Center Blog

by Andy Cataldo

Filmmaker Antony Osso created a series of six shorts featuring the touching stories of queer couples, entitled “The Devotion Project.” On February 13, in honor of Valentine’s Day, he screened the films together at the LGBT Community Center – including the world premiere of the series’ final film “Foremost in My Mind” – and brought along a panel of some of the featured couples. Here’s a quick overview of each film along with links to access them:

● “More Than Ever” – Bill Campbell and John Hilton, who had been together more than 50 years since they met before World War II
● “Say Only Yes” – Brian Cantor and Paul Labrecque, who met in London in the 90s and stayed together for over 25 years in the face of hardships
● “Listen from the Heart” – a married lesbian couple, Laura and Jaime Fitch-Jenett, raise their son Simon with a heart condition
● “My Person” – a queer couple, Eric and Anne Plemons, share their experience raising their daughter Jonah while facing transgender issues
● “Build Your Wings” – a young couple, Victor Bragz Lara and Daniel Pando, who have been together for eight years, move to New York and shape an open relationship
● “Foremost in My Mind” - a former model, Audrey Smaltz, and Olympic medalist, Gail Marquis, fall in love and marry later in life

After the viewing the audience heard a recap of progress to date on marriage equality: nine states offer marriage benefits, and challenges over DOMA are soon to be heard by the Supreme Court. (The day after the event – Valentine’s Day – Illinois became the 10th state to legalize gay marriage). Then a discussion was opened with the panel of attending couples featured in the films, hosted by Michael Crawford of Freedom to Marry. It was touching to see them in person, including the inspirational John Hilton, who told us that his partner Bill passed away three weeks after filming.

The couples were asked what it meant to them to be able to marry in New York. Gail from “Foremost in my Mind” struggled with calling Audrey her partner due to the confusion that arose with this term as she is a business owner. Gail also felt that the term “lover” did not do justice to their relationship. Gail says to us with a beaming smile, “Wife. How easy is that to say?”

The couples were also asked to discuss advice for young gays hoping to find a loving relationship. Some valuable points came out that can be applied to all relationships, gay and straight. Brian and Paul, who began their relationship when one was living in the US and the other in London, encouraged people to recognize and remove obstacles preventing them from getting close to someone special. Their advice was that often people have an expectation of perfection when, in actuality, healthy relationships are built around compromise. One shouldn’t be afraid of taking a risk, they advised.

Finally the couples on the panel were asked how they got involved in the project. Bill and John met the filmmaker as a result of frequenting cabaret acts in New York including Kiki & Herb and Bridget Everett. Brian and Paul got involved with the hope of making life easier for just one kid in a small town facing the familiar struggles of gay youth. Audrey felt it was important to get involved to provide a healthy relationship role model to younger African Americans. Audrey and Gail were quite a charismatic couple and won the audience over quickly with their charm. (You can read their New York Times wedding announcement here.)

If Antony Osso’s goal was to start a dialogue about love, this event was clearly a huge success. Now it is up to us to watch and share these incredible films on YouTube and spread that message to the rest of the country.

www.gaycenter.org

by Andy Cataldo

Choreographer Karole Armitage and voguing pioneer Benny Ninja appeared just as you might expect them to – she a tall blonde with the perfect posture of a seasoned dancer, he quite stylish in a hat, sports coat and loud red Louis Vuitton scarf.

They came together recently at the Center’s event, Strike a Pose: Choreographer Chat with Karole Armitage and Benny Ninja, to share their experience with an audience of fans. The tone was surprisingly conversational; each icon took turns speaking about his or her background and asking the other questions as they told the story of their involvement in the phenomenon that is ballroom culture and particularly voguing.

Karole built a reputation in the early 80s as a “punk ballerina,” a marginal and wild free-spirit. She was introduced to the scene when she was invited to judge a ball at the Roseland Ballroom in 1983. She recounted the experience as she remembered it – someone shouting out categories such as “eyeglasses” and “handbags” followed by participants walking accompanied by motions down a runway. She described the movement as “guerrilla warfare” – a non-capitalist form of dance existing purely outside of mainstream culture. That is, until Madonna caught on.

