safe. Vea received her B.A. in socioeconomics and gender studies from Sarah Lawrence College.
DID YOU KNOW? This spicy Cancerian is looking for her husband, so if you’ve met him, please introduce her!
JEREMY GOTTSCHALK
27, ATTORNEY
Jeremy Gottschalk is a graduate of Marquette University and Loyola University Chicago School of Law. At Loyola, Jeremy focused on pediatric law, which is the representation of abused children and victims of domestic violence, and intellectual property law. Currently, Jeremy practices intellectual property and corporate law at one of Chicago’s top law firms, Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLP.
Aside from his law firm practice, Jeremy focuses on bridging the gap between the legal community and the LGBT and HIV/AIDS community. Specifically, as the coordinator of legal programs for Howard Brown Health Center, he has established a network of law firms that provide pro bono legal representation for clients of Howard Brown’s Ryan White Case Management Program. Jeremy also designs and executes various direct-service legal programs, including legal seminars and workshops for the community.
Under his leadership of the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, various scholarships will be awarded to law students interning at Lambda Legal. The scholarship funding comes from Lawyers for Diversity, which is a fundraising program Jeremy created to channel money from Chicago’s largest law firms to local LGBT organizations, including the Center on Halsted, PFLAG and Equality Illinois. Later this year, he will lead a team introducing the ABA-endorsed, nationally-recognized HIV Legal Check-Up Project, which will offer legal needs assessments to individuals living with HIV/AIDS.
In addition to his involvement in the legal community, Jeremy is active in expanding LGBT civil rights in Illinois as a board member of Equality Illinois ( EI ) and its education project. For the last two years, Jhe has chaired the organization’s annual gala and has been instrumental in various fundraising efforts to raise money for EI in support of its mission to secure, protect and defend equal rights for LGBT people in Illinois.
DID YOU KNOW? Jeremy took tap dance for a few years at Marquette. Also, as a kid, Donny Osmond was the only famous person he ever wanted to meet ( and eventually met him ) .
ANDREW
WALENSA
23, OPALGA LEADER
Andrew Walensa has been working with Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association ( OPALGA ) since he stumbled into their youth group at the age of 16. With the help of Susan Abbott ( Youth Program Director ) and OPALGA, Andrew has grown from a shy, closeted drop-in group participant to a strong, gay leader. He is an intricate part of the OPALGA Youth and Young Adult Network. Currently, Andrew is the weekly facilitator of Spectrum, OPALGA’s 18 and up drop-in group.
Andrew is also one of the founders and leader of OPALGA’s OUTspoken, a creative art group where youth and young adults use art to show the world from a LGBTQ perspective. The OUTspoken workshop experiments with different mediums of art ( poetry, creative writing, visual art and acting ) to share their stories and make social comments on society. The OUTspoken workshop prides itself in creating a community of LGBTQ artists that inspire each other to create and share their artistic work. Since its creation in 2004, OUTspoken has performed at numerous events, established a quaterly underground magazine called the OUTspoken ZINE and has held several showcases.
In 2005, Andrew was honored with a leadership award form National Youth Advocacy Coalition for the work he has done with OPALGA and the GLBTQ community. Additionally, he is a senior at Columbia College Chicago, where he is majoring in advertising art direction, and is ready to dive into the exciting world of the visual communication industry. His goal is to impact the world through art and advocacy.
DID YOU KNOW? Andrew is afraid of needles and blood, and once passed out at a piercing parlor.
LETICIA “LETTY” MARTINEZ
25, HEALTH EDUCATOR
Leticia Martinez, a.k.a. Letty, works as a health educator at the Broadway Youth Center. Her duties include health dducation and testing for HIV and STDs.
In the early ‘90s, she began working in prevention at the age of 13 as a volunteer peer educator at Stop AIDS Chicago and Teen Living Programs. Letty then began working at Howard Brown as an outreach worker and case finder, and continues to work at the Broadway Youth Center as lead health educator. She has a fierce dedication to educating all young people about HIV, prevention, education, resources and community. She hopes to one day become a medical provider so that she can help better serve young LGBTQ people and promote sex-positive messages and healthier decision making.
Letty has worked on and off with Howard Brown for over 10 years, wandering off to pursue other interests, such as cosmotology school, the U.S. Navy, retail and phlebotomy, but she always returns to the work she loves—education. She has always considered Howard Brown her home away from home.
DID YOU KNOW? Letty is a marksman with an M-16 rifle.
EBONII
WARREN-WATTS
24, ACTIVIST/DIVA
Ebonii Warren-Watts, a South Side native, is a fierce female illusionist by night and a Howard Brown Health Center employee by day. Currently, she supports the Broadway Youth Center’s drop-in program for homeless, runaway and LGBTQ young people as a program assistant. She is also a facilitator for BYC’s TWISTA group, an HIV prevention program for trans women of color.
Recently, Ebonii—otherwise known as “Ms. Mercedes Bonet”—finished first runner-up at the Miss Windy City Continental 2007, and will be competing for the Miss Continental 2007 title this fall. She was named K.C. Production’s Best Female Illusionist Newcomer in 2006 and Best Dressed Female Illusionist in 2007. She began her transition at the age of 16 and was featured in Blacklines about her transition and trans activism in high school. She was later featured in a Human Rights Campaign documentary about her life and experiences with an adopted LGBT family.
DID YOU KNOW? Ebonii can be found talking on her cell phone and working the neighborhood with her 30-inch ball python, Boe-Boe.
JEFF SOUVA
24, SPECIAL-EVENTS MANAGER
Jeff Souva grew up in rural northern Michigan, learning the importance of community involvement from his active and hardworking parents. In college, he took those lessons to heart and was extremely active in student organizing at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. For two years, Jeff co-chaired the LGBT Commission of the Michigan Student Assembly, organizing annual new student welcome picnics, National Coming Out Week and Queer Visibility Week festivities.
After studying abroad in London, Jeff returned to campus and co-facilitated a semester-long intergoup dialogue course between LGB and heterosexual students; volunteered for the HIV/AIDS Resource Center ( HARC ) doing safer sex outreach with the MSM population; and traveled during spring break to New York City to volunteer for God’s Love We Deliver, preparing and delivering meals to PWAs and other homebound clients.
In June 2005, after graduating with a degree in sociology and sub-concentration in social inequality, he moved to Chicago to work with Center on Halsted. During his time at the Center, Jeff has been a member of the development team, organizing fundraising events and managing agency volunteers. Now that the Center is open, Souva looks forward to his newest role as Manager of Volunteer Programs and spending more time working with our diverse and talented community in Chicago.
DID YOU KNOW? A city dweller now, Jeff grew up a country boy, raising prize-winning sheep.
NADIA CARRASCO
20, IMMIGRATION/AIDS ACTIVIST
Nadia Carrasco was born in Mexico, and her family came to the United States in 1994. Brought up in a politically active family, she organized at school and helped to form the group Students for Immigrant Rights at University of Illinois at Chicago, which organized for both the May 1 march and the March 10 Rally for Immigrant Rights, bringing people out through banner drop-offs, forums and speak-outs on campus. Through this work she became involved in La Coalicion 10 de Marzo and the International Socialist Organization.
