Center Blog

We are proud to report on the amazing work of Center staff at The 2012 Gay Men’s Health Summit held July 20-21 at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Since 1999, the Gay Men’s Health Summit has worked to lay the groundwork for an expanded activist gay, bisexual, and transgender men’s health movement in the United States.

This year the summit was organized around eight core issues:

• Exploring the longings for intimacy and connection with other men and the social structures, networks, and ideologies that promote or prevent such connections.
• Understanding the meanings of anal sex, penetration, and the exchange of semen and exploring the relationships between various racial, ethnic, and class-based masculinities and anal sex practices.
• Addressing the emotions, pleasures, and wounds emerging from childhood and adolescent experiences with boys and men.
• Tapping into the sources of resilience, creativity, determination, humor and playfulness in diverse gay men’s cultures.
• To support the healing from trauma: violence, abuse, homophobia, racism, poverty, AIDS and addiction.
• Examining the ways transgression, risk, and cultural taboos interact with gay men’s sexual desires, practices, and subcultures.
• Confronting the ways in which privileged youth masculinities present challenges to, and opportunities for, the well-being of men as they grow older.
• Reviving and recreating community rituals, social structures, and networks to replace those lost during the most intense years of the AIDS crisis.

The workshops conducted by our talented Community Services Directors included:

Celebrating Male Diversity: Emotional Support and Community Building for Trans-Men

Andres Hoyos, MS, LCSW, NYC LGBT Center

Making decisions about their bodies and talking about isolation and depression are often difficult topics for trans-men to discuss. For this reason, the space created at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City is vital for trans-men to be able to connect with others. The goal is to increase knowledge and strengthen minds and confidence in the ways trans-men think about health and wellness while sharing experiences and celebrating their manhood.

During the meetings, we discussed identity, sexuality, sexual desires, safety, community and taking control of our lives. There is a real fear within the trans-male culture of talking about mental health. This workshop sought to normalize the conversation by facilitating a discussion around the similarities between cis-gendered gay men and trans-men. The workshop fostered a respect for the diversity of trans-men and focused on building healthy relationships between gay trans-men. The group also confronted trans-phobia among masculine identities and feelings about being gay by celebrating trans-identities as an important part of the continuum of masculine identities.

Magical Transformations: Work done by, for and with Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Immigrants

Andres Hoyos, MS, LCSW, NYC LGBT Center, and Luis Nava-Molero

This interactive workshop explored the unique challenges and strengths of working with GBT immigrants in a community based organization in NYC and the different modalities of work done with them. These include: outreach, assessment, referrals, individual counseling and support groups, support for asylum seekers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, community events, trainings and advocacy using peers, peer-professionals, and professionals. The impact of substance abuse and HIV prevention (primary and secondary) on the population will be discussed, as well as the overall impact of moving people from a place of need to empowerment and finally to becoming agents of change. The presentation was based on knowledge gained after seven years of working with more than 600 immigrants from over 50 different countries, where a considerable amount of the work has been providing support for asylum seekers and fighting isolation through promoting community building.

Not Quite Ready to Quit, Motivating Gay and HIV Positive Men to Quit Smoking/Smoke Free Queer Man: Eliminating health disparities in our communities/Policy & PrideFest: Impacting the Health of Our Queer Communities through Effective Tobacco Prevention & Control Policies

Andres Hoyos, MS, LCSW, NYC LGBT Center

This interactive workshop provided participants with current research on the interaction between tobacco use, cigarette and cigar smoking, general health, and HIV related health risks. In addition, minority stress in gay, bisexual, transgender and other men who have sex with men and the vulnerability to initiate tobacco use or difficulty in quitting, was discussed. The presentation consisted of myths and facts about smoking and health, information about support to quit smoking, and nicotine replacement therapies especially for people living with HIV/AIDS. Participants engaged in the “decisional balance” approach to increase personal motivation and explored challenges and barriers to taking action. Participants viewed and learned how to use social media in smoking cessation and other behavioral change. In addition, information about how the Center has put in place a comprehensive approach to the issue by participating in community organizing, advocacy and public policy around smoking cessation was discussed.

“Getting There from Here” The Ongoing Effects of Crystal Meth on Gay Men and the Use of Harm Reduction and Abstinence-Based Interventions in Treatment

Antonio Ruberto, Jr., LCSW, CASAC, NYC LGBT Center and
Josh Riley, LPC, NCC, Whitman Walker Health

Over the past several years, crystal meth has become entrenched within our community creating a call to action among service providers not seen since the early days of the AIDS epidemic. While this drug continues to be highly visible among gay white men, there is increasing evidence of its use by other members of our community.

