Video: June 28, 1969 - Stonewall

June 28, 1969 was the day the Stonewall Riots began.

Here's a wonderful video to help us never forget.

Binghamton Mayor raises gay flag and declares June LGBTQ month

News 10

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan issued a proclamation declaring June Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer Pride Month in Binghamton.

The Rainbow Flag raising ceremony on Friday kicked off a month of events to celebrate and raise awareness of LGBTQ issues.

Ryan is the first Binghamton mayor to raise the Rainbow Flag in honor of LGBTQ Pride month.

Ryan said the ceremony is a chance to celebrate contributions of the LGBTQ community and reject prejudice.

full article including video

N.Y. Gov. Paterson wades into same-sex-marriage debate

by Jay Gallagher, Albany Bureau Chief
The Press & Sun-Bulletin

Albany, New York - When asked this week what he thought about same-sex marriage, Gov. David Paterson said, "I think it's beautiful. I think it's fine."

Paterson has directed that same-sex couples legally married elsewhere be treated the same by state agencies as their heterosexual counterparts.

That means, for example, that same-sex spouses of police officers or firefighters hurt on the job are entitled to full benefits, and the partner of a liquor-store owner who dies can keep the liquor license. And now gay spouses can submit proxy votes for their partners in elections, or collect workers' compensation benefits if a gay spouse died. They will be able to file joint state income-tax returns, taxes and have stronger rights in adoption and custody disputes. More than 1,000 state rules and regulations are affected.

full article

Walk the Walk

By Dustin Fitzharris
The New York Blade

Last year the AIDS Walk in New York raised $6.8 million. The six teams that contributed the highest amounts were MAC Cosmetics, Gap Inc., Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), J.P. Morgan Chase, Federated Department Stores and Rita Fischer’s Team.

Huh? Rita Fisher’s Team? No, Rita Fischer is not a million-dollar corporation or organization. Rita Fisher is an 84-year old Brooklyn native who since 1986 has raised close to a half million dollars in the AIDS Walk. She will be adding even more to her total when she participates in the 23rd annual AIDS Walk on Sunday, May 18, in Central Park.

full article

Live Out Loud Honors LGBT Youth at Annual Benefit

by Paul Florez
The Advocate

New York City - Live Out Loud held its Seventh Annual Young Trailblazers Benefit Gala at the Chelsea Art Museum Monday night. The event honored four high school seniors who have demonstrated outstanding leadership skills and were each awarded a $2,500 scholarship for their activism. The evening was hosted by Broadway actor Cheyenne Jackson and included fashion designers Thom Browne, John Bartlett, and Ralph Rucci.

Since 2001, Live Out Loud programs, all free of charge, have reached more than 5,000 New York City students through panel discussions, speaker bureaus, and a workshop series. Programs usually are held in the afternoon when the school day has concluded or as part of an after-school program.

full article

Columbia Spectator seems to ignore solutions

Last week I read a story about a homeless LGBT youth named Drew in a story by "Sarah Lockwood" in the Columbia Spectator.

Since the story dwelled on the negative I thought I’d send an email with resources available in the New York area. Resources that could turn the sad story of Drew into one with a happy ending. I sent an article from Edge New York which shared a LGBT homeless youth story with a positive outcome thanks to resources available in New York.

The email address on the story of Drew wouldn’t work. I tried a couple of times. I did some digging and found an email address to the news desk. I mentioned the article and author. I also mentioned I wasn’t able to contact the author at the Columbia Spectator email address provided in the article.

After a week I was surprised I never received a response.

Then today I see another similar story in the Columbia Spectator.

While it’s nice of them to publish the problem, it would be more productive to provide solutions.

Especially since solutions are currently available. Why is Columbia Spectator so quick to push out articles about LGBT youth when they apparently aren't interested in solutions?

They seemed more concerned with the problem then they are with solutions and something is very wrong with that approach.

February gets another statistic

It would appear February has a new entry.

Feb 9th - New York- Sanesha Stewart - Killed
Feb 12th - California - Lawrence King - Killed
Feb 22nd - Florida - Simmie Williams - Killed
Feb 23rd - Florida - Melbourne Brunner - injured
Feb 23rd - New York - Billy J. Kyn - injured


Man Accused of Hitting Another on Head with Beer Bottle During Feb. 23 Fight at Paddock Club

WATERTOWN — Richard Fields, 49, was charged early Friday morning by Watertown police with second-degree assault, a felony, and second-degree harassment.
Police said he is accused of hitting Billy J. Kyne, on the head with a beer bottle and allegedly yelled "go home faggot" during a fight early Feb 23. at the Paddock Club, 1 Public Square.

Mr. Fields awaits prosecution in City Court.

New York Mayor Bloomberg abolishes LGBT Health dept.

The latest indication of Mayor Mike’s indifference to the LGBT community is Bloomberg’s decision to abolish the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health — without consultation with LGBT organizations or community leaders. “Losing the Office of Gay and Lesbian Health Concerns is extremely short-sighted,” Frank Oldham, Jr. wrote in a letter to the editor published in the March 6 issue of Gay City News. “LGBT people continue to live as second-class citizens without full access to civic, legal, and economic rights such as those related to marriage,” continued Oldham, who was the head of the Office of Gay and Lesbian Health Concerns under Dr. Margaret Hamburg. “Health risks like smoking, suicide, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV are higher among gay and lesbian youth,” added Oldham.

update: The state of New York just announced it approved over $8 million for LGBT Health services.