Nadia believes in the importance of connecting struggles and exploring the intersections of oppressions like those based on ability, gender, class, race, sexual orientation, economic status and immigration status. A student of Gender and Woman's Studies at UIC, she got involved in an HIV prevention peer-education program with CALOR, organizing workshops to talk and share knowledge with other youth about HIV, STIs and sex. She is currently conducting interviews with different members of her community to further explore the particular realities youth face in relation to sex.
A volunteer for Homofrecuencia, she is head of the GSA Public High School Outreach Committee. She also worked on communication outreach for Queer Prom, and is currently a part of Arte y Realidad, an artist collective in Little Village.
DID YOU KNOW? Carrasco is currently learning Kendo, and twirling other things soon to be lit on fire.
BRENT CABURNAY
28, DANCER/EVENT MANAGER
Brent Caburnay is a former professional dancer. He continues to participate in numerous benefit dance performances including Dance for Life, which raised over $2 million for HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs. In addition, he was in the cast of “Dance Divas” and “Who’s That Girl?,” and has performed in events for Center on Halsted, Chicago House, Howard Brown Health Center and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, all benefiting programs that support Chicago’s LGBT community.
After retiring from professional dance, Brent co-created and co-chaired Center on Halsted’s First Bloom, a champagne brunch and French market, raising over $30,000 for Center on Halsted’s community and cultural programs. He served on Center on Halsted’s Human First Gala committee and worked as the Lakeview Citizens’ Council’s Community Development Director and as a volunteer for both the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce and Central Lakeview Merchants Association. Currently, Brent is an event manager for the Resurrection Development Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Resurrection Health Care.
DID YOU KNOW? Brent danced with the prestigious Joffrey Ballet of Chicago for four years, and later went on to dance independently with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Dance Chicago.
PHILIP DAWKINS
26, PLAYWRIGHT
Philip Dawkins is a playwright and educator from Phoenix, Ariz. A graduate of Loyola University Chicago, Philip’s play, Not Even the Children, was produced as part of their 2001/2002 season. Other productions include Ugly Baby; A Still Life in Color; The Man With A Shattered World; Jacks: A Beanstalk Blockbuster; and the forthcoming Perfect at the Side Project. Philip is a fellow of the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers in Scotland, and was the proud recipient of a 2006 CAAP Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council. He was the only self-identified gay male in Esquire magazine’s 2006 profile of 51 25-year-old men across the country.
His writing has been published in The Stranger, and his short plays and readings have been featured at Around the Coyote, Chicago Dramatists, Collaboraction, Estrogen Fest, HealthWorks, The Metropolis Centre for the Performing Arts, The Side Project, Straw Dog and Victory Gardens. He is currently working on the libretto for an opera with composer Eric C. Reda. Dawkins is the ARTS program director for Pegasus Players, through which he places Artists in Residence in Chicago Public Schools. As an associate artist of Chicago Dramatists, he also teaches playwriting in multiple Chicago schools.
DID YOU KNOW? Dawkins was literally born in the closet—a supply closet!
TOBY EVELAND
29, LAWYER
A native Southerner—from Huntsville, Ala.—Toby Eveland moved to Chicago in 2000 expecting to be here for only nine months while he served as spokesperson and consultant for his undergraduate fraternity, Sigma Chi. Seven years later, after having fallen in love with the city's diversity, warmth and neighborhood feel, he calls it home.
A graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Toby is an attorney with the law firm of Arnstein & Lehr LLP. His practice focuses on complex insurance coverage and contractual disputes, products liability defense and commercial litigation. Eveland also counsels a number of non-profit organizations in the city. He serves as chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Committee on Legal Rights for Lesbians and Gay Men, and he was recently appointed to the Illinois State Bar Association’s Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.
Toby is also the founding president of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago's Junior Board, a group of 40 young professionals committed to increasing awareness and advocacy for HIV/AIDS-related issues. He serves on the Gala Committee for Equality Illinois and is also an instructor for Loyola University’s Moot Court program.
In his spare time, Toby enjoys running. He participated in the 2003 AIDS Marathon Training Program and ran the 2005 Chicago Marathon for Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
DID YOU KNOW? Eveland is a self-described NASCAR?fanatic, and raced stock cars professionally through 2000. He was also a test driver and sports marketing director for a NASCAR?team.
ALEX PEREZ
27, BROADCAST JOURNALIST
Reporter Alex Perez joined the award-winning NBC-5 News team in July of 2005. Before NBC-5, he was a reporter at KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas. Perez has also worked at WBKB-TV in Alpena, Mich., and WICD-TV and WPGU-FM, both in Champaign, Ill.
As a general assignment reporter, Perez covers a wide-range of issues. While in Michigan, he helped create the area’s first Crimestoppers program. In New Mexico, he was one of the first reporters to cover the controversial Minuteman Project along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Perez is a Chicago native, born and raised in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood. He attended St. Laurence High School in Burbank, and holds a BA in journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Alex has received several community awards for his work. He has worked with minority and LGBT journalism organizations, and also volunteers for various community-based groups. During his time with NBC-5—which recently withdrew its sponsorship for a local festival because a singer known for his anti-gay lyrics was scheduled to appear—Alex has come out to his colleagues and family.
DID YOU KNOW? Perez is Cuban and Puerto Rican and, at one point in his life, weighed 356 pounds.
KELSEY PACHA
21, STUDENT/ACTIVIST
Kelsey Pacha is a rising senior at Northwestern University, majoring in human development and psychological aervices. Her activism began at her Catholic high school in Iowa City, Iowa, when she wrote a series of scathing editorials on the school’s administration. Her piece in favor of gay marriage resulted in a ban on all subsequent articles contrary to church teaching. She has been involved with NU’s undergraduate LGBT group, Rainbow Alliance, since the fall quarter of her freshman year and is currently serving her second year as co-president. During her three years of involvement with Rainbow Alliance, she spearheaded visibility campaigns for National Coming Out Day and Rainbow Week. She also helped start a weekly LGBT Bible study, Claiming the Promise, as well as an annual spring program dealing with LGBT issues in Christianity.
In the summer of 2006, she attempted to enlist in the Army Reserve as an openly lesbian woman in conjunction with a nationwide campaign to protest the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. After being rejected, she staged a sit-in at the Clybourn/Division recruitment center and was arrested. This spring, she participated in the second annual Soulforce Equality Ride, a two-month long tour of Christian colleges and universities with policies that prevent students from coming out as LGBT. As a rider, she co-organized the West Bus’ first stop to the University of Notre Dame, where she and nine others were given lifetime trespassing notices for attempting to speak with students on campus.
Her future plans include attending graduate school in counseling psychology and seminary with a concentration in LGBT spirituality. Her dream job would be the head counselor of a Christian outreach organization for LGBT youth.
DID YOU KNOW? Though Kelsey attends Northwestern, she is a die-hard University of Iowa Hawkeye fan.
