By Bruce Poli In 1978, Gilbert Baker—who called himself the Gay Betsy Ross—hand dyed the first LGBT Rainbow Flag to fly in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. He was rumored to have been inspired by Judy Garland’s Over the Rainbow, and the iconic symbol of the ‘nation’ of gay rights has had a
By Bruce Poli West Village author David Carter, renowned for his detailed, truth-telling history Stonewall: the Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution (St. Martin’s Press, 2004) endured years of criticism and challenge to his decade-long researched book on the Stonewall Rebellion—its forelife, life and fallout. Raised in rural Jesup, GA, Carter—who moved to Greenwich Village
By Karen Rempel Proud marchers fill Seventh Avenue during New York’s World Pride Parade 2019, led by the Research Foundation to Cure AIDS’s founder, Kambiz Shekdar. Photo by Ismael Ramirez. Last year’s NYC Pride March was truly epic, with over 5 million spectators and participants. You may recall WestView News’s spectacular 4-page pull-out coverage,
By Robert Kroll What can an apartment building’s super do to boost the experience of Pride Under Quarantine in a West Village co-op? The Super of a co-op apartment building unquestionably has the responsibility of seeing to it that his or her co-operators survive intact, thrive, before, during and after Pride 50—Under Quarantine. Life after
By Drew Minard Can we, as a country, find any value in comparing the similarities between the Coronavirus and the health crises that our country has faced in the past, or has it been proven to be counterproductive? While we have all the time in the world to spiral into the uncertainty from the comfort
By Richard Brodsky Imagine having it all: the perfect wife and family, a successful architectural career, and athletic prowess as a marathon runner. Then imagine having to tell your wife that your life is a myth and that you are not only bisexual but HIV-positive, too. That was back in 1997. My wife chose to
By Bruce Anderson, MSW In 1986, I changed my life. Didn’t need to, wasn’t desperate, had nothing to run away from. My life in Denver was pretty great. Nonetheless, NYC called to me. Had an MSW from Denver University and about five years of practice under my belt. No job awaited me in NYC. Nor
By Robert Galinsky Pride in Quarantine proud enough to discount proud enough to reduce proud enough to deliver fully assembled on the same day with a complimentary cup of fresh squeezed juice “We are here for you, and our expedience is a gift” Pride in Quarantine proud enough to label proud enough to tag
By Michael D. Minichiello This month’s West Village Original is photographer Suzanne Poli, born in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Poli’s photographs are represented in the collections of numerous institutions and have appeared in film and on television, including the seminal drama “Stonewall” by Roland Emmerich. This month, NYC Pride is using her photographs of past Gay Pride
By Maggie Kneip Graceful, sinewy, jump, glitter and cool: nothing like a little of that to relieve my COVID-19 anxiety. I watch ESPN’s documentary series about Michael Jordan and The Bulls nightly, wondering how it is I know so little about “MJ’s” remarkable athletic artistry, or this championship “Team for the Ages.” True, I’d never
By Eric Jacobsen I am a touring musician, married to a touring musician, with a two-year-old-daughter. We spend about seven months on the road, apart. We maintain calendars for each of us and for our daughter, with entire days planned months or even years in advance. We both love what we do, and neither of
Music Celebrating 50 Years of Marching for Equality and Gay Rights By Denise Marsa Early Saturday morning on June 28, 1969, police staged a raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. Unlike the many previous raids that had taken place at the Christopher Street establishment, this one
By Nate Holley As soon as Mr Bopp answered the phone, I knew that this was going to be a lively, fun interview. He answered right away, and after my recording setup was ready, we jumped straight into it. Leonard Bopp is 23 years old and is originally from upstate New York. Today, he lives
By Darren Dryden Owning a bar in the age of Covid-19? Tricky. I wonder how many LGBTQi+ bars and small businesses will survive this awful pandemic. Every day I read about big corporations filing for bankruptcy, and then there are us little guys. As with most small business there isn’t a huge amount of savings
By Lisa Cannistraci Henrietta Hudson has been serving the West Village as a haven for the lesbian community in NYC for almost three decades. The history of the West Village exemplifies the struggle for LGBTQ rights, and Henrietta Hudson, a lesbian-centric queer human bar that is known world-wide, has been a beacon for that cause,
