GAYLETTER

I’ll be honest with you I don’t necessarily think we should be proud of being gay. Should straight people be proud of being straight? It’s not like we’re curing cancer by being into dudes. Liking dick instead of pussy isn’t a great achievement — we shouldn’t be ashamed...indifferent maybe? But whatevs, Pride weekend/week/month is an excuse for us to party, and we looooove to party. This Saturday there’s only one place you should be, and that’s at the Wythe Hotel for the 3rd edition of our Pride Ball. Expect the hottest, horniest and friendliest boys in New York City and a one-hour open tequila bar. Yes God! There’s performances by House of LaBeija, House of Mugler, Jay Boogie, and a super special performance by Mikki Blanco. Guest DJ sets by Michael Magnan, Joey Labeija and UNiiQU3. Our guest hosts include Frankie Sharp, Leo Gugu and more… It’s going to be a voguing extravaganza. Plus it’s for a good cause! You better sissy that walk. See you there!  —Gayletter

Do you want a Jewish boyfriend? I do, and we’re both in luck because the fantastic, cutting edge Jewish Museum on 92nd St. and 5th Ave is hosting a Hebro Pride Party this Thursday, June 24th, from 6:00-10:00PM and included in the experience is exclusive access to all the current exhibitions which I had the pleasure of seeing already and they are quite intriguing. "Hebro was established in 2008 by Jayson Littman with the mission of creating a community of gay Jews to celebrate their unique culture and identity.” I say Mazeltov! There’s djs and an open bar for the entire evening. Last year 250 hot men came uptown for a Hebrew kiki. On the ground floor the exhibition is titled "Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television," the first show of it’s kind to "explore how avant-garde art influenced the look and content of network tv in its formative years.” Upstairs Laurie Simmons (Lena Dunham’s mom) has six new portraits in “How We See” based on the “doll girl” community — you know those crazy people that alter themselves to look like Barbie, baby dolls and Japanese anime characters. I say you can’t plan a better evening out and who knows, you may just end up with a ripped Israeli hunk from Tel Aviv. Go get it!  —Gayletter

We’ve written about this Eastern Bloc party before. Here’s what we said the last time: It’s “a straight up dance party with W. Jeremy spinning and lots of sexy daddy boys in leather….We’re bringing back 70s East Village sleaze, the kind you’ll remember from your favorite vintage pornos.” This Sunday, June 22, in honor of all the actual daddies out there they are celebrating Father’s Day! For those of you that celebrate this holiday this is the perfect event to take your proud daddy to. For those of you that don’t celebrate Father’s daddy, just go and find a daddy of your own. You really have nothing to lose. The party is presented by the Culture Whore, and hosted by Bond Hardware, Big Dipper and Riffy Royalty. They’ll also be throwing a “hot dog eating contest,” I think you get money if you win this. Do your best, make your daddy proud.  —Abi

Shade is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! The last Shade we went to was on NYE. It was pretty fucking fantastic. We had a great crew of friends, we had party supplies, we had comfortable shoes, we had plenty of water — we did it right. This weekend is your chance to do it all over again, and best of all when you stumble out of there at 6:00AM it’ll be warm outside. The line-up is cunt as usual. There’s Michael Magnan & Physical Therapy as Fatherhood, plus “Brooklyn techno bad-boy crew,” Wrecked. There’s also a special “late-late-night Berlin techno set from the international diva Honey Dijon, and headlining, all the way from Berlin, the throbbing-est, the heartiest, Heartthrob.” Oh, and I should mention it’s a Pride edition. I’m not sure what that actually entails as Shade is pretty fucking gay already — just give thanks to the queens who fought in the Stonewall riot while you’re dancing. The venue, as usual, will not be announced until the day of the event, but it’s safe to assume it’ll be somewhere in the bowels of Brooklyn or Queens. Get at it!  —tom

Tyler Ashley threw this party at Cafe Dancer but then the place, like, closed down. Which was a real bummer because it was a fun party. Lucky for us Tyler has found somewhere else to throw it (he’s a resourceful qween.) It’s now at Wise Men on the Bowery. Wisemen is an old as shit Bowery bar. The space is small but they make great cocktails (they’ll be doing well vodka and baby long island tea specials all night.) Music for the night is by DJ Dese & Gio Black Peter (glad that slut is back, we haven’t seen him in ages!). We’re reluctant to go out on Sundays during the winter, but once summer hits, we’re all for it. Being hungover on Mondays is super chic. Showing up to work tired and grumpy is a great way to appear more unattainable, it automatically gives you an air of mystique, which can only help your career in a positive way, we promise!  —tom

A brand new party called Cruise is coming to Brooklyn which is cute because we like new things! Our friend Tanner Cohen is hosting it with his friend Ivan Dutton. Tanner told me it has “a gay Summer theme that fits perfectly with the venue cause its soooo cute and ratchet and there’s a huge ugly/hot pirate statue outside welcoming in the thot parade…” Oh, OK, Tanner. “We invite you to let your beach hair down, pour up some Alizé, and bask in the tropical, sexy, and ratchet flavors of the majestic Call Box Lounge for this epic and salty night.” I love that ratchet is coming back! Also, we are trying to bring Fierce back. It might have to wait since we’ve decided that the thing to say now is “She done already done had herses.” Music for the night is by DJs Chapman, Ivenchy +Tarzan. You must come in some sort of nautical look “or die,” but if you hate nautical show up in an anti-white people outfit, that always works! “#wenchbettahavemybooty #porthole #allhandsondick #mate4mate #rumsnatch #suricruise #penelopecruz #fleekweek #poopdeck #seaworld #comethrough” Check out this video!  —Abi

When I found out that the party Pat was returning for another edition my first reaction was to not list it. You see, Amber Valentine (it’s her birthday) and JD Samson (it’s their party), were scheduled to DJ our up-coming Pride Ball at the Wythe Hotel, then they pulled out. Apparently they got scared after the online backlash JD received for agreeing to DJ a screening of Paris is Burning in Brooklyn. People were mad that a white DJ was hired instead of someone of color from the Ball scene. She pulled out of that event and was scared people might be angry at her for doing ours. We explained that our event is completely different (we’re giving the proceeds to charity, plus houses and house DJs are performing) but they were too rattled. It kind of threw a spanner in the planning of our event. I only say all this because we like to keep it real, and tell you what’s going on with us. The fact is, we love what they do — we were fans before they stood us up and are fans after — so go check out their party this Thursday and wish Amber a happy birthday. Also djing is Justin Strauss (pictured) and Honey Dijon. It should be a fun night, hopefully free of angry internet trolls.  —tom

When Issa Israel told me about his brand new party NightCare, I was so confused, I was under the impression that he was talking about a performance piece. It all sounded so abstract to me, but then again I am E.S.L. I followed up with a few questions and this is what he told me about it: “NightCare is a party for NYC’s young creatives...I feel there is a real void in NYC for events like this. NightCare isn’t about a big production, a ritzy venue and big names. It is solely about young, fresh NYC.” Love fresh! Issa told me that the hosts of the event are called “Night babies.” The night babies are the young people that the party is about and for. For example, look at this “night baby” (pictured), his name is Moi, we met him a while back and he’s a very sweet, interesting kid. He sure is creative, he’s fresh and he’s not doing gender labels at the moment, so I guess that makes him a night baby? I am trying to incorporate this new “night baby” word into my vocabulary. I’m gonna finish this post with some words from Issa: “There is DayCare and then there is NightCare. NYC is home to millions of beings, human and otherwise. Don’t be a lost soul under the Moon. There is always someone, or thing watching over you.” True, OK. Whatever he’s on, I want some!  —Abi