GILBERTO SOBERANIS
22, COORDINATOR
Gilberto Soberanis, a.k.a. Beto, started his activism at Noble Street Charter School, when he and a group of students raised around $10,000 for the Heartland AIDS Ride 2002, a 650-mile charity bike ride from Minneapolis to Chicago that raised money for agencies that provide services for people with HIV/AIDS. He was also a member of his school’s AIDS Action Club.
At age 19, Gilberto began his work with Howard Brown Health Center as a health educator for Broadway Youth Center ( BYC ) , a program that serves homeless, queer and at-risk youth. He has also served many other roles at Howard Brown, such an HIV peer educator and research associate for an LGBTQ youth HIV prevention study. He is now the testing coordinator for BYC.
Gilberto is the facilitator for the Socials group, a group designed for HIV-positive youth to form friendships and create a place where they can meet people with similar status in a more social setting. Later, these bonds can be used to benefit themselves at another more formal support groups. At BYC, he also provides program support to the services offered to LGBTQ and homeless youth, including daily drop-in and Friday at Broadway.
Gilberto was also with Advocates for Youth as an online peer educator, where youth would e-mail him with their problems, issues and questions. He would give provide them resources to obtain more information regarding HIV/STI facts and sexual health
DID YOU KNOW? One of his college professors tried to pronounce his last name and mistakenly called him Sober-anus?
BRIAN LOBEL
25, PERFORMER
Brian Lobel is a writer and performer whose plays, “BALL” and “Other Funny Stories About Cancer,” have been performed in 40 cities worldwide. Brian has called Chicago home since 2004, when he worked as an artistic apprentice at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His plays have been performed at Bailiwick Repertory Theatre and Live Bait Theater; Warehouse Theater in Washington, D.C.; Makor and Galapagos Art Space in New York City; the First Person Festival in Philadelphia; and at many universities in between. During this time, Brian has also had the distinct pleasure of being a smoothie-maker, jeans seller, transcriptionist, group conversation facilitator, workshop leader and substitute teacher all throughout this wonderful city.
Brian is a two-time recipient of the DCA’s CAAP Grant for New and Emerging Artists and has worked for Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre and Hell in a Handbag in various capacities. For three summers, he worked as the Program Coordinator at Seeds of Peace International Camp, working with youth from the Middle East.
In June, Brian will be attending Lincoln Center’s Director’s Lab in New York City before premiering new work at Fillet of Solo 2007. He is a lover of backgammon, Andersonville and challenging stories.
DID YOU KNOW? Brian spent three months in 2003 hula-hooping one hour every day in preparation for his play “BALL.” He remains a hula hooping champion.
Copyright by The Windy City Times
June 21, 2007
ASHLEY “RHETT” LINDSAY 30, SPECIAL EVENTS COORDINATOR
Ashley “Rhett” Lindsay, a native of Mill Creek, W. Va., came to Chicago in 2000 after graduating with a degree in public relations from West Virginia University. Since his arrival in the Windy City, he has served as trade-show coordinator for a large trade-show management company; account executive for a public relations agency; and coordinator of student orientation programs at a local college.
He currently serves as the development associate/special events manager for Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN), and has played an integral part in the creation of TPAN’s newest fundraising event, Chicago Takes Off, which debuted in February 2007. He also coordinates the logistics and fundraising efforts for TPAN’s Ride for AIDS Chicago and annual gala. In addition to major events at TPAN, he also coordinates and serves on TPAN’s program events committees, including Man Alive, a gay men’s health summit; Women Living, an HIV/AIDS event for women; PULSE at NorthEnd and Positively Aware at Hydrate, two social events hosted by TPAN; and other outreach programs and events.
Rhett is also the new director of Chicago’s award-winning Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps (ROTC), a campy, all-male, 30-member volunteer, rifle-precision drill troupe that performs at Chicago’s LGBT events. This is his third year of performing with the group. As director, he manages the group’s visual design group (choreography), fundraising efforts, scheduling, membership recruitment and retention and represents the group at events such as Chicago’s Pride Fest, the Pride Parade and Northalsted Market Days. The group has also performed in cities throughout the United States and Canada, and plans to join other U.S. gay color guards for Sydney, Australia’s Mardi Gras in March 2008.
DID YOU KNOW? Rhett has also volunteered for Chicago Human Rights Campaign’s gala dinner, working primarily with production and logistics. He has also been employed part-time at Banana Republic since 1999.
CHRISTINA SANTIAGO 25, FEMINIST ACTIVIST
A Bronx native, Christina Santiago has been working for the Lesbian Community Cancer Project and Howard Brown Health Center as the women’s health patient navigator for the past year and a half doing exacly what she loves—working with lesbians to address their health needs. As a self-identified Puerto Rican lesbian and feminist activist, Christina tends to have many things she is passionate about: breast cancer advocacy, access to healthcare and empowering the lesbian community, just to name a few. Annually, she touches the lives of over 250 lesbian and queer women from the time they walk in the front door until after they receive their care.
Educated at the University of New York at Albany, Christina was very active in the feminist community and holds her degree in women’s studies and sociology. She is also a certified domestic violence advocate.
Christina is looking forward to continuing her work here in Chicago as a healthcare resource and guide for the LBTQ community.
DID YOU KNOW? Prior to going to college, where she inevitably “came out,” Christina considered becoming a nun.
RYAN KERIAN 27, LEGAL EAGLE
Ryan Kerian serves on Center on Halsted’s board of directors and chairs the Center’s associate board. This board of young leaders serves the underrepresented 18-to-35-year-old LGBT community. The board hosts events, develops programming, raises money and promotes inclusiveness. Under his leadership, the associate board has raised over $75,000 since its March inception.
As a young lawyer at Latham & Watkins, one of the nation’s most LGBT-friendly legal employers, Ryan recruits LGBT candidates and coordinates meetings addressing LGBT issues. Through his efforts, Latham has become a major sponsor of Center on Halsted. Ryan was also recently featured in a Crain’s Chicago Business article on issues affecting openly gay professionals in the workplace.
Ryan began his activism by co-founding an LGBT support group in college. He later served as co-chair of Outlaw, the University of Chicago Law School’s first and only LGBT student organization. He promoted awareness of LGBT issues and helped develop the school’s efforts to increase student body diversity, leading to school initiatives to recruit gay and lesbian candidates. During his tenure, Outlaw hosted prominent speakers, including Kenji Yoshino, author of Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Human Rights.
Ryan also led a team of students who helped to write an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief supported a first amendment challenge to the Solomon Amendment, a regulation withholding federal funding from universities prohibiting campus military recruiting. Additionally, Ryan co-founded Bundle Up, a quarterly social event for LGBT graduate students that continues to bring students together today.
DID YOU KNOW? Ryan was a little sunburned following the Pride Parade last year after running from float to float shirtless and giving high fives to everyone who would let him. This summer he is soaking up the sun by training for the Chicago AIDS Marathon.
ERIK ROLDAN 28, SOCIAL WORKER
Erik Roldan was born and raised in Chicago and grew up in Lakeview. After graduating college in 2000, he has dedicated his daytime to social work, helping adults with disabilities and recently, doing outreach for people who live in public housing.
