Both teens were brutally slain in separate instances last week.

These are the vigils we could find – please add others or additional information in the comments. 365gay will attend the NYC vigil and report back here on Monday (or you can check the live Twitter coverage at http://www.Twitter.com/JenniferVanasco).

Abilene, TX – 5:30PM, ACU campus, next to GATA fountain [Facebook link]

Amherst, MA – MONDAY 11/23 – 6:30PM, Food For Thought Books [Facebook link]

Boston – 7PM, Trinity Church, Copley Plaza [Facebook link]

Chicago – 4PM, Division and California, procession to Humboldt Park Boat House [Facebook link]

Durham, NC – 6PM, Corcoran St, CCB Plaza [Facebook link] (Event previously said Saturday, this will occur with the others on Sunday)

Los Angeles – 8PM, Santa Monica and San Vicente [Facebook link]

New York – 5 p.m., Christopher St. Pier 45

Oakland – 3:30PM, MacArthur and Lakeshore/Grand Ave [Facebook link]

Philadelphia – FRIDAY, Nov. 20.  6:30 PM, Church of St. Luke & The Epiphany, 330 South 13th St.

San Antonio, TX – 8PM, Crockett Park

San Francisco – 7PM, Castro and Market [Facebook link]

Terre Haute, IN – FRI 11/20 – 6:30PM, Indiana State, DeDe Plaza [Facebook link]

The recent story about a Chicago gay bar that is requiring patrons to have an I.D. that matches the outward gender expression of the individual made my chin drop. If you read down a bit you realize that this insane tactic was put in place to deter transvestite prostitutes from meeting clients at the bar.

Well.

If your bar was a meeting place for female prostitutes would you decide all females were banned from entering in order to curb the problem?

Not likely.

This policy is based on ridiculous logic. The idea that there is some inherent risk of prostitution in a gay bar that is more open to cross-dressing clients is ludicrous. Likely, prostitutes use the bar as a meeting place because the security in the bar is less rigorous than other places. And/or it’s the only gay bar around (Chicago suburbs are not known for their plethora of gay-friendly establishments).

If identifying prostitutes is difficult, get more security. Plan a sting operation. Get on Craigslist and report the ads that identify your bar.

Don’t target a population that already faces discrimination from most drinking establishments.

Tunney made a similar proposition in 2003 that died almost immediately, but this time around city lawyers seem more willing to explore the issue.

If the plan is accepted, Chicago may be the first city to qualify LGBT businesses for minority contract set asides.

Read the full story in the Chicago Sun-Times.

The statue was created as a tribute to lesbian health activist and attorney Mary York. The statue was a replica of the Bird Girl sculpture that appeared on the cover of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. York’s ashes were mixed into the cement that anchored the statue.

The statue was a part of a garden tribute created last year next to the Howard Brown Health Center honoring York and fellow lesbian health activist Lisa Tonna. A larger and heavier Buddha-like statue was created in honor of Tonna. Both women passed away within two weeks of each other in January 2008.

Center staffers noticed that the statue was missing on Monday, though the statue honoring Tonna remained.

That’s when he made a decision now posted for all to see: “No Bachelorette Parties.”

Though the small sign has been there for years, it’s suddenly making a big statement amid the national debate over gay marriage. While most gay bars continue to welcome the raucous brides to be, Zaharakis’s bar Cocktail is fighting for what he sees as a fundamental right, and his patrons — along with some peeved bachelorettes — are taking notice.

“I’m totally losing money because of it, but I don’t want the money,” Zaharakis said. “I would rather not have the money than host an event I didn’t believe in.”

Gay bars are popular with bachelorettes, both for the over-the-top drag shows that some offer and for the ability to let loose in a place where women are unlikely to be groped or ogled. Some bars welcome the women and their free spending, even advertising weekend shows.

Zaharakis, though, instructs his bouncers to turn away groups of women sporting beads, boas, tiaras and phallic plastic necklaces. His customers say they like knowing they’re not going to encounter such displays.

