If you can judge a city’s culture by the amount of publications it supports–not to mention its disregard for trees–then Chicago is a culturally rich, tree-loathing city indeed. Whereas one gay monthly is enough for many entire states, we have four competing weeklies, in addition to biweekly, monthly, and quarterly magazines, as well as podcasts and radio programs. The publications can be picked up at many shops in the gayborhoods of Boys Town and Andersonville, and at homo-friendly coffee shops and bookstores all over town.
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The weekly papers, Windy City Times and the Chicago Free Press, are sort of the homo versions of the Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, respectively, the first being the more lefty of the two, the second more palatable to the suit set. They both cover essentially the same news–choosing between them is a simple matter of how you like it presented, and many people read both. Other weeklies are the small glossy nightlife magazine Nightspots and the newsprint Gay Chicago Magazine, read by older gay men.
On the Web, chicagopride.com is a local gay news and entertainment site that updates some content daily. Two other Web resources are especially of interest to lesbians and queer girls: the newish monthly Chill (chillmag.com), whose name is an acronym for “Chicago’s hip independent lesbian lifestyle” magazine, leaving not so many questions about who their target demographic is, and Dyke Diva (dykediva.com), which, like Chill, has articles and columns but is especially notable for its calendar of events and event photos. Chill hosts frequent club nights out, and Dyke Diva sponsors events such as speed dating and monthly cycling outings.