In September 2003, he launched Think Pink with co-host Alison McDonald as an outlet for his queer politics and love of music. (Since December 2006, Think Pink has been co-hosted with Ruth Batacan). His passion for sound has also led to rabid vinyl collecting—he owns over 3,000 records. Currently, he is trying to expand the scope of Think Pink through a queer music blog and promoting queer events in Chicago. Look for upcoming shows/events at www.myspace.com/thinkpinkradio amd spot him hosting the new monthly party at Kitty Moon in Rogers Park.
DID YOU KNOW? Erik’s parents immigrated to the United States from Guatemala, and Erik speaks fluent Spanish.
JACQUELINE LUNA 25, ADVOCATE
Luna is a queer Latina activist who is focusing her energy on creating positive change and awareness within and between the LGBTQ and Latino communities. She is the first administrative assistant for Amigas Latinas, an organization that empowers Latina lesbian, bisexual and questioning women by offering safe spaces and resources. She also is the bilingual women’s advocate for Sarah’s Inn, where she provides individual and group support and advocacy for victims/survivors of domestic violence.
Prior to her work with Sarah’s Inn and Amigas Latinas, Jacqueline was a case manager at Rainbow House, a domestic violence agency that provided shelter, until May of 2006, to survivors of domestic violence. During her time there she initiated several changes, including the beginning steps to transition the shelter to becoming transgender accessible.
Jacqueline graduated from DePaul University in 2004 with a major in psychology and a minor in Latin American and Latino/a Studies. She is an active member of the Chicago LGBTQ Immigrant Alliance (CLIA), was a volunteer Coordinator for Noche de Arco Iris: Queer Prom 2007 and is a member of the organizing committee for this year’s Chicago Dyke March.
Recently, she was accepted to University of Illinois at Chicago’s Jane Addams College of Social Work, where she will pursue her Master’s with a concentration in community health and urban development. During her first year, she will be interning for Center on Halsted’s Mental Health program. As a result of limited resources for queer people of color in the South Side of Chicago, Jacqueline and her best friend, Felicia Ramos, are in the beginning stages of creating a safe space for queer people of color that will be focused on health and healing.
DID YOU KNOW? She is also the proud mother of Freakin’ Cat and Mole, her two cats.
JENNY URBAN 27, CHEF/MUSICIANJ
Jenny Urban is a leader in the culinary training field as Head Chef of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and in previous jobs, where she trained the homeless and refugees. She brings diversity to each leadership position. Jenny created a gay-friendly atmosphere at the Uptown restaurant that she opened, Café Too. As executive chef, she created a partnership with the Gay Games to establish a meeting space for the Gay Games’ committees, as well as catering for the volunteers and employees of the event. During her time there, she helped Café Too become a gay brunch hotspot after winning the Free Press 2005 Golden Spoon Award, which named Café Too as the best neighborhood addition. Jenny’s work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Windy City Times, Dykediva.com, Time Out Chicago, The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times.
As a leading queer drummer, Jenny plays with 2005 Out Music Awards musician of the year Scott Free., with the Scott Free Trio playing at such venues as Jackhammer, Schuba’s and Homolatte. The Trio also played The Windy City Radio Show (Windy City Media Group) and on TV as the musical guest for OUT-TV’s Queer Eye with Jack E. Jett. When Jenny is not busy touring with the Trio, she can be heard playing as the founder of the lesbian-based Foster Avenue Beach Sunday drum circle.
DID YOU KNOW? Jenny was expected to be part of the opening act for the Chicago Gay Games on the night that her partner went into labor with their beautiful daughter, Isis.
WILL LOCKETT 28, SOCIAL-JUSTICE ADVOCATE
Will Lockett is a young activist who is passionate about creating change, ending oppression and speaking out against injustices. He is interested in public demonstrations as a means for affecting change.
In addition to being a volunteer for Sankofa Way for over a year, Will is founder of the group Black LGBT & Allies for Equality, which advocates for the Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and same-gender-loving community. The group fight for justice, respect and human rights using education, grassroots organizing, non-violent direct action and awareness raising public demonstrations. Through his work, the membership of the group has grown from four to 40 members in roughly one year.
In the past year, through his group, he has demonstrated for justice and respect for Black lesbians and gays on Chicago’s South Side after a gunman opened fire at a gathering of mostly Black gay men. He has called out homophobic injustice from preachers, even in front of their churches on Sunday morning. Will has also protested the anti-gay lyrics of rapper DMX and reggae musician Buju Banton at their concerts.
In addition, he has petitioned Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to speak out against the proposed Nigerian legislation to make gay people and their associates illegal, and helped scare off a racist hate group from completing an anti-gay measure at a local Black church. His group has also called out the media emperor, ClearChannel, and their anti-gay content on their Black radio stations. His work continues, calling out anti-LGBT hatred and exclusion in the African American community. Black LGBT & Allies for Equality has enjoyed victories and success, but the struggle continues.
DID YOU KNOW? Will’s favorite junk-food items are pizzas from Giordano’s and Home Run Inn.
NICK RUTAN 23, POLITICAL ACTIVIST
Nick Rutan, who was born in Indianapolis, is the older brother to three sisters. While in high school, he started a men’s volleyball team. After graduation, Nick was recruited by Cardinal Stritch University to play volleyball, and this is where his activism began. At the university, LGBT students and allies had no group to turn to and, worse, they were becoming marginalized. It became his mission to start a support group for LGBT students in order to have a real pressence on campus.
Nick then wanted to get involved on a larger scale. He joined DignityUSA and, at a convention in Philadelphia, made a contact at the Human Rights Campaign that connected him to the organization’s Youth College program, which he soon joined. There, he worked on the campaign of Congressinal candidate Tammy Duckworth in 2006.
Soon, Nick moved back to Chicago to become involved in Richard J. Daley’s mayoral campaign. After meeting Alderman Vi Daley at an Equality Illinois dinner, he joined her runoff campaign. Nick feels that each candidate he has worked for has a passion for equality that the LGBT community has benefitted from.
DID YOU KNOW? Indianapolis’ Holy Rosary Street Festival, which Nick’s grandfather started in 1984, recently greeted over 35,000 people and grossed over $250,000.
ANNE HUFFMAN 29, LEGAL SPECIALIST
Anne Huffman, has lived, worked and played in Chicago for the past 11 years. Thanks to her childhood love of Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes, she realized that she was destined to work in the criminal justice field. Huffman received her BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from Loyola University of Chicago in 2000, and immediately began working for Con. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., where she developed her love of politics.
Huffman then worked in the child welfare and social service field at Maryville Academy and Uhlich Children’s Home and Treatment Center. For the last four years, she has worked as the GLBT and Hate Crime Specialist with the Victim Witness Unit for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. She acts as an advocate for the GLBT community by attending court with victims and their families, writing orders of protection for victims of domestic violence and assisting all GLBT and hate crimes victims with the daunting challenge of maneuvering their way through the court system. In September, Anne will be speaking on two panels as an expert on GLBT domestic violence and on hate crimes at the Lavender Law Conference, a national conference dealing with the intersection of the GLBT community and the legal profession. Huffman is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Forensic Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
DID YOU KNOW? Huffman sings loudly while driving, can say the alphabet backwards, plays a mean game of poker and is a self-professed parallel parking champion.
