BGSQD

Rev. Dr. Caroline Addington Hall reads from her new book A Thorn in the Flesh: How Gay Sexuality Is Changing the Episcopal Church
2013-05-01 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
With the vote to bless same-sex marriages, the Episcopal Church becomes the largest U.S. denomination to officially sanction same-sex relationships. Homosexuality has become a flashpoint at the intersection of religion, family, and politics. A Thorn in the Flesh: How Gay Sexuality is Changing the Episcopal Church tells the story of how homosexuality has been used to further conservative political agendas, both here and abroad. This provocative book is not a history of the movement for gay inclusion, nor a history of the movement for a new, conservative Anglican church in the Americas. Instead, it is a comparison of the conservative and the liberal parts of the church. Hall explores the rapid changes that have happened in Western society in the past fifty years that have led to the acceptance of same-sex marriage and homosexuality. This change has not come easily and even after nearly four decades, gay marriage remains a politically divisive issue in the United States and England.
Rev. Dr.Caroline Addington Hall is priest-in-charge of St Benedict’s Episcopal Church in California and President of Integrity, the lesbian and gay ministry in the Episcopal Church. She is a frequent contributor to the blog Walking with Integrity. Hall and her spouse were among the first gay couples married in California when marriage became legal for same-sex couples in 2008.
Praise for A Thorn in the Flesh: How Gay Sexuality is Changing the Episcopal Church
“This is Episcopal history at its best and a compelling story that needs to be told. Hall narrates with intelligence and accuracy the past 50 years of prejudice and pride. Her wide vision encompasses the critical intersections of shifts in religion, politics and contemporary cultural awareness about homosexuality.”
–Fredrica Harris Thompsett, Ph.D., Mary Wolfe Professor of Historical Theology, Episcopal Divinity School
“For over fifty years, the Episcopal Church has struggled to appreciate faithfulness and holiness among LGBT Christians. Caroline Addington Hall has given us a richly informative account of this disturbing, provocative, and inspiring strand of our history. Reading this book is good background for those who would continue to move the Anglican Communion forward.”
—Reverend Canon Dr. Marilyn McCord Adams, formerly Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford
“The Anglican upheaval over homosexuality has found its historian. Caroline Addington Hall does not disclaim her own perspective on the debate, no credible commentator can as the earth still trembles with change, but she tells both sides of the story with remarkable and thorough care. A Thorn in the Flesh will be the benchmark against which later works on this subject will be measured.”
—Reverend Harry Knox, President and CEO, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

Opening Reception for Common Threads: Martin Keehn
2013-05-02 18:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Common Threads: Martin Keehn brings together artists who have inspired his work over many years and who continue to inform his esthetic today. These are his friends, his mentors, and collectively they form a self-portrait of Martin Keehn the designer. The exhibition runs from Thursday, May 2, through Sunday, May 5.
The four-day show includes:
Jack Pierson Bieber Bags for Martin Keehn (signed, edition of 100)
Film by TJ Wilcox
T-shirts by Jared Buckhiester for Martin Keehn (signed, edition of 50)
Portrait of Farrah by Joe Mama-Nitzberg and Marc Swanson
“Oh no she di’ent” wig portrait booth by Jimmy Paul as photographed by Damani Moyd
Installations by David Yarritu and Paul Zumbo
Work and performances by Martyn Thompson
MAKE-IT-MARGIELA booth by Martin Keehn
Special appearance by The Crystal Ark DJs on opening night, Thursday, May 2, 6-9 PM

Contributors to Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics
2013-05-08 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us for an evening of trans and genderqueer poetry readings by contributors to the new anthology Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics!
Readers include: Aimee Herman, Ariel Goldberg, EC Crandall, Eileen Myles, Ely Shipley, Jaime Shearn Coan, Jake Pam Dick, Joy Ladin, and Kit Yan. Hosted by co-editor Tim Trace Peterson.

Opening reception for What's for Breakfast? Photographs by Ace Morgan
2013-05-09 18:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Ace Morgan is a San Francisco-based photographer celebrated for his longtime work documenting West Coast music, LGBT and punk scenes. He is an active and engaged father, a community activist and a personal trainer. As a FTM (female-to-male) transgender artist, Ace has won awards and national recognition for his stark and powerful work.
The exhibition runs through Friday, May 31st.
Ace Morgan was the featured photographer in 2008’s Cutter Photozine. His work has been presented at the luggage store gallery, 404 willis, Femina Potens, Point Blank, Balazo, San Francisco Public Library, Punch gallery and many other spaces. He continues to document the people and experiences in his life – giving them permanency, tone and texture.
Ace is currently working compiling his images for a photography book that reflects 26 years of his work.
www.acemorganphotography.com

Phantastische Gebete
2013-05-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Poetry readings by Andrew Durbin, Jennifer Tamayo, and Ian Hatcher

ANDREW DURBIN is an American actress, fashion designer, model and recording artist. She began her career as a child fashion model when she was three, and was later featured on the soap opera Another World for a year when she was 10.

