Center Blog

Guest Post by Marina de la Torre

On Wednesday, April 18, the Center hosted Read our… Lips: Reading from the Best Lesbian Erotica.

Right before 7pm, mostly women start to gather in one of the Center’s rooms waiting in anticipation for the event to start. Over 25 women are present; some chat in small circles, others play with their phones, and many invite themselves to a glass of wine in the back of the room.

Promptly at 7 pm, Kathleen Warnock, editor of the Best Lesbian Erotica (BLE) 2012, welcomes the audience and explains how the BLE books come to life. The women in attendance learn that before the “best” stories are selected each year Kathleen receives hundreds of submissions; she then proceeds to read them all and make a selection of erotic stories that have “publishing” potential. Then she hands over her selection to that year’s guest judge. For the BLE 2012 book the guest judge was Sinclair Sexsmith, the mastermind behind the award-winning blog Sugarbutch Chronicles. The guest judge then proceeds to make a selection of 20 or so stories. Finally, after some back and forth with the publisher, Kathleen ends up with the final stories that appear in the book.

Process description over, the audience is introduced to not only Sinclair Sexsmith who is also in attendance but also to the four authors who will read their own hot stories out loud to the guests that evening.

First up is Ali Oh, a young writer, who takes the stage and invites us to listen to “Vacation.” Despite being quiet sick (poor thing, her voice was all congested), Ali delivers her story with grace, wit, and smart intonation as she delights us with a libidinous narrative. The temperature is slowly rising in the room while Sinclair Sexsmith introduces us to the next writer, Julia Noel Goldman, author of “’50s Waitress.” Julia is a quick reader who enthralls us with her kinky chronicle. She is also funny and we all burst into laughter when she suddenly claims “can you see that the story is making me hot, or is it my hot flashes?!”

 Next up is Anne Grip the author of “Hot Yoga”. Anne enchants us with a steamy and very entertaining tale. The audience is giggling throughout her reading and I wonder if it because of the comic or the lascivious passages in her story.

By now our imaginations have been richly stimulated and our senses aroused. The fourth story belongs to seasoned author D.L. King, who wrote “On my Honor” in the 2012 book; although tonight she is gracing us with a new story. D.L. King is a dynamic reader who is keeping the audience enraptured in her lustful story; and right then, at the climax of her account, she stops reading and happily invites us to read the end of the story in the book! This woman knows how to create a suspenseful atmosphere as and we are all left wondering what happens next in her tale.

Before the evening is over, we get a chance to hear from Sinclair Sexmith, who wrote the introduction in the BLE 2012 book, and reads out loud a selected portion of the intro.

Finally, before closing the event, the attendees are treated with one of Kathleen Warnock’s own stories. Although her story is not part of BLE 2012, Kathleen is a multifaceted creative person and writing is among her many skills. Kathleen’s account is a perfect closing for the evening as it brings the heat down a notch and allows us to recover –if ever so slightly— from the sexy stimulation before we venture out into the street again.

Overall it was a very exciting (pun intended) evening at the Center!

Guest Post by Rosalind Lloyd

Last month, the Center featured an amazing program, “Old School Fly Girl Throw Down,” and hip-hop was surely in the house. The timing of the presentation could not have been better, coinciding directly with both Women’s History Month and the unveiling of the restoration of Keith Haring’s “Once Upon a Time,” mural. The showcase was a fitting blend of urban dance, spoken word, vocals with live DJs laying the soundtrack, all with a particularly feminine flair. It was a collage of old-school meets new-school that highlighted a rich urban history spanning well over twenty years, one not typically associated with women. Each performance displayed poignant portrayals of creative expression through movement, music and verse celebrating a unifying message of solidarity and acceptance.

Poet, performer and educator Charon P. Morris, a LAMBDA Literary Foundation 2011 Emerging LGBT Voices Fellow and an extraordinary woman in her own right, performed two riveting spoken word pieces that touched on topics ranging from homophobia to misogyny.

Some in the line-up were members and/or graduates of The Door, like Coyote, an impressive, 23 year-old spoken word artist. Her poetry recalled her growing up gay in a deeply religious household and how the experience led to her becoming homeless while only in her mid-teens. Hers is a story of evolutionary progress in the face of adversity as this Howard University graduate is currently working on her Masters at Julliard. Songstress Mika engaged the audience with her vivacious performance, which encouraged active audience participation. Mika’s footnote outlined the fact that she only recently came out which was a show of bold independence and liberation that many in the diverse audience from the young to mature could easily identify with.