Historically there has often been a divide between the recovery community and practitioners of harm reduction. Whether real or imagined, this divide perpetuates the belief that these two approaches are mutually exclusive and in conflict with one another. Can harm reduction and abstinence-based recovery work together in a way that is complementary? Can these two seemingly different approaches support and motivate change in users?

This workshop explored the continued effects crystal meth is having on all gay men, including gay men of color. The importance of examining the use and abuse of crystal meth within a larger framework of gay men’s health (mental health, physical health including HIV and Hepatitis C, trauma history) provided participants with a holistic view on how to more effectively approach treating gay men struggling with this addiction.

The presentation explored different treatment approaches that operate from both a harm reduction and abstinence-based perspective. Examples from evidence-based treatment interventions, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, contingency management, and others from a variety of settings, were used to illustrate how harm reduction and abstinence-based recovery can work together to support individuals to achieve their substance use and sobriety goals.

Men Becoming Parents

George Fesser, LMSW, NYC LGBT Center, John Weltman, Esq. and Emily Sonier, LICSW, Circle Surrogacy and Dr. Ann Kiessling, Director of Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation

This workshop was open to all men and focused on the specific needs of gay, bisexual, and transgender men who are HIV positive and interested in learning more about how they can become parents. Information focused on biological methods of reproduction with the use of a surrogate and egg donor, but information was also provided for other parenting alternatives. Participants at this workshop obtained knowledge regarding artificial insemination, sperm washing, surrogacy, parenting partnerships and other methods for becoming a parent.

June 27 was National HIV Testing Day, which gave us another opportunity to remind our constituents that beginning in July the Center will be offering on-site rapid HIV testing. For more information, please contact our Community Services Department at: 646-556-9300. You can learn about all of our HIV/AIDS related programs and services by visiting our website.

The Center is also gearing up for Cycle for the Cause– The Northeast AIDS Ride. More than 100 riders will cycle from Boston to NYC over three days to raise awareness of those living with HIV and AIDS, and to honor those who have passed from this disease. Cycle for the Cause takes place on September 21-23, 2012 and will raise vital funds for the Center’s HIV/AIDS related programs and services. The funds raised by Cycle for the Cause allow the Center to direct its focus on three areas – prevention, support and testing. Learn more about how to sign up to ride or be a part of the crew at cycleforthecause.org, and read this excellent feature article about the event in EDGE.

Below please also read a White House statement on National HIV Testing Day

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 27, 2012

Statement by the President on National HIV Testing Day

National HIV Testing Day highlights the importance of HIV testing and the fight against HIV/AIDS. Of the over1.1 million Americans living with HIV, more than 200,000 are unaware of their infection, and may unknowingly be transmittingthe virus to others. Knowing your HIV status is a vital step toward accessing life-extending treatment for HIV, and thanks to ongoing research, that treatment is more effective than ever.

In July 2010, my Administration released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, which emphasizes the goals of reducing infections, improving health outcomes, and reducing HIV-related health disparities. Two years into its implementation, the Strategy continues to focus Federal, State, and local efforts on improving the delivery of HIV/AIDS services, including expanding outreach, testing, linkage to care, and treatment.

Testing remains a special priority – and thanks to quick and accurate tests, finding out your HIV status has never been easier. The Affordable Care Act now requires many health insurance plans to provide recommended preventive health services with no out of pocket costs, giving millions of Americans better access to HIV testing. Another CDC program, the Expanding Testing Initiative, has conducted 2.8 million tests in its first three years. Together, these and other efforts will help prevent new infections and ensure that people living with HIV lead healthy lives – moving us towards our goal of an AIDS-free generation.

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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.

This Pride season the Center would like to take a moment to fill you in on all the programs, services and events we offer to transgender and gender non-conforming people, through our Gender Identity Project (GIP).

“We’re thrilled about the expanded services we’re able to offer this year,” said Gender Identity Project Community Prevention Coordinator, Cristina Herrera. “We have two exciting new groups: ‘Stories’ for trans and gender-non-conforming (GNC) people on the feminine spectrum, and ‘Voices’ for trans and gender-non-conforming (GNC) people on the masculine spectrum. We’ve also added Comprehensive Risk Counseling Services, and this July we’ll begin rapid HIV testing at the Center.”

