In NYC: trump Supporters attacked Activists

Four activists were attacked by Trump supporting assholes in New York City over the weekend. The victims of the attack were named as Peter Soeller, Connor Hicks, Colin Ashley, and Christian Valencia.

Here's more



The assailants ran off before police arrived, so there are still out there.

In NYC: Citywide Ad Campaign Affirming Right to use Bathrooms Consistent with Gender Identity

This is a great to see! Mayor Bill de Blasio launched citywide campaign on bathroom use and gender identity.

Here's more from the press release

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Commission on Human Rights today launched the nation’s first government-led citywide ad campaign affirming every New Yorkers’ right to use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity, regardless of their sex assigned at birth.

“No one deserves to be denied access to bathrooms or discriminated against for being who they are. Every New Yorker has the legal right to use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity, no questions asked – and these powerful ads affirm this right,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “New York City has long been a leader in the fight for LGBTQ equality, and these ads are further evidence of the City’s unwavering support of our diverse communities. While other cities and states are legislating intolerance and taking away individuals’ right to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, we are proudly standing with our transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers.”

“Every New Yorker has the right to use the restroom that matches their gender identity and where they feel comfortable and safe," said First Lady Chirlane McCray, Honorary Chair of the Commission on Gender Equity. "No New Yorker should have to worry about hiding their gender identity to take care of basic human needs. Others may advance hateful agendas that discriminate based on gender or gender identity, but that kind of bigotry will never be acceptable here, and we will keep fighting to root it out until no New Yorker feels discriminated against."

The campaign, which kicks off LGBTQ Pride Month, includes ads and videos featuring transgender New Yorkers and instructs readers to “look past pink and blue” and to “use the restroom consistent with who you are.” The ads will appear in subway cars, bus shelters, phone booths, ethnic and community newspapers, and in ads in digital publications and across social media in English and Spanish. Ethnic newspaper ads will appear in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Russian and Bengali. Later this month, the Commission will release two digital videos, also featuring transgender New Yorkers, as part of the campaign affirming the bathroom access rights of transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers.

WATCH a Woman receive Verbal Harassment from Men in the streets of NYC

Shoshana Roberts recorded a moment of her life as she walks in the city of New York. What you see is a lot of cat calls and invasive comments that are too crazy to believe.

You might bee shocked to see this, but it's real and sad. To see men behave like this isn't new, but it's always disturbing.

Meet NYC's First and Only Transgendered Firefighter

This is how New York City celebrates Gay Pride

The Empire State Building's rainbow lights will shine across New York City over the next three nights!

New Book: Legendary: Inside the House Ballroom Scene

The new book, Legendary: Inside the House Ballroom Scene captures pictures from the NY ball scene. For over 30 years, the LGBT communities of color have been immersed in the power and fierceness of the Houses and "children" of the ball.

This book highlights the events and people who keeps the fire burning.

Here's a description from the book's developer, Gerard H. Gaskin:

“The balls are a celebration of black and Latino urban gay life. They were born in Harlem out of a need for black and Latino gays to have a safe space to express themselves. Balls are constructed like beauty and talent pageants. The participants work to redefine and critique gender and sexual identity through an extravagant fashion masquerade. Women and men become fluid, interchangeable points of departure and reference, disrupting the notion of a fixed and rigid gender and sexual self. My images try to show a more personal and intimate beauty, pride, dignity, courage, and grace that have been painfully challenged by mainstream society. All of this happens at night in small halls in cities all over the country. These photographs, taken in New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, and Washington, D.C., show us different views of these spaces as they are reflected in the eyes of house and ball members who perform what they wish these cities could be.”

For more info, go here 

New Teaser Trailer: The Pier Kids: The Life

A new Kickstarter campaign is coming.

The documentary called The Pier Kids: The Life will be about the LGBT homeless youth in NYC. The campaign starts on Nov. 1st, but you can see a bit of it from the teaser.

The Kickstarter campaign will help the film get completed and pay for the post-production costs.

Good luck, we are cheering for you. This looks like a great project and I will definitely support this.

For more info, please go here

New Documentary explores Homeless LGBT Youth of Color in New York City

Here is an interest doc about the homeless LGBT youth of color in NYC.

The feature is called Pier Kids: The Life. Here's the premise:

Pier Kids, a documentary by first-time director Elegance Bratton, follows the plight of black LGBTQ homeless youth in New York City. The name originates from the youth population that congregates along Christoper Street in New York City's Greenwich Village and the surrounding piers during the nights and weekends. As many may be aware (but ignore), some of them sell their bodies for money, some of them are strung out on dope; all of them are treated unequally by a society that refuses to accept them, and refuses to help them.