By Patrik Gallineaux When the seriousness of COVID-19 took effect and the country’s first stay-at-home orders were issued, I had just left Philadelphia for my home in San Francisco. I’d just completed only the second of 15 city events included in the 7th annual Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic, the brand’s annual LGBTQ+ nightlife celebration
By Sherry Vine Girl, as a live performing artist, how are you surviving Covid Quarantine? Well, I’ve always had a strong online connection since my early YouTube days. I put a “pause” on making videos about a year ago because I wanted to do different things, but since Covid I have been turning out at
West 13th Street Alliance Announces “A Rainbow is Stronger than COVID” All New York City residents are invited to celebrate Pride Month and enter a Virtual Art Contest with a $300 cash prize for the winner. “We are asking New Yorkers to draw or paint something related to PRIDE and the impact of the Coronavirus
From oppression to achieving the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we are proud to present our selection of LGBTQ historic milestones, events and accomplishments. We did not aim to provide an encyclopedic overview but rather a scenic tour where we aim to convey the arc of LGBT progress with a lens
Thanks to all our friends and the many businesses and organizations who filled the pages of the June Pride edition of WestView News. We’re all New Yorkers and this is how we roll: Pride-in-Quarantine! —Kambiz Shekdar, President, Research Foundation to Cure AIDS & WestView News —Bruce Poli, Pride-in-Quarantine Community Liaison —Dusty Berke, Community Outreach —George Capsis, Publisher
By Martin Belk London calling… European epicentre of viral stupidity. This is not a love song. Tough love poem from an expat New Yorker-cum-rock ‘n’ roll queer—perhaps. Pandemics have historically handed power to grassroots—India, 1918; or right now, in Rome: the anti-right #6000SARDINE movement. Is this an opportunity? COVID-19 rings eerily of AIDS. The villains
Pride will feel different in the West Village this year, but the LGBTQ community has persevered through hard times before. Our vibrant pocket of New York City stood first, and stood tall, for the gay community in the midst of another pandemic 40 years ago. At that time, staff at St. Vincent’s Hospital, a flagship
By James Roman Discrimination was legal in the early 1980s. Gays could lose their homes, jobs, custody, you name it, because there were no laws to prevent it. New York City had an Ordinance: No discrimination based on race, color, creed, age, gender, or disability. To that list, gay New Yorkers requested three more words:
By Ed Chinery Do you know that feeling that everything’s okay? When you’re safe and loved? Feel like you belong? And the opposite. A sense of foreboding. Uneasy in mind, body or spirit. What difference do these feelings make in your thinking and behavior? I was born in 1957 and have known since age five that I’m gay. I didn’t
By Jim Fouratt I am looking forward to celebrating the anniversary of the first Christopher Street March for Liberation. It is important to honor the 200 brave people (including myself) who left Sheridan Square and marched up to Central Park on Sunday, June 28th, 1970. By the time we got to the Park we were
By Robert Heide In June 1961 my one-act play West of the Moon opened as an off-Broadway production at New Playwrights Theater, on West Third Street at Thompson. It was produced and directed by Lee Paton (later called Lee Nagrin) who had first introduced the early one-act plays of Eugene Ionesco at the Sullivan Street
By Erik Bottcher The LGBTQ community is as vastly diverse as humanity itself. Like a brilliant rainbow, we occupy every gradient in the spectrum of race, gender, nationality, socioeconomics and more. Yet, we are bound together by a common thread, a shared experience rooted in a feeling of “otherness” that is always there and will
By Bruce Poli, Executive Director, Equal Rights Foundation In 1961, future U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark was sent to Mississippi for Civil Rights work by then Attorney General Robert Kennedy. This was in anticipation of support for Kennedys’ political Civil Rights agenda, which led up to the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and
West Villager Larry Kramer, American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, LGBT rights activist and the principal founder of ACT UP and GMHC, died May 27 at the age of 84. As the foremost and most vocal and proactive leader in the fight against AIDS, he was a public foe of Ed Koch,
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