Writing
Wu Zao
An extraordinarily skilled poet, musician, and playwright, Wu Zao occupies a liminal yet luminous place in the history of Chinese literature—and increasingly, in the evolving narrative of China’s LGBTQ+ cultural heritage. Born at the turn of the 19th century, Wu Zao emerged as a singular voice in a literary canon typically dominated by men, and carved a space for herself within intellectual and artistic traditions that rarely welcomed women, let alone those who dared to defy gender and sexual norms.
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When Fetish Met Fine Dining
In 1997, the quirky Hayne Suthon and her partner Robert Jason decided to open a new spot called La Nouvelle Justine, a fetish and S&M (sadism and masochism) restaurant named after the scandalous 1791 novel written by the Marquis de Sade. The upscale restaurant featured waitresses with whips called the "dominants," vinyl-clad busboys called the "slaves," as well as lots of torture-chamber decor.
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ABilly S. Jones-Hennin
The term "trailblazer" often gets tossed around, but in the case of ABilly S. Jones-Hennin, it fits with unparalleled precision. A lifelong activist, ABilly dedicated his life to reshaping the landscape of social justice and intersectional advocacy, and as an esteemed champion for the bi+ community, the broader LGBTQ+ movement, and specifically the BIPOC queer community, his work transcended labels and united disparate causes.
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Lohana Berkins
Historically, the word travesti was wielded as a slur, used to marginalize or dehumanize trans individuals and reinforce their social vulnerability and exclusion from fundamental rights. Over the past few decades, however, activists across countries like Peru, Brazil, and Argentina reclaimed travesti, transformed it into a term of pride and resistance, and adopted it as a rejection of colonial notions of the gender binary. Among these activists, Lohana Berkins emerged as a leader and trailblazer, championing the rights of travestis and transgender individuals in Argentina.
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A Crisp-y Taste of The Big Apple
In 1981, at the age of 72, English-born writer, actor, and queer icon Quentin Crisp moved to New York City permanently, taking up a small apartment at 46 East 3rd Street in Manhattan's East Village. The late-in-life move came as a surprise to many—though Crisp reportedly at one point stated: “I have always been American in my heart…the moment I saw New York, I wanted it.” The craving for Crisp’s move to the City likely began, however, circa 1978, when the already accomplished celebutante decided to take their one-man show, which had sold out London's Duke of York's Theatre, to The Big Apple.
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From Hollywood To Chinatown: The Queer Pioneer Who Was Esther Eng
A true gender rebel, Esther Eng lived a life that was truly both fascinating and enigmatic—and also one of a kind. Born in the U.S. but fluent in Cantonese, she made a name for herself by becoming the world's first female Chinese-American filmmaker, all while rejecting social expectations by donning masculine attire and sporting a “mannish” haircut. Simultaneously, she felt little need to hide her frequent and often publicized romantic and sexual relationships with other women, many of whom would also have starring roles in her films. Tragically, most of Eng’s cinematic creations have been lost to history, but the largely forgotten queer pioneer ultimately pivoted and lived a second life when she became an extremely successful restauranteur in New York City.
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A Gay Restaurant Gets Much, Much Gayer
Located at 325 West 51st Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Manhattan, ViceVersa has been quietly serving patrons a small slice of Italy since 1999, offering contemporary but comforting northern Italian cuisine with a menu full of items like Smoked Scarmorza Ravioli, Eggplant Caponata, and Pollo Milanese. This past year, however, the restaurant’s co-owners and real life partners Franco Lazzari and Stefano Derzi closed down the restaurant permanently, and after a couple months of renovations, reopened the space in May as VV Bar & Kitchen, an explicitly gay bar with an ancient Rome theme, complete with a life-size statue of a naked Julius Caesar.
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Those We've Lost (Part 4)
This newsletter highlights the lives of a numer of individuals who passed on during the latter half of the year, including Morgan Jenness, Needles Jones (Ira Abramowitz), David Garrard Lowe, Troy Masters, Paul Morrissey, Gil Neary, Ken Page and Tom Porton.
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Those We've Lost (Part 3)
This newsletter highlights the lives of a number of individuals who passed on during the latter half of the year, including Billy Bean, Roy Blakey, Bette Bourne, Peggy Caserta, Christopher Ciccone, Gavin Creel, Nikki Giovanni, and Gary Indiana.
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Sally Gross
Born in apartheid-era South Africa, Sally Gross was a trailblazing figure whose life journey intertwined profound personal struggles, groundbreaking activism, and deep spiritual exploration. Much of her life was shaped by her intersex identity, as well by her commitment to social justice and her unwavering fight for equality. Gross’ complex and often arduous journey took her from her early embrace of Catholicism and anti-apartheid activism to a path of exile and eventual return to South Africa, where she became a vital voice for intersex rights.
