BGSQD

EASY SUNDAY POETRY with BRYAN BORLAND AND ANTHONY DIPIETRO (in person only)
2025-09-28 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Slip into something comfortable and join us for an Easy Sunday that’s equal parts poetry, pleasure, and provocation. Bryan Borland, poet, publisher, and founder of Sibling Rivalry Press, and Anthony DiPietro, unapologetic gay sex poet and arts provocateur, will read from their newest books and trade conversation about poetry as resistance, as seduction, as bridge-building and boundary-burning.

To reserve a copy of Bryan Borland’s chapbook Crow in the Desert and/or Brotherful (Sibling Rivalry Press, July 30, 2025, paperback, $18) and/or Anthony DiPietro’s Kiss & Release (Unsolicited Press, February 13, 2024, paperback, $17.95) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve book(s) for September 28 event” in the subject line and let us know which title(s) in the body of the email.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better:
sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Bryan Borland, poet and publisher of the groundbreaking and impactful Sibling Rivalry Press, is the author of multiple collections of poetry, including DIG (Stillhouse Press), which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry and a Stonewall Honor Book as chosen by the American Library Association. His latest publications are the chapbook Crow in the Desert (Queer Punk Collective) and the full-length collection of poetry Brotherful (Sibling Rivalry Press). He is also founding editor of Assaracus: A Journal of Gay Poetry, returning to print in the fall of 2025. For more, visit www.bryanborland.com.

Anthony DiPietro is a gay sex poet and arts administrator originally from Providence, Rhode Island. A graduate of Brown University with honors in creative writing, he also earned a creative writing MFA at Stony Brook University. Now serving as deputy director of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, he resides in Worcester, MA. He has a chapbook, And Walk Through (Seven Kitchens Press, 2021), and his debut collection, kiss & release (Unsolicited Press, 2024), was longlisted for a Mass Book Award in Poetry. For more, www.AnthonyWriter.com and Instagram @ant.providence.

Compulsory Heterosexuality: an Introduction to Adrienne Rich (in-person only/registration required)
2025-09-29 18:30 - 21:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Is heterosexuality a coercive institution that aids and abets the oppression of women? So argues Adrienne Rich in her famous essay “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” which gave voice to a nascent lesbian liberation movement in search of alternatives to heterosexual feminism. A major poet, Rich was also one of the key theoretical and literary voices of the women’s liberation movement, and her prose work is by now canonical in the field of gender studies. And with her poetry, Rich created a body of verse that investigated social, cultural, and political conditions for women in the last half of the twentieth century, as well as the personal toll of feminist politics. Her writings have been at the heart of numerous feminist controversies, from trans exclusionary radical feminism to pornography, but have nonetheless continued to shape lesbian feminist discourse into the present day. How can we understand Rich’s unique corpus of poetry and feminist theory? How, for Rich, does one inform the other? And what is the problem with heterosexual feminism? How do gender, sexuality, reproduction, and liberation relate?
In this course, we will explore Adrienne Rich’s complicated legacy as theorist, activist, and poet by reading her work alongside the work of her fiercest critics and allies in the feminist movement, including Mary Daly, Susan Sontag, Andrea Dworkin, Michelle Cliff, and Audre Lorde. Beginning with Rich’s foundational theorization of compulsory heterosexuality, we will read her essays on sexual violence, lesbian love, women’s education, motherhood, pornography, and racism alongside key poems from her oeuvre spanning the crucial years of women’s liberation. In what ways have women’s bodies historically been viewed as being at the service of men, and how has heterosexuality instantiated that belief? What would it mean to build a “women’s culture” and how might this further feminism’s aims? What political potentials lie in viewing motherhood as an institution, rather than an innate desire or calling? What role might anger, disagreement, and even violence play in the feminist fight to end patriarchal oppression?
Instructor: Hannah Leffingwell
Course Schedule
Monday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
September 08 — September 29, 2025
4 weeks
$335.00
Three scholarship spaces are reserved for each course, because we realize that not everyone can afford to pay the full fee. Students who cannot pay the full fee should email us at info@thebrooklyninstitute.com to learn about our scholarship options. We will not ask questions about your financial situation, but we do ask that you use the system in good faith and consider the needs of other students and faculty members.
Register here: https://thebrooklyninstitute.com/items/courses/new-york/adrienne-rich/
If you experience difficulties entering your card at checkout, please feel free to call 718-422-7767 or email info@thebrooklyninstitute.com for assistance.
The course meetings will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011. The Bureau is closed on Mondays, but will open for these meetings at 6 pm on the scheduled Mondays.