Looks like a must see

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Gay Man was Shot Dead in Greenwich Village

Horrible news from NYC. Recently, the city has been experiencing a lot of hate crimes toward gay men. Late last night was really bad.

Here's the scoop:

A gay man was shot dead in Greenwich Village early today after he was chased out of a restaurant and called homophobic slurs, authorities said. 

The 32-year-old Brooklyn victim was shot in the head at about midnight at West 8th Street and Sixth Avenue and died at Beth Israel Hospital. 

His name was not released pending family notification, cops said.
The gunman ran five blocks before cops collared him at West Third Street and MacDougal Street, according to police radio transmissions. 

The shooter appeared crazed and confessed to the shooting after he was nabbed, a police source said. 

“It was a quickie. He shot him and he went straight to the ground,” said a bouncer at a nearby club. 

“Half his body was lying on the sidewalk and half was on the street.” 

City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn said she was horrified by the attack. 

“There was a time in New York City when two people of the same gender could not walk the street arm-in-arm without fear of violence and harassment,” she said. “We refuse to go back to that time.”

This is the pic of the suspect

more to come as the story unfolds

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Meningitis Outbreak continues to get Worse in NYC

Hey, NYC fam... Be careful.

A deadly meningitis outbreak among gay men in New York City just got more serious, officials said today. Two men died of meningitis during the first two months of the year, raising the total number of cases to 22, with 3 of the last 5 cases resulting in death. The city's Department of Health upgraded its response to recommend vaccinations for all gay men throughout the city, regardless of HIV status and geographical location.

This started in September and it seems to be getting worse. The city suggest that guys get the recommended vaccines if they engaged in any sex party after Sept. 1.

Also it has been noted that sexually active guys from the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Bushwick, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo, East New York, Prospect Heights and Williamsburg should get tested.

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NYC faces a Spike of Meningitis

The New York City’s health department ordered 10,000 doses of the meningitis vaccine due to the spike of Meningitis.

Here's more:

A cluster of four cases of “invasive meningococcal disease” that occurred among the city’s gay and bisexual men in the past four weeks, there have been 12 cases altogether since August of 2010 and four of those men have died.

Among the 12 cases, one occurred in 2010, three occurred in 2011, and eight occurred this year, according to a separate alert that was distributed to health care providers on September 27. The men ranged in age from 21 to 59, and eight were HIV-positive.

“Eight of the 12 cases were known to be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus,” read the health care provider alert. “Five reported using cocaine and/ or crystal methamphetamine. Four reported using Internet sites to meet men for sex. Three cases, however, were not known to be HIV-infected, did not report using drugs, and did not report using Internet sites to meet men for sex.”

Y'all be careful out there.

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Gay and Civil Justice Leaders marched in the silent Stop and Frisk Protest - WATCH

Yesterday, Gay and Civil Rights leaders marched in a silent protest against the shameful "stop-and-frisk" tactics.

WATCH: As Protesters Occupy Times Square

I'm Coming to New York City

I heading to NYC Wednesday night. The main reason for my trip is to help my friends plan out their move to Los Angeles. We all moved to NYC in 2001 after grad school.  I found job at Cornell and they stayed in the city.

Now after all this time, they are joining me here in Cali-Cal. I'm so excited about my closest friends moving here. One is a producer and the other is a super talented artist and singer. I think with them here, we can start running L.A.

Anywho, I'll be in the city on Thursday morning. So I hope to have pics and see more folks while I'm there.

WATCH An Anti-Muslim Rally at Ground Zero

Sad, really.

They Are Trying to Close Chi Chiz?

What is this madness?

They can't Chi Chiz? It's a staple of Black Gay Bars in NYC. In fact, it is oldest and probably the one of the few that's left.

Page Six has the scoop:

Gay activists and civil rights lawyers will go to court Thursday to try to stop the NYPD from closing Chi Chiz, a Christopher Street bar that caters to homosexual and transgendered black men.

The police claim in Manhattan Supreme Court that on four instances in a six-month period, undercover officers witnessed the sale of marijuana, cocaine and other controlled substances in the bar, which opened 12 years ago.

But Chi Chiz supporters say the crackdown's motivated by racism and homophobia in a community that's increasingly white, wealthy and worried about property values.

"These are the same people who forced the city to tear down the Women's House of Detention on Sixth Avenue and Christopher Street," activist Allen Roskoff told Page Six.

"Manhattan so-called liberals are only so when it affects others. Otherwise, they cry 'quality of life' and 'not in my neighborhood.' "

Chi Chiz's lawyer, Tom Shanahan, told Page Six the city asked the bar to make an iron-clad guarantee that no drugs would be sold or used on its premises -- but Chi Chiz couldn't promise that.