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Pearl Alcock
History is often shaped by those who dare to break away from conventional paths, consciously forging new directions. Yet, it is also made by those who, through serendipity, find themselves in the right place at the right time, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Pearl Alcock, a Jamaican-born artist, activist, and community builder, embodied a blend of both. Through her self-taught art practice, grassroots formation of queer spaces, and quiet activism, Alcock left an indelible legacy within Britain’s LGBTQ+ community, helping to forge a queer legacy that continues to resonate today.
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The Fat Cat In The Cubbyhole
The Cubbyhole bar, located at 281 West 12th Street in Manhattan’s West Village, is perhaps one of the most universally beloved LGBTQ+ bars in New York City. But what many people do not know is that before the bar was renamed Cubbyhole in 1994, the tiny space on West 12th Street was, in fact, home to a lesbian-centric piano bar called DT's Fat Cat. If you walk into Cubbyhole today, you can actually still see an original DT's Fat Cat plaque nailed to the wall near the entryway, under which it states "Est. 1987," the year it first opened.
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Clodovil Hernandes
Throughout his lifetime in Brazil, Clodovil Hernandes wore several hats. From an early age, he became a widely recognizable public figure in his country, first as a fashion stylist and designer, then as a television personality, and finally as a politician. At each of these various stages of life and career, however, he maintained his brazenly flamboyant persona and unapologetic attitude, becoming both a trailblazing visibly queer icon and a contentious figure with numerous enemies.
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Georgina Beyer
After enduring a transient childhood and a youth burdened with struggles surrounding both her gender and Māori identities, Georgina Beyer emerged as both a transformative and trailblazing figure in New Zealand’s political and social arenas. She became the world’s first openly transgender mayor, only to follow up that landmark achievement by being elected a Member of Parliament and becoming the world’s first openly transgender person to hold significant public office. Beyer thus broke new ground for trans visibility on an international level, and paved the way for both greater acceptance and wider representation of LGBTQ+ individuals in politics.
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Dejan Nebrigić
During an era in which Serbia was dominated by war, nationalism, and widespread violence, Dejan Nebrigić emerged as a stubbornly vocal pacifist and is widely considered to be one of the first publicly gay activists in his country. As one of the earliest leaders of the LGBTQ+ movement in Serbia, Nebrigić was able to make significant strides for queer rights during what would come to be a tragically shortened life, including co-founding his nation’s first ever LGBTQ+ organization. In particular, Nebrigić is remembered for boldly initiating the first legal trial in Serbia that centered on homophobic discrimination. This case would ultimately be a leading cause in his untimely demise.
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A Salute to The Hangar, a Haven for Gay Black Elders
While the loss of queer spaces in New York City seems to have thankfully slowed down in 2024, the year nevertheless kicked off with the sudden news of the end one particular institution’s era, when the Hangar Bar announced it would close for good on January 10th. Located at 115 Christopher Street between Bleecker and Hudson, Hangar Bar (also simply known as The Hangar) first opened in the heart of Manhattan’s historic West Village gay-borhood on June 25th, 1993 and for over 30 years remained a reliable staple, as a dark and narrow dive offering cheap drinks, a popular pool table and a laid-back atmosphere. The Hangar was also especially known to be patronized by a diverse range of mostly gay men, and in particular severed as a welcoming space and vital sanctuary for the older, gay Black male populatio
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Otake Kōkichi
Born perhaps a century too soon, Otake Kōkichi was a defiant and free-spirited feminist, author, painter and activist whose life and legacy offer profound insights into the complexities of gender identity and expression in early twentieth-century Japan. During her lifetime, Kōkichi defied societal norms by dressing in masculine attire, openly discussed her love of women, advocated for sex workers and actively rejected any traditions she deemed oppressive, particularly the long-held ideal that Japanese women should exist simply to be “Good Wives, Wise Mothers.”
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Those We've Lost So Far (Part 2)
This newsletter is a continuation from last week’s, which covered the lives and legacies of Maurice Hines, Steve Ostrow, Cecilia Gentili, Dee Finley, Shelly Weiss, DJ Stacy (Ledwith), David Mixner and Ruby Lynn Reyner. This week, I’ll be highlighting the lives of Andrew Crispo, Joan Gibbs, Christopher Durang, Mary Ann Zielenko, REX, Patti Astor, Robbi Mecus and KoKo Aviance (Thay Floyd). Once again, if there is anyone else you think has been left out or should be included, please be sure to let me know via comment or message!