The Gender Identity Project (GIP) was founded in 1989 and is the first transgender-driven project initiated and fully supported within a Community Center, and focused on the needs of the greater queer community. The GIP works to foster the healthy development of transgender and gender non-conforming people, partners, family and community. Through the delivery of a range of supportive services, advocacy, outreach, education and capacity-building, the GIP creates a safe and productive atmosphere for community-building, wellness and self-care, and leadership development.

The GIP is also the first transgender peer counseling and empowerment program in New York State. This landmark program serves 850 transgender clients yearly:  75% are transgender women, 30% are Black, 3% API, 53% Latino.  Annually, these clients receive individual 230 counseling and referrals visits and made 620 visits to drop-in groups and events.  The GIP offers bilingual services by staff members and peer interns, as well as outreach materials printed in Spanish, which are specifically designed for transgender immigrants. 

As touched on above by Cristina Herrera, in addition its numerous regular offerings, the GIP most recently added several new services to meet the emerging needs of the community. The Trans/Gender-Non-Conforming (GNC) Feminine “Stories” Group is a weekly discussion group on topics including: gender pride, assertiveness skills training, managing relationships and coping skills.  Members of the group are also encouraged to share their personal stories in a safe & supportive environment.  The group meets for 6 week cycles, 3 times a year for a total of 18 meetings a year. The Trans/Gender-Non-Conforming (GNC) Masculine Spectrum “Voices” Group, a weekly discussion group on topics including: community building, emotional health, gender pride, managing relationships, role models and sexual health.

The Center’s (GIP) services have never been more vital. According to a report released earlier this year by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), “transgender people face unrelenting discrimination in virtually all aspects of their lives.”

Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey was published in February and revealed widespread discrimination experienced by transgender and gender non-conforming people across the board.

Here are the key findings:

• Discrimination was pervasive for all respondents who took the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, yet the combination of anti-transgender bias and persistent, structural and individual racism was especially devastating for Latino/a transgender people and other people of color.

• Non-citizen Latino/a respondents were often among those most vulnerable to harassment, abuse and violence in the study; their experiences are noted throughout this report.

• Latino/a transgender people often live in extreme poverty with 28% reporting a household income of less than $10,000/year. This is nearly double the rate for transgender people of all races (15%), over five times the general Latino/a population rate (5%), and seven times the general U.S. population rate (4%).iii The rate for Latino/a non-citizen respondents was 43%.

• Latino/a transgender people were affected by HIV in devastating numbers. One in twelve Latino/a respondents were HIV-positive (8.44%) and an additional 10.23% reported that they did not know their status. This compares to rates of 2.64% for transgender respondents of all races, .50% for the general Latino/a population, and 0.60% of the general U.S. population. The rate for Latino/a non-citizen respondents was 23.08%

• Forty-seven percent (47%) of Latino/a respondents reported having attempted suicide.

• Latino/a respondents who attended school as transgender people reported alarming rates of harassment (77%), physical assault (36%), and sexual assault (13%) in K-12; harassment was so severe that it led 21% to leave school. Nine percent (9%) were also expelled due to bias.

• Respondents who were harassed and abused by teachers in K-12 settings show dramatically worse health and other outcomes compared to those who do not experience such abuse. Peer harassment and abuse also had highly damaging effects.

The Center’s GIP program is well aware of those alarming statistics and works tirelessly 365 days a year to help thousands of transgender and gender-non-conforming (GNC) people. Here are just a few recent examples:

- On December 13, 2011, Director of Center Wellness Andres Hoyos, joined Center clients in testifying before New York City Council’s Committee on Immigration as it looked into how NYC immigrants are treated in detention centers. Cecilia Gentili, a Gender Identity Project Peer Educator and transgender immigrant from Argentina told her story of how she faced both sexual assault and verbal abuse in detention centers before she was ultimately granted asylum after being in this country for 10 years.

New York City Council’s Committee on Immigration

 - As a community center, the Center works to ensure adequate resources to address the evolving needs of LGBT people, with a focus on New York City and State. At a hearing held by the City Council Committee on Civil Rights and Committee on Health on December 16, 2011, Gender Identity Project Community Prevention Coordinator Cristina Herrera, Lesbian Cancer Initiative (LCI) Coordinator Cristina Moldow, and LCI Peer Intern Kaz Mitchell, urged the City Council to bolster efforts by the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) to require trainings that ensure all LGBT people are treated with respect in city hospitals, and develop robust standards to evaluate these endeavors.