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Queer Lives in Print: A Call to Authorship
2013-05-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Author and educator Hal W. Lanse, PhD (The Rainbow Curriculum) continues his popular series of writing workshops. Whether you want to publish professionally or just write and share your work with a small community of friends, this group is for you. Dr. Hal will provide writing prompts that will jolt your imagination and inspire written pieces about your rich set of personal experiences. For those of you who are interested, Dr. Hal is looking for new and undiscovered authors for his imprint Queer Street Books, Inc. But you need not have professional aspirations to join the group.
Bring a writing instrument (pen and notebook, laptop, whatever).
Suggested donation: $10 – but come even if you can’t pay. There will be a discrete box at the front of the shop for those who can afford to donate. Proceeds are divided between the teacher and BGSQD.
Future writing workshops: Wednesday, May 29

Artist's talk by Ace Morgan
2013-05-12 18:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Ace Morgan discusses his work at Strange Loop Gallery/the Bureau of General Services–Queer Division. Morgan’s exhibition What’s for Breakfast? runs from Thursday, May 9th through Friday, May 31st.
Ace Morgan is a San Francisco-based photographer celebrated for his longtime work documenting West Coast music, LGBT and punk scenes. He is an active and engaged father, a community activist and a personal trainer. As a FTM (female-to-male) transgender artist, Ace has won awards and national recognition for his stark and powerful work.
Ace Morgan was the featured photographer in 2008’s Cutter Photozine. His work has been presented at the luggage store gallery, 404 willis, Femina Potens, Point Blank, Balazo, San Francisco Public Library, Punch gallery and many other spaces. He continues to document the people and experiences in his life – giving them permanency, tone and texture.
Ace is currently working compiling his images for a photography book that reflects 26 years of his work.
www.acemorganphotography.com

Book Club meets to discuss Low Life by Luc Sante
2013-05-14 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Book Club meets to discuss Low Life by Luc Sante. The book explores New York’s nineteenth century underworld. Wine, beer, and snacks will be served.

The Bureau is 6 months old!
2013-05-15 06:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
On November 15, 2012 the Bureau of General Services–Queer Division launched at Strange Loop Gallery, and 6 months later we’re still going strong! Come celebrate with us! DJ Timothy Allen spins.

Cottonmouth: A Performance by Ricci Ryder
2013-05-18 20:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Cottonmouth (kɑtənmɑwθ)
a large, dangerous semiaquatic pit viper/
when threatening, it opens its mouth wide/
to display the white interior.
dryness in the mouth/
which may be associated with a change/
or have no identifiable cause.
Writer and home wrecker RICCI RYDER will, with his company of enfants terribles, wrestle COTTONMOUTH, a poison fanged performance about high school hell.

Launch party for We're Here, We're Queer, We're Mad Libs!
2013-05-23 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Mad Libs has gone Adult, and in the process it’s also gone a teensy bit queer. Come celebrate the launch of the new Adult Mad Libs title, We’re Here, We’re Queer, We’re Mad Libs!, authored by blogger, queer activist and performance artist,Karl Marks (https://www.facebook.com/karl.marks.9).

Joining Marks on stage for the reading from this newest (and gayest) Adult Mad Libs will be some of his favorite queer writers, friends and comedians, including Mike Albo, Ashlie Atkinson, Ha Dangerfield, Ingrid Jungermann, Evan Ross Katz, Colby Keller, Justin Sayre, and Bob Smith. The audience will also be invited to participate-after all, it’s Mad Libs!
Marks’ writing on gay stuff can be found on Big Shoe Diaries, www.iseepenis.com

The Book as Exhibition: Contributors to At the Same Time and Others
2013-05-25 15:00 - 17:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join artists from the artists book At the Same Time, the curators of Strange Loop Gallery, and others for an informal discussion about “the book as an exhibition.” Details to come.
At the Same Time is a self-published photography book by six artists: Steven Beckly and Dylan MacNeil (Toronto, Canada), Ted Kerr and Zachary Ayotte (Brooklyn, NY), and Colin Quinn and Oisín Share (Manchester, UK). Drawing and expanding on a variety of photographic traditions, the collaboration explores the nature and development of their romantic relationships from three different parts of the world. Private exchanges emerging from domestic, romantic, and sexual dimensions of their relationships are openly explored, uncovering a collection of personal narratives and intimate realities.
Geographically separated, the artists have developed independently, only to discover each other on Flickr, a photo-sharing website. The similarities in the subject matter and its treatment suggest something that exists beyond traditional borders. As the title suggests, the collection reveals a common stream of consciousness, a simultaneous creation. The collaboration documents and details the evolutions of their lives as couples over the past three years.
Published: Edmonton, Canada: T. Kerr. 2012
Edition of 500
Unsigned and Numbered
$25.00
Available at the Bureau