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Those We've Lost So Far (Part 1 of 2)
On an annual basis, we lose a significant amount of queer history makers, but we typically reflect on those losses only at the time of said individual’s death and then once again in a massive roundup at the end of the year. As we are just about to reach 2024’s halfway point, I noticed our community had already lost a number of queer folks, each of whom made an impact on New York City in ways both big and small. To allot each of those individuals a bit more attention, I decided to round up a number of individuals who have passed on to reflect on their lives and legacies. In this newsletter, I’ll be covering: Maurice Hines, Steve Ostrow, Cecilia Gentili, Dee Finley, Shelly Weiss, DJ Stacy (Ledwith), David Mixner and Ruby Lynn Reyner.
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Is this the Wildest Queer Address in NYC?
For nearly half a century, a single, ordinary brownstone building in the East Village housed a series of uniquely unconventional commercial spaces, each of which proved significant to varying members of the LGBTQ+ community. Below is a detailed history of how one building contained the first openly gay-owned bathhouse, an Ancient Roman-themed bistro that hosted lesbian orgies and a restaurant exclusively staffed by Asian drag queens.
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Where To See Keith Haring For Free in NYC (Part 2)
“My sense is that he just wanted to be of service,” said Gil Vazquez, executive director of the Keith Haring Foundation, in The New York Times, “Art heals, and he knew that.” At the time. Haring submitted a formal application to the City in order to be able to create the mural, in which he wrote: “Since this is a hospital, I assume that means the work should be positive, uplifting, unaggressive, imaginative and comforting.” The completed mural, which consists of a brightly colored parade of playful characters who appear to be wiggling and writhing in mirthful dance, certainly fulfills Haring’s intended mission.
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Félix González-Torres
Though he lived and worked as an outspoken, openly gay, Cuban-born man, conceptual artist Félix González-Torres never wanted any singular aspect of his life to box him in or define his craft. He didn’t care for being labeled a “gay artist” or “Latino artist,” despite the fact that much of his work incorporated themes and imagery from these identities. Through his art, González-Torres addressed—albeit abstractly—a variety of urgent political and social issues, particularly when it came to matters regarding discriminatory public policies, censorship of LGBTQ+ artists, and perhaps most importantly, the global impact of the AIDS epidemic.
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Where To See Keith Haring For Free in NYC
Keith Haring once said: “Art is nothing if you don’t reach every segment of the people.” Following that mantra is exactly how Haring spent much of his career, trying to find ways to spark conversation, represent the oppressed or convey an important message through his art to as many people from as many walks of life as possible. Haring drew on sidewalks, in stairwells and on subway station walls; he saw a canvas wherever he could find an inch of space he knew would be seen by all kinds of people.
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A Eulogy For Village Cigars
Although it was not an LGBTQ+ venue outright, Village Cigars was nevertheless an iconic neighborhood institution that had served as a visual landmark and meetup place for the queer community across numerous decades, and had served as a literal backdrop for and witness to so much of New York City's queer history. According to Paul H. Lewis (@paul.h.lewis.888): “Village Cigars qualifies [as a queer landmark], if only because countless [LGBTQ+] couples met ‘at the corner cigar store,’ either by appointment, or by chance!”
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We'wha
In pre-colonial America, numerous Indigenous communities recognized a spectrum of gender identities beyond the binary, each with unique terms and associated roles. Within the Zuni tribe, which originated in a region now known as New Mexico, the term Lhamana was used for those born biologically male who took on social and ceremonial roles usually performed by women. Historically, Lhamana were described using both masculine and feminine pronouns interchangeably, and individuals typically wore a mixture of both traditionally women's and men's clothing. Like other Indigenous roles, the Zuni Lhamana existed as part of a unique cultural framework, which Indigenous scholars assert goes beyond mere sexual orientation or adherence to conventional gender norms, including modern concepts of transgender or genderqueer identities.
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Eve Adams (Chawa Złoczower)
Though she was frequently a target of both political and social persecution, Eve Adams showed a tenacity and fighting spirit at every turning point during her radical, audacious life. As a visibly queer Jewish woman, Adams was unafraid to challenge societal norms and live unabashedly as herself, choosing to pursue whatever felt deeply normal to her, even if everyone else surrounding her challenged those pursuits.
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2023 Roundup: Top 10 Queer Sites You May Have Missed
A roundup of 10 of the most popular queer sites covered this year, including The Nasty Club, New Jimmy's, Art Bar, Phoenix, Beige, Funhouse, Westgay, Hector's Cafe, Savage and Larry Kramer's Residence!