“It is throwing it in our face that they can get married and we can’t,” said Dion Contreras, a 29-year-old Chicago litigation manager, while having a drink at Cocktail with friends. “I just think they’re ignorant to our situation. I want women to think twice about this issue.”

When Zaharakis posted the sign in 2004, it got a little local attention, but it was mostly the surprised bachelorettes turned away at the door who took note. The November passage of California’s gay marriage ban Proposition 8, though, helped sparked chatter about the ban on Internet blogs, which in turn attracted more media attention and debate.

The California Supreme Court upheld the state ban last month. Six states have legalized gay marriage.

Some of the biggest proponents of gay marriage aren’t on board with Zaharakis’ approach.

Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, said while he agrees with Zaharakis’ stand on marriage equality, he would express it differently.

“I’d rather invite people in,” Wolfson said. “Celebrate their happiness and ask them to take a stand for us by helping change the law.”

And Ed Yohnka of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois — well-known for fighting for the legalization of gay marriage — says the ban may violate state anti-discrimination laws.

“The way is not to bar or discriminate against or harass other people,” Yohnka said.

In Washington D.C., when bachelorette partygoers enter the gay bar Town Danceboutique they’re asked to sign a petition in support of gay marriage. Owner Ed Bailey sends the petitions to the customer’s representative in Congress. Bailey says in the year he’s had his petition policy, no one has refused to sign.

“That’s the way to handle it instead of alienating all these people,” Bailey said. “You have to get the consensus built out there. Why not try to convince people, ‘Hey, why wouldn’t you support this?”‘

Down the street from Chicago’s Cocktail, another gay nightclub, Circuit, welcomes bachelorettes. Owner Jeff Binninger doesn’t think the women’s antics are meant to hurt anyone.

“The girls want to come and see the dancers,” Binninger said. “I don’t think it’s on their mind at all, ‘We can get married and, oh, you can’t.’ I don’t think the girls are malicious in their intent.”

Where Zaharakis took offense, Binninger saw a market niche and started producing the male revue “Sinzation” on Saturday nights, advertised specifically to bachelorette parties.

One recent Saturday night, 25-year-old Tiffany Casto of Canton, Mich., and eight girlfriends waited for the male dancers to start the show. Casto wore a hot pink feather boa, while her friends had matching white sunglasses, reflecting the dozen disco balls spinning from the ceiling as Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” played.

“I wouldn’t think I’m flaunting it at all,” Casto said.

But Zaharakis is standing firm. At Cocktail, where about once a month staff turn away bachelorettes, the sign will stay. And for those who ask about it, he’s ready with a written statement: “Until same-sex marriage is legal everywhere and same-sex couples are allowed the rights as every heterosexual couple worldwide, we simply do not think it’s fair or just for a female bride-to-be to celebrate her upcoming nuptials here at Cocktail.”

“I’m not going to tell anybody about how to run their business,” Zaharakis said. “This is just how I run mine. The political climate has made it more charged. We’re standing up in our factions and groups and making statements about how this should stop.”

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley

Chicago Mayor Daley, part of the Daley dynasty that has ruled Chicago on and off for fifty years, has had a hard year. First, his state came under fire for widespread corruption, then his likelycorrupt parking meter privatization scheme caused outrage amongst Chicago residents and now his choice to replace an Alderman in Chicago’s Puerto Rican neighborhood has been outed as a homophobe.

But it’s hard to feel bad for Daley. His choice for Alderman is Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus, head of a Chicago megachurch that is a member of the Assemblies of God. He has had “recovering” homosexuals in to preach about the harm of sexual deviance and he has stated that he believes marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman. Finally, he opposed the Pride Campus LGBT high school proposed last year in Chicago because it wasn’t fair to virgins who were being harassed for sex by “lesbians and guys” but still wouldn’t have their own school.