Queer Lives in Print: A Call to Authorship
2013-05-29 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Author and educator Hal W. Lanse, PhD (The Rainbow Curriculum) continues his popular series of writing workshops. Whether you want to publish professionally or just write and share your work with a small community of friends, this group is for you. Dr. Hal will provide writing prompts that will jolt your imagination and inspire written pieces about your rich set of personal experiences. For those of you who are interested, Dr. Hal is looking for new and undiscovered authors for his imprint Queer Street Books, Inc. But you need not have professional aspirations to join the group.
Bring a writing instrument (pen and notebook, laptop, whatever).
Suggested donation: $10 – but come even if you can’t pay. There will be a discrete box at the front of the shop for those who can afford to donate. Proceeds are divided between the teacher and BGSQD

Christopher Rawlins presents his new book, Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction
2013-05-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
PRAISE FOR FIRE ISLAND MODERNIST

“The injustice of Horace Gifford’s early death was compounded by the fact that his important contribution to American domestic architecture of the 1960’s and 70’s has been overlooked by history. No one can bring Gifford back, but Christopher Rawlins emphatically corrects the second injustice by telling the story of Gifford in this important book, at once a work of architectural and social history.”
—Paul Goldberger, Architecture critic for Vanity Fair and author of Why Architecture Matters

“Rawlins deftly melds biography, architectural criticism and social history to provide a rich portrait of Horace Gifford, and a vivid explanation of how the architect’s design aesthetic contributed to the formation of modern gay culture. This is a meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated volume that deserves a very wide audience.”—Charles Kaiser, author of The Gay Metropolis

“Finally, a treatise on one of the most important, if overlooked, voices in Modern domestic architecture…It is thoughtful and provocative, balancing Gifford’s formal proclivities with his social ones. And it couldn’t be better timed…Gifford’s architecture is simple yet rich…In short, it is the model for the future: sustainable, aspirational, and fun.”—Charles Renfro, Diller Scofidio + Renfro

“The sophistication, spaciousness, and graciousness of Gifford’s houses of the 1960’s and 70’s are a revelation.”—Terence Riley, architect and curator

“Christopher Rawlins’ excellent book follows Gifford’s exploration of Modernism’s possibilities, a journey that was both deeply personal and a reflection of his times. He is proof that American Modernism wasn’t a single austere style after all; it gave a public voice to a surprising range of communities and ideas.”—Alan Hess, author of Julius Shulman: Palm Springs and Oscar Niemayer Houses.

“Fire Island Modernist presents the moving and enlightening story of an unknown chapter of modernism that flourished on Fire Island at mid-century, especially in the gay community of the Pines…Rawlins’ compelling account interweaves the story of the people, the place, and the houses, revealing the many ways in which they were intertwined, and elevates Gifford to his rightful place in the pantheon of great American modernists.”—Andrea Truppin, Editor-in-Chief, Modernism magazine

“Horace Gifford, the subject of this gorgeous book, was taken by the plague, like so many. But Rawlins’ detailed research and beautiful writing resurrects the remarkable life and immense talent of an architect who once told a client ‘You will now have 20 closets to come out of’…A great read, beautifully published.”—Sean Strub, activist and founder of POZ magazine

“Tracing Horace Gifford’s path from the beaches of Florida to those of Fire Island, juxtaposing gay sexual liberation with ecological sensibilities, this book is a wide-ranging cultural history. Christopher Rawlins conveys the poignancy of Gifford’s life and the exuberant yet simple delight of his architecture.”–Gwendolyn Wright, Columbia University, author of USA: Modern Architectures in History, and co-host of PBS’ History Detectives.

Punks take it down a few notches: Benefit show for Brooklyn Transcore
2013-05-31 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Brooklyn Transcore is a collective of Trans and Queer artists and musicians in, arguably, the most popular of NYC ‘outer boroughs’. BKTC seeks to increase exposure of trans and queer musicians and issues through shows, zines, and recordings. This show is a benefit to support Brooklyn Transcore’s stage on this years Punk Island, and all day punk music festival on Staten Island on June 22nd, sponsored by Make Music New York, and curated by ABC No Rio.
Performances by:
Shomi Noise is a DJ, musician, zine writer, and a self–proclaimed music nerd who is heavily influenced by Riot Grrrl, D.I.Y., and Queercore sounds of the 90s. She plays guitar and sings and has been part of a few queer grrrl punk bands in the past. Shomi is currently working on her solo singer/songwriter material and completing the 4th volume of her zine titled “Building Up Emotional Muscles”, which narrates some of her lived experiences based on the intersectionality of culture, race, class, sexuality and punk rock. Shomi is deeply committed to spreading the message of empowerment, social justice, and community building.
Lior (Music was my first gay lover)
Music Was My First Gay Lover is Lior singing some queer blues with a guitar, so we can all have some feelings together. He has a strong preference for chewy cookies.
Mal Blum
Emma Caterine
Punk electronic witch summons the music of Baphomet through an ancient deer skull.