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Leslie & Lohman's Legacy: The Birth of NYC's LGBTQ Art Museum
New York City is proudly home to the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art (LLMA), located at 26 Wooster Street in Lower Manhattan, which as of 2023, is somehow still the only museum in the world exclusively dedicated to showcasing LGBTQ artwork. While there certainly are other LGBTQ-related museums across the globe, Leslie-Lohman is truly the only permanent, queer art-specific museum in existence that is not solely dedicated to a single artist (So, for example, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh is certainly a queer art museum, but it’s mostly about Andy). As of 2023, the Leslie-Lohman Museum counts over 25,000 queer art objects in its holdings, and maintains a busy, year-round calendar of exhibitions, public programs and publications. Like any established queer institution, however, the Leslie-Lohman Museum had humble, grass-roots beginnings, which trace back to the year 1969, when two gay men decided to hold a small little exhibit of gay art in their SoHo loft residence.
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Sumaya Dalmar
Far too frequently and far too easily, we read or hear about the life of an LGBTQ person cut short, often occurring simply because that individual chose to exist as publicly queer. This is particularly true for trans and gender diverse people of color, whose rates of mortality either by suicide or murder continue to be alarmingly high on a global scale. Many of these individuals are just beginning to forge a path for themselves in life or figure out how they want to make an impression in the world, but are barely allowed to even get their foot off the ground. Such is the case with Sumaya Dalmar, who was one of the first people from Somalia to publicly come out as transgender, and one of the earliest individuals from her home country to publicly identify as LGBTQ at all.
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When Bar d'O Was THE Place To Go
Once upon a time in the early 1990s, a diminuitive, dimly-lit bar called Bar d’O came along in the West Village as nearly an afterthought, but for a decade ended up cultivating a substantial queer cult following, thanks in large part to a legendary drag-fueled cabaret show created by Joey Arias, Raven O and Edwidge. The show, which debuted there on Tuesdays and ended up taking over an impressive three nights a week (including Saturdays and Sundays), helped launch the careers of many notable New York performers, including Sherry Vine, Sade Pendavis, Jackie Beat and Flotilla DeBarge.
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Max Ewing's Queer Carnival & Frida Kahlo's U.S. Debut
Throughout the 1930s and ‘40s, the Julien Levy Gallery became a major destination for Surrealist & avant-garde artists and their patrons, but also became a notable early venue that promoted the work of several LGBTQ artists including Frida Kahlo, who had her first ever exhibition on American soil there in November of 1938.
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Gay Cruising The Brooklyn Heights Promenade
Now a popular romantic site for marriage proposals both gay and straight, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade was once one of New York City’s most popular and well-known gay male cruising areas, beginning in the 1950s and lasting well into the 1980s. During the 1960s in particular, it became contested ground when complaints from residential neighbors about the "goings on" there late at night led to a police crackdown as well as a curfew.
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When NYC's Piers Were Queer
A meeting place, a hangout, a refuge. An industrial wasteland, a locale for sex, a beach, a dance floor, an art gallery, a home. A place of thrills, of danger, of comfort, of joy. Each of these varying descriptors and functions—alongside many others depending on who you ask—could at one point be attributed to a singular area in New York City: Greenwich Village’s waterfront, also known as the Christopher Street Pier.
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From Feeling POSH to full-on FLEX-ing
Posh Bar & Lounge was one of the earlier bars to leave an indelible mark on Hell’s Kitchen, opening there in the year 2000 when that neighborhood was still known for organized crime and when most gay clubs were still situated in Chelsea, an area that was quickly becoming unaffordable to young bar-goers. FLEX opened its doors hoping to establish a vibrant new LGBTQ+ space in Manhattan while also honoring Posh’s legacy.FLEX opened its doors hoping to establish a vibrant new LGBTQ+ space in Manhattan while also honoring Posh’s legacy.
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Where Warhol Worked (*Partied) - Part 2!
Five years after being shot at, visual artist and Pop art sensation Andy Warhol moved his Factory (what he called his art studio) once again to what is considered its third location—860 Broadway, on the north end of Union Square Park. This relocation was spurred in part by the fact that Warhol needed more space for his studio but also because he felt that he needed more security, a logical response after the 1968 attack by Valerie Solanas that scarred him for life.
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Where Warhol Worked (*Partied) - Part 1
Visual artist, filmmaker, producer and leading pop art figure Andy Warhol became known for many things during his lifetime, with perhaps one of the most fabled being The Factory, the name he gave to his New York City studio that became a well-known gathering place for distinguished intellectuals, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, wealthy patrons & countless notable LGBTQ folk.
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Celebrating PAT, A Party “For Anyone From Anywhere Wearing Anything & Loving Who They Want”
For those uninformed and uninitiated, PAT is a queer-centric dance party that was first started in 2013 by DJs JD Samson and Amber Valentine and which has ever since been held monthly at Union Pool, a multi-functional bar located at 484 Union Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The much-beloved PAT has long attracted a wonderful mix of genders, races, ethnicities and sexual orientations and has boasted a world-class roster of DJs spinning throughout the night.