It isn’t hip-hop if there isn’t anyone representing on the ones and twos. Chicago-born and bred DJ Brina created an amazing beat backdrop for the evening while DJ Val brought us to the 21^st century proving that DJing has indeed gone beyond two turntables with her sophisticated, computerized musical compositions during her hi-tech set.

Headlining and one of the organizers of the event was the spirited Fly Girl, Rokafella, of the prolific Full Circle, whose fluid, B-girl moves made it perfectly clear that she could definitely out-rock any fellow and any female with her energetic choreography. She brought along her all-female, multicultural dance troupe, Full Circle Soulsistas, whom in turn, brought much flavor to the evening. These talented ladies mesmerized the audience with their beautifully acrobatic moves. Their extraordinary backgrounds proved how far reaching and influential hip-hop is with the ladies reigning from the Bronx, New Jersey and Staten Island to as far away as London, Hong Kong and Japan. Some are moms, pilates/yoga instructors and proficient theatrical performers with dance backgrounds spanning some 15 years or more. They all rocked the house effortlessly. As the more–than-capable Mistress of Ceremony, Rokafella closed the evening by surprising the crowd with some free-style vocals of her own, which had the entire audience on its feet, rocking to the beat.

Photo by Victoria Anderson

Guest Post by Jeff Adams

The Second Tuesday series moved temporarily to Wednesday to welcome Simon Doonan on February 15. The fashion/style maven delighted the audience with a reading from his latest book, Gay Men Don’t Get Fat, and answered a wide variety of questions.

Doonan, who is the Creative Ambassador at Large for Barneys, said he’d debated about what chapter to read—should it be about food, or fitness or celebrity. He ultimately chose “Hokey Hookers and Gypsy Tarts” because “the only way for the ordinary gay or gal to afford fashion is restoring to the world’s oldest profession.” We were regaled with his own “reformed hooker” story, which took place in Manchester in 1973 during his last year of college when his funds were running low.

Photo by Victoria Anderson

It all started because he found out his friend was pleasuring her landlord every month. He decided he’d give it a try to and he went out to a pub in search of someone he could make some cash off of. He ultimately found a Charles Bronson-type and a misadventure ensued. You’ll have to pick up the book to find out what happens because no blog post retelling can do it justice—you need Doonan’s own words.

Following the reading, Doonan took questions from the audience. It’s not surprising, given the title of the book, that the first question was “How do you stay thin?” He said the key is to eat the right mix of gay food and straight food correctly. An example was to mix steak (a straight food) with a salad (a gay food) rather than potatoes (another straight food).

Photo by Victoria Anderson

He went on further to discuss the food he had while growing up and making it clear that he isn’t nostalgic for it at all—he categorized it as appalling. That included the gypsy tart from the chapter he read. A mixture of evaporated milk and sugar, the tart was something he loathed but ended up eating a lot of anyway because it was cheap.

Not surprisingly, there were questions about fashion. Doonan characterizes today’s fashion as incomprehensible. “Every trend that ever was is concurrently available,” he said. “You have to surrender to the vastness. It’s liberating because you just have to have your own wardrobe and look. “

Doonan, who has published five books (six depending on how you count Beautiful People, which is also under the title Nasty in the U.S.) and also writes a column for Slate.com, started writing when he was 44 and “from the get go established a style that was demented.”

“If I had to write straight stories, like covering fashion for The New York Times, I’d have a nervous breakdown,” he said. “The books are a good counterpoint to keep me from being the world’s oldest window dresser.”

Photo by Victoria Anderson

While he no longer does the Barneys windows in his creative ambassador role, he is not sure what the future holds for him. “I’m not very ambitious,” he says. “I’m a hard worker. I’ll grab the opportunities and not procrastinate, but I’m not a visionary.”

Guest Post by Richard Allen

“If you need my bra, my shirt, my weave, my lashes, I’m going to give it to you.  That’s just the kind of person I am.” – Lady Jasmine

On the most recent World AIDS Day, filmmakers Kate Kunath and Sasha Wortzel screened the rough cut of their documentary film Starlite at the Center.  The Starlite Lounge was a gay bar in Crown Heights, Brooklyn that closed in 2010, due to the location being sold and the subsequent rent hike –one which, it is suggested by the film, was as much a choice based in moralism as in commerce.  The Starlite lounge was the oldest black-owned gay bar in New York, and the oldest black-owned business on Nostrand Ave., and the film makes a compelling case for the importance and centrality of it to the history of gay life in New York, black life in New York, as well as simply the history of New York itself.