New City Council's Committee on Civil Rights and Committee on Health

- 2012 marks the third year of the Gender Identity Project’s (GIP) TransLatina collaborative. TransLatina offers supportive services to Latina transgender women, including support services on self-defense, trauma and stress reduction, and medical services including STI screening. On January 31, over 60-participants gathered at the first TransLatina social event of 2012 which was held in collaboration with Community Health Care Network, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, AIDS Center Queens County, and Make the Road New York and hosted at the Queens Pride House.

- The Gender Identity Project’s (GIP) Trans Hand-on Team (T-HOT) conducted three community needs assessments in March and early April. The meetings were held at the Center, at the AIDS Center of Queens County (ACQC) in Woodside and at Make the Road in Bushwick. They addressed a wide array of concern impacting the transgender and gender non-conforming communities focusing on the needs of communities of color. Dr. Paul Weiss presented on chest and breast reconstruction surgery for transgender men and women to over 65 participants at the March 23 GenderTECH 2012 event.

- On April 27, the Center’s Gender Identity Project hosted the Lorena Borjas Community Fund (LBCF) – Ribbon Cutting Event, sponsored by Sylvia Rivera Law Project, the Community Healthcare Network and the TransLatina Network of NYC. Lorena is a transgender Latina activist and facilitates a group for the GIP’s Trans-Latina project. The LBCF is a volunteer-run project to help low-income LGBT immigrants.

Lorena Borjas Event at the Center, April 2012

- The GIP’s peer team lead by Community Prevention Coordinator, Cristina Herrera, participated in the 11^th annual Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference from May 31 to June 2. The GIP presented TransLatina Stories, a workshop that focuses on the GIP’s unique community-driven approach to successfully engaging and empowering transgender women from Latin America and the Caribbean to live healthier lives while promoting overall wellness.

- On June 12 changes were announced to the New York City Police Department Patrol Guide that will help ensure that police officers treat transgender and gender non-conforming people with dignity and respect. The patrol guide changes are the result of nearly 18-months of negotiations between LGBT advocacy groups including the Center, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s office and the NYPD. They address an array of unique problems that transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers face when they are arrested, processed and detained in police precincts.

Center's Director of Community Services, Carrie Davis (NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel Member)

The GIP is honored to do this work every day on behalf of the community—and the testimonials below confirm why it’s so important:

“I am a proud partner of a transwoman for the last 20 years. I was connected by my partner to the counseling services at Center’s Gender Identity Project which also provides services to partners and families of the transgender community.  I was assigned a counselor who has helped me feel much better and was able to understand my concerns as a partner of a transwoman. I am no longer feeling highly stressed because I had someone to talk about things that I have held in for years.  It has helped me improve the condition of my relationship, which was rocky when I started counseling.  My counselor helped me process my difficult history and the Center was a safe space for me to talk about the stressors such as having a HIV positive partner. Today, I feel happy because of the help I received from the Center.  For that, I am very grateful.”

Carlos- Gender Identity Project Client

“The Center helped me tremendously. You gave me a sense of worthiness and the strength to become a productive member of society. That ultimately led to my favorable asylum decision.”

Cecilia Gentili- Gender Identity Project Peer Educator and transgender immigrant from Argentina

For more information GIP’s vast set of resources, please visit us here on our website.

Happy Pride to the entire community!

Centerlink, the Community of LGBT Centers, that serves 200 community centers across the country and a handful around the world, is a finalist in the White House LGBT Pride Month Video Challenge.

In April, the White House Office of Public Engagement launched the LGBT Pride Month Champions of Change Video Challenge to explore the stories of unsung heroes and local leaders who are making an impact in their communities. The group of 6 finalists will be featured as Champions of Change at an event at the White House in July.

We here at NYC’s LGBT Center strongly encourage you to watch all the inspiring videos and consider casting your vote for Centerlink, an organization that works tirelessly to support LGBT community centers across the country and around the world. The Centerlink video showcases that vital work, and features information about our own NYC LGBT Center from Executive Director, Glennda Testone. You can learn more about Centerlink here.

Vote here and add your voice to a contest that bolsters LGBT visibility greatly during Pride month.

Happy Pride, and congratulations to Centerlink on this wonderful honor!

Be sure to also read a recent report by Centerlink and the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) about the importance of LGBT community centers and their huge impact on LGBT people.

UPDATE: 

More than a dozen people from the Center joined with the LGBT contingent of the march on Sunday, June 17, including the Center’s Executive Director Glennda Testone, the Director of Youth Services, Nicole Avallone, and Center Recovery Counselor, M. Dave Soliven, who volunteered as a safety marshal, was stationed at the front of the march, and took the photo below, which includes key leaders- The Reverend Al Sharpton and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.

