Justice is blind, we have heard it said. But justice is not color blind in the case of the all white jury that deliberated for more than 25 hours before finding three former Milwaukee police officers not guilty on four of five charges in the brutal beating of Frank Jude Jr. outside a Bay View home in October 2004.

It’s unclear exactly what went down in the jury room last month during the deliberations on the Frank Jude beating case. But whatever led 12 seemingly intelligent folks to deliver a not-guilty verdict against three Milwaukee police officers charged with beating a man to within inches of his life is unsettling and questionable at best.

Here are the facts.

Frank Jude was beaten. Our front cover picture proves that point.

Even the defense is not disputing that. Several civilians saw it happen. In fact hours were spent reliving this horrify, bone-crushing event.

The problem?

Camp Heartland and MGAC Present ‘Shed Your Winter Coat’ — a Doggie Cocktail Party

If you’re a dog owner, you know well that sad look you get each time you walk out the door without a leash in hand — that look that says, “Hey, buddy, I thought we were best pals! Take me with you!” Well, on May 20, you can!

By Cyndie Odya-Weis
It’s not just a stereotype: Gay culture and the arts go together. In Milwaukee, as in many other places, an LGBT presence permeates the arts scene. Similarly, LGBT teens thrive and the arts flourish at Milwaukee High School of the Arts (MHSA), the only dedicated arts high school in Wisconsin and a place where past and current students estimate that 40 to 60 percent of the student body is LGBT.

Felice Picano, who according to The New York Times Book Review is “a word machine who approaches the page with a newcomer’s exuberance,” comes to Outwords Books Gifts & Coffee May 13 to give a reading from his latest book.

Picano has recently published a collection of seven ground-breaking, science-fiction short stories, “Tales from a Distant Planet,” that displays his typical stylistic mastery and daring.

In April, the board of directors of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation approved $25,000 in grants to more than a dozen local nonprofit organizations that serve Milwaukee’s LGBT communities. The grants were awarded through the Milwaukee LGBT Funding Partnership, a collaborative fund created by the Cream City Foundation and the Greater Milwaukee Foundation along with National Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues to help encourage giving to LGBT communities in the area.

The Greater Milwaukee Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Visioning Project will be hosting community listening sessions during PrideFest. The sessions will serve as a forum to determine shared interests among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities as well as discussion of next steps for the Visioning Project. The sessions will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday during PrideFest at the Stonewall Stage.  

The vision of the Greater Milwaukee Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Visioning Project is to create a unified collaboration among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities and allies with mutual respect, trust and inclusivity, and to mobilize and empower presence that fosters equality and well-being for lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender people.

By Kate Sherry

June is just around the corner. Soon most of us will be lounging in the sun, strolling along the beach, celebrating PrideFest and just enjoying the summer. But while we are marking yet another year of gay pride, there is another anniversary that should be noted.

2006 marks the 25th anniversary of the first reported case of the “gay cancer,” which soon became known as AIDS.

According to the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, approximately five to 10 percent of the general population is LGBTQ, and LGBTQ adolescents make up an even higher, disproportionate share of the foster care population. LGBTQ youth in out-of-home care, already coping with shattering problems and displacement, bear the often overwhelming added burden of hostility toward their sexual orientation or gender identity.

By Jesse Jack Sabbath

There is beauty in the world. Dire beauty. So seems to say Joseph F. Lovett’s little-known 2005 documentary, “Gay Sex in the ’70s.”

The film’s opening, composed of random outtakes set to the sleazy disco beat of Taana Gardner’s “Work That Body,” does much to celebrate that beauty: the muscle boys, the Tom of Finland mustachioed leather men, the piers, the baths.

For 30 years the M&M Club has graced the corner of Erie and Water Streets in Milwaukee’s Third Ward. Sometime in May, this long-standing gay watering hole will be shutting its doors. M’s, as it is so lovingly called by many, is closing.

By Amelia McCarthy

On May 12 from 7 to 10 p.m., local artists will come together to display artwork and photographs featuring women’s athletics at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center. Proceeds from the show will benefit Shatter the Ceiling Inc., a Wisconsin nonprofit organization created to help young women pursue their dreams, believe in themselves and believe that anything is possible.

PrideFest 2006

By Holly Grey

The 10th annual PrideFest, Milwaukee’s festival dedicated to the LGBT community, starts Friday, June 9, and runs through Sunday, June 11, at the Henry W. Maier Festival Park (Summerfest Grounds) along the shores of Lake Michigan in downtown Milwaukee.