KEVIN HAUSWIRTH 23, COMMUNICATIONS/POLITICS
Kevin Hauswirth got his start in LGBTA activism in the frat houses of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by forming an organization to react to the assault of a fellow gay fraternity member on campus. The organization, Greek Allies, got the attention of The Advocate and Kevin is now a regular contributor and the most published member of the magazine’s Gen Q Editorial Advisory Board. His activism and work with the Advocate earned him the Human Rights Campaign Chicago’s College Student of the Year Award in 2006.
After interning with a United Nations organization in Switzerland, and at Fleishman Hillard Communications’ Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Hong Kong, Kevin earned his BA from the University of Illinois and returned to Chicago to become a political activist.
In 2006, he hit the campaign trail as a regional field director for Con. Melissa Bean, D-Ill. Working in the district’s largest county, he built a county-wide field operation from the ground up and ran a winning election day operation. Kevin also supported fundraising and LGBT outreach activities for City Clerk Miguel Del Valle.
Currently, Kevin is an associate at O’Malley Hansen Communications and serves as a member of the Illinois LGBT Advisory Committee for Obama for America and Sen. Dick Durbin’s Professional Steering Committee, and is co-chair of Bean’s Young Professionals Finance Committee. He also drives policy and community outreach initiatives as a member of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Junior Board.
DID YOU KNOW? Kevin recently launched www.HomosAreAHoot.com to sell shirts he made in college to draw awareness of National Coming Out Day and raise money for LGBT non-profits.
MATTHEW STREIB 25, JOURNALIST
Matt Streib has always felt that a major stumbling block in correcting the ills perpetrated against gay people worldwide is that the void created by lack of information is often filled with prejudice and conjecture. To fix this, he has started a career in international journalism, working to shed light on the global gay community.
He began working in journalism when he wrote the first gay column in a major college newspaper at Cornell University in 2003. After college, he moved to Baltimore, where he worked as the news editor for Baltimore OUTloud, Maryland’s largest gay newspaper, for almost two years. Before coming to Chicago, Matt spent six months working in an editorial capacity for a news service in Beirut. He is currently working towards a Master’s degree in journalism and religion at Northwestern University.
Matt’s columns and articles have appeared in publications in numerous countries and languages. His favorite to this day is a column critical of Turkey, which the Turkish prime minister’s office translated and lambasted on its Web site. He has covered the gay experience in places such as Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Nigeria and France. Most recently, he visited the Netherlands, where he focused on the experiences of gay immigrants from the Middle East, examining how they deal with the transition into one of the world’s most liberal cultures, and what they miss about their homelands. Later this year, he will travel to Bangladesh, where he will undertake a similar exploit.
In the future, Matt would like to work for a major international news organization, where he can cover the momentous events shaping our world. Hopefully, he’ll be able to make sure that gay issues are incorporated in ways that current media lack.
DID YOU KNOW? Matt is 25, and still can’t drive.
ANDREW WALENSA 23, OPALGA LEADER
Andrew Walensa has been working with Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association (OPALGA) since he stumbled into their youth group at the age of 16. With the help of Susan Abbott (Youth Program Director) and OPALGA, Andrew has grown from a shy, closeted drop-in group participant to a strong, gay leader. He is an intricate part of the OPALGA Youth and Young Adult Network. Currently, Andrew is the weekly facilitator of Spectrum, OPALGA’s 18 and up drop-in group.
Andrew is also one of the founders and leader of OPALGA’s OUTspoken, a creative art group where youth and young adults use art to show the world from a LGBTQ perspective. The OUTspoken workshop experiments with different mediums of art (poetry, creative writing, visual art and acting) to share their stories and make social comments on society. The OUTspoken workshop prides itself in creating a community of LGBTQ artists that inspire each other to create and share their artistic work. Since its creation in 2004, OUTspoken has performed at numerous events, established a quaterly underground magazine called the OUTspoken ZINE and has held several showcases.
In 2005, Andrew was honored with a leadership award form National Youth Advocacy Coalition for the work he has done with OPALGA and the GLBTQ community. Additionally, he is a senior at Columbia College Chicago, where he is majoring in advertising art direction, and is ready to dive into the exciting world of the visual communication industry. His goal is to impact the world through art and advocacy.
DID YOU KNOW? Andrew is afraid of needles and blood, and once passed out at a piercing parlor.
DAN RODRIGUEZ-SCHLORFF
27, MINISTER
The Rev. Dan Rodriguez-Schlorff is an activist and ordained minister. As an activist, he crusades for marriage equality, ballot fairness, media democracy and single-payer universal healthcare. He has broken several glass ceilings in Illinois politics, as the youngest person to run for Illinois State Treasurer; the first openly gay candidate to run for any statewide office in Illinois; the first person of Asian descent to run for a statewide executive office in Illinois; and, by gaining well over 150,000 votes in the general election, helping the Illinois Green Party become a constitutionally “established” party in spite of the state’s fear-based election laws.
From 2003-2006, Dan co-chaired the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry Chicago. As a political activist and financial resource, Schlorff has appeared on radio and television programs, including News at Noon ( WGN-9 ) ; Chicago Tonight and Candidate Free Time ( WTTW-11 ) ; and Chicago Public Radio.
As a minister, Dan marries same-sex couples, preaches across the Midwest and serves Broadway United Methodist Church as a candidate for authorized ministry. While already recognized by the Congregationalist movement as an ordained minister, Dan also seeks fellowship with both the Unitarian Universalist Association and Metropolitan Community Church.
Dan holds degrees from Meadville Lombard Theological School and Olivet Nazarene University. He is a certified senior advisor and is soon to complete his training towards becoming certified also as a financial planner. Dan sings with the Windy City Gay Chorus and resides in Lakeview. He works with Bradford Community Church ( Unitarian Universalist ) as Director of Religious Education and with Adair Associates as Director of Resource Development.
DID YOU KNOW? Dan once felt called by God to marry outside his gender and travel across the country with his wife and seven children, preaching the “purifying” gospel of Jesus Christ.
JUSTIN HILL
23, ADVOCATE
Justin Hill’s interest in HIV/AIDS and its impact on marginal communities stems from his work with AIDS activist/academician Dr. Cathy J. Cohen, the Black AIDS Institute and the Human Rights Program at the University of Chicago ( U. of C. ) .
After graduating from the U. of C. with a degree in law, letters and society, Justin worked as the psychosocial coordinator for Test Positive Aware Network ( TPAN ) . There, he tracked and monitored clients who utilized the psychosocial support and, from this data, drafted Ryan White Title 1 reports. In addition, his work with HIV-positive clients with a history of substance abuse emboldened his belief in the need for responsive activism, policy and advocacy. He now works for AIDSCare, helping the agency analyze the link between homelessness, HIV/AIDS and poverty-stricken communities.