"We can't guarantee that," Shanahan explained. "I said to the judge, when the city figures out how to keep drugs off Rikers Island, they can hold us to the same standard. The terms they are insisting on would put us out of business. This is what they wanted all along."

The club needs to be there and be open. I know it's not the best place, but it is one of the few places men of color can be themselves. I hope they can save this historic bar.

NY City Council Declares Today as “Day Against Homophobia”

From Opposing View:

New York City’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is standing with the Puerto Rican community to demand that the rash of anti-gay and transgender murders in Puerto Rico be properly investigated and covered by the media.

The New York City Council along with other elected officials, in a press conference, will declare July 13 the “New York City Day Against Homophobia” to symbolically stand in solidarity with the LGBT Puerto Rican community.

WHERE: Steps of New York City Hall – 2 Lafayette St (Chambers Street)

WHEN: Tuesday – July 13, 2010 11:00 am

WHO: New York State Senator Thomas K. Duane, New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, New York City Council Members Rosie Mendez, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Daniel Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Latino Commission on AIDS, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, New York City Anti-Violence Project, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, The Puerto Rican Initiative to Develop Empowerment, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund

Since 2002, 25 gay and transgender people have been murdered in Puerto Rico—six of these murders occurred since last November. Most of these crimes were not investigated by the local authorities as hate crimes and very few have received media coverage.

“This is about the concrete harms that members of our community still face even with inclusive hate crime protections. Everyday LGBT people face, harassment, violence and even murder simply for being who they are. The media has a responsibility to elevate these important stories,” said Rashad Robinson, Senior Director of Media Programs for GLAAD. “We are proud to work with the New York City Council and our fellow community partners to raise visibility around this issue and demand these stories be told in the media.”

“This is about members of the Puerto Rican lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender community feeling safe in their communities and being able to take care of the ones they love,” said Pedro Julio Serrano, communications manager, for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “New York City’s LGBT community stands with the Puerto Rican community in response to this rash of murders and demands that they receive proper investigations by the local authorities and coverage by the local media,” he continued.

New York City Council honors Jorge Steven López Mercado’s family

New York City Council honored Jorge Steven López Mercado’s family on Tuesday for LGBT Pride event at City Hall.

If you don't know or remember, Jorge was brutally murdered last year.

Edge on the Net reports:

Speaking through Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Myriam Mercado spoke about her faith and how it has provided her and her family strength since Juan José Martínez Matos stabbed López to death and dumped his decapitated, dismembered and partially burned body along a remote roadside near Cayey last November.

"The God I know is a God of love; he doesn’t make any exceptions," said Mercado, who joined her husband Jorge López, Sr., their son Gabriel López Mercado and Serrano at the podium. "He tells me we have to love our neighbor like we love ourselves."

Mercado told EDGE "with a crime so atrocious, it is important people unite in their pain." A judge sentenced Martínez to 99 years in prison last month after he admitted he murdered López. But Mercado said she remains grateful for the support she and her family continue to receive from around the world.

"We are very pleased by the support from people we don’t know," said Mercado.

Gabriel López Mercado proclaimed "¡Viva Steven!" after his mother spoke. Openly lesbian City Councilmember Rosie Mendez [D-Lower East Side,] who introduced the Lópezes, and Serrano both applauded the family. "

I am proud to be standing with a Puerto Rican family that has sent a message of hope and love-especially love," he said as he held a gay Puerto Rican Pride flag. "Puerto Rico is a place of love, of acceptance, of welcoming people with open arms. We are not a country of hate."

"¡Viva Steven!"

'Sylar' will be in the Off Broadway revival of Angels in America

Zachary Quinto will give us drama in the revival of Angels in America. He will play Louis Ironson.

The first show starts in September 14, 2010 and run through December in NYC. If I'm there, I might check it out.

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Prayer Power Saved New York!

You got to love Christians sometimes. I found this from JoeMyGod, about how Miss Janet Porter's prayer powers saved New York from terrorists.

If, like us, you thought Janet Porter's May Day 2010 prayer rally at the Lincoln Memorial was an unmitigated disaster because the event only attracted a crowd of a few hundred when they were expecting 8,000, no members of Congress showed up, Porter was left covering tens of thousands of dollars in costs while having a distributor drop her radio program due to her involvement in dominion theology, you would be mistaken.

As it turns out, the event was a massive success because, according to an email from Cindy Jacobs and Generals International, it was their May Day prayers that caused the bomb in Times Square to fail to detonate:

WATCH


Wow, and here I thought New York was saved by the Sword of Omens