De Jesus has responded to these allegations by promising to advocate for all Humboldt residents, gay or straight. And he might do just that. His personal views on homosexuality might not translate into outright discrimination.

But that’s not the point.

Endorsing hate campaigns aimed at degrading LGBT citizens and supporting the denial of civil rights to LGBT people should not be tolerated. It can not be seen as one part of an overall political campaign with good and bad elements. If an individual goes on record against the equal rights of a particular segment of the population, their political career should be over.

De Jesus is a polarizing figure with prejudices that make him unable to adequately represent the diverse Humboldt Park community. Mayor Daley, as mayor of a city with a large LGBT population, is required to eliminate candidates from political consideration if they preach against the rights of gay people. Let Daley know that De Jesus is a bad choice for Alderman. Write him at: http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalPreContactUsAction.do?BV_SessionID=@@@@1178841588.1243966911@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccceadehgmheemfcefecelldffhdfif.0&logObsToolBar=true&topChannelName=Dept

Quigley worked for Alderman Bernie Hansen in the 1980s running his ward office and learning real-life political lessons about meat-and-potatoes services to constituents, like making sure the garbage gets picked up and abandoned cars are towed away.

That training will come in handy in Congress, where Quigley, a former Cook County commissioner, was set to be sworn in Tuesday. He won a special election to replace Rahm Emanuel representing Illinois’ 5th Congressional District – a mix of wealthy, working-class and ethnic neighborhoods stretching from Chicago’s North Side lakefront to the northwest suburbs.

“If I didn’t work for Bernie, I wouldn’t have always thought, ‘How does this hit the street?’” Quigley said.

A Chicago Democrat, Quigley will fill the remainder of Emanuel’s two-year term that started in January. Emanuel resigned to become President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.

Quigley isn’t whom most people would picture as a “Chicago politician.” He’s a policy wonk who used to teach political science, with a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and a law degree from Chicago’s Loyola University.

But like Emanuel, who is famous for his blunt talk and tough manner, the 50-year-old Quigley can practice a brand of Chicago street politics that includes a well-honed ability to wheel and deal and a penchant for saying what he means.

“No one would accuse Mike of being subtle. He’s very direct. … If you’re the victim of one of his barbs, you’ll know it,” said Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, a friend of Quigley’s.

In Cook County, Quigley has been a vocal critic of board president Todd Stroger for presiding over the same clout-heavy bureaucracy Stroger’s late father ran. Last year, Quigley blasted Stroger, a fellow Democrat, when a federal court monitor said political patronage let unqualified people get government jobs at the county.

“It’s basically the same crew that’s always been here. It’s the same mentality, it’s the same culture and the actions are the same,” Quigley said at the time.

But Quigley concedes that his time on the Cook County board also taught him how to be “one of the boys” to get things done.

That has meant trying to help out other commissioners by supporting their projects or giving them measures to sponsor when they were looking to win support from Quigley’s loyal base.

“You got to be willing to wheel and deal a little bit,” Quigley said. “That does not mean you sell your soul. It doesn’t mean you support something that you wouldn’t otherwise support, but there are accommodations.”

On Capitol Hill, Quigley has said his priorities will include environmental issues, human rights and universal health care. He also has been a staunch supporter of gay rights, pushing measures that extended same-sex benefits to county workers and created a domestic partner registry in the county that includes Chicago.

Quigley didn’t grow up in his adopted hometown of Chicago. He was born in Indianapolis and moved to the Chicago suburb of Carol Stream when he was in the second grade and his father got a job transfer.

Quigley got a good introduction to Chicago when he was 17 and his sister helped him get a summer job working at a shelter for battered women.

“I’d never seen poverty before, never saw people with no place to go,” Quigley said.

More than 20 years since they worked together, Hansen, who retired from the City Council in 2002, said he’s confident Quigley, his former right-hand man, will succeed in Washington.

“When I needed something done and done right, it was ‘Hey Michael,’” Hansen recalled.