Justin, 23, has facilitated or been a part of several HIV/AIDS conferences, projects and events. He is an executive board member of Leaders in the Fight to Eradicate AIDS ( LIFEAIDS ) . As a part of the board, he helped host the 3rd Annual Teach-In and Town Hall meeting for students at Tuskegee University. At the 2006 Toronto International AIDS Conference, Justin served as both a community rapporteur and a youth delegate. He has also served on the International AIDS Conference’s Scholarship Working Group as well as their Youth Advisory Committee.
Most recently, Justin helped found 4 Brothers Chicago, a networking group for young gay Black men in Chicago. In addition, he is also working with academician Yvonne Welbon, along with U. of C. graduate students, on a Black Queer Media Maker project.
DID YOU KNOW? Justin secretly aspires to be the lead protagonist voice in a Disney animated feature.
NATALIE
FIGUEROA
24, AIDS ACTIVIST
Figueroa, 24, is a dedicated community activist who has worked in the HIV/AIDS field for 10 years. At the tender age of 14, she began engaging and educating the Belmont youth community around sexual health issues. She also took her experience of being a child of HIV-positive parents to local elementary and high schools to educate youth and adults around HIV/AIDS, proudly becoming known as the “condom girl.” Through her volunteer work at Children’s Place and Chicago House, working with children and families impacted by HIV, she was inspired to pursue a life of work in social activism. While in college, Natalie continued her work with Chicago House through the National AIDS Fund Americorps team. She had the opportunity of working with mothers and children who lived at Chicago House, helping with daily activities, conducting sex education classes with their children and holding seminars specific to the needs of the mothers.
Figueroa spends a few weeks during her summer with the families at Camp Getaway, providing social and emotional support to children impacted by the virus. She also has begun to volunteer with the Leftist Lounge-Chicago to promote awareness around the interconnected social justice issues, and makes it a point to integrate and speak out for HIV/AIDS issues, as well as queer and women’s rights.
Last year, she ran the Chicago Marathon and raised $4,000 for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Professionally, Figueroa is working at Howard Brown Health Center as a youth case manager with the PATH program, which serves the needs of HIV-positive youth ages 13 to 24. She provides case management to HIV-positive youth ages 16 to 24. She is currently working on a BA in social work from Loyola University Chicago.
DID YOU KNOW? Natalie’s guilty pleasure is singing along to R. Kelly songs!
KEN GASCH
26, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Gasch hails from Cleveland, Ohio, where he studied choreography and sociology at Case Western Reserve University. As a contracted teacher, he designed and taught literacy through fine arts in low-income neighborhoods as part of an initiative to bridge the socioeconomic gap between surrounding residential areas. He also has seven years experience teaching competition and exhibition choirs and drill teams at several area high schools.
Upon moving to Chicago, Ken taught basic gymnastics and movement,;worked as a puppeteer and interpreter at the Shedd Aquarium; and danced with the Boofont Sisters cabaret. In 2004, he choreographed “Africa & Plumbridge: The Musical,” premiering at the New York Fringe Festival, and served as dance captain for an independent musical film by SpeakProductions tht has played at over 40 festivals around the world and has won awards at festivals such as OutFest 2004 and the Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival.
Ken is the artistic director for HouseHold Arts Collective, a multidisciplinary non-profit that produces dance concerts, art galleries and other public events to benefit local charities such as the Center on Halsted, one if its first beneficiaries in 2004.
He is also currently helping to develop a youth dance program for Horizons GLBT Youth Group; assisting the Association of Latino Men for Action in managing production of special events; choreographing the opening entertainment at Human Rights Campaign’s annual gala; and has volunteered for two years at International Mr. Leather. Additionally, he plays on the only gay team in a co-ed recreational soccer league and plans on returning to the Chicago Riptide water polo team in the fall.
DID YOU KNOW? As a kid, Ken liked to see how many times he could jump rope off the back of his parents’ couch; his favorite K-Tel record was Goofy Greats; and his nickname was “Fudgebucket” ( for reasons we won’t go into ) .
VEA CLEARY
26, TRANS-RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Vea Cleary is a feisty and passionate young woman who currently works at the Broadway Youth Center ( BYC ) as a project coordinator for the new Life Skills Program, which works with young transgender women, where she helped developed the curriculum and works as an intervention specialist. While at BYC, she has also worked on the re-invention of the Transwomen Informing Sister Transwomen about AIDS ( TWISTA ) curriculum. At BYC, Vea has also been responsible for coordinating a federally-funded HIV prevention grant targeting trans youth of color.
Prior to her work at BYC, she worked with the Poor People’s Economic Human Right Campaign, as well as with Project Safe. Vea received her B.A. in socioeconomics and gender studies from Sarah Lawrence College.
DID YOU KNOW? This spicy Cancerian is looking for her husband, so if you’ve met him, please introduce her!
JEREMY GOTTSCHALK
27, ATTORNEY
Jeremy Gottschalk is a graduate of Marquette University and Loyola University Chicago School of Law. At Loyola, Jeremy focused on pediatric law, which is the representation of abused children and victims of domestic violence, and intellectual property law. Currently, Jeremy practices intellectual property and corporate law at one of Chicago’s top law firms, Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLP.
Aside from his law firm practice, Jeremy focuses on bridging the gap between the legal community and the LGBT and HIV/AIDS community. Specifically, as the coordinator of legal programs for Howard Brown Health Center, he has established a network of law firms that provide pro bono legal representation for clients of Howard Brown’s Ryan White Case Management Program. Jeremy also designs and executes various direct-service legal programs, including legal seminars and workshops for the community.
Under his leadership of the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, various scholarships will be awarded to law students interning at Lambda Legal. The scholarship funding comes from Lawyers for Diversity, which is a fundraising program Jeremy created to channel money from Chicago’s largest law firms to local LGBT organizations, including the Center on Halsted, PFLAG and Equality Illinois. Later this year, he will lead a team introducing the ABA-endorsed, nationally-recognized HIV Legal Check-Up Project, which will offer legal needs assessments to individuals living with HIV/AIDS.
In addition to his involvement in the legal community, Jeremy is active in expanding LGBT civil rights in Illinois as a board member of Equality Illinois ( EI ) and its education project. For the last two years, Jhe has chaired the organization’s annual gala and has been instrumental in various fundraising efforts to raise money for EI in support of its mission to secure, protect and defend equal rights for LGBT people in Illinois.
DID YOU KNOW? Jeremy took tap dance for a few years at Marquette. Also, as a kid, Donny Osmond was the only famous person he ever wanted to meet ( and eventually met him ) .
ANDREW
WALENSA
23, OPALGA LEADER
Andrew Walensa has been working with Oak Park Area Lesbian and Gay Association ( OPALGA ) since he stumbled into their youth group at the age of 16. With the help of Susan Abbott ( Youth Program Director ) and OPALGA, Andrew has grown from a shy, closeted drop-in group participant to a strong, gay leader. He is an intricate part of the OPALGA Youth and Young Adult Network. Currently, Andrew is the weekly facilitator of Spectrum, OPALGA’s 18 and up drop-in group.
