GAYLETTER

The LGBT non-profit, health organization Callen-Lorde is hosting their annual fund-raiser at Central Park Zoo to celebrate the start of NYC Pride month. This is one of the best ways to start Pride, by giving back to an organization that helps our LGBT community. Their event Roar “helps raise money to continue Callen-Lorde’s lifesaving mission to provide sensitive, quality healthcare and related services for NYC’s LGBTQ communities.” I am sure many of us that live in NYC have been to C.L, or have friends that have received medical help from them. I am not going to get into the sad details about how terrible our healthcare system is and how difficult it is for many to receive proper care, but Callen-Lorde has been saving lives in the LGBTQ community for many, many years. Join them “for an evening of food, drink and fun at an iconic location, all in support of Callen-Lorde Community Health Center’s life-saving programs and services. Enjoy delicious food by Gracious Thyme, sip cocktails by Absolut, music by New York based DJ collective Occupy the Disco and special guest Merrie Cherry.” Get a ticket and support them, and if you can’t afford one just donate what you can. It all helps hunty.  —Abi

“Jules: Mm-hmm! You ever had a Big Kahuna burger? [Vincent shakes his head] Jules: Want a bite? They’re real tasty. Vincent: Ain’t hungry. Well, if you like burgers, give them a try sometime. Me, I can’t usually get them ‘cause my girlfriend’s a vegetarian, which pretty much makes me a vegetarian.” That dialogue comes from Pulp Fiction, and I pasted it because it was the first thing that came to my mind when I read about the Vegetarian Food Festival happening this weekend. My guy is a vegetarian, so like Vincent in that scene, I’m also often a vegetarian. Which is OK with me. While I love meat, I have a lot of mixed feelings about eating it. The whole killing of living creatures and factory farming parts are pretty fucked up. And besides veggies are great for you! This Sat and Sun head to the Metropolitan Pavilion “for a day of browsing, tasting, learning and shopping. More than 125 vendors will be on hand with a plethora of produce and products.” There’s also going to be a bunch of speakers, “including plant-based doctors, authors, chefs, fitness professionals and more.” Sounds like a delish way to spend a few hours whether you’re a vegetarian or not. Enjoy!  —tom

You may have noticed that we have been writing about SAGE Table in previous letters and on our social channels for a while now. We have been doing everything we can to get people to participate because we think it’s a great idea. We’re joining a pretty cunty table with Whoopi Goldberg and a few other interesting individuals across the age spectrum on Thursday. The concept for SAGE Table is pretty simple. The group is committed to getting people across the country to host, or join, a multi-generational dinner party. Basically they want LGBTQ people from all ages to spend some time together. People of different ages are waaaaaay to separated in the queer community. Like, seriously, when was the last time you had a conversation with someone over the age of 50 who wasn’t your mom, day or grandma? So, here’s what we suggest you do to fix that, go to SageTable.org and sign up for a dinner. You can host it or join one already happening nearby you on Thursday May 18. It’ll be a lot of fun, I promise. If you think about it, it’s a pretty easy and enjoyable way to do some good for your community. Eat, talk, learn, let go of your fear of aging. We’re all going to get old, some just do it better than others. Be one of them.  —tom

This looks like a lot of fun. MoMA PS1 is hosting their annual Frieze Art Fair party this Saturday night in Long Island City. “Join MoMA PS1’s annual Frieze Week party! The museum comes to life after sundown with ‘Rites of Spring’ — inspired performances by The Dance Cartel, a DJ set by Bae Bro, access to five new exhibitions, cocktails, bites by M. Wells, and more.” You get all that for only $15, plus there’s a bunch of art on display to look at including: Ian Cheng: EMISSARIES, Maureen Gallace: Clear Day, Tomáš Rafa: New Nationalisms, A BIT OF MATTER: The MoMA PS1 Archives, 1976–2000 and Past Skin. We sell GAYLETTER Magazine at the NY Art Book Fair every year at MoMA PS1, so we’re intimately acquainted with the space. It’s kind of a magical building. At night, with music and booze and art and cute people it should really come alive. Get your tickets ASAP.

I don’t know why they want to protest Trump’s failures as a president, as far as I am concerned, the fact that he hasn’t managed to get anything done makes him a great success, because all his ideas are terrible for the country. This shouldn’t be a protest it should be a party where we all celebrate how wonderfully ineffective our orange cheeto prez is. His travel bans have been blocked, his funding restrictions to Sanctuary Cities have been stopped, his healthcare bill went nowhere, the only thing he’s done is elect a Supreme Court Justice, and that only happened because congress blew up the filibuster rule. Regardless, this is a worthwhile event to attend, whether you want to protest the moron or cheer him to keep on “winning” like the true loser he is. Bring a sign and let your voice be heard. “We will rally outside of Trump Tower to share all the ways that Trump is putting people at risk and making life harder for ordinary folks, with signs, flyers, and chants detailing 100 ways that the administration is reversing progress.” SAD!  —tom