Four of the suits against officer Richard Fiorito were filed this week, The Chicago Tribune reported. The three others were filed in February.

Attorney Jon Erickson told The Tribune that Fiorito made up DUI charges in a scheme to earn extra overtime pay.

Last year, the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving honored Fiorito for making 313 DUI arrests between Jan. 1, 2007, and June 6, 2008.

Two of the charges were dropped by prosecutors.  A jury found a third person not guilty of a DUI charge and in a fourth a judge dismissed a DUI charge, saying Fiorito had no grounds to arrest the plaintiff.

The Tribune reported that the other charges are under review by the prosecutors office and that the city’s Independent Police Review Authority is looking into complaints Fiorito used excessive force and engaged in bias-based verbal abuse.

In one of the lawsuits, filed against Fiorito, the officer is alleged to have grabbed Shawn Rauch by the throat in the police station, shoved him against a wall and called him a slur for gay.

Fiorito has not commented on the lawsuits or the internal investigation.

“Ron shares my commitment to offer our city’s children the best education in the nation.  He understands that in a changing world a world-class education system is critical to our city’s long term economic future,” said Mayor Daley when he appointed Huberman last week.

Previously, Huberman served as President of the Chicago Transit Authority. Prior to that he was Chief of Staff to the Mayor from May 2005 to April of 2007.

Huberman holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and English from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and master’s degrees in Business Administration and Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago, where he was both an Albert Schweitzer and Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow.

Huberman, 37, improved management, cut spending and implemented innovative approaches that have improved services at the CTA, Daley said.

But he has his work cut out for him dealing with the the nation’s third-largest school system. Under Duncan’s leadership test scores, attendance and graduation rates all improved significantly but Dailey said he wants dropout rate decreased further and an increase in the graduation rate.

Since his appointment he has been busing it to work, taking the opportunity to talk with students. The first result: a draft of a new school security plan to ensure student safety.

Huberman was born in Israel. His family emigrated to the United States when he was 5, settling first in Oak Ridge, Tenn..

He came out to his parents at age 15.

While Chicago Public Schools has included sexual orientation in its nondiscrimination policy since 1997, schools have been slow to update their handbooks to include those protections, and students still find themselves fighting to establish Gay Straight Alliances.

Last year a proposal for a gay school was shelved following opposition, although supporters say they hope to revive it to open in 2010.

Today a conservative Illinois journalist released an op-ed complaining about the homosexual effect on public education inevitable under Huberman’s watch. She quotes Laurie Higgins, the director of the Illinois Family Institute’s Division of School Advocacy:

Whereas in many professions one’s views on sexuality and one’s sexual conduct would be irrelevant, in the field of education it is highly relevant …First, Huberman will be called upon to superintend issues related to how homosexuality is addressed in Chicago public schools. Second, Huberman serves as a public role model. His open, unapologetic, unrepentant appropriation and affirmation of sexual deviance as morally defensible and central to his identity vitiates any legitimacy as premier educational leader in Chicago that his admirable qualities may have otherwise conferred on him.

Higgins, thankfully, does not represent the feeling of most parents in Chicago proper. However, I wish her fears were true.

If every gay representative truly pushed the gay agenda then voting based upon sexual orientation would be the best move for equality advocates. If being gay meant that Huberman would really be pushing to have more gay representation in teaching staff and in the curriculum, I would be thrilled with his appointment.

To be fair, Huberman has yet to do much of anything in his new role. But suggestions are that he will continue Duncan’s move towards charter schools (that take the most promising kids out of the broken public system and leave the system still… well… broken) and will use that move to weaken the teacher’s union (a controversial body, yes, but also one that has successfully fought for protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation, health insurance benefits for qualified domestic partners, and bereavement leave for same-sex couples).

It’s always fun to see the conservative community up in arms about a gay victory, but it remains to be seen if Huberman really is a victory for equality and education.