Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum Fêted for 25 Years of Leadership

PHOTO ESSAY BY DONNA ACETO | In a benefit evening of speeches, musical performances, and a reception, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the city’s LGBTQ synagogue that is also the world’s largest, celebrated 25 years of spiritual leadership under Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum. The highlight of the evening, which raised funds to complete the capital campaign that allowed […]
Trans Day of Remembrance Downtown

PHOTO ESSAY BY DONNA ACETO | As Transgender Awareness Week came to a close on Monday, November 20, Transgender Day of Remembrance was solemnly marked in several locations in Lower Manhattan. At Christopher Park, the site of the Stonewall National Monument, the Transgender Flag took its place alongside the Rainbow, American, and NYC Parks Flags — […]
Cuomo LGBT Memorial Pick Draws Praise, Fire

BY ANDY HUMM | Monuments to cataclysm — from the Vietnam War Memorial wall in Washington bearing the names of tens of thousands of American soldiers killed in that divisive US “police action” to the 9/11 Memorial waterfalls marking the site of the obliterated World Trade Center towers and the thousands who perished that day — […]
After ESPA, Picking Up the Pieces of Our Agenda

BY PAUL SCHINDLER | Reaction to the Empire State Pride Agenda’s stunning December 12 announcement that it was folding up its tent is comparable to the way people talk about the weather. Everybody complained about it, but the big question is what can be done about it. A number of people who have spoken to Gay […]
ESPA Leadership Pushes Back on Charge They’ve Declared “Mission Accomplished”

BY PAUL SCHINDLER | In the face of shock, chagrin, and some withering criticism both on social media and from past executive directors, top staff and board members at the Empire State Pride Agenda pushed back against the notion they had declared “Mission Accomplished” in their December 12 announcement that they were winding down major operations […]
Citing Win on Cuomo’s Trans Rights Directive, Pride Agenda Folds Up Tent

BY PAUL SCHINDLER | Citing its success in winning new state regulations protecting transgender New Yorkers from discrimination, the Empire State Pride Agenda has announced it will close down major operations in early 2016. In a press release issued on the evening of December 12, the organization indicated that it hoped to maintain a political […]
Andy Warhol “Superstar” Holly Woodlawn Dead at 69

BY PAUL SCHINDLER | Holly Woodlawn, one among the bright firmament of “superstars” created in Andy Warhol’s Factory that in ‘60s and ‘70s Manhattan produced experimental films and other performance art, died of cancer-related causes in Los Angeles on December 6. The Puerto Rican-born transgender actress and cabaret singer was 69. Woodlawn won wide attention […]