The documentary, which looks fantastic—the colors are crisp and clean, and avoid many of the problems of shooting in digital—seeks to tell the history of the Starlite, from its beginnings in 1959 on through to the community efforts, ultimately unsuccessful, to keep it open.  In between, it tells the story of the owners, bartenders, customers, and performers of the Starlite, and the uniquely welcoming community that sprang up around it.  As one of the filmmakers said, this story lies “at the intersection of race, orientation, gentrification and AIDS awareness,” but it is truthfully about a place that rose above cultural differences.  Ittruly became a safe space that was welcoming to all, and sought to be more than just a place that served alcohol or had a dance floor, but instead a hot spot for community activism, AIDS activism, gang deterrence, and racial and sexual reconciliation.  Along the way, the film makes manifest the impact of AIDS on everyone who is even marginally connected to the LGBT community.

Following the screening, there was a question-and-answer session with the filmmakers; the owner, Linda King; a former bartender, Dennis Parrott; the former resident drag queen, Lady Jasmine; as well as several customers.  They all continually discussed the impact of the Starlite lounge and the hole created in the community, as well as their hopes and attempts to reopen in another location.  Their warmth and openness towards the audience, and their easygoing affection for each other were the best advertisement for what New York is now missing, and one hopes that they are ultimately successful in re-establishing this crucial safe space.

Guest Post by Richard Allen

On March 8, as part of the run-up to the annual Black Party at the Roseland Ballroom, the Center held a benefit called Art + Sin, an exhibit of thirty-two years of posters for the notorious expo and dance party.  While the posters were meant to titillate, excite, and above all, advertise, they also function as art in and of themselves (the original poster, as well as several subsequent years, featured Robert Mapplethorpe photographs, after all). These posters also serve as a continuous document of the various sexual preoccupations of the last three decades of gay life, and as such, make the viewer think past the current representations of sexuality, and to instead situate them in a larger conversation about the changing nature of gay life.

This continuing conversation manifested differently throughout the exhibit.  The poster from 1993, by Bastille, was among the most sexually explicit and graphic of the images, showing a group of men in various stages of S&M play in the background, while in the foreground, a disembodied penis emerges from the corner, still sheathed in an obviously used condom.  This poster is from a period when the gay community found itself consumed not just with dealing with the current AIDS crisis, but also increasingly concerned with prevention, and provides a fascinating example of an early attempt to  express gay male sexuality in a way that is non-judgmental and inclusive, but that also pointedly demands responsibility.

Another pair of posters makes this conversation even more explicit and functions as an amusing sort of call-and-response across generations.  The first poster, from 1982, by Scott Facon, incorporates woodblock illustrations that look plucked from a century-old German medical text showing a step-by-step guide to performing a circumcision.  The 2004 poster, by Thom Graves, uses the same layout of imagery and simple black-on-beige color palette, but instead is a medical illustration of foreskin restoration.  The later poster references the larger (both gay and straight) culture’s growing debate about circumcision, but also draws a witty and knowing historical thread through the entirety of the Black Party itself.  Yet another poster, from 2002, is a photograph of a bound and roughed-up man in Abercrombie and Fitch underwear wearing an Abercrombie and Fitch shopping bag with a model’s head printed on it over his own head.  Behind the subject,muscle mag posters tacked to the wall.  On the surface, this photograph suggests simple bondage within a sexual context, but the juxtaposition of boxer-briefs and shopping bag also evokes much darker interpretations about gay male self-esteem and body-image, and how media and consumer culture shape and reinforce men’s relationships to their own bodies.  Ultimately, the viewer wonders if enslavement to an ideal is the real bondage being referenced in this photograph.

Alongside the posters, while attendees chatted and sipped vodka and bid on auction items, another group of men were actively shaping ideals as they quickly but skillfully sketched a nude model who changed positions every fifteen minutes.  As I walked around the circle, peering over shoulders, I was impressed by the confidence of the drawings and paintings I saw.  Clearly, all of the assembled artists had formal training or were freakishly-gifted naturals.  However, what was most fascinating was not the skill and beauty, but the tiny little ways that each participant manipulated the model to closer conform to a personal ideal.  Some depicted him with a larger penis, some with a squarer jawline, some with a more feminine mouth, more chest hair, less chest hair, leaner, more compact, and so on, but invariably, something happened in the mind and hand of each sketcher that subtly reshaped reality to a version that pleased them more.  In that way, the benefit itself felt like just the most current manifestation of this dialogue about contemporary gay life, sexuality and aesthetics that continues to play out in posters, parties and streets throughout New York.