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Xuân Diệu
In Vietnam, Xuân Diệu is considered a highly celebrated poet, whose innovative writing style and collective body of work left an indelible mark on the country’s literary landscape. In particular, Xuân Diệu’s influence in Vietnam reigns over the realm of romantic poetry, to the extent that he is still dubbed there “the King of Love Poetry”. Though he spent decades composing countless works about intimacy, passion and longing, Xuân Diệu kept much of his writing gender-neutral and lived a highly secretive personal life, concealing his sexuality and relationships with men for the entirety of his career.
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Cookie's Lover & Nan's Muse: Remembering The Life Of Sharon Niesp
On September 21st, 2023, news broke regarding the passing of Sharon Niesp, an actor, artist and singer who was one of director John Waters’ Dreamlanders (a.k.a regulars in his films) as well as the lover and girlfriend of Cookie Mueller, a fellow Dreamlander, author and actress in her own right.
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Tracing Candy Darling's New York Haunts
Throughout her far too brief lifespan, Candy Darling was many things—an actress, a model, a cosmetologist, a barmaid, a muse, and most of all, a pioneering transgender icon whose legacy to this day can still be felt amongst the trans and greater LGBTQ community. As Candy herself once said, "I'm a thousand different people. Every one is real."
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Lamenting Barrage, One of NYC's Best Gay Lounges
Barrage Bar, or simply Barrage as it was often called, was a popular, glitzy lounge-type gay bar that opened in Hells Kitchen towards the end of the decade and which served as a popular date spot and casual meeting place for predominantly gay men throughout the entirety of the 2000s and 2010s. It featured floor-to-ceiling garage-style glass doors that would open up out onto the street on days with gorgeous weather and plenty of seating including plush, booth-like couches surrounding the perimeter.
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When Bushwick was Bizarre (Bar)
Located at 12 Jefferson Street between Broadway and Bushwick Avenues in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Bizarre, much like its name, was an eccentric bar open in the 2010s that attracted the city’s artistic underbelly and which became a breeding ground for unconventional performances, screenings and parties, many of which were heavily LGBTQ-driven or themed. Events there over the years would range from fetish variety shows to "goth dragstravaganzas" to Sasha Velour's much beloved monthly queer performance art and drag show called "Nightgowns", which helped propel her to stardom.
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Revisiting Reginette, the Chintzier Sister Restaurant to Régine's
Located at 69 E. 59th Street between Madison and Park Avenues in Manhattan, Reginette, also known over the years as Cafe Reginette, La Reginette, Le Reginette or Brasserie Reginette, was a restaurant and multipurpose nightspot that became popular with many LGBTQ folks who worked in the arts, theater, fashion, and nightlife industries beginning in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. It first opened its doors at the end of 1977, intended to operate as the less formal sister restaurant to the then famous high-end membership club/discotheque, Régine's.
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The Revolving Queer Door at 505 East 6th Street
A sequence of consecutive gay bars in a singular physical space can be especially gratifying for those that get to live through and enjoy the numerous versions, forging queer memories across different venues despite the fact that the walls, floor, and ceiling may be exactly the same. As the saying goes, if those walls could talk, then they might recount having seen you hook up in the exact same bathroom in what were technically three different bars across three different eras.
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Carmen Xtravaganza, RIP
On Friday, August 4th, the House Of Xtravaganza—one of New York City’s most legendary ballroom houses—announced the death of Carmen Xtravaganza, a trans activist as well as a pioneer and icon within the ballroom community and an ambassador of ballroom culture to the larger world. Between 1998 and 2015, Carmen served as mother of the Legendary House of Xtravaganza for various periods and is one of seven members of the House of Xtravaganza to have been inducted into the Ballroom Hall of Fame, for the categories Femme Queen Realness and Face. Carmen had been battling Stage 4 lung cancer and succumbed to her illness at the age of 62.
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Sinéad O’Connor, RIP
In addition to her biggest hit single, 1990’s iconic “Nothing Compares 2 U”, Sinéad is best remembered for her look—specifically her shaved bald head that became a symbol to millions of dykes, queers, rebels and outcasts. She partnered that hard-edged haircut with equally punchy clothes— Doc Martens, shredded jeans, biker jackets—yet somehow all along managed to remain looking soft, towing the perfect line between butch and femme. Gays loved her, lesbians were in love with her, and so on and so forth. But Sinéad was not just a queer crush—she also made significant contributions to and left a vital imprint on the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.
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Alla Nazimova
At one point billed as “The World’s Greatest Actress”, Alla Nazimova, who was also for a time the highest paid actress in the film industry, is somehow a name that is still relatively unknown to most. Despite the pioneering work she did in both movies and onstage, including being the first woman to start her own film production company in the 1910s, the majority of Nazimova’s career has been lost to history, as almost all of her films were never preserved.