Benny entered the scene as a protégé of the late Willi Ninja in 1988 after seeing a quick flash of voguing on TV during coverage of the Love Ball, an AIDS fundraiser. It was that brief introduction that led him to the Red Zone, a historic New York City nightclub of the late 80s.

When asked about how he learned to vogue, Benny explained that he observed everything. He would pay to enter a club or attend a ball and study his surroundings for as long as eight hours, sitting on a speaker, taking in the movement, the emotion. He spoke of meeting Willi Ninja on the dance floor, asking “What is it you’re doing?” Willi responded “What I’m doing is called voguing.” When asked to define what that was, Willi replied “Darling, it is an exaggerated interpretation of the runway model.”

Benny explained that he saw voguing as an art form, where a dancer painted a portrait for others to interpret. During his lessons with Willi, the icon expressed that he wanted someone to take voguing to the next level, i.e. corporate (where the money’s at).

So can you blame Madonna really? Described by Karole as someone who has a knack for picking things just when they’re ready to be consumed by the mainstream, even though she has the reputation of being an envelope pusher. Karole says she has “a certain kind of genius” in that respect, but perhaps not the genius of a true creator. She took advantage of the desire expressed by Willi himself. Perhaps a contribution, enabled by Karole’s choreography in the music video “Vogue,” acted to preserve the cultural movement in time. Benny spoke of the true story of voguing – the houses involved and the disadvantaged wanting to emulate what they could not have. In that sense Madonna’s interpretation was a robbery of the true spirit of voguing.

The most interesting perspective shared by both Karole and Benny was the explanation of voguing as a form of dance. Benny spoke of the hardships and physical injury encountered in learning to vogue, which included for him pain and hospital visits. Karole chimed in “that’s exactly what being a dancer is!” Both spoke of structure and fitting a motion to sound: combined with deliberate movements of the body as well as the spiritual connection that performers have to the work. “It’s my way of praying. It makes me feel free,” Benny told us. “Each movement should be saying something. If not, it’s wrong.” While ballet is made up of five positions, voguing according to Benny, is made up of ten points, sides of the face, lines and broken lines (clicks).

Karole spoke of how dance slipped away from the spotlight it once had in American culture, making her work less in public demand. But she spoke of the strength of her passion, much in the same way as Benny spoke of his.

Today Benny teaches upcoming legendary children the art of voguing all over the world – Moscow, Taiwan, here in New York. Even now, Karole draws inspiration from what she experienced in the 80s. She incorporates the rawness and the emotion into her work. Voguing has truly evolved into a form of dance.

At the end of the discussion we – the audience – got what we wanted: a live voguing demonstration by two female students of Benny’s, which he joined in the end. Click here to see for yourself how things got legendary.

by Heidi Peck

The touching new drama, “Any Day Now,” had a special advanced screening at the Center on December 13 followed by a panel discussion which included the film’s star, two-time Emmy nominee, Alan Cumming. The film is set in West Hollywood in 1979, when drag queens weren’t yet Glamazons, some people just didn’t have a home phone and huckapoos replaced starchy white business shirts at the District Attorney’s office. Otherwise, much of the same injustice we faced then still plagues us today.

Alan Cumming, a multi-dimensional, endlessly talented actor, writer, director, singer and more, got a room full of chuckles as he said “When I first read the script, I was like, ‘a gay man as a drag queen, really?’” poking fun at his other similar roles. But he saw the larger picture. Cumming plays Rudy, a poverty-stricken gay man who surprisingly becomes an instant parent when his drug-addicted neighbor abandons her son, Marco (played by Isaac Leyva), a teenager with Down syndrome who would otherwise become a ward of the state. As Marco falls through the cracks of social services, Rudy and his unlikely lawyer boyfriend Paul (played by Garret Dillahunt), battle for custody, fiercely attempting to keep their unconventional family together. As Glennda Testone, Executive Director of the Center, said in her introduction, “Get out the tissues.”

