Isn't It Queer

In Carbondale, we are experiencing a bit of a storm, and not just the typical tornado kind that blew through in the wee hours of yesterday morning. On Wednesday, March 12, Libs of Tik Tok posted screen shots from social media platforms of what it claimed were SIUC School of Medicine research professor, Dr. Kyle Miller, masturbating alone in public sites around the SIU Carbondale Campus. The Daily Egyptian reported the story on Thursday, March 13 here .  In our upcoming episode of Isn’t It Queer on Wednesday, March 19, we will not be discussing or going into details on this breaking story. Instead, we will continue with our planned interviews with members of two LGBTQ advocating organizations in Southern Illinois. We consider the Miller story on-going and more of a disturbing and deliberate distraction than something worthy, at this point, of on-air commentary. What is emerging appears to be a concerted effort by right-wing operatives to use this story to focus criticism on SIUC...

Times are rough. There is an inclination to turn away from the danger, to isolate. Association with some may feel like an invitation to risk, to danger, to harm. This is an understandable reaction to fear. But the truth is that the only safety is in numbers, in standing firm and together . There is no advantage in turning our back on our allies, on people who suffer as much or more than we do for their difference from the norms of dominant culture. We offer this reminder because, around the planet, we see evidence of division.  In Kenya , for example, newly state-recognized “third sex” intersex people are increasingly separating themselves from the rest of LGBT queerness in hopes that there is acceptance to be had if they don’t associate with stigmatized groups. They see and lean into their condition as medical, while the rest of the alphabet soup is a (“sinful”?) choice. In the UK, the emergence of the LGB Coalition has become the conservative wing of gay representation, offering...

Times are rough right now. You know what might help? A little piece of uplifting mail from a SOIL Sister of Perpetual Indulgence who wants you to know that they care. Sister Texas Hotbox had such a good time doing winter holiday cards, they are starting up a spring holiday card tradition. Personalized messages to individuals who sign up—first come, first serve until they reach their limit. You can enter your information at the QR link below or by following this link: Spring Holiday Card Sign-Up . Entries due by April 10th. Neither Sister Hotbox not the SOIL Sisters will keep your information or use it for any other reason than to send you some affirming mail. We had the pleasure of interviewing Sister Hotbox back in October about their winter holiday project. You can catch that episode here (it is in the back half of the episode): Leaning into the Holidays . The Sister Mission is to “Spread Universal Joy and Expiate Stigmatic Guilt.” USAmerica ain’t making that an easy mission to pur...

There is a hard truth about our USAmerican culture: our commerce and our politics are deeply entwined . The products we purchase contribute to the politicians and policies that impact our lives. We usually become most aware of this when a specific corporate act leads to a general call for a boycott . Such refusals to consume from a particular company or brand do have impacts, but they are not particularly lasting, being more about headlines than actual material consequence. The harder path is to be continually aware of how our purchases contribute to policies and politics. We get it; that is difficult on many fronts. First, just knowing who and what the businesses we use support isn’t easy. Most corporations play a both-sides game, making sure that they can indicate their support for any candidate or party when they need a policy to lean their way. Moreover, most companies of any size support the politics that privileges a freer market and reduces regulations and responsibilities for ...

By Clare Killman , Carbondale IL City Councilwoman From the end of World War One in 1918 to 1933, my people—in this instance referring to transgender women specifically—enjoyed unprecedented freedom and liberation in Germany. We were given legal recognition, transitioned publicly, enjoyed medical care, and had social spaces carved out just for us in the vibrant culture of Berlin's nightlife.  By 1933, when Hitler came to power, some of the harshest treatment under Nazi rule for holocaust victims was reserved for transgender women. We were seen as a contingent of the mentally ill, and thus destructive to the German racial ideal, and an aberrant variant of homosexuality- an anathema to the production of Aryan babies. The Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion was designated responsible by the Nazi government for "collaborating in the design of the security police’s treatment of sexual degenerates", such as "transvestites, fetishists, and o...

  The Stage Company Presents a Staged Reading: Eve Ensler’s  The Vagina Monologues When:  Saturday, February 22nd, 2025, 7:30pm Where: The Varsity Center 418 South Illinois Avenue, Carbondale, IL The Stage Company is pleased to announce its upcoming staged reading of The  Vagina Monologues , by award-winning playwright and performer, Eve Ensler (V). Written in 1996, this episodic play is based on interviews with over 200 people, examining such  themes as bodily autonomy, gender-based violence, relationships, sexuality, transgender experiences and childbirth.  The Vagina Monologues  received an OBIE award in 1997 and the  Isabelle Stevenson Award at the 65th Tony Awards. Now known as V, Ensler created the V-Day Movement’s One Billion Rising, distributing funds to national and international grassroot organizations working to stop violence against girls and women. Although the movement lost momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic,  the Vagina Mon...