TODAY 4pm: Pride Flag Rally at the Stonewall National Monument In the wake of the Trump administration’s anti-queer decision to remove the Pride flag from Stonewall National Monument earlier this week, I’m joining other elected officials and activists to re-raise the flag and protest this erasure of LGBTQ+ Americans and our history. I invite you to join us today, Thursday, February 12 at 4pm at the Stonewall National Monument (38-64 Christopher St.) and rally in support of protecting our community from these ongoing extremist attacks. Manhattan is the home of Pride and we will not be silenced. Calling museums, public schools & nonprofits Need capital funding for an arts or cultural project? Apply by February 19: bpbhs.com/budget Plus – we’re actively seeking partners to match and help make every dollar go further. Apply or Get More Info Here Want to have a greater voice in how matters like housing, transit, sanitation, and more are decided in your neighborhood? Then apply for one of the 300+ open community board seats! Applications are open through February 27 – apply here. You can learn about the location and work of your community board here. You must be at least 16 years old and live, work, or attend school in the community board to which you’re applying. Apply by February 27

Please join me Sunday, February 22, from 1 – 4 pm, at Alice Tully Hall for my Inauguration as Manhattan’s 29th Borough President—and our first ever Borough Convention.   We’ll feature discussion stations where you can help us map out priorities on housing, transit, public health and education. We’ll also have immersive, hands-on activities, including: • Record your personal history with StoryCorps • “Build a Dream Borough” mapmaking project • Anti-ICE “Know Your Rights” station   Refreshments will be served; bring your family, friends—and your ideas!   RSVP Here Meet Deputy Manhattan Borough President Miesha Smith We’re thrilled to welcome Miesha Smith as Deputy Manhattan Borough President, who brings a deep commitment to public service, higher education, small business vitality, and equity for working families. A Harlem resident and the daughter of immigrants from Guyana, DBP Smith was most recently Assistant Dean for Student Life at Hunter College, where she launched Hunter’s food pantry and fresh food program, expanded emergency support services, and advanced initiatives that improved student retention and graduation. In her new role, DBP Smith will focus on supporting public education, strengthening small businesses, and advancing arts and culture. Take the NYC LGBTQIA+ Community Safety Survey Take this brief survey to help identify safety concerns among LGBTQ New Yorkers and understand the dynamics between the community and the NYPD. Conducted by the NYPD’s LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee, the data collected will help create a 2026 Safety Benchmark used to advocate for policy changes and a more equitable public safety environment. Take the Survey OMNY Call Center Now Available 24/7   The OMNY Call Center is now available 24/7, able to answer questions about trips and transactions and assist riders with any inquiries or issues. While speaking with an OMNY Customer Service representative, riders can access their OMNY account, hear their trips and charges, manage their travel cards, and more.   Riders can call the OMNY Call Center at 877-789-6669 or use the digital chat function available on the lower righthand side of the OMNY website.   All best regards, Brad Hoylman-Sigal Manhattan Borough President

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Inclusive Pride Family Day
Sunday, June 4 | 1:00pm–4:00pm ET | In-person

Learn all about LGBTQ+ figures in space exploration and the Navy. Families of all ages and experiences can take part in hands-on art and storytelling activities all about expressing yourself, and explore the Museum at their own pace with a scavenger hunt. Entry to the Museum is FREE with event pre-registration.

Learn more and register here

Current and former service members and their families who pre-register are invited to a special Military Family Luncheon. A light lunch will be available from 12:30–1:30pm.

Learn more and register here

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Listen to “PRIDE MONTH SPECIAL – University Professor and LGBTQ Youth Safe Space Initiative Founder at Stockton University by Dr. Laurie Greene” on Spreaker.

PRIDE MONTH SPECIAL Drag Queens and Beauty Queens: Contesting Femininity in the World’s Playground.

by Laurie Greene

The Miss America pageant has been held in Atlantic City for the past hundred years, helping to promote the city as a tourist destination. But just a few streets away, the city hosts a smaller event that, in its own way, is equally vital to the local community: the Miss’d America drag pageant.

Drag Queens and Beauty Queens presents a vivid ethnography of the Miss’d America pageant and the gay neighborhood from which it emerged in the early 1990s as a moment of campy celebration in the midst of the AIDS crisis. It examines how the pageant strengthened community bonds and activism, and how it has changed now that Rupaul’s Drag Race has brought many of its practices into the cultural mainstream. Comparing the Miss’d America pageant with its glitzy cisgender big sister, anthropologist Laurie Greene discovers how the two pageants have influenced each other in unexpected ways.

Drag Queens and Beauty Queens deepens our understanding of how femininity is performed at pageants, exploring the various ways that both the Miss’d America and Miss America pageants have negotiated between embracing and critiquing traditional gender roles. Ultimately, it celebrates the rich tradition of drag performance and the community it engenders.
On your program, Laurie can answer questions like:

What are “camp sensibilities” in drag performance and gay culture?

The book explored the personalities of the pageants. Can you give us a flavor of them?

What is the importance of camp in missed America? Drag style, performance, and language.

Tell us about the queering of the miss America pageant? Did anybody work on both?