Dear Center Volunteers,

Last Monday, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation declaring April 15 – April 21, 2012 National Volunteer Week. In his statement, the President emphasized the power of service to unite individuals, strengthen communities, and transform our collective future.

At the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, we are privileged to witness this power of selfless service every day, in all areas of our work. Volunteers work alongside Center staff and interns in every program at the Center: supporting Pride events, facilitating yoga classes for Youth Enrichment Services participants, caring for the Center’s garden, and staffing over 150 Center events annually. Several Center institutions – the National Archive of LGBT History, the Pat Parker/Vito Russo Library, and the David Bohnett CyberCenter – are sustained entirely by volunteers.

In these and countless other ways, volunteers contribute 14,000 hours annually to nourish and enrich our home for New York’s vibrant Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender communities. (To learn more about volunteering at the Center, visit our website.) 

In his National Volunteer Week proclamation, President Obama noted that “our Nation has always been at its best when individuals have come together to realize a common vision.” We are honored to work with hundreds of volunteers every year envisioning a better New York, and proud of your impact in the service movement.

Thank you for volunteering at the Center!

Yours in service,

Glennda Testone
Executive Director

Read the latest information about our Center Ride here:

MEDIA ADVISORY

April 3, 2012

Contact:

Cindi Creager, Director of Communications & Marketing

(646) 358-1703, ccreager@gaycenter.org 

Center Gears up for 18th Iconic AIDS Ride

Boston to NYC Center Ride Set for September 21-23, 2012

Kick-Off Rally April 16; New Ride Producer and Manager Named

New York, NY April 3 , 2012 — The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, the world’s second largest LGBT Center, today further revealed plans for our 2012 AIDS ride, the annual event that has been raising critical funds for the Center’s HIV/AIDS related programs and services for 18 years, beginning in 1995. As shared in March with riders and crew, this year’s Boston to New York cycling journey is set for September 21-23. (Registration info here)

The Center is hosting a kick-off rally on Monday, April 16th from 6:30-8:30 PM, providing an opportunity for the community to meet our new producer, new and past riders and crew, and the HIV/AIDS clients we serve. The nationally syndicated Derek and Romaine Show will also broadcast live during the event on Sirius XM Radio. Last year the show raised over 40-thousand dollars for the ride.

“After a great deal of research, due diligence and thoughtful consideration, we are thrilled to announce the selection of LeadDog Marketing Group, Inc. as our 2012 Ride producer,” said Executive Director Glennda Testone. “An event production and marketing agency headquartered in New York, LeadDog has a passion for, and extensive experience in, logistical support and production for run, walk, and bike events across the country.”

In addition the Center is thrilled to welcome Michael Beck as its 2012 Center Ride Manager. Michael joins the Center following a successful affiliation with the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center as a cyclist, fundraiser and most recently, the recruitment coordinator for AIDS Life Cycle.

“Our clients are our number one priority,” Testone said. “Government funding for HIV/AIDS has fallen drastically, while the vast need for our programming continues to climb. Growing and improving our AIDS ride is a vital step to ensuring we have enough resources to sustain and enhance the programs and services we provide to the people who need us most. We’re extremely excited about Center Ride and eager to work with our new production partner, LeadDog Marketing Group, Inc.”

WHAT/WHO: Center Ride Kick-Off Rally! Meet our ride producers, LeadDog Marketing Group, Inc., our new ride manager Michael Beck, Center Staff, HIV/AIDS Clients, Past and Current Riders and Crew, and more! The Derek and Romaine Show will broadcast live throughout the event! 

WHEN: Monday, April 16, 2012, 6:30-8:30 PM

WHERE: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center

208 West 13th Street, New York City

CONTACT:  Press should RSVP to: Cindi Creager, Director of Communications & Marketing
(646) 358-1703, ccreager@gaycenter.org 

About the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
A beacon of hope for 29 years, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center builds and supports our community through arts and culture, wellness and recovery, HIV/AIDS services, family services and life-saving youth programs designed to foster healthy development in a safe, affirming environment. The Center envisions a world where LGBT people will no longer face discrimination or isolation because of who we are or who we love. We offer a welcoming home to 300,000 visitors each year and we are committed to serving all LGBT people through a variety of programs, services and activities that are designed to meet existing and emerging needs. The Center is many things to many people. We invite you to experience our home at 208 West 13th Street in person and online at gaycenter.org.