After the movie, Alan Cumming joined a panel on LGBT parenting and adoption. He was joined on stage by gay parents and Center Families clients, Shawn Bradia and Rene Ortiz; the discussion was moderated by Steve Majors from Family Equality Council. It was a surprisingly intimate conversation, as all present were moved hearing how Bradia and Ortiz’s stability was questioned while the current laws (or lack thereof) put their lives into upheaval during the adoption process. Cumming whispered in a thick Scottish accent, “It makes me mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,” with a signature twinkle in his eye.

“Any Day Now” has received more than ten film festival awards and is showing in New York at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema and the Film Society Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. And while most celebrities would be chowing down in some trendy Chelsea restaurant that night or getting house seats to a Broadway show, Alan Cumming was at the Center for his last stop. I hope this movie becomes iconic, and, in the near future – outdated. I believe those involved would want the same, as they put aside Hollywood, to humbly advocate for equality and social justice, proving to us once again that it’s about the message not the messenger.

by Andy Cataldo

On Friday, October 19, mere hours before Chelsea Clearview’s midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a coalition of marriage equality activists gathered for the East Coast premiere of Question One, a film about Maine’s road to marriage equality through 2009.

Attendees “shivered with anticipation” of the upcoming election, during which equality would be voted on by the state for a second time. Now knowing the outcome of this month’s pro-marriage equality vote solidifies Question One as an historic account of the personal struggles of marriage supporters including facing fear and intolerance from the opposition.

The event, co-hosted by Gay City News and the Center’s Cultural Programs Department, began with remarks from US Congressman Jerrold Nadler, sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which is designed to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed by Bill Clinton in 1996. He spoke of the national climate with respect to marriage equality, how it has become less an issue of “if” but rather of “when.”

The film’s directors Joe Fox and James Nubile were also in attendance. Joe spoke about the filmmaking process in general, comparing it to the five stages of grief: anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. This analogy particularly rings true when thinking of the citizens of Maine who experienced the joy and relief of a state legislature passing marriage equality then having to accept the loss of it after the 2009 ballot initiative at the center of Question One. Thankfully we now know that the grief has been replaced with joy and accomplishment, as the state voted on November 6 to pass same sex marriage.

The film began with an overview of how Question One became a ballot initiative in 2009: the state legislature passed marriage equality, followed quickly by the efforts of opposition led by religious groups petitioning for a ballot initiative to overturn the law in November 2009.

Viewers are introduced to key players from the Yes on 1 side working against marriage equality, including Linda Seavy, a campaign volunteer and canvasser who believes that gay marriage is not an issue of civil rights. She declares that she doesn’t hate “their people,” speaking of the other side. The film shows meetings of Yes on 1 in churches where preachers speak of the familiar, specious statistics about Dutch gay marriages that “last an average of 1.5 years and involve up to 8 extra partners per year.” The other recurring argument we hear on Yes on 1’s side is about the exposure of children in schools to curricula describing how gays have sex.

We also meet same-sex families, including Darlene Huntress, Grassroots Director of the No on 1 initiative and her partner, as well as Sarah Dowling, a volunteer who was present at the screening. She and her family – partner Linda and daughter Maya – attended the election night headquarters in 2009 to be together as a family when the results were announced.