Readings by Lambda Literary Award Finalists
2013-06-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
The Bureau is proud to host an evening of readings by ten of this year’s finalists for Lambda Literary Awards.

The following finalists will read:

Ryka Aoki (Seasonal Velocities, Transgender Nonfiction, a contributor to two other Lambda finalists: The Collection: Short Fiction From The Transgender Vanguard, edited by Tom Léger and Riley MacLeod, nominated for Transgender Fiction, and to Transfeminist Perspectives in and beyond Transgender and Gender Studies, edited by Anne Enke, nominated for Transgender Nonfiction);

Tom Cardamone (Green Thumb, LGBT Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror);

Red Durkin (contributor to The Collection);

Adam Halwitz (contributor to The Collection)

Stephen S. Mills (He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices, Gay Poetry);

Casey Plett (contributor to The Collection);

Carter Sickels (The Evening Hour, LGBT Debut Fiction, and contributor to The Collection);

Rae Spoon (First Spring Grass Fire, Transgender Fiction);

William Sterling Walker (Desire: Tales of New Orleans, LGBT Debut Fiction);

Barry Webster (The Lava in My Bones, Gay General Fiction).

Author biographies

Ryka Aoki is a writer, performer, and educator who has been honored by the California State Senate for her “extraordinary commitment to free speech and artistic expression, as well as the visibility and well-being of Transgender people.” She is the author of Seasonal Velocities (Trans-Genre Press, 2012). Her chapbook, Sometimes Too Hot the Eye of Heaven Shines (RADAR Publications) won the 2010 Eli Coppola Chapbook Contest. Ryka has as an MFA in Creative Writing from Cornell University and is the recipient of a University Award from the Academy of American Poets. She is a professor of English at Santa Monica College. www.rykaryka.com

Tom Cardamone‘s edgy weird fiction has earned him two spots as a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Publishers Weekly wrote of his novella, Green Thumb: “evocative prose and detailed settings to capture the hypnotic rhythms of the sea, then takes a darker, more erotic and psychedelic turn….” His newest book is Pacific Rimming from Chelsea Station Editions.

Red Durkin is the managing editor of PrettyQueer.com. She has toured with the Tranny Roadshow and is a member of the Fully Functional Cabaret. Her novel Ready, Amy, Fire, will be released by Topside Press in 2013.

Adam Halwitz is a student and writing tutor at Marlboro College (Marlboro, VT), and an occasional editor for the magazine Teen Ink. He’s very happy to be living in the Vermont woods, where he takes lots of night hikes and sees many stars. He likes monster mythology, deciduous trees, pedantry, and not discussing his trans status with cis people. “Power Out” is his first piece of published fiction.

Stephen S. Mills earned his MFA from Florida State University. His poems have appeared in The Antioch Review, The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, PANK Literary Magazine, The New York Quarterly, The Los Angeles Review, Knockout, Poetic Voices Without Borders 2, Assaracus, and others. He is also the winner of the 2008 Gival Press Oscar Wilde Poetry Award. His first book, He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices, is out from Sibling Rivalry Press. He lives in Harlem. Website: https://www.stephensmills.com/

Casey Plett grew up a kid in Manitoba and a teenager in Oregon. She wrote a column on her first year of transitioning for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and has been published in Line Zero, Anomalous Press, and Cavalier Literary Couture. She is writing a book.

Carter Sickels is the author of the novel The Evening Hour (Bloomsbury, 2012). He has been awarded scholarships to Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the MacDowell Colony, and VCCA. Carter received his MFA in Fiction at Penn State and a MA in Folklore at UNC-Chapel Hill. He has taught creative writing classes at IPRC, Gotham Writers’ Workshop, and Hugo House. Carter lives in Portland, Oregon.

Photo: JJ Levine

Rae Spoon is a transgender musician/writer/workshop facilitator originally from Calgary, Canada. Rae has been nominated for a Polaris Prize, toured internationally, and released six solo albums. They were published in the Arsenal Pulp anthology Persistence and composed the instrumental score for the National Film Board film Dead Man. Rae will soon be the subject of a National Film Board documentary. Rae lives in Montreal.

Photo by Lenora Gim

William Sterling Walker’s collection of short stories, Desire: Tales of New Orleans, is a Lambda Literary finalist in Debut Fiction. His stories have been anthologized in Best American Gay Fiction 2 and the Lambda Award–winning Fresh Men: New Voices in Gay Fiction, after first appearing in modern words, Harrington Gay Men’s Fiction Quarterly, and The James White Review. His nonfiction account of coming out appeared in the anthology Boys Like Us: Gay Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Brooklyn College. A native of New Orleans, he now resides in Brooklyn, with his spouse, the artist Jeffrey Dreiblatt.

