HIV Diagnoses Fall to Historic Low in New York City
But there’s still work left to be done.
www.advocate.com/news/2019/11/23/hiv-diagnoses-fall-historic-low-new-york-city
Tag Archives: New York City
David Mixner to Take Stage for Final One-Man Show: ‘You Make Me Sick’
David Mixner to Take Stage for Final One-Man Show: ‘You Make Me Sick’
Veteran civil rights and anti-war activist of six decades, author, storyteller, and Towleroad contributor David Mixner is set to take the stage on December 9 at New York City’s Florence Guild Hall for his final one-man show, You Make Me Sick, after which he plans to retire from public life, write, and travel.
Mixner’s previous shows, From the Front Porch, Oh Hell No!, 1969, and Who Fell Into the Outhouse, played to sold-out audiences in New York, L.A., Chicago, Atlanta, and Milan. Like those shows, You Make Me Sick will benefit The Ali Forney Center, the nation’s largest LGBTQ homeless youth shelter and services organizations and based in New York City.
Like his other shows, You Make Me Sick will combine, music, comedy, commentary, and storytelling, this time covering the American health care system and the final stages of his career in activism. Performing with Mixner on stage will be Fred Ebb Award winner Will Reynolds, Stephen Barry, Megan Ostrahaus and Iris Beaumier. In honor of his decades of public service , songwriter John Bucchino has written two original songs that will be premiered in the show.
Said Mixner: “This will be an emotional and difficult evening for me that will cap a life well-lived in service of others. I am so honored that my friends from entertainment and politics are flying in from around the world to show their support on December 9th.”
Executive Producers are Ken Mehlman and Joy Tomchin. Producers for the show are Bill Baroni and Rob Smith.
Director Chris Bolan will head the production team that includes Musical Director Gary Adler, Stage Manager Tim Love, Lighting Designer Drew Florida, Set Designer Brittany Vasta and Sound Designer Mark Van Hare.
The Florence Gould Hall is located at 55 East 59th Street. Towleroad is proud to be a media sponsor for this event.
The post David Mixner to Take Stage for Final One-Man Show: ‘You Make Me Sick’ appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.
Civil Rights Activist David Mixner to Take Stage for Final One-Man Show: ‘You Make Me Sick’
How ‘Slave Play’ helped me unpack the racism I’ve experienced dating white guys
How ‘Slave Play’ helped me unpack the racism I’ve experienced dating white guys
Slave Play wrecked me.
Like, pimp slapped me, pulled my hair, set me on fire, brought me back to life, and then did it again. I haven’t felt this exposed since my parents confronted me about crashing the family computer with gay porn I downloaded from Zapster.
Set on a plantation in Virginia, Jeremy O. Harris’s racially-charged play explores control and obedience through three interracial couples—one of which is same-sex male—roleplaying as slaves, overseers, and masters to fix their sex lives. The couples are taking part in an experiment called Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy (aka “slave play”), which is designed to help the Black participants rekindle their desire for their white partners.
While Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy isn’t real, it damn well could be, because as on-stage therapists helped their patients navigate their experiences and unresolved trauma, I, too, was unpacking my issues.
A few years ago, I was hooking up with a white dude I met on Grindr. I was in my late 20s. He was in his late 30s. When he opened his hotel room door, he towered over me. He was friendly and offered me a glass of wine before we got down to business. While going down on him, he asked me if I liked it. I replied an enthusiastic, but sultry yes. He continued, “Good. Because I love a Black man on his knees.”
Related: Why the black gay romance on ‘Pose’ is still such a big deal
Each one of his words slowly exited his mouth and washed over me like cement being poured onto a street. I was frozen at first but eventually found the words to tell him I had to leave. He apologized, but I grabbed my shit and bounced.
That was one of many casually racist encounters I began to encounter in the gay community—either in person or on the apps. The only racism I’ve ever encountered has been in interactions with white gay men in regards to sex. In fact, the only people who have ever called me nigger have been gay white men. The objectification, the fetishization, and the racial slurs hurled at me when I’ve respectfully declined a “looking?” message started to really fuck with my mind—and my dick. So much so, occasionally it impacted my performance.
Just about every time I sign into a dating app, I inadvertently engage in race play. So, seeing it play out on stage before my eyes on The Great White Way, was at first triggering, but then it became therapeutic.