The most surprising element of this story comes from Marc Mutty, co-chair of the Yes on 1 campaign. In interviews, it’s clear that he’s deeply conflicted with his position as well as envious of Frank Schubert, a political consultant hired by the campaign for his success in other state campaigns against gay marriage, for stealing the spotlight. Mutty spells out his own internal struggle, claiming to be doing what he’s told only because it is his job (he’s the Director of Public Affairs for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland) as well as his power struggle with handing authority over to Schubert. Mutty represents the first leak in the dam of opposition not just in Maine, but the nation as a whole, as Maryland, Washington and Minnesota also cast votes in favor of equality this month

While the larger story continued beyond the scope of this film on November 6, Question One remains a relevant profile of what each state must face along the country’s path to equality. For more information about Question One visit www.Q1-themovie.com.

by David Webb

I should confess a couple of things. First, until recently, I hadn’t heard of Alan Turing. Second, I vacillate between the notions that nothing is merely coincidence and that everything is random. Right now, I’m more convinced of the former. It was in that mindset that I saw the New York premiere of Codebreaker, a docudrama on the life of Alan Turing.

As I watched Codebreaker, the sense of connection I felt with Turing, his on-screen psychotherapist and the other people in the cinema was strong. We were all together for a purpose. I didn’t know what it was at the time, and more likely will be revealed in days ahead, but purpose did show itself.

If you, like me, also haven’t heard of Alan Turning, you should know that he was a brilliant British mathematician whose thesis laid the groundwork for modern computers. During World War II, he cracked the Germans’ Enigma machine, a device they used to send coded messages; the most difficult to crack were the codes coordinating U-boat attacks on British vessels. Without Turing, the Nazis either would have won or, at the very least, would have fought longer. Oh, another important detail – Turing was gay.

A few years after the war, Turing reported the theft of a family heirloom to the police, along with the name of the man he suspected, the friend of a lover. Instead of investigating the theft, authorities charged Turing with “gross indecency,” the legal term for sodomy laws in the UK. To avoid jail time, he pled guilty and was sentenced to be “treated” for his homosexuality. For two years, he was forced to take synthetic estrogen, effectively causing chemical castration. After his body failed to return to normal, he committed suicide.

Before the movie, I told a friend what I was doing, along with the movie’s synopsis. She remarked, “Sometimes people just absolutely disgust me.” I felt her frustration. Here was a man who recorded the theories of mechanical computation, developed binary code and played an integral role in defeating the Nazis. But egad! He loved men. Punish him! Cure him!

What a terrible waste. Everyone in the audience expressed disgust at the film’s end when it was revealed that, in September 2009, the British government finally apologized for Turing’s treatment. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s official statement included this: “Sorry. We should have treated you better.” Seems a bit too little too late, doesn’t it?

Ah, but back to the purpose. During the Q&A with the film’s Executive Producer, Patrick Sammon, a young gentleman behind me shared in a quaking voice that he had been sent to reparative therapy in California to be “cured” of his homosexuality and how grateful he was that Governor Jerry Brown recently signed legislation banning this barbaric treatment in his state. He concluded with the determination that New York must follow suit and that it shouldn’t be allowed anywhere. When he finished, everyone applauded.

Alan Turing solved one enigma and was done in by another. As his story is told, heard and shared by more and more, perhaps his example will solve the enigma of ignorant, mean-spirited homophobia by those who would rather “cure” what’s not broken than break the code of living in harmony.

Photo by Shawn Mac Photography

On Monday June 18^, nearly two-thousand people flocked Hudson River Park’s Pier 46, to experience the Center’s 29^th Garden Party. This year friends and supporters enjoyed food and drink from nearly 40 restaurants, caterers and food trucks.

Garden Party started in 1984 as a backyard barbeque in the Center’s garden, and has grown to be our biggest fundraiser, bringing in vital support for our wellness, recovery, youth, family, and cultural programs. Guests dined “al fresco” and watched the sun set over the Hudson River while enjoying an open vodka bar and bidding on delicious dining packages at the fabulous “Foodies” Silent Auction, a popular activity at this culinary event.

Executive Director, Glennda Testone (Photo by Shawn Mac Photography)

The Center extends a thank you to all the businesses, volunteers and individuals who helped make Garden Party 29 a success and we look forward to seeing you next year!