Photo: Maxime Tremblay

Barry Webster‘s first book, The Sound of All Flesh (Porcupine’s Quill), won the ReLit Award for best short-story collection in 2005. In addition to the Lambda Literary Award, The Lava in My Bones was shortlisted for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction. Originally from Toronto, he currently lives in East Montreal.

Bi Lines VI: A Multi-Arts Celebration of Bisexual Writing & Bisexual Book Awards
2013-06-02 18:30 - 23:00 | NY
The Bureau will be on-hand to sell books at Bi Lines VI: A Multi-Arts Celebration of Bisexual Writing & Bisexual Book Awards at Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 236 E. 3rd St. between Aves. B-C
6:30 Book Signings
7 Bi Lines Program & Awards
9:30 Book Signings
10 After Party
Bisexual book authors of 2012 read from their works.
Inaugural Bisexual Book Awards Ceremony: winners are announced!
Plus live music, tattoo photography & after-party!
Host: Sheela Lambert, Founder Bi Writers Association
Author Readings:
Annette Lapointe, Whitetail Shooting Gallery
Basil Papademos, Mount Royal
Donnelle McGee, Shine
Ellen Kushner,Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction
Erynn Rowan Laurie, Fireflies at Absolute Zero
James Earl Hardy (B Boy Blues Series), Can You Feel What I’m Saying?
Janet Hardy (The Ethical Slut), Girlfag
Kelli Dunham, My Awesome Place: The Autobiography of Cheryl B
Vincent Meiss, Tio Jorge
Art: Efrain Gonzalez, Ink & Steel: slideshow of his tattoo & piercing photography
Musicians: Rorie Kelly, Ben Silver
Tickets $10: in advance at www.nuyorican.org or at the door
Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 236 E. 3rd St. between Aves. B-C 10009
Questions? info@biwriters.org or 917-583-1797 www.biwriters.org
Facebook event page

CLOSED FOR INSTALLATION OF GOODYN GREEN EXHIBITION
2013-06-04 11:00 - 19:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States

Comic Artists Annie Mok and Brendan Leach in conversation with Brad Pearson
2013-06-05 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Comic Artists Annie Mok and Brendan Leach share their work and engage in a short conversation moderated by Brad Pearson of Brokelyn & Terrorvision
“Annie Mok is bursting with ideas”
– Rob Clough, The Comics Journal / High-Low
Annie Mok reads recent comics from Frank Santoro’s online magazine Comics Workbook and elsewhere, that center around the body, memory, sexuality, and trans identity. She sells Risograph-printed comics and digital prints, such as Jim Henson bio comic Stitching Together, and American Illustration 2012 Archive selection Annie Mok Draws James Joyce. A Q&A and signing follow the reading.
anniemakesstories.com | anniemok.tumblr.com | @HeyAnnieMok on twitter / Instagram
Brendan Leach makes comics and illustrations. In 2010, Brendan received an MFA in Illustration from The School of Visual Arts.
His comic, The Pterodactyl Hunters (in the Gilded City) won the “Outstanding Comic” Ignatz Award in 2012. It was also selected for inclusion in Best American Comics 2011, published by Houghton Mifflin, and awarded a Xeric Foundation grant in 2010. His illustrations have been recognized by The Society of Illustrators and 3×3 magazine. The Pterodactyl Hunters (in the Gilded City) is distributed by Top Shelf Comics in the US and published by Ca et La in France.
His graphic novel, Iron Bound, will be published September 2013 by Secret Acres.
www.iknowashortcut.com

Opening Reception for Goodyn Green's Catalog
2013-06-06 18:00 - 21:00 | NY
Strange Loop Gallery and the Bureau of General Services–Queer Division proudly present Catalog, an exhibition of photographs by Goodyn Green. Curated by Claire Fleury and Alesia Exum, Strange Loop Gallery.
Goodyn Green was born in Denmark and lives and works in Berlin, where she gets her inspiration from the queer scene. It’s mostly there she finds her models.

The Catalog is presented by Bend Over Magazine and was first published in November 2011. It consist of nude photos of queer women inspired by poses as seen in gay magazines. Copies of The Catalog are available for purchase at the Bureau.

June 6-30
Opening June 6th , 6-9pm
with special guest Diana Joy performing!