More often than not you will you see us promoting an opening up at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. Charles Leslie and Fritz Lohman who founded the museum have spent more than 50 years accumulating artworks and showcasing artists that speak directly to the LGBTQ experience. Over the weekend, the New York Times ran a piece about the current archiving taking place at Prince’s Paisley Park. It sounded crazy, with warehouses full of clothes, candles cataloged mid-melt, and discovered napkins with original lyrics, but to read about it was totally exhilarating and made me think that we aren’t often honoring custodians of what you could call niche art. The work these archivists and teams like Leslie and Lohman do for community building and for future historians is as relevant as it is overlooked. To celebrate the museum’s golden anniversary, curator Branden Wallace will talk you through “the process of curating this historic retrospective of the museum’s vast collection. The exhibition honors the foundational start of the collection, reveals how it has grown and gives clues to where the collection will go in the future. The mission was to build an exhibition that is welcoming to the entire queer community.” Luckily for New York queens like us, we’re only a few blocks away from this legendary collection. Hats off to the museum and its founders for keeping hope alive in the queer art circuit, and we’ll see you at the 75th!  —Chris Stewart

This event is the kind of thing that is only possible in a population dense city like New York. I mean, could you imagine trying to throw a successful corgi meet up in a place like Scranton, PA? Ludicrous! In NYC you could throw an ‘eldery corgies with diabetes’ meet up and still pack the dog run. “Spring is here! Join us Sunday April 23rd starting at 2pm for our April corgi meet up at Washington Square Park. Rules: Must be a corgi owner or have a corgi, or a dog to enter the dog run. Try not to bring more than 2 guests because we don’t want the dog run to get crowded with humans looking to pet corgi’s. Non-Corgi owners / non-dog owners please observe from the outside. We are sure you will get to pet a corgi as they enter and exit the dog run.” As stated in the “rules” having a corgi is not mandatory, but like a VIP wristband at a club, it’ll certainly help you get closer to the doggies. Judging by the number of people already going on their Facebook page I have a feeling this will overflow into the park, so stress not if you are sans corgie — you’ll have plenty of chances to be around the Queen’s favorite breed of dog, I am very sure of that.  —Thomas

What a cute idea for a boozy Sunday brunch! You get to listen to Daft Punk and French disco, and here’s the best part, for the $10 ticket price, you also get two mimosas. That’s a pretty good deal. Where else can you get two mimosas for $10? Nowhere, that’s where! “DJs Jamie Antonelli (Nurvous Records) Salinger (Medium Rare / The Deep) and guests will be playing French Touch, Disco House and plenty of Daft Punk. Photos by Nicky Digital. Visuals by Funk Taxi. "Food will be available throughout the event. Come eat, drink and dance with us!” They also have some “Bottomless Brunch packages still available” so start that group text ASAP and get your weekend brunch plans in order, K?  —tom

Act Up was started in 1987 as a response to the AIDS crisis. Gays were dropping like fucking flies and surprise, surprise, the hetero, white majority who ran this country didn’t give a shit. Remember when Ebola was a thing a few years back? Remember how that one straight, white doctor returned from Africa to New York with the virus and the whole fucking country jumped into action to stop it from spreading? That was the opposite to what happened when AIDS was killing, not one, but thousands of gay men across the country in the early 80’s. When a smart, responsible reporter named Lester Kinsolving decided to do his job and ask Reagan’s press secretary, Larry Speakes, about the epidemic in 1982, he was laughed at. “'What’s AIDS?' Speakes asked.” “It’s known as the ‘gay plague,'” Kinsolving replied. “I don’t have it,” Speakes replied. “Do you?” At this point 20,849 people in the United States had died of the disease. The president wouldn’t even say the word “AIDS” until 1985. Act Up was a response to a criminal and callous government who was so blinded by their homophobia they willfully let thousands die. I couldn’t think of a better group to celebrate than Act Up, this Thursday, March 30th at their 30th Anniversary March and Rally. And I couldn’t think of a better time to recommit to protecting the lives of LGBTQ people across the country, and the world.  —tom

We are so excited to host the viewing of the premiere of Rupaul’s Drag Race at the Liberty Hall at ACE Hotel New York. During past seasons of Drag Race we gathered at Tom’s house to watch the show almost every week. It always felt like a big family gathering; drinks, laughs, snacks, gags, yasss, carrys, intis… It’s always a blast. So, we thought why don’t we share some of that fun with our readers by gathering at a venue with plenty of space so everyone can attend. This Friday, March 24th, we will be at The Liberty Hall, which is in the basement of Ace Hotel NY. It’s a cosy but spacious room with a projector, seats and a bar. It fits about 100 people, perfect right? We’ll have a drink special — which we’re calling The NamaSlay. To help us host the night we invited drag queen Candy Sterling. We recommend you arrive early unless you want to watch the show standing (which might not be so bad as long as you are drinking a NamaSlay.) I am so excited to see some of those new queens in action, I am really into Valentina, Peppermint, Nina Bo’nina Brown, Farrah Moan, Shea Coulee, Alexis Michelle and I am sure lots of you are excited to see Gaga. Who’s ready to gag?  —Abi