The Center was proud to welcome back longtime supporter PRUDENTIAL as our Platinum Sponsor. Thanks also to Friend Sponsors BLOOMBERG, CAPITAL ONE, CITI, CONTINUUM HEALTH PARTNERS, NEW YORK LIFE and WELLS FARGO ADVISORS; Social Media Sponsors SEAMLESS, DOT429 and TASTING TABLE; Exclusive Airline Sponsor AMERICAN AIRLINES; Media Sponsor GO MAGAZINE, GAY CITY NEWS, METROSOURCE and THEATERMANIA; and DIAGEO returned as the event’s Beverage Sponsor, featuring BV Wines and Ketel One Vodka. The Center was also grateful for the support of the following participating Corporate Volunteer Teams: AIG-LGBT Employee Resource Group, Citi PRIDE Network-NYC, Credit Suisse OPEN Network, dbPride Americas, Gap Inc., GLOBE – Deloitte, New York Life – NYLPride, PepsiCo EQUAL, Thomson Reuters Pride at Work and VIACOM/Emerge.

Photo by Shawn Mac Photography

As the only LGBT tasting festival in the country, Garden Party is a delicious start to Pride Week in NYC with nearly 40 participating restaurants and food companies, which included: 16 Handles, 508 Restaurant & Bar, Amy’s Bread, Anejo Tequileria, Aria, Benny’s Burritos, Brick Lane Curry House, Corner Shop Café, Dell’ anima, Donatella, Dos Caminos, En Japanese Brasserie, Esca, Fonda, Good Restaurant, Grandaisy Bakery, L’Artusi, La Cremeria, Li-Lac Chocolates, Mappamondo, Mitchmallows, Murray’s Cheese, North Square, Oceana, Peanut Butter & Co., Poco, Presidential Caterers, Redwood Kitchenette & Bar, Rickshaw Dumplings, Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, Smörgås Chef, Sonnier & Castle, The Taco Shop, The Treats Truck, Tiffin and Thali, Uncle Paul’s Pizza and Café and Zampa Winebar & Kitchen.

You can read more by visiting our press page.

See more photos here.

Guest Post by Rob Michael Blake

Photo by Nicole Alexander Photography

There was a heady buzz on Tuesday, June 12, in room 310 at the Center.  The audience chatter could have been that of a much anticipated new book at a launch party.  Writers and filmmakers updated their peers about their current work or past work, or a new collaboration.  This was the audience for Second Tuesday, the Center’s longest-running cultural program.  Second Tuesday has been running since 1985 and has hosted speakers who have garnered every major literary award, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Man Booker prize.  It has historically played host to politicians, activists, and artists of all stripes with a focus on issues impactful to the LGBT community.

The featured program of the evening: Inspirations: A Yaddo Gay Pride Event Celebrating our LGBT Writers.   Yaddo is a residential program for working artists.  The program was moderated by Allan Gurganus and featured Chris Beam and Jorge Ignacio Cortinas.  All three writers had working residencies at Yaddo.  Mr. Gurganus is a member of Yaddo Corporation and has had working residencies there dating back to 1975.  Yaddo is located in a 75-room estate on 400 acres in Saratoga Springs, New York.  It has played host to some 6,000 notable artists, including such cultural icons as Truman Capote, Aaron Copeland, Patricia Highsmith and Carson McCullers.  All three of the speakers shared their experiences at Yaddo, extolling its collegiality and singularly unique impact on nurturing gay and lesbian artists, who have in turn gone on to shape popular culture.  Each writer read from his or her work.

Photo by Nicole Alexander Photography

First to speak, and moderating the program, was Allan Gurganus.  A prolific author and essayist, he is perhaps best known for his 1989 debut novel, Oldest Confederate Widow Tells All.  Mr. Gurganus spoke of his relationship with Yaddo which began in 1975 and its unlikely, and unexpected, role in a becoming a mecca for LGBT talent.  In one anecdote, he described the campus reaction when a busload of gay men arrived from New York City in the 1970’s.  One workshop participant noted their arrival in an exasperated announcement to the larger group.  “There is a certain kind of over-enthusiastic tittering from one particular table in the room.  It’s distracting.”