Gay Irish not allowed in parade again

( New York City) There were no pink shamrocks again this year at New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade. Members of an Irish gay organization remained barred from taking part in the annual parade down Fifth Avenue.

As in past years gays were relegated to a barricaded area along the route where they were allowed to protest against the Ancient Order of Hibernians which organizes the parade.

The Hibernians claim the parade is a private, religious procession in order to to justify keeping LGBT groups out.

In the early 1990s, the parade committee used the argument to defeat a discrimination claim brought by the NYC Human Rights Commission.

"We’re sick of hearing city officials say they can’t intercede in the homophobia because it’s a religious march. If it’s a religious anti-gay parade, and uniformed cops and firefighters have to be pulled out,” said Tierney Gleason of Irish Queers.

"It can’t be both privately religious and publicly Irish. It’s time for the city to pull the plug on this bait-and-switch game."

full article

NEW YORK: Gay bashing victim speaks from hospital

He said he was beat up until he was unconscious because he's gay, and police agree. Now police are looking to arrest a suspect in what they're calling a hate crime. News 10NBC talked exclusively with the victim.

Lance Neve said he was in the bar minding his own business and was then attacked.

“I was punched and I went to the floor,” Lance said. “He continued to beat my head into the floor.”

Lance Neve doesn't remember much until he woke up at Strong Hospital. “With a tube down my throat and my arms tied to the bed,” Lance said.

He and his boyfriend went to Snuggery's Bar in Spencerport last Friday night. He told police while they were there someone started yelling gay slurs at them. When Lance's boyfriend left the bar room Lance was attacked.

“I have fractures in my face, and skull, it's a lot of pain,” Lance said.

Police are still looking for the person who assaulted Lance. Lance had this to say to his attacker, “I feel bad for you I really do. If maybe you would've got to know me as a person I guarantee this wouldn't have happened. We could've been pretty good friends.”

Ogden Police said the suspect's lawyer has been in contact with them. They're just looking for him to arrest. He will be facing an assault charge as a hate crime.

Lance got out of the hospital a couple days ago. He still has some bruises but is making a recovery.

full article

IN MEMORY OF: Allan Berube

Allan Berube, a pioneering gay historian who chronicled the contributions and tribulations of gays and lesbians in the U.S. military during World War II, died Tuesday at a hospital near his home in Liberty, N.Y. He was 61.

The cause of death was complications from stomach ulcers, according to friend and fellow historian Jonathan Ned Katz.

Taking the step from gay social activist to gay social historian was easy for Allan Bérubé--once he became aware that there was a gay and lesbian history to unearth. Twenty years ago, says Bérubé, X'68, "the assumption was that...you couldn't write gay American history, because there were no sources. Everything was covered up or censored or burned or never existed. Invisible, hidden."

No more. The independent scholar's research and writings--most notably his award-winning 1990 book Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II (Free Press)--have helped lay the groundwork for gay and lesbian studies. They've also earned him a MacArthur Fellowship, one of 20 such "genius" grants awarded in 1996.

Allan Berube opened Green by Design in 2007. Since the 1980s he has organized the home offices of writers and researchers and the offices of small non-profits. And he has organized filing and storage systems for private research and archival collections (including periodicals, architectural plans, photographs and personal letters). Since the beginning of 2006, he has co-owned and operated INTELLIGENT DESIGN Antiques in Liberty, NY, which specializes in home furnishings and collectibles from the 1930s - 1960s, and features unusual "finds" that can be repurposed for workspace uses. Since 2002 he has owned and operated Carrier House Bed & Breakfast, also in Liberty, where he designed writing and reading areas for each apartment suite (visit the website to see the suites). He is an award-winning, community-based historian and speaker who has received the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship for two decades of creative work. In the early 1970s he was a pioneer activist in Boston who helped set up innovative recycling programs and other community-based Ecology Action projects.

Sources:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-berube16dec16,1,6474588.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

http://magazine.uchicago.edu/9702/9702BOBProfiles2.html

http://www.greenbydesignny.com/contact.html

HISTORY: Randolfe “Randy” Wicker

by Randolfe “Randy” Wicker

As a teenager during the 1950s, I knew I was homosexual.

In the 1950s, newspapers and magazines only covered homosexual scandals: Child killers, Leopold and Loeb; Burgess and McLean, British spies who’d defected to the Soviet Union; Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s “hunt” for homosexuals working for the government; police round-ups of “perverts,” usually featuring photos of drag queens, make-up askew, sitting in a paddy wagon.

I had no problem accepting my homosexuality. I only feared discovery. As a college freshman, I kept a diary that detailed the crush I’d developed on a fellow student. My father found my diary and read it. Fortunately, the psychiatrist he consulted advised him that I’d always be homosexual.

“It’s your life to live,” he surmised. “I don’t think you are going to get very far with this. I ask just one thing: that you not involve my good name.

“I’ve lived the American dream,” I declared. “In my lifetime, homosexuals have gone from being criminals to being a legitimate minority group. We may not have ‘full equality’ yet, but we’re slowly getting there.

HIV resurges among young gay men in New York

HIV is staging a comeback among young gay men in New York, with new cases increasing by a third in those younger than 30 and doubling among teens in the past six years, health officials said Tuesday.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0911hiv-nyc0911-ON.html
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New York LGBT center job: TV Production Internship

Payment is on a lo/no/deferred basis.

Do you want some real hands-on experience in TV Production? Do you want to write, produce, shoot, edit a show that airs monthly? Would you like to see your name in production credits and build your reel?

Maybe an internship with Out at the Center could be right for you.

http://www.mandy.com/1/jobs3.cfm?v=23912993