In Slave Play, Alana roleplays as the mistress of the plantation while her biracial boyfriend Phillip acts as her well-dressed house negro. While debriefing the experience, Phillip reflects on his experiences as a teen as one of the only Black faces in a predominately white school, and he shares an experience that nearly jolted me out of my seat.
Phillip recalls a white teammate in a locker room saying to him he forgets Phillip is Black until he sees his big dick.
Until that moment, I totally forgot about a white classmate saying those exact words to me in the locker room in high school. And because I must have buried the moment away, I didn’t even realize it impacted me today—like Phillip—and how traumatic it has actually been to my sense of self and how it has all manifested in just about all of my intimate relationships with white men and my own dick.
So, there I am trying to watch this fine play, but I’m replaying all of the shitty things white men have “innocently” said to me.
This is another amazing thing Harris does with Slave Play. All of the white partners seem to try to separate themselves from their whiteness. As if they are neutral and none of what’s happening has anything to do with them. They are all, assumed to be well-meaning, educated people. And racism? That’s for racist Southern folk.
But like my own experiences having only experienced racism by gay white men in big cities like NYC, that’s where these characters live. It’s an incredibly smart way to show how whiteness in the north is just as harmful and violent as it is in southern states.
If you’re a gay, Black man who is an equal opportunity lover or banger, Slave Play is going to punch you in the gut and ask you to reflect on your sex life not to mention your love life.
And if you can’t get to the theater, get to your therapist so you can unpack any trauma and leave it in this decade.
Lamar Dawson is a pop culture junkie living in New York City. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @dirrtykingofpop.
Gay Man Sues NYC Event Company, Says Boss Degraded Him and Cut Pay to Match ‘Other Females in the Office’
Gay Man Sues NYC Event Company, Says Boss Degraded Him and Cut Pay to Match ‘Other Females in the Office’
A former employee of New York City event company Eventique is suing his former employer, saying he was discriminated against after his boss learned he was gay, and his pay was cut by half to match “other females in the office.”
NBC News reports: “Eventique attempted to alienate and degrade Wesley Wernecke after CEO Henry Liron David learned he was gay, said Wernecke’s lawyer, Anthony Consiglio. … Wernecke had just begun to work for Eventique, which stages events for high-profile clients, such as Nike, Twitter and Amazon, when David began to push him out of his role, the complaint filed Wednesday in the Manhattan Supreme Court states.”
Wernecke faced numerous instances of humiliation and discrimination according to the lawsuit, until he was eventually fired because “David simply could not bear the thought that Eventique would continue to be represented by a gay man.” Workers mocked him for his “girly” engagement ring, he was specifically excluded by his boss from a male bonding ritual with his employees involving a fist bump, he was excluded from “company lunches and frequent after-work drinks with ‘the fellas’ in his office” and his pay was cut from $145K to $58K.
David reportedly told Wernecke: “I couldn’t sleep at night thinking that you were being paid so much more than the other females in the office.”
The post Gay Man Sues NYC Event Company, Says Boss Degraded Him and Cut Pay to Match ‘Other Females in the Office’ appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.
Policy for Equity and Equality: The Leadership of Kiara St. James
Policy for Equity and Equality: The Leadership of Kiara St. James
For Kiara St. James, “the first act of resilience is to take a breath and acknowledge that we have a right to exist.”
She is the co-founder and executive director of the New York Transgender Advocacy Group, an organization that advocates for more inclusive gender-based policies. A community organizer for more than 20 years, St. James has been instrumental in changing discriminatory shelter policies and in the passage of Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act in New York.
After beginning her advocacy in the South, St. James came to New York City. But the city at the time was “not progressive,” she said, and the start of her time there was very hard. When she began transitioning, she lost her job, and as a trans woman, there were no real opportunities to find another.
St. James ultimately ended up living in shelters in New York. One day she seized an opportunity to join a bus to Washington, D.C. for an HIV-funding rally.
“On that bus, I met a lot of amazing people,” St. James said. “And I got this sense — wow, this is my community.”
St. James became an outreach worker and advocate, involved in housing policy, but she grew increasingly frustrated by work being done. “I’d be in these groups that would be geared toward Black trans women [but] led by others.” So St. James said, “enough is enough” and joined together with advocates to start NYTAG working in policy that is tailored to the communities it is supposed to serve.