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Meet New York City's Trans Voice Of Transit
If you’ve ever ridden the New York City subway, or perhaps AirTrain Newark, AirTrain JFK, or even just listened to the travelers' information station system at Newark or JFK Airports, then chances are high you’re quite familiar with the measured tone of Bernie Wagenblast, reminding you to "Please step away from the platform edge" or that the next "Northbound 1 train to Van Cortlandt park will be arriving in two minutes". Wagenblast has often been dubbed “the voice of New York”, greeting & guiding the paths of millions of commuting New Yorkers on the daily. Within the past week, however, major news outlets—including CBS News, The Guardian, & them, began reporting on the fact that Wagenblast has, as of January 2023, come out publicly as a transgender woman.
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Hardware Bar & The Blue Collar Gay Fantasy
Located at 697 10th Avenue between 47th and 48th Streets in the heart of Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, Hardware Bar is a former electrical-supply store turned gay bar that first opened its doors in 2012.
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Central Park Is & Has Always Been Hella Queer
Since its creation in 1857, Central Park has had numerous affiliations with the LGBTQ community and its history, including its Angel of the Waters sculpture on the Bethesda Fountain designed by lesbian sculptor Emma Stebbins, its role in several early Gay Pride Marches, and its multiple areas used for gay cruising and socializing, particularly the region in the park known as The Ramble, which continues to this day to be a meeting place for predominantly gay and bisexual men.
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A Tale Of Two Cubbyholes & Lesbian Bar Lineage
Located at 281 West 12th Street at the corner of West 4th in Manhattan's West Village, Cubbyhole is considered the oldest lesbian bar in NYC, having first opened at the location in 1987 under the name DT's Fat Cat. Despite its diminutive, less-than 1,000 square foot size, Cubbyhole has steadfastly remained one of New York City's most beloved and frequently patronized queer spaces, packing in wall-to-wall people under its perpetually festive piñata and ornament-festooned ceiling.
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Rocking Horse Cafe: When A Restaurant Leans Gay
Located at 182 8th Avenue between West 19th and 20th Streets, Rocking Horse Cafe was a Mexican restaurant located in the heart of Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood that for 30 years served as a much beloved hangout and food spot for the neighboring LGBTQ community, boasting a colorful rainbow logo and a very popular happy hour.
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Boiler Room & The Need For Gay Dive Bars
About a week ago, I helped break the news that the Boiler Room, the beloved gay dive bar at 86 East 4th Street off 2nd Avenue in the East Village would be closing down at that address, after a whopping 34 years of being open at that location. The outpouring of responses—thousands of reposts lamenting the bar’s closure as well as the sharing of hundreds of personal stories and memories from time spent at the bar by the LGBTQ community, was to be honest, a thing of beauty.
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Walking 'The Stroll': Documenting Transgender Sex Work In Manhattan's Meatpacking District
The Stroll is titled after the stretch of 14th Street between 9th Avenue & the Hudson River where for decades trans women, primarily of color, turned to sex work as a means of survival. The film explores the history of NYC's Meatpacking District through the eyes of these transgender women who both lived & worked there.
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Mary's, Bush & The Revival Of Queer Womxn's Spaces
Around the beginning of 2020, a reckoning seemed to occur when all at once everyone seemed to be talking about the steep decline of lesbian bars in America. Over the course of the next two years, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on, the dialogue around the matter sparked countless articles & analyses: Lena Wilson’s Where Did All the Lesbian Bars Go? , Stef Rubino’s Why Do Lesbian Bars Keep Disappearing? & Julia Carmel’s How Are There Only Three Lesbian Bars in New York City? just to link to a few.
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Dorce Gamalama
“As a young boy my feelings were too soft and gentle. I was easily touched [emotionally]. My body language was very feminine. Everyone could see it. I preferred mixing and playing with girls. I felt like we shared the same soul whenever I socialized with them. I had their thoughts, feelings and soul. But unfortunately, those things were trapped in the body of a boy.” - Dorce Gamalama
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Luxx, 256 Grand Street
Billed humorously as "Williamsburg's Only True Night Club", Luxx was a small-sized dancehall and concert venue located at 256 Grand Street between Driggs and Roebling in Brooklyn run by legendary DJ and party promoter Larry Tee that became known in the early 2000s for Tee's Electroclash and LGBTQ-heavy parties such as "Berliniamsburg" & "Mutants."
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Paddles NYC, 250 W. 26th St.