Guest Post by Allie Axel

America has a great memory for moments of heroism but bouts of amnesia for those times when we falter. Like when President Reagan refused to acknowledge a crisis that wiped out more Americans than those killed in the Vietnam War. How many of us learned about the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. in school? Even high school lesson plans on HIV/AIDS are brief and insufficient. The new documentary 30 Years From Here serves as an “AIDS 101″ course for the American people. In its digestible 52-minute format, the film presents the history of the virus, the untold stories from those who lived through the crisis, and a present-day assessment of the effect it has on our lives now.

On the evening of March 13, every seat was filled  and there were a dozen people standing in the back, leaning against walls as the film, 30 Years From Here played at the Center. The audience seemed to be composed of people who had lived through the start of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s to those who gained awareness in the late 90s. Although the film targets teenage audiences, few people under twenty were present. But that does not mean under-twenties will not see the film.

The beauty of 30 Years From Here is that it is designed to be viewed on TV, thus reaching a far larger audience, especially those flipping channels and coming across a shocking subject they know nothing about. After the film screened, there was a Q & A session with the director, Josh Rosenzweig. Hands were slow to raise at first but then the questions started rolling, creating an emotionally charged atmosphere of curiosity, concern and frustration. The overarching question that the director and audience hoped to answer: How can we overcome the stigma of AIDS and promote awareness among today’s youth? 30 Years from Here is the first step to finding an answer.

Photo by Simon Shimshilashvili

Guest Post by Paul Reed

On Tuesday, March 20^th, The LGBT Center hosted the premiere installment of their new intergenerational “live talk show” series,  Q & Gay: Sex from the 70’s to Scruff.  I arrived quite early to notice that many of the seats were already full of people of many ages, proving that sex does indeed sell. During the opening cocktail reception, I also felt a strong sense of jubilation and reunion in the air, witnessing several long lost friends reconnecting all around me.

Ashley Brockington, a striking and statuesque theatre professional, proved to be a highly engaging facilitator, beginning the session by introducing the audience to the four members of the panel. Ashley first introduced Johnny Skandros, the co-founder of Scruff, a gay social smartphone app, and thus one of the most important people in the modern age of gay digital media. Next up was Joseph Lovett (Joe), producer of the celebrated film, Gay Sex in the 70’s. Following Joe, we met Rob Zukowski, talented photographer and in my opinion, the most delightfully salacious panelist. Rounding up the panel was Francis Sheehan (Frank), an influential New York artist originally from Ireland.

Photo by Simon Shimshilashvili

After establishing the house rules for the discussion, Ashley asked the panel a series of 25 questions all within the framework of gay sex from the 70’s until the current time. Questions, and thus answers, ran the gamut from the comical, (Question #5) “What’s the most embarrassing place you’ve ever woken up?”, to the reflective, (Question #7) “Where were you when you first heard of AIDS?”, and to the educational, (Question #2) “How do you define safe sex?” It wasn’t long into the discussion before the theme of age began to show its influences on the different perspectives within the panel.

One of the best questions that displayed this overreaching theme of age was (Question #3) “Describe yourself at twenty-one.” Joe’s long-time friend told him that in 1966 he was “desperate.” Frank reminisced about his times at The LGBT Center of Dublin in 1978. Johnny, the youngest member of the panel by far, reflected that in 2004 he was naïve and fed into gay stereotypes. Rob gave the fascinating picture of the West Village in 1988 as a colony of AIDS “lepers” trapped within the fabulous illusion the neighborhood tried to uphold. These answers provided a window to explore how the interactions of place and time create our self-identity of what it means to be a gay man.

A question that evoked much discussion was (Question #10) “How has technology changed the sex scene?” The audience had the privilege of hearing this question answered first by Johnny, the co-founder of Scruff, a mobile application utilizing GPS allowing one to view other gay men globally and to physically meet gay men within the immediate area. Johnny bypassed the seemingly obvious answer, which is that the application allows for more frequent and easier hook-ups, and dove more into the other benefits of his application. According to him, Scruff also is a way for gay men without a visible gay community to connect with other gay men, lessening the oppressive isolation that is the reality for many outside of metropolitan cities.

Scruff also is a venue to spread education and awareness about safer sex practices and important LGBTQ causes. Joe took the question in a different direction, speaking about how technology affects his relationship with his partner in negative ways. Technology’s ability to keep one connected to work can become a stressor and invasive to personal space. Rob had an incredibly insightful answer, speculating that technology has allowed rejection to become more prevalent, sometimes based on one’s race or perceived masculinity.