“The beauty of policy is that it improves everyone’s quality of life,” St. James said. “When it’s done right, it means that everyone has a seat at the table. And it’s also about equity — meaning that those who need the most get the most.”
St. James has also seen how policy done wrong can fail communities.
“At any given meeting on the issues for the past 20 years, the data doesn’t really change,” she said. “It always shows Black and Brown bodies at the top of any disparity — suicide, homelessness, depression.”
She also recognizes that this work must address the urgent needs of the moment.
“Policy takes a long time but people have immediate needs,” St. James said. “We need policy to address equity and inequity as it now stands.”
St. James also wants to make sure we are not erasing the communities in most need of being uplifted.
“I’ve been in progressive spaces where people say ‘we’re all the same.’ We all have beautiful colors and identities. Why erase that? We need to recognize the nuances of our diverse community.”
St. James’ advice to young people looking to get involved is that “you are the subject matter expert in your own life. That’s the reason you have a right to be at the table.”
“When I first got into advocacy, I started showing up, and little by little I learned the layout of the land,” she continued. “But it all starts when you show up.”
Ultimately, for St. James, it is imperative that we all call out injustice. “Zora Neale Hurston wrote, ‘If you are silent about your pain, they will kill you and say you enjoyed it.’ That’s why we all have a responsibility to speak up.”
Michael Bloomberg Brings Mixed LGBTQ Record to Presidential Run
Michael Bloomberg Brings Mixed LGBTQ Record to Presidential Run
The former New York City mayor championed marriage equality, but some say his policies left the most marginalized LGBTQ people behind.
www.advocate.com/election/2019/11/11/michael-bloomberg-brings-mixed-lgbtq-record-presidential-run
Maybe it’s no coincidence the gay rights movement started in a bar
Maybe it’s no coincidence the gay rights movement started in a bar
Magazine cover courtesy of ONE Archives Foundation
In honor of LGBTQ History Month, we’re taking a deep dive look-back at the first gay publication in America—ONE magazine. Launched in Los Angeles in 1953, ONE was published by One, Inc., which grew from The Mattachine Society, the seminal gay-rights group founded by Harry Hay. Its editorial founders were Martin Block, Don Slater, and Dale Jennings. Produced on a shoestring and sold for 25 cents, ONE began to change the course of history with an unapologetic exploration of homosexuality and the largely unexamined societal taboo against it.
This is the fifth in our series of ONE magazine cover stories.
Volume 6, Issue 2: The Gay Bar
While ONE addressed hefty issues like obscenity law and psychoanalysis, it just as often provided everyday social commentary on the realities of gay life in the 1950s. In this issue, Robert Gregory ponders the function of the “Gay Bar” in capital letters. Hard to tell how many Gay Bars existed in 1958, but Gregory paints a picture not unfamiliar to many of us:
The Gay Bar, while it by no means offers a total cross-section of the homosexual population of a city or country, nevertheless goes farther, at present, than any other single social institution at collecting together a wide variety of types and temperaments. Anyone who has “made the rounds,” as they say, is readily acquainted with the milieu—the hustlers, the screaming faggots, the queens, the nice ivy-leaguers—sometimes all in easy exchange with one another…
At a time when most major cities have an entire site dedicated exclusively to gay social institutions, it’s hard to imagine the role the gay bar played in the late ’50s. You could hook up there, sure, but the allure was more fundamental than that:
Among homosexuals the feeling of isolation is exceptionally prevalent and often cruel. Empathy, the feeling of spontaneous rapport and understanding with other fellow human beings, is often smothered under personal doubts and misgivings, under mistrust of others, and under insecurity in most personal relations. “What would they think if they knew?” Thus the Gay Bar is exceptionally important to many homosexuals, as the one institution where they can be sure of finding some measure of kinship with others.
Of course, at the same time, there was danger. Gay bars were a target since sex between men was still illegal in every state. Eleven years later the gay liberation movement would be born at a gay bar in New York City.
One is not surprised or dismayed when police swagger in, usually in pairs, glower menacingly at everybody, hurry back to the men’s room to see if anything is going on, glower once more at everybody on their return trip, and swagger out again.
If a cop swaggers into a gay bar now, chances are he’s there to drink, dance and, with any luck, hookup.
How nice finally to be able to enjoy our men in uniform.
Thanks to ONE Archives Foundation for making this series possible. ONE Archives Foundation provides access to original source material at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries—the largest such collection in the world.