Andrew is also one of the founders and leader of OPALGA’s OUTspoken, a creative art group where youth and young adults use art to show the world from a LGBTQ perspective. The OUTspoken workshop experiments with different mediums of art ( poetry, creative writing, visual art and acting ) to share their stories and make social comments on society. The OUTspoken workshop prides itself in creating a community of LGBTQ artists that inspire each other to create and share their artistic work. Since its creation in 2004, OUTspoken has performed at numerous events, established a quaterly underground magazine called the OUTspoken ZINE and has held several showcases.
In 2005, Andrew was honored with a leadership award form National Youth Advocacy Coalition for the work he has done with OPALGA and the GLBTQ community. Additionally, he is a senior at Columbia College Chicago, where he is majoring in advertising art direction, and is ready to dive into the exciting world of the visual communication industry. His goal is to impact the world through art and advocacy.
DID YOU KNOW? Andrew is afraid of needles and blood, and once passed out at a piercing parlor.
LETICIA “LETTY” MARTINEZ
25, HEALTH EDUCATOR
Leticia Martinez, a.k.a. Letty, works as a health educator at the Broadway Youth Center. Her duties include health dducation and testing for HIV and STDs.
In the early ‘90s, she began working in prevention at the age of 13 as a volunteer peer educator at Stop AIDS Chicago and Teen Living Programs. Letty then began working at Howard Brown as an outreach worker and case finder, and continues to work at the Broadway Youth Center as lead health educator. She has a fierce dedication to educating all young people about HIV, prevention, education, resources and community. She hopes to one day become a medical provider so that she can help better serve young LGBTQ people and promote sex-positive messages and healthier decision making.
Letty has worked on and off with Howard Brown for over 10 years, wandering off to pursue other interests, such as cosmotology school, the U.S. Navy, retail and phlebotomy, but she always returns to the work she loves—education. She has always considered Howard Brown her home away from home.
DID YOU KNOW? Letty is a marksman with an M-16 rifle.
EBONII
WARREN-WATTS
24, ACTIVIST/DIVA
Ebonii Warren-Watts, a South Side native, is a fierce female illusionist by night and a Howard Brown Health Center employee by day. Currently, she supports the Broadway Youth Center’s drop-in program for homeless, runaway and LGBTQ young people as a program assistant. She is also a facilitator for BYC’s TWISTA group, an HIV prevention program for trans women of color.
Recently, Ebonii—otherwise known as “Ms. Mercedes Bonet”—finished first runner-up at the Miss Windy City Continental 2007, and will be competing for the Miss Continental 2007 title this fall. She was named K.C. Production’s Best Female Illusionist Newcomer in 2006 and Best Dressed Female Illusionist in 2007. She began her transition at the age of 16 and was featured in Blacklines about her transition and trans activism in high school. She was later featured in a Human Rights Campaign documentary about her life and experiences with an adopted LGBT family.
DID YOU KNOW? Ebonii can be found talking on her cell phone and working the neighborhood with her 30-inch ball python, Boe-Boe.
JEFF SOUVA
24, SPECIAL-EVENTS MANAGER
Jeff Souva grew up in rural northern Michigan, learning the importance of community involvement from his active and hardworking parents. In college, he took those lessons to heart and was extremely active in student organizing at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. For two years, Jeff co-chaired the LGBT Commission of the Michigan Student Assembly, organizing annual new student welcome picnics, National Coming Out Week and Queer Visibility Week festivities.
After studying abroad in London, Jeff returned to campus and co-facilitated a semester-long intergoup dialogue course between LGB and heterosexual students; volunteered for the HIV/AIDS Resource Center ( HARC ) doing safer sex outreach with the MSM population; and traveled during spring break to New York City to volunteer for God’s Love We Deliver, preparing and delivering meals to PWAs and other homebound clients.
In June 2005, after graduating with a degree in sociology and sub-concentration in social inequality, he moved to Chicago to work with Center on Halsted. During his time at the Center, Jeff has been a member of the development team, organizing fundraising events and managing agency volunteers. Now that the Center is open, Souva looks forward to his newest role as Manager of Volunteer Programs and spending more time working with our diverse and talented community in Chicago.
DID YOU KNOW? A city dweller now, Jeff grew up a country boy, raising prize-winning sheep.
NADIA CARRASCO
20, IMMIGRATION/AIDS ACTIVIST
Nadia Carrasco was born in Mexico, and her family came to the United States in 1994. Brought up in a politically active family, she organized at school and helped to form the group Students for Immigrant Rights at University of Illinois at Chicago, which organized for both the May 1 march and the March 10 Rally for Immigrant Rights, bringing people out through banner drop-offs, forums and speak-outs on campus. Through this work she became involved in La Coalicion 10 de Marzo and the International Socialist Organization.
Nadia believes in the importance of connecting struggles and exploring the intersections of oppressions like those based on ability, gender, class, race, sexual orientation, economic status and immigration status. A student of Gender and Woman's Studies at UIC, she got involved in an HIV prevention peer-education program with CALOR, organizing workshops to talk and share knowledge with other youth about HIV, STIs and sex. She is currently conducting interviews with different members of her community to further explore the particular realities youth face in relation to sex.
A volunteer for Homofrecuencia, she is head of the GSA Public High School Outreach Committee. She also worked on communication outreach for Queer Prom, and is currently a part of Arte y Realidad, an artist collective in Little Village.
DID YOU KNOW? Carrasco is currently learning Kendo, and twirling other things soon to be lit on fire.
BRENT CABURNAY
28, DANCER/EVENT MANAGER
Brent Caburnay is a former professional dancer. He continues to participate in numerous benefit dance performances including Dance for Life, which raised over $2 million for HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs. In addition, he was in the cast of “Dance Divas” and “Who’s That Girl?,” and has performed in events for Center on Halsted, Chicago House, Howard Brown Health Center and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, all benefiting programs that support Chicago’s LGBT community.
After retiring from professional dance, Brent co-created and co-chaired Center on Halsted’s First Bloom, a champagne brunch and French market, raising over $30,000 for Center on Halsted’s community and cultural programs. He served on Center on Halsted’s Human First Gala committee and worked as the Lakeview Citizens’ Council’s Community Development Director and as a volunteer for both the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce and Central Lakeview Merchants Association. Currently, Brent is an event manager for the Resurrection Development Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Resurrection Health Care.
DID YOU KNOW? Brent danced with the prestigious Joffrey Ballet of Chicago for four years, and later went on to dance independently with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Dance Chicago.
PHILIP DAWKINS
26, PLAYWRIGHT
Philip Dawkins is a playwright and educator from Phoenix, Ariz. A graduate of Loyola University Chicago, Philip’s play, Not Even the Children, was produced as part of their 2001/2002 season. Other productions include Ugly Baby; A Still Life in Color; The Man With A Shattered World; Jacks: A Beanstalk Blockbuster; and the forthcoming Perfect at the Side Project. Philip is a fellow of the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers in Scotland, and was the proud recipient of a 2006 CAAP Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council. He was the only self-identified gay male in Esquire magazine’s 2006 profile of 51 25-year-old men across the country.