“Diana Joy is a gypsy eurotrash beast with the intention of ruling the world in style via ritualistic music video and performance”.
https://dianajoy.bandcamp.com/

Portable Press @ Yo- Yo Labs presents Ivy Johnson and Sara Jane Stoner
2013-06-07 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Ivy Johnson was born on the open prairie where she picked crocuses as a child. Boog City published her first chapbook in 2011 entitled Walt Disney’s Light Show Extravaganza. Her first book, As They Fall is a collection of note cards for aleatoric ritual and was published by Timeless, Infinite Light in May of this year. She is currently working on a performance poetry manuscript entitled Burn Virtual and lives in Oakland, CA.

Sara Jane Stoner is a writer and performer who teaches writing, writing pedagogy, queer theory, and contemporary literature at Brooklyn College and Cooper Union. She has an MFA from Indiana University and is a PhD student in English at CUNY Graduate Center. Her work has been or will be published in Spinning Jenny, Diagram, Sententia, ESQUE, and Fence. Her first book of writings will be published by Portable Press @ Yo-Yo Labs in the near future.
For more about Portable Press @ Yo-Yo Labs click here.

Bold Strokes Books Presents 6 Authors
2013-06-09 15:00 - 17:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Bold Strokes Books authors Joel Gomez-Dossi, Jane Hoppen, Daniel W. Kelly, Jeremy Jordon King, Nora Olsen, and Andrew J. Peters read at the Bureau.
Joel Gomez-Dossi has done a lot of things in his life, and he’ll even admit to some of them. He started his career as a theater rat, stage-managing productions for The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and other professional theaters across the country. He moved over to TV and became a producer and production manager for PBS, and the Emmy Award-winning series Newton’s Apple. When the series ended fifteen years later, he became a freelance writer, working for regional publications across the country and penning an entertainment column for the queer press that ran in twelve states. Now he practices the world’s second oldest profession: telling Stories. His first novel, Pursued, was published in December. Deadly Cult, his second, will be released in August. Joel and his husband live happily ever after in upstate New York.
Jane Hoppen grew up in Wisconsin, served in the U.S. Army, and has been settled in the New York City area for more than two decades. While working as a technical writer for the government and the software industry for more than twenty years, Jane has always done fiction and essay writing on the side and has been published in various magazines, including Room of One’s Own, Off Our Backs, Story Quarterly, The Dirty Goat, Western Humanities Review, Gertrude, PANK, Superstition Review, Thrice Fiction, Helix Magazine, Platte Valley Review, and others. She now focuses primarily on her fiction, and In Between is her first novel, to be published in December 2013.
Daniel W. Kelly is the author of the erotic horror collections Closet Monsters: Zombied Out and Tales of Gothotica and Horny Devils. His stories have appeared in erotic anthologies including Manhandled, Just the Sex, Dorm Porn, Bears, and Best Gay Erotica 2009. His short story “Woof” was awarded the first place honor in the bookpuppy.co.uk erotic writing contest in January 2006.
When not obsessing over his dogs (which is pretty much always), Daniel is a pop culture junkie, stimulating his ADHD by listening to music with a thumping beat and a catchy chorus, playing video games that involve blasting the heads off zombies, and watching bad horror movies in search of scenes featuring hot men. He also writes excessively about these subjects on his website: danielwkelly.com.
Jeremy Jordon King grew up in Southern New Jersey, where his primary life goal was to become a mermaid. When that proved impossible, he decided the next best thing would be to move to New York City and study theater at Marymount Manhattan College. He lived an actor’s life for several years before he began writing. Besides fiction, he dabbles in essays, screen/playwriting, and illustration. He lives in Manhattan.
Nora Olsen is the author of YA novels The End: Five Queer Kids Save The World and Swans & Klons. She was born and raised in New York City and now lives in the Hudson Valley. Her short fiction has appeared in Collective Fallout and the anthology Heiresses of Russ 2011: The Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction.
Andrew J. Peters likes retold stories with a subversive twist, particularly when that twist turns heteronormativity on its head. His début novel The Seventh Pleiade (upcoming from Bold Strokes Books) is about a gay teen who becomes a hero during the last days of Atlantis. His paranormal fantasy series Werecat was released in May 2013 from Vagabondage Press. A 2011 Lambda Literary Foundation Fellow, Andrew has written short fiction for many publications. He lives in New York City with his partner Genaro and their cat Chloë. For more about Andrew and a blog about queer media and fantasy, visit: https://andrewjpeterswrites.com/