Located at 250 West 26th Street between 7th & 8th Avenues in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, Paddles NYC was an underground, after-hours sex club housed in a discreet, industrial-style building with no overt signage. Over the years, it hosted many regular LGBTQ nights for those interested in exploring kink & fetish, including a weekly men’s-only play party. While Paddles NYC was operational, it was one of the longest-running and most well-known BDSM clubs in the city.
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Excelsior Bar, 390 5th Avenue
Located first at 390 Fifth Avenue and then at 563 Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, Excelsior was one of the longest running gay bars to exist in Park Slope, operating as a community watering hole for over twenty years in a neighborhood where gay bars were otherwise few and far between.
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Big Cup, 228 8th Avenue
Located at 228 8th Ave in the heart of Manhattan's Chelsea, Big Cup was a gay-oriented tea & coffeehouse that served as a vital hangout spot for the LGBTQ community & which became notorious for its heavy cruising scene. Employees at Big Cup even lovingly nicknamed their workplace "Gay Grand Central."
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Hiro Ballroom, 371 W. 16th St.
Located in the Maritime Hotel at 371 West 16th Street & 9th Avenue, the Hiro Ballroom was a multipurpose venue that hosted a variety of LGBTQ parties, concerts & events, such as performances by artists Beth Ditto, Sia, & Lady Gaga & parties like Butt Magazine's Halloween Night & the recurring gay Sunday night party Cuckoo Club.
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Transmasc Visibility: Remembering The Legacy & Life Of Loren Rex Cameron
Loren Rex Cameron (August 28, 1959–November 18, 2022) was an American photographer, author & transgender activist, whose groundbreaking portraits of himself & others, collected in his book, Body Alchemy, inspired a generation of transgender people
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Henrietta's Feed & Grain, 444 Hudson Street
In 1993, longtime lesbian bar Henrietta Hudson's opened up a restaurant next door called Henrietta's Feed & Grain, at 444 Hudson Street between Morton & Barrow. Owned by Lisa Cannistraci & Minnie Rivera, Emily Duff served as head chef at Feed & Grain, & the restaurant was 1 of the 1st eateries to employ a completely seasonal menu based on the bounty of local growers from NY & NJ.
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MK, 204 5th Ave
Located at 204 5th Ave between W. 25th & 26th Streets, MK (or M.K.) was an upscale multilevel supper club/nightclub open during the late 1980s that became an essential stomping grounds for the Club Kids & avant-garde drag scene at the time, attracting patrons such as RuPaul, Michael Alig, Lady Bunny, The It Twins, Joey Arias, Sister Dimension, Michael Musto, Dianne Brill, Susanne Bartsch & many more on a regular basis.
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Victor Hugo (Rojas) Part II
Hugo’s sybaritic lifestyle truly entered new heights with the opening of the legendary disco nightclub Studio 54 on April 26, 1977.
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Victor Hugo (Rojas) Part I
“Perhaps you would describe me as jaded, darling, but I prefer to say that in living there is absolutely nothing that is bad. I can only say that I live fully 24 hours a day—and I regret nothing.” - Victor Hugo (Rojas)
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Boysroom, 211 Avenue A
Located at 211 Avenue A on the corner of 13th St. in the East Village, Boysroom (not to be confused with ‘90s circuit party "Boys Room" at BLDG/Webster Hall) was a "smallish corner dance den" that opened & reopened c. 2005-2010. 211 Avenue A was Boysroom’s 2nd location, which opened c. 2007, while its 1st location was at 9 Avenue A (open c. 2005-2007). Boysroom at both locations was opened & operated by Mistress Formika, tended to attract a hot East Village crowd, & became particularly known for its wild go-go boys.
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The Slide, 356 Bowery
Located at 356 Bowery, The Slide was a no-frills gay bar that 1st opened in 2003 in a small room under the Marion's Continental restaurant & attracted a modern-day East Village mélange of drag queens, punk rockers, & muscled men in Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts, as well NYC's premiere queer nightlife celebrities of the time such as Alan Cumming, John Cameron Mitchell, Taylor Mac & Justin Vivian Bond.
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Ferdinand I - Part II
Ferdinand should be remembered for wearing his queerness on his sleeve, alongside a couple hundred jeweled brooches no less, as he lived flamboyantly in the discerning public eye, all while pursuing relations with whomever he pleased, no matter their gender.
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Ferdinand I - Part I
Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria made his mark in history as a boldly effeminate bisexual ruler with a petulant personality to boot, who, at numerous times during his reign, proved to be an actually effective world leader.
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Club 57
Located in the empty basement of the Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church, Club 57 was known for its punk, homemade/do-it-yourself aesthetic, and became a regular hangout and venue for countless visual artists and performers, many of whom were LGBT.
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Canaan Banana - Part II
Though still politically active to an extent, Banana seemed destined to recede into a quiet professorial life at the University of Zimbabwe, teaching classics, religious studies, and philosophy. For almost a decade, Banana remained out of the spotlight until 1997 when everything changed.