Dad rejected him for being gay but son’s HIV diagnosis changed everything
Dad rejected him for being gay but son’s HIV diagnosis changed everything
A man has shared details of how his family rejected when he came out as gay. However, being diagnosed as HIV has enabled him to forge a much closer relationship with his Muslim father.
In fact, the two men are even planning on creating a father-son clothing line together.
Shareef Hadid Jenkins originally comes from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He now lives in New York City. He told his story in video format for I’m From Driftwood. The site is a groundbreaking online platform that showcases LGBTI stories and oral histories.
Shareef says he always knew he was different when he was growing up, and was bullied at school because of it. When he came out to his mum, she responded, “There’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
Related: Muslim father attempted suicide after his son came out, now they’re closer than ever
At age 13, he was sent by his mom to live with his dad, “to make me become a man.”
“When I came out to my father, he was livid. Actually, he went to a frat brother of his who is a psychologist and took me there and said ‘Cure my son.’ And the psychologist told him that I am gay and that he has to accept it.”
“So his version of acceptance was, Okay, we’re gonna take you to the mosque every night, you’re going to learn how to be a man and you’re gonna learn how to have willpower so that you don’t act on being gay, you don’t think about men, and that’s the way it’s going to be.
“And after a couple months of that, I tried to kill myself. So I took a lot of pills and, thank God, I didn’t die. I just woke up and my father was standing over me and he said, ‘Okay, if you’re going to be gay, I can’t do anything about it. You just can’t be gay in my house.’ So that’s when I was on the street without my parents.”
Shareef was taken in by a home for runaway kids. Around 2-3 years later, his father reached out to him and they began to call each other occasionally on holidays. His father still did not wish to discuss his son’s sexuality.
Related: Yes, it’s possible to be bisexual AND Muslim and this guy’s here to prove it
Shareef moved to New York City and lived with a boyfriend. A burst appendicitis led to an emergency dash to the hospital for Shareef – at the insistence of his boyfriend.
“My father came the next day with his wife. He took my boyfriend’s hand he said, ‘Thank you for saving my son’s life.’ And he sat down in the room. It was the first time in my life since coming out that he actively showed that he loved me and that the gay thing wasn’t going to stand in the way of his love.”
His once-in-a-blue-moon five-minute phone calls with his dad turned into ten-minute calls.
A few years passed, and Shareef learned he was HIV positive. Unable to face telling his parents, he instead told them he had cancer. He couldn’t find the words to tell them he had HIV.
“They called me a lot more, they – my dad came up. He took me to dinner. And then I told him I was HIV positive.
“And he cried. He told me that, you know, “You’re my only son. I’m your only father. We only have one life. A week isn’t going to go by without me talking to you.”
“It was almost like him saying, All this homophobia that I was holding onto is not worth not having my son in my life. Because he felt like that was it. I’m about to lose you and I’m not going to take that. And that kind of love coming from parents who threw me out was unexpected. It was what lifted me out of the depression of ‘Oh my God, I have HIV.’ It gave me life.”
“So today, I run a business, a non-binary fashion company. I make harnesses, underwear, jumpsuits. My father designs scarves, bags.
“Interesting, right? The guy who did – who couldn’t accept his gay son does fashion. Pretty amazing.
“We’re working together to start a line of underwear for African American men … kente cloth underwear, boxers.
“That’s coming a long way from being a child who my parents are like, Get out, to actually, like, not only seeing my father for more than five minutes at a time, but working with him on a business, father and son business. And I see this makes him happy and it makes me feel joy.”
Related: How one Oklahoma church decided to push back against Christian homophobes
Shareef told Queerty he still has a rather distant relationship with his mom, but is OK with that.
“We know we love each other but basically we are both adults over the age of 40 who live our own lives and live far away from each other.”
His dad designs scarves and formal accessories under the name, Scarves by Rashid. Shareef designs underwear and harnesses under the brand name Boipkg.com.
“He came to me with the idea that we do a father son project together and so we are in the planning stages of that project, which has brought us together more. He comes to NYC from Philadelphia to go with me to retail conventions and to meet with manufacturers and to pick out fabric.
“My plan is to build both of our brands and create a third father and son brand as well.”
Shareef says his father is still very religious but now has a more live-and-let-live attitude.
“His philosophy is that your life is between you and your god.”
H/T: I’m From Driftwood