Poets Adam Fitzgerald, Benjamin S. Grossberg, and Michael Klein read
2013-06-13 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Adam Fitzgerald’s first book of poems, The Late Parade has just been published by Norton/Liveright. He teaches poetry at Rutgers University and Marymount College, and is the founding editor of Maggy and Monk Books. His poems and interviews have appeared or are forthcoming in The Agricultural Reader, Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Poetry, Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. He lives in the East Village.
Benjamin S. Grossberg‘s books are Sweet Core Orchard (University of Tampa, 2009), winner of the 2008 Tampa Review Prize and a Lambda Literary Award, and Underwater Lengths in a Single Breath (Ashland Poetry Press, 2007). His poems have appeared widely, in publications including New England Review, North American Review, Paris Review, and Southwest Review, and in both the Best American Poetry and Pushcart Prize anthologies. His third full-length collection, Space Traveler, will be published by the University of Tampa Press in 2013.
Michael Klein’s second book of poems, then, we were still living (GenPop Books), was a Lambda Literary Award finalist and his first book, 1990, tied with James Schuyler to win the award in 1993. His new book, The Talking Day was published in January, 2013 by Sibling Rivalry Press and a collection of short, lyric essays, States of Independence won the 2011 BLOOM Chapbook contest in non-fiction judged by Rigoberto Gonzalez and was published last year. He has also written two memoirs Track Conditions (Lambda Literary Award finalist) and The End of Being Known, both published by the University of Wisconsin Press. His poems, essays and interviews with American poets have appeared in American Poetry Review, BLOOM, Fence, Tin House, Ploughshares, Provincetown Arts, Poets & Writers, and many other publications. He teaches in the MFA Program at Goddard College in Vermont and lives in New York City and Provincetown, Massachusetts.

NYC Book Launch for Michael Alago's Beautiful Imperfections, with guest Mina Caputo
2013-06-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Publicist Andy Reynolds writes:
“Meet photographer and music industry vet Michael Alago (He signed Metallica and Nina Simone, OK?) at the Bureau for the NYC launch of Beautiful Imperfections, his newest book of photographs. He will be joined by special guest Mina Caputo and together they will read selections from their book of poems, observations, and rants: Night Blooming Jasmine Will Never Smell the Same.
Alago’s follow-up to the smoking’ hot Brutal Truth (April 2012, Bruno Gmünder),Beautiful Imperfections is the first commercially published book of photographs shot entirely with the Hipstamatic iPhone camera App (that we know of). The resulting 10″ x 10″ coffee table book contains over 120 tough/tender signature Alago portraits.
After a legendary music career during which he went from booking U2’s first New York City gig at the Ritz at age 21, to hanging out with Mapplethorpe to partying with Iggy Pop and David Lee Roth in the men’s room of the famed Peppermint Lounge, to discovering and signing Metallica, and signing Nina Simone to her last album deal (A Single Woman), Alago turned to photography. We can all thank the Rough Gods that he did.

One of the biggest voices (and smallest bodies) in rock music today belongs to Brooklyn’s own Mina Caputo. Caputo’s reputation for touching listeners to the very depths of their souls with her poetry and heartrending live performances is well earned – within a single show she is capable of inciting both arena-sized mosh pits and breathless silence. Look for Caputo’s new album As Much Truth as One Can Bear to be released late summer 2013.”

Book launch for Bear City: The Novel
2013-06-16 15:00 - 17:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us for a fur-tastic official book launch at BGSQD for Bear City: The Novel! We’ll be celebrating the release of this hilarious new work from Bear Bones Books with a reading by author Lawrence Ferber, award-winning screenwriter who wrote the novelization of his and Doug Langway‘s smash hit romantic comedy film. The book also has dozens of still photos from the movie and behind-the-scenes shots! Watch the official film trailer and a clip from the film, and enjoy a brief conversation with the author and director.

Lawrence Ferber (l) and Doug Langway (r)

Shane Shane Presents The Eyes of Laura Mars
2013-06-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Shane Shane presents The Eyes of Laura Mars, the 1978 fashion murder thriller starring Faye Dunaway and featuring Barbra Streisand‘s hit torch song Prisoner.

From Wikipedia: “Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway) is a glamorous fashion photographer who specializes in stylized violence. Amid controversy over whether her photographs glorify violence and are demeaning to women, Laura begins seeing, in first person through the eyes of the killer, real-time visions of the murders of her friends and colleagues.”
We’ll have a brief reading about the history and legacy of the movie, alcoholic refreshments, and an informal kiki following the movie about the Sadomasochistic implications of fashion and gay men’s unexamined fascination with murderous or violent women. Or we’ll just get drunk and imitate Faye Dunaway.

NYC Book Launch of The Martin Duberman Reader
2013-06-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Martin Duberman will read from The Martin Duberman Reader, and he will answer questions from the audience.
The Martin Duberman Reader: The Essential Historical, Biographical, and Autobiographical Writings (The New Press, May 2013) chronicles Duberman’s great works: his historical writings, from the Northern response to slavery to the Stonewall Riots; biographical work such as his writings on Howard Zinn; memoirs on topics such as life in the theatre to the AIDS epidemic; and political and activism issues ranging from the development of gay rights in the United States to American affairs with Cuba. The collection is rich and resonating, an invaluable piece for any who want expert insight into some of the most tumultuous and crucial social reforms of our time.
In the dawn of monumental reforms for gay rights in America and across the world, Duberman’s meditations have never been more relevant. Artfully written and wonderfully accessible, The Martin Duberman Reader will appeal to loyal readers as well as those experiencing his work for the first time.