Photo by M. Dave Soliven

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On Sunday June 17, a coalition of groups, including the Center, will gather for a silent march against racial profiling. The event is set for 3 PM in Manhattan.

Join 1199 SEIU, the NAACP, National Action Network, civil rights, faith, LGBT, labor and community groups in a silent march against NYC’s “Stop and Frisk” policy! On Father’s Day, let’s stand together to show that New Yorkers refuse to let our children be victimized by racial profiling.

Here’s detailed information:

Time: Silent March begins at 3 pm, EST

Assembly Point: LGBT Table Entry Point #3 : 110th Street and Lenox Ave. – also includes RWDSU, Latino/Hispanic table, UAW, Working Families Party

March Route: march south on Fifth Avenue from 110th Street to 78th Street, passing near the Mayor’s mansion on 79th Street.

Posters: organizers will have posters for people to carry, but they also encourage people/groups to make their own signs and banners to carry in the march. It is important to keep the focus on ending the Stop & Frisk policy and ending racial profiling rather than relevant but peripheral issues.

Website: www.silentmarchnyc.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/341929132541010/

You can also read more about the issue in this New York Times article and a blog post from The Task Force, recapping a recent press conference on the topic.

 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.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Contact:

Cindi Creager

Director of Communications & Marketing  

(646) 358-1704, ccreager@gaycenter.org 

New York, NY, June 13 2012 - The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, the world’s second largest LGBT Center, today praised changes to the New York City Police Department Patrol Guide that will help ensure that police officers treat transgender and gender non-conforming people with dignity and respect.

“These crucial changes to the Patrol Guide are a major step forward in improving conditions for transgender and gender non-conforming people in New York City,” said the Center’s Director of Community Services and NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel Member Carrie Davis. “The immense efforts from all involved have resulted in a stronger relationship between the NYPD and organizations that advocate on behalf of the LGBT community.”

Center's Director of Community Services, Carrie Davis (NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel Member)

The patrol guide changes are the result of negotiations between LGBT advocacy groups including the Center, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s office and the NYPD. They address an array of unique problems that transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers face when they are arrested, processed and detained in police precincts. The revisions include:

• Prohibiting the use of discourteous or disrespectful remarks regarding a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.
• Instructing police officers refer to transgender New Yorkers by names, honorifics and pronouns that reflect their gender identity (even if it does not match the information on their ID documents) and amending forms so that people’s “preferred name” can be recorded and used while they are in police custody.
• Prohibiting police officers from conducting any search for the purpose of determining a person’s gender. This also applies to school safety officers, NYPD personnel assigned to the city’s public schools.
• Individuals in NYPD custody will be searched by an officer of the gender they request. If their request is not honored, the reasons will be noted in the command log.
• Defining “gender” to include gender identity and expression, consistent with the city’s Human Rights Law. This means that when the NYPD have to take into account someone’s gender, it is their gender identity that matters, if even if one’s gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth.
• Individuals in NYPD custody will be held in sex segregated police facilities according to their gender identity, even if it differs from their sex assigned at birth, unless there is a concern for the person’s safety, in which case they will be considered “special category prisoners” and placed accordingly.
• “Special category prisoners,” including transgender people, will not be cuffed to rails, bars or chairs for unreasonable periods of time.

The Center and advocates from the LGBT community will continue to work with the NYPD on training and enforcement to ensure that the Patrol Guide changes are effectively implemented. The Center’s Gender Identity Project (GIP) was founded in 1989 and is the first transgender-driven project initiated and fully supported within a Community Center, and focused on the needs of the greater queer community. The GIP works to foster the healthy development of transgender and gender non-conforming people, partners, family and community. Through the delivery of a range of supportive services, advocacy, outreach, education and capacity-building, the GIP creates a safe and productive atmosphere for community-building, wellness and self-care, and leadership development.

The Center and the GIP will also continue advocating for the Community Safety Act, civil rights legislation pending before the New York City Council that would broaden the communities protected against police profiling by including a prohibition on discrimination based on gender identity or expression, sexual orientation among several other categories.

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Learn more in the press release below from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s Office, which includes reaction from all participants of the NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel

 THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

 **For Immediate Release**                                                                       

June 12, 2012

Contact: 212-788-7116

Release # 097-2012

Speaker Christine C. Quinn, NYPD Commissioner Kelly, Council Members and Advocates Celebrate Patrol Guide Reforms to Protect Transgender New Yorkers 

NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel to ensure gender non-conforming New Yorkers are treated with dignity and respect

City Hall, NY— Speaker Christine C. Quinn, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, Council Members and the NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel will today announce reforms to the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Patrol Guide to ensure respectful treatment of gender non-conforming New Yorkers by the police.