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Canaan Banana - Part I
As queer people–a people so often villainized throughout history based on the identity alone–our tendency now is to look for the role models, promote the do-gooders, and disassociate ourselves from the iniquitous, more controversial queers of the past.
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Francisco Moncion - Part II
“Besides Dalí, there was one other hero Friday night, Francisco Monción, who took the part of Tristan. He carried off the most acrobatically strenuous part without a flaw, and more than that he projected the character and the story convincingly. He is a very fine dancer indeed, and a quite exceptionally imaginative one.” – Edwin Denby
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Pyramid Cocktail Lounge
Opened in 1979, the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge came into its own in 1981 as a primary hub for the burgeoning East Village drag, gay, punk, and art scenes that continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It fostered a new breed of experimental and politicized drag performers and played a pivotal role in expanding the art of drag to a new audience as it became a visible and vibrant component of downtown nightlife.
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Olive Yang - Part II
Considering the time period during which Olive Yang lived, combined with the geographic region and traditionally conservative society in which she found herself, it is difficult to exactly label or even fully conceptualize Olive Yang’s sexuality or gender identity.
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Francisco Moncion - Part I
A quiet and eloquent individual, Monción’s demeanor in interviews comes off as humble and demure, and his social and romantic lives are hardly mentioned, if at all. His queer body is thus best documented for the world through the lives and lenses of other gay male artists who ran in his circles.
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New St. Marks Baths
The New St. Marks Baths was one of the largest and most renowned bathhouses in New York City from 1979 to 1985. Its owner, Bruce Mailman, became a central figure in the battle against the closure of bathhouses during the early years of the AIDS epidemic.
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Olive Yang - Part I
Not all people who make queer history do so for their contribution to bettering the world.
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Toto Koopman - Part II
As a woman of beauty, style, intelligence and guile, Toto Koopman approached every watershed moment in her life with an unflappable amount of tenacity.
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François Benga - Part II
Despite making quite the name for himself amidst the elite, leaving a lasting impression in numerous lanes of the art world, the question remains as to why Féral Benga did not, in his lifetime, achieve the level of fame and success as compared to his female counterpart, Josephine Baker.
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Qiu Miaojin Part II
“My world is one of tainted sustenance. I love my own kind–womankind.” – Qiu Miaojin
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Toto Koopman - Part I
If one were to pause and look at any single inflection point in Toto Koopman’s roller coaster of a life, there would always be one adjective apt to describe her and her actions, and that would be “brazen.”
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François Benga - Part I
What does it mean when the memory of your existence has been documented solely through the eyes of others?
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Qiu Miaojin - Part I
For most, it takes a lifetime to build a legacy of work to be remembered by, but Qiu Miaojin was able to accomplish just that by her mid-twenties, and is a name that is still being brought up again and again as a trailblazer and an essential contributor to the queer canon of the Far East.
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"Panama" Al Brown
At 5’11” with a 76-inch reach, “Panama” Al Brown was one of the tallest and rangiest boxers in bantamweight history who died with a career of accomplishments that spoke for themselves but took a lifetime to achieve true recognition. Throughout his life, Brown pushed through adversity as a result of being Afro-Caribbean and the lifestyle choices that he made.
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Armen Ohanian - Part II
From the late 20s and into the mid-1930s, Ohanian rose to be a key figure in the "exotic" dance craze that swept the Western world at the time, touring through most of Europe, Mexico, and the United States.
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Assotto Saint - Part II
Despite his short career and many accomplishments, Saint and his work nevertheless attracted little attention outside of the Black Gay community. What little attention he did achieve often focused on the political aspects of his work, with many non-black and/or heteronormative critics portraying him as troubling, angry, or both.
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Ifti Nasim
Ifti Nasim was likely the first openly gay poet to originate from Pakistan. In his early 20's, he emigrated to the U.S. to escape persecution for his sexual orientation. He became known locally for establishing Sangat, an organization to support LGBT South-Asian youth, and internationally for publishing Narman, a poetry collection deemed to be the first open expression of homosexual themes written in Urdu.
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Armen Ohanian - Part I
An innovative belly dancer, writer, poet, political revolutionary, translator, and all-around renaissance woman, Armen Ohanian dared to defy the stereotypes associated with Middle Eastern women during her lifetime. She overcame many obstacles to pursue a career that would showcase her numerous talents, distinctive artistry, and people’s culture to the Western world.
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Assotto Saint - Part I
Though often a forgotten name, Assotto Saint was a trailblazer in the 1980s and early ‘90s who heavily contributed to increasing the visibility of contemporary Black queerness in literature and theater.
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