How do each of the four areas of competition differ on the page TA — swimsuit, evening gown, talent, and interview. There is an object and a subject section.

Who owns the pageants?

What is the Show Us Your Shoes Parade?

Do you see the talent on both sides sharing hard work, perseverance, and talent?

What are the different elements of pageantry and the meaning of individual expression when comparing beauty pageants and drag pageants? Does one try and fit in and one tries to be unique? One fits into boundaries and one tries to break boundaries.

You mentioned that drag is part of the gay community in AC but it has a male focus. Explain?

Talk about the conflicts you found between the gay community and the drag community.



“An unprecedented look at drag culture and its history in Atlantic City. A must-read for queens and their fans!”

— Sapphira Cristal ― Miss’d American 2020

“I have long wondered how the Miss America pageant maintains a conservative appeal while ignoring the known influence and involvement by the gay community. If you’ve ever known or loved Miss America, you need this history lesson.”

— Erin O’Flaherty ― Miss Missouri 2016, first openly lesbian Miss America contestant

“After 30 years in the drag business, I was surprised and elated to learn so much about drag/LGBTQ+ history in Atlantic City. The in-depth exploration of how Miss America and Miss’d America were connected and disconnected is fascinating.”

— Sherry Vine ― Drag Legend

“Through a highly entertaining, insightful, and informative combination of history, ethnography, and gender studies, Greene uncovers the long-standing influence that Atlantic City’s LGBTQ+ community has had on the Miss America Pageant.”

— Rusty Barrett ― author of From Drag Queens to Leathermen: Language, Gender, and Gay Male Subcultures

“The subject matter is fascinating.”

― Gay & Lesbian Review


Publisher: Rutgers University Press (December 18, 2020)

Language: English

Paperback: 248 pages

ISBN-10: 1978813864

ISBN-13: 978-1978813861

LAURIE GREENE is an associate professor of anthropology at Stockton University in New Jersey, where she has taught since 1986. She is the founder and chair of the LGBTQ Youth Safe Space Initiative at Stockton University and an advocate for the local LGBTQ community. Connect with Laurie On FaceBook!

Publisher: Rutgers University Press (December 18, 2020)

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The demographics of the LGBT community in the US have dramatically changed. TestTube News sat down with Dr. Gary Gates to discuss this shift in demographics.

Learn More:
William Institute
http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/

LGBT Demographics: Comparisons among population-based surveys
http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu…
“This report uses four large, national, population-based surveys to consider the ways in which LGBT populations are demographically similar to or distinct from their non-LGBT counterparts in the United States.”

Gay and Lesbian Rights
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1651/gay-l…

_________________________

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NEA and American Counseling Association Join HRC’s Time To THRIVE Conference, Promoting Safety, Inclusion and Well-Being for LGBTQ Youth

The National Education Association (NEA) and the American Counseling Association (ACA) have become Co-Presenting Conference Partners at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s inaugural Time To THRIVE Conference – supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. The national conference, which will take place in February, is for educators and other youth-serving professionals and will build awareness and cultural competency, offer best practices, and deliver resources from leading experts working on behalf of LGBTQ youth.  The NEA is the nation’s largest professional organization, representing 3 million members in education; and the ACA is the largest association representing professional counselors in various practice settings.

“Our partnership with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation comes at a critical time in the struggle for the rights of LGBTQ people in our country,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “We’ve come a long way on the road to legal equality, but we have many miles still to go.”

“Time to Thrive was created to address an issue head on. That’s the approach our counseling professionals encourage and that’s the approach we support as a strong, unified counseling community. By sharing knowledge, tools, insights, and techniques, we can better serve this invaluable population,” said ACA President Cirecie West Olatunji, Ph.D.

The NEA has long been an advocate for LGBTQ rights. Partnering with the Human Rights Campaign Foundation will help the organization’s leaders provide members with the tools they need to better meet the needs of LGBTQ youth. Participating in the first annual Time to THRIVE conference will give NEA members an opportunity to develop partnerships and share what they’ve learned with other professionals who are also serving America’s youth.

The ACA and its diverse professional membership embrace a humanistic approach to mental health, focusing on empowerment, engagement, and support as integral components of health and well-being for each individual. HRC and the Time to Thrive conference also embody this approach by striving to provide relevant, timely, powerful education and resources, which will help youth-serving professionals address the realities of one of our nation’s most vulnerable populations. A shared vision of focused care and prevention made this partnership a natural progression for ACA.

“All young people should be provided with a safe place to learn and an equitable chance to thrive,” said Vinnie Pompei, Director of HRC Foundation’s Youth Well-Being Project and conference chair.  “Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen automatically for those who identify or are perceived to be LGBTQ.  Educators and other youth-service providers are thirsty for training and resources.  I am thrilled that Time to THRIVE will provide these professionals with a ‘one-stop-shop’ opportunity to become emerging experts and change agents in their communities.”

About Time to THRIVE

Time to THRIVE is the premier national convening to build awareness and cultural competency, learn current and emerging best practices, and gather resources from leading experts and national organizations in the field.  Time to THRIVE will take place over President’s Day Weekend, February 14-16, 2014 at Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV.  Learn more and register at www.TimeToThrive.org.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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