Mr. Gurganus introduced award-winning playwright Jorge Ignacio Cortinas, who read excerpts from two of his plays, including a scene from the upcoming Bird in Hand.  Set in a Florida theme park, Bird in Hand features a young gay man in the process of coming out and his apparently straight best friend.  The third character, a witness and commentator to the action, is a talking parrot. 

Photo by Nicole Alexander Photography

The parrot was rescued from his owner, a paranoid shut-in who lived in a high-crime area.  As a consequence, the bird’s speech consists only of police car sirens, gunshot sounds and CB radio law enforcement code for homicide.  After the bird’s owner is accidentally killed when police mistakenly break into the wrong apartment (“it’s ironic,” remarks one of the human characters wryly,), the bird is sent off to the theme park.  It is hidden from public view for speech retraining: a bird rehab of sorts.The parrot plays witness to the coming out of the gay man, his confession of his crush upon his best friend and a tentative first kiss between the two men.  By turns sweet, sad, funny and unexpected, Mr. Cortinas artfully gave voice to all three of his characters. 

Next to speak was prolific author, Chris Beam. Ms. Beam is an award-winning author of both fiction and non-fiction and is a professor in New York City.  Her diverse subject matter covers the lives of transgender teens (I am J) and a memoir-style short novel, Mother Stranger which she read from that evening.  Mother Stranger chronicles her life growing up with an abusive, mentally ill mother from whom she escaped at age 14.  She spoke of her mother’s claim to always be holding five jobs.  She could only remember one: a prostitute.  Some twenty years after she left home, and after her mother’s death, she returned to her childhood home with her brother.  Upon introducing themselves to the current owner of the house, the woman seemed shocked.  “Yes, I bought this house from your mother.  But, she told me her children were dead.”

Photo by Nicole Alexander Photography

One theme pervading Ms. Beams work was the process of healing.  “One sign of trauma,” she remarked about her childhood, “is that it doesn’t have language at all.”  Ms. Beam also read from a letter written to her 14 year-old self as an adult, a piece done in association with the Trevor Project.  Of her time at Yaddo, she remarked, ”Yaddo lifts you from the interior torment, and that, in turn, lifts you to create.”  On a lighter note, she described Yaddo’s grandeur with its fountains and motifs in reds, pinks, Tiffany glass and a particular fainting sofa as “the queeniest place on earth.”

Mr. Gurganus closed the program reading from one of his early essays.  It takes place in the 1980’s in New York City, when his gay male friends were becoming sick and dying at an alarming pace.  Alternately heart rending and mordantly funny, Mr. Gurganus described a pledge to a his hospitalized friend, Robert, to purge Robert’s apartment of anything that would shock Robert’s Swedish-born parents who were visiting from Iowa.

Photo by Nicole Alexander Photography

In making the apartment parent ready, he discovered an unending supply of adult toys – he lost count at 32 – which he stacked “knee-high, like cord wood.”  Mr. Gurganus attempted to remove this heft of personal property using a knapsack, shopping bags, his waistband and pockets and to transport them back to his own apartment for safekeeping.  En route, he heard an ungainly ripping sound which unleashed an army of used adult toys upon a street scene of unsuspecting, horrified New Yorkers.  While most people cleared his path or gave looks of derision, one woman, emboldened by the circumstance, cried out, ”For God Sakes!  This is a work day.”

And so went Tuesday night’s dazzling program at the Center.  The Second Tuesday programs will resume in the fall.

See more photos of the event here.

James Bidgood and Ira Sachs (Photo by Michael Cornelison)

 Guest Post by Richard Allen

On May 8, as part of their Summer “Camp” Festival, the Center hosted a screening of the seminal queer film Pink Narcissus, followed by a Q & A with its director, James Bidgood, moderated and introduced by noted filmmaker Ira Sachs.  Pink Narcissus is Bidgood’s only film. Mr. Sachs has directed many, but is best known for Forty Shades of Blue and the recent Keep the Lights On.