 The NYPD’s Patrol Guide is the procedural rule book issued to officers and outlines regulations for addressing the public.

The changes to the NYPD Patrol Guide were announced at the New York City Council’s LGBT Pride Event at the Great Hall at Cooper Union.

The new Patrol Guide formally outlines that discrimination or harassment based on actual or perceived gender is prohibited by City law.

“The NYPD’s new Patrol Guide makes it clear that all people must be treated with respect,” said Speaker Christine C. Quinn. “I applaud Commissioner Kelly for working closely with the City Council and the LGBT community to create respectful, inclusive guidelines that are appropriate for transgender New Yorkers, and I thank the NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel for their work to make these changes.” 

“The changes to the Patrol Guide are significant, affecting more than 12 separate Patrol Guide provisions,” said New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.  “The changes range from establishing search procedures for transgender arrestees to requiring officers to address arrestees by their preferred name.  Senior members of my staff worked closely with representatives from the LGBT community to draft these changes, and I applaud their work.”

The Patrol Guide updates create a written policy for the NYPD to follow when addressing, processing, searching and housing gender non-conforming people.

“Advocates from the LGBT community who were involved in drafting and negotiating these proposed changes to the Patrol Guide look forward to working with the NYPD on training and enforcement that will ensure that the Patrol Guidelines are implemented,” said New York City Anti-Violence Project and NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel Member Sharon Stapel.

‘The NYPD’s new Patrol Guide provisions make clear that discrimination, harassment or disparaging comments based on actual or perceived gender is defined and prohibited as required by Local Law 3,” said  Civil Rights Attorney and Coordinator of Streetwise and Safe Andrea Ritchie. “The new policies in the Patrol Guide now mandate that New York City Police officers must respect transgender & gender nonconforming (TGNC) people’s gender identity and expression and explicitly prohibits NYPD officers from conducting any search for the purpose of determining a person’s gender.  The revisions also address the LGBT community’s concerns regarding the hand cuffing of individuals to benches and rails while in police custody.”

“These crucial changes to the Patrol Guide are a major step forward in improving conditions for transgender and gender non-conforming people in New York City,” said New York City LGBT Center Director of Community Services and NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel Member Carrie Davis. “The immense efforts from all involved have resulted in a stronger relationship between the NYPD and organizations that advocate on behalf of the LGBT community.”

“I am proud and happy of the work to change the culture between the NYPD and trans women,” said NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel Member Melissa Sklarz. “These patrol guide modifications are a testament to our community perseverance and the ability of the NYPD to compromise.  I am grateful to Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner Kelly and Speaker Christine C. Quinn for creating an environment to allow trans women, trans advocates and the NYPD to get together, meet regularly and try to reevaluate a police process that will make life for transgender women safer in New York.”

“These patrol guide changes will help ensure that NYPD officers treat transgender and gender-nonconforming New Yorkers with courtesy, professionalism and respect,” said Melissa Goodman, Senior Litigation and Policy Counsel for LGBT Rights at New York Civil Liberties Union. “Now NYPD officers must respect a person’s gender identity when they make an arrest or detain people.  This protects basic civil liberties and strengthens trust between police officers and the public they serve.” 

“These new guidelines go a long way toward changing the relationship between transgender New Yorkers and the NYPD.  Finally, there are procedures and protocols in place to guide police interactions with the transgender community — it’s a new day.” Dru Levasseur, Lambda Legal’s Transgender Rights Attorney.  

“This is a watershed moment when all New Yorkers can be proud.  Our nation’s largest police force, serving our nation’s most diverse citizenry, listened to the voices of transgender New Yorkers and took steps to address their concerns about policing practices.  The result will be a stronger police force that can protect and serve all New Yorkers fairly and equally,” said Michael Silverman, Executive Director, Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.

“We are very proud of the work that the Advisory Panel has done to make revisions to the Patrol Guide. We hope that the NYPD effectively implements these new guidelines with respect and dignity for TGNC people. As a member of the NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel, we will work to inform LGBTQ Youth of Color of their rights when interacting with the NYPD and continue to take action to ensure that NYPD officers are accountable to the new guidelines,” said John Blasco, Lead Organizer at FIERCE.

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