His writing has been published in The Stranger, and his short plays and readings have been featured at Around the Coyote, Chicago Dramatists, Collaboraction, Estrogen Fest, HealthWorks, The Metropolis Centre for the Performing Arts, The Side Project, Straw Dog and Victory Gardens. He is currently working on the libretto for an opera with composer Eric C. Reda. Dawkins is the ARTS program director for Pegasus Players, through which he places Artists in Residence in Chicago Public Schools. As an associate artist of Chicago Dramatists, he also teaches playwriting in multiple Chicago schools.
DID YOU KNOW? Dawkins was literally born in the closet—a supply closet!
TOBY EVELAND
29, LAWYER
A native Southerner—from Huntsville, Ala.—Toby Eveland moved to Chicago in 2000 expecting to be here for only nine months while he served as spokesperson and consultant for his undergraduate fraternity, Sigma Chi. Seven years later, after having fallen in love with the city's diversity, warmth and neighborhood feel, he calls it home.
A graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Toby is an attorney with the law firm of Arnstein & Lehr LLP. His practice focuses on complex insurance coverage and contractual disputes, products liability defense and commercial litigation. Eveland also counsels a number of non-profit organizations in the city. He serves as chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Committee on Legal Rights for Lesbians and Gay Men, and he was recently appointed to the Illinois State Bar Association’s Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.
Toby is also the founding president of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago's Junior Board, a group of 40 young professionals committed to increasing awareness and advocacy for HIV/AIDS-related issues. He serves on the Gala Committee for Equality Illinois and is also an instructor for Loyola University’s Moot Court program.
In his spare time, Toby enjoys running. He participated in the 2003 AIDS Marathon Training Program and ran the 2005 Chicago Marathon for Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
DID YOU KNOW? Eveland is a self-described NASCAR?fanatic, and raced stock cars professionally through 2000. He was also a test driver and sports marketing director for a NASCAR?team.
ALEX PEREZ
27, BROADCAST JOURNALIST
Reporter Alex Perez joined the award-winning NBC-5 News team in July of 2005. Before NBC-5, he was a reporter at KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas. Perez has also worked at WBKB-TV in Alpena, Mich., and WICD-TV and WPGU-FM, both in Champaign, Ill.
As a general assignment reporter, Perez covers a wide-range of issues. While in Michigan, he helped create the area’s first Crimestoppers program. In New Mexico, he was one of the first reporters to cover the controversial Minuteman Project along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Perez is a Chicago native, born and raised in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood. He attended St. Laurence High School in Burbank, and holds a BA in journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Alex has received several community awards for his work. He has worked with minority and LGBT journalism organizations, and also volunteers for various community-based groups. During his time with NBC-5—which recently withdrew its sponsorship for a local festival because a singer known for his anti-gay lyrics was scheduled to appear—Alex has come out to his colleagues and family.
DID YOU KNOW? Perez is Cuban and Puerto Rican and, at one point in his life, weighed 356 pounds.
KELSEY PACHA
21, STUDENT/ACTIVIST
Kelsey Pacha is a rising senior at Northwestern University, majoring in human development and psychological aervices. Her activism began at her Catholic high school in Iowa City, Iowa, when she wrote a series of scathing editorials on the school’s administration. Her piece in favor of gay marriage resulted in a ban on all subsequent articles contrary to church teaching. She has been involved with NU’s undergraduate LGBT group, Rainbow Alliance, since the fall quarter of her freshman year and is currently serving her second year as co-president. During her three years of involvement with Rainbow Alliance, she spearheaded visibility campaigns for National Coming Out Day and Rainbow Week. She also helped start a weekly LGBT Bible study, Claiming the Promise, as well as an annual spring program dealing with LGBT issues in Christianity.
In the summer of 2006, she attempted to enlist in the Army Reserve as an openly lesbian woman in conjunction with a nationwide campaign to protest the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. After being rejected, she staged a sit-in at the Clybourn/Division recruitment center and was arrested. This spring, she participated in the second annual Soulforce Equality Ride, a two-month long tour of Christian colleges and universities with policies that prevent students from coming out as LGBT. As a rider, she co-organized the West Bus’ first stop to the University of Notre Dame, where she and nine others were given lifetime trespassing notices for attempting to speak with students on campus.
Her future plans include attending graduate school in counseling psychology and seminary with a concentration in LGBT spirituality. Her dream job would be the head counselor of a Christian outreach organization for LGBT youth.
DID YOU KNOW? Though Kelsey attends Northwestern, she is a die-hard University of Iowa Hawkeye fan.
GILBERTO SOBERANIS
22, COORDINATOR
Gilberto Soberanis, a.k.a. Beto, started his activism at Noble Street Charter School, when he and a group of students raised around $10,000 for the Heartland AIDS Ride 2002, a 650-mile charity bike ride from Minneapolis to Chicago that raised money for agencies that provide services for people with HIV/AIDS. He was also a member of his school’s AIDS Action Club.
At age 19, Gilberto began his work with Howard Brown Health Center as a health educator for Broadway Youth Center ( BYC ) , a program that serves homeless, queer and at-risk youth. He has also served many other roles at Howard Brown, such an HIV peer educator and research associate for an LGBTQ youth HIV prevention study. He is now the testing coordinator for BYC.
Gilberto is the facilitator for the Socials group, a group designed for HIV-positive youth to form friendships and create a place where they can meet people with similar status in a more social setting. Later, these bonds can be used to benefit themselves at another more formal support groups. At BYC, he also provides program support to the services offered to LGBTQ and homeless youth, including daily drop-in and Friday at Broadway.
Gilberto was also with Advocates for Youth as an online peer educator, where youth would e-mail him with their problems, issues and questions. He would give provide them resources to obtain more information regarding HIV/STI facts and sexual health
DID YOU KNOW? One of his college professors tried to pronounce his last name and mistakenly called him Sober-anus?
BRIAN LOBEL
25, PERFORMER
Brian Lobel is a writer and performer whose plays, “BALL” and “Other Funny Stories About Cancer,” have been performed in 40 cities worldwide. Brian has called Chicago home since 2004, when he worked as an artistic apprentice at Steppenwolf Theatre Company. His plays have been performed at Bailiwick Repertory Theatre and Live Bait Theater; Warehouse Theater in Washington, D.C.; Makor and Galapagos Art Space in New York City; the First Person Festival in Philadelphia; and at many universities in between. During this time, Brian has also had the distinct pleasure of being a smoothie-maker, jeans seller, transcriptionist, group conversation facilitator, workshop leader and substitute teacher all throughout this wonderful city.
Brian is a two-time recipient of the DCA’s CAAP Grant for New and Emerging Artists and has worked for Goodman Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre and Hell in a Handbag in various capacities. For three summers, he worked as the Program Coordinator at Seeds of Peace International Camp, working with youth from the Middle East.
In June, Brian will be attending Lincoln Center’s Director’s Lab in New York City before premiering new work at Fillet of Solo 2007. He is a lover of backgammon, Andersonville and challenging stories.
DID YOU KNOW? Brian spent three months in 2003 hula-hooping one hour every day in preparation for his play “BALL.” He remains a hula hooping champion.
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 8:01 PM
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