Pink Narcissus has long been a queer legend, a difficult to find, sometimes out-of-print secret masterpiece that had its mysterious aura further burnished by the fact that for many years, its director was completely anonymous, leading to speculation that it was the handiwork of Andy Warhol (far too earnest for him) or Kenneth Anger (far too New York for his Los Angeles sensibility), and for whatever reasons, they didn’t wish to be connected to this soaringly camp piece of gay soft-core.  The ultimate, far more prosaic, answer is that its director, James Bidgood, removed his name from it after the producers who took over financing towards the end of its seven year shooting made several changes that he felt ruined the film.

Pink Narcissus Event (Photo by Michael Cornelison)

Having never seen Pink Narcissus before, but only knowing it by reputation and a handful of still images, as well as the influence it has had on queer photographers like Pierre et Gilles and David LaChapelle, as well as the straight filmmaker Guy Maddin, my first thought as the film started was that it was what I expected, but so much more.  I was immediately struck by how lushly feminine the sets and props were, all as a backdrop for a feverish appreciation of masculine beauty and male sexuality.  Historically, in painting and later film, images of male beauty and female beauty have had different visual signifiers and analogs connected to them.  Masculine beauty has tended to be connected to clean lines, athletics, the out-of-doors, while female beauty has tended to have a more visually lush, constructed, upholstered set of metaphors.  Female sexuality was frequently viewed as self-contained, internal, and narcissistic, so mirrors were a frequent element of artistic depictions of nude women, as were flowers, heavy draperies, and Orientalist motifs.  Bidgood appropriated all of this exact imagery to correspond to male beauty, and sexualizes the male body note for note with the same props and images as contemporaneous “cheesecake” of women.

James Bidgood and Ira Sachs (Photo by Michael Cornelison)

The film’s nominal plot is of a young hustler’s erotic fantasies as he waits for his john or pimp to arrive.  As he makes love to himself, he imagines himself “outside” in a lushly false garden of flowers and plants that are as likely to be made of beads and velvet and papier-mâché as they are to be living, and later spins a globe and as he lands on different countries, his fantasies take the  heavily art-directed form of the broad stereotypes of that region.  He sees himself as a matador teasing  a trick that acts like a bull, he imagines himself as both Roman emperor and slave boy brought before him, highlighting the theme of narcissism, and as an Ottoman pasha watching a male member of his harem perform a an erotic dances through veils of chiffon and pearls.  He also imagines a New York street ripe with the possibility for sex, as businessmen go to work naked, and beefy construction workers fix potholes naked and the  corner food carts instead dispense dildos, and also a urinal tryst where he imagines drowning his trick in wave after wave of semen. 

After the screening, Bidgood said that the when he was young, the only stroke material available for “fairies,” as he called them, were the “Physique” mags that supposedly catered to aspiring bodybuilders, but were actually targeted at gay men.  He said that it seemed like every picture was just some beefcake standing in front of the same banal mantel with the same blank wall behind it, and he felt that erotica for men should be photographed in the same lushly lit, lushly set-decorated way all the nudie mag pictures of women were.  And clearly, he felt that none of that set decoration needed to be re-interpreted to correspond to masculinity. 

James Bidgood (Photo by Michael Cornelison)

As inspired by female cheesecake as he was, he also was clearly inspired by the Powell and Pressburger films The Red Shoes (which he said is his favorite and he saw “a million times”), The Tales of Hoffman, and Black Narcissus, Bidgood managed to appropriate all this ostensibly heterosexual imagery in service of the most transcendentally gay film I have ever seen. He created, in only his small loft, an entire world that is unabashedly campy and kitschy, but for all that summons true beauty and even psychological depth in its evocation of the minutiae of arousal.  His world may not have looked real, but the understanding of how fantasy works rings completely true.