Martin Duberman is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at the CUNY Graduate School, where he founded and for a decade directed the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies. The author of more than twenty books, Duberman has won a Bancroft Prize and been a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in New York City.

Str8 Boy Div: Schluter, Kaplan, Card
2013-06-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Andrew Durbin presents:
Str8 Boy Div: Schluter, Kaplan, Card

Kit Schluter is translator of works by Pierre Alferi, Danielle Collobert, Gherasim Luca, Claudio Parmiggiani, Jaime Saenz, Marcel Schwob, and Amandine André, whom he is translating in collaboration with Jocelyn Spaar. Recent poems of his own are in or forthcoming in Death & Life of Great American Cities, Interrupture, Sun’s Skeleton, and Boston Review. With the Philadelphia poet Andrew Dieck, he co-edits O’clock Press and its review of writtens, CLOCK (.pdf’s 0.00 USD @ www.oclockpress.com).

Josef Kaplan is the author of Democracy Is Not for the People (Truck Books, 2012).

Macgregor Card is the author of Duties of an English Foreign Secretary, which won the 2009 Fence Modern Poet Series, and The Archers. From 1997-2005 he co-edited The Germ: A Journal of Poetic Research with Andrew Maxwell.

Pride by Papercut
2013-06-26 18:00 - 21:00 | NY
In celebration of NYC Pride, Papercut Press presents an evening of readings, performances, and visual art by some of our favorite queer artists and authors. The event will be moderated by Papercut author m. craig.

Rami Shamir is the author of TRAIN TO POKIPSE and the co-founding editor of Underground Editions. A former Zuccotti Park Occupier with Occupy Wall Street, Shamir’s writings have appeared in Adbuster’s, Evergreen Review, and The Brooklyn Rail. TRAIN TO POKIPSE was the last editorial project for legendary publisher Barney Rosset, who said “TRAIN TO POKIPSE is a Catcher in the Rye for the new century, and Rami Shamir is an authentic literary voice for a new lost generation.” Shamir has just concluded a thirty-city, indie-books distro tour with fellow indie author m. craig. He is a recipient of the 2013 Acker Award for fiction.

JASON NAPOLI BROOKS‘ fiction and essays have appeared in various publications, including Ninth Letter, H.O.W., El Pais, and Asymptote. An excerpt of his novel Shelter was the recipient of the The Chapbook Award for Best Fiction of 2007. He is also the author of the internationally-distributed serial Cock of the Walk. In September 2013 Brooks’ play Women at the End of the World, starring Parker Posey and John Cameron Mitchell, will debut in Provincetown.

Buzz Slutzky is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist, writer, and curator. Buzz primarily integrates drawing, poetry, and video art with themes of identity, social interaction, voyeurism, and gender performance. A former Curator of the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History, Buzz currently work as Program Assistant at Laurie M. Tisch Gallery at the JCC Manhattan and will be studying at Parsons in the MFA Fine Arts program. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, Buzz’s work has been shown at La Mama’s SQUIRTS: New Voices in Queer Performance, The MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Festival, Dixon Place, and Ed. Varie Gallery. Their projects have been written about by Artforum.com, The Huffington Post, TimeOut NY, and NEXT Magazine. Buzz’s collaboration with LJ Roberts The Queer Houses of Brooklyn is the permanent collection of the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Sami Nichols is a Virginia-raised, guitar strumming vagabond who takes inspiration from blues and hip hop to tell stories in song.

Visual art by:

Giancarlo Corbacho

Najva Sol

Gizelle Peters

Randy L. Schmidt on Karen Carpenter’s life and work
2013-06-27 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Randy L. Schmidt is the author of Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter (2010) and the editor of Yesterday Once More: The Carpenters Reader (2012), both published by Chicago Review Press. Schmidt will read from both books and discuss Karen Carpenter’s life and work.

Schmidt served as creative consultant for several television documentaries on the Carpenters, including those for E! True Hollywood Story, A&E’s Biography and VH1’s Behind the Music. He is also a music educator. Schmidt lives near Dallas,Texas.
Read Schmidt’s article on Karen Carpenter in The Advocate, “Karen Carpenter: Unlikely Gay Icon.” This article was published this past February on the 30th anniversary of her 1983 death from anorexia nervosa.
Joining Schmidt for this special evening of music and memories will be Mary Edwards, a composer, musician, arranger, producer and sound artist whose projects range from recordings “evocative of epic cinematic soundtracks combined with lyrical intimacy…” (Time Out NY), to ambient installations—sound as a spatial form—that create nature, architecture and cinema for the ear. More info: https://maryedwardsmusic.com/