 Guest Post by by Jeff Adams

Photo by Simon Shimshilashvili

The presentation opened with a video introduction Brini put together about the classic sitcom and its stars, Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Morehead and Paul Lynde. The video included clips of the stars non-Bewitched TV and movie work. Brini described the series as an allegory about the secrets we keep in an effort to fit in with the lesson being “don’t hide your magic.”

Photo by Simon Shimshilashvili

Once Brini hit the stage, the audience was treated to a remembrance of her shows that used to run on public access cable TV and later on the Style network. Brini brought out her hostess skills and showed the crowd how to make special Twinkle-tini cocktails, named after the sound Samantha’s nose makes when she does her magic.

Photo by Simon Shimshilashvili

Brini had a bar cart provided by the evening’s sponsor, El Dorado Demerara Rum, and proceeded to demonstrate how to make the cocktail. Here’s the recipe for those who want to give it a try: 2 ounces El Dorado Demerara Rum, 1 ounce sour mix, 1 ounce raspberry schnapps, 1/2 ounce pineapple juice, 1/2 ounce berry liquor and a touch of ice. Once you’ve got all the ingredients in the shaker, you simply give it a shake and serve. And serve she did, as she took her bar cart through the audience offering up cocktails to any who wanted them.

Photo by Simon Shimshilashvili

Once cocktails were served, it was time to get down to the episodes Brini brought to screen. “The Joker is a Card” featured the first appearance of Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur. “Mother in Law of the Year” featured Darrin #2, played by Dick Sargent. Ahead of this episode, Brini related how Dick York, the original Darrin, had been injured on set and the producer then brought in Sargent. The final episode of the evening featured Elizabeth Montgomery in two roles—as Samantha and as her mischievous cousin Serena.

Photo by Simon Shimshilashvili

Between the episodes, Brini played trivia with the audience and gave away prizes, which included Chely Wright’s autobiography and CD as well as some Brini Maxwell items.

Guest Post by Simeon Mishev

Queens Pride & Multicultural Festival celebrated its 20th anniversary last Sunday, June 3rd, 2012. This year the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center was honored to participate, share its support for the community and commemorate this special occasion in Queens. A number of participants and over 40,000 spectators gathered in Jackson Heights, Queens, between the hours of 11 AM and 6 PM to “promote awareness and education among and of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning community of Queens, New York.”  Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee, Inc. has been in charge of organizing the festivities since the very first Pride march in the early 90s.

The weather was in sync with the overall joyous feel of the event, the warm summer sun made the colorful costumes even more vibrant and, at some point, a real rainbow formed over the marching participators (if one believes in signs from Mother Nature, God and/or the Universe, well, here you go).

Newlywed City Council speaker Christine Quinn joined the Pride march alongside Public Advocate Bill De Blasio, New York Assembly Members Francisco Moya, Aravella Simotas and Costa Constantinides, SAGE Queens, Renaissance Charter School, American Veterans for Equal Rights, Metropolitan Community Church of New York, Queens Pride Lions Club, Transsexuals New York, and many, many more.

As rainbow flags, music and free condoms flooded the streets, people of various colors, ethnicities, races, religions and faiths mingled, hugged, kissed, and greeted each other; the feeling of happiness and joy was overwhelming. One could hear discussions about President Obama’s recent statement endorsing same-sex marriage and how that might help eventually end the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); there were a number of bi-national couples full of hope that once married they will be able to stay together in the US legally.

While walking around and enjoying this judgment-free, accepting and tolerant environment, I couldn’t help but wonder when every day would feel just like Pride day. When will same-sex couples be able to walk hand-in-hand without fear?

It is of utmost importance to actively participate in advocacy efforts concerning the LGBT community; every effort counts. We must be patient, yet persistent, relentlessly seeking equal rights. There are a number of organizations one can join, such as The LGBT Center, It Gets Better Project, Empire State Pride Agenda, Marriage Equality New York, etc.,  or why not start one yourself?

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much…” – Helen Keller