Book Launch—Blood, Sweat & Queers: Vampiric Love Stories (in person & live-streaming)
2025-10-04 17:00 - 19:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join author Mae Murray (I’m Sorry if I Scared You), author Andi Astra, editor Margaret Hall (GEMIGNANI: Life and Lessons from Broadway and Beyond), and editor Jamie Ryu as they crack open the coffin and unleash the vampire with Blood,Sweat & Queers, a collection of 8 LGBTQ+ vampire stories. A portion of every purchase of Blood, Sweat & Queers is being donated by the publisher to The Trevor Project, a non-profit organization that provides crisis counseling, advocacy, and research for LGBTQ+ lives.

To reserve a copy of Blood, Sweat & Queers: Vampiric Love Stories (Contrarian Publishing, October 7, 2025, paperback, $19.99) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Blood, Sweat & Queers for October 4 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Blood, Sweat & Queers on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd.

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Mae Murray is a writer and editor hailing from Arkansas, now living in eerie New England. She occasionally contributes essays and film criticism to Fangoria.com and Dread Central. She is the recipient of the 2022 Brave New Weird Award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction. The Book of Queer Saints Volume I was her editing debut and a 2023 British Fantasy Award nominee in the Best Anthology category. Her debut novel, I’m Sorry If I Scared You, released in 2024.

Margaret Hall is a scholar of vampire literature, an author, a teacher, a director, and a theatre historian. Margaret is a staff writer for Playbill Magazine, the pre-eminent theatre publication in the United States, as well as a teacher at various accredited programs, including Juilliard and New York University. She is the youngest known nominator in the history of the Drama Desk Awards.
Her debut biography, GEMIGNANI: Life and Lessons from Broadway and Beyond, explored the life of esteemed Broadway music director Paul Gemignani. An unflinching advocate for the societally marginalized, Margaret is an autistic woman, and the founder of the non-profit Autistic Theatremakers Alliance. She has received both a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama, and a Masters in Musical Theatre History from New York University. Grá a bhfuil grá agat dó.

Jamie Ryu worked for Big 5 powerhouse publishing companies like Macmillan and HarperCollins before forging her own path as the founder of Contrarian Publishing. With ample editing experience and a degree in Comparative Literature from New Yor University, she is well-equipped to help writers unlock the full potential of the stories they’re meant to tell and aid them in pursuing their goals, whether that be traditional publishing or indie publishing. She is a proud, queer Korean American woman, and is sadly married to a man (a wonderful man, but a man nonetheless).

Andi Astra is a queer, multidisciplinary illustrator and creative based out of Hilo, Hawaii. While studying English Literature at Eastern Michigan University in 2015, Andi began creating science fiction and alien centric art under the name Spooky Girl, using these themes to explore their own identity and relationship with femininity. Since then, Andi has built a successful career as an illustrator, and has begun to expand their universe by writing stories that explore the strange, queer and ethereal.

Generation Queer Live: A Conversation with Joshua Allen and Author Kimm Topping (in person & live-streaming)
2025-10-05 15:00 - 16:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join author Kimm Topping and featured artist Joshua Allen for a conversation on the power of storytelling and art in Generation Queer. They’ll reflect on the creative process, the importance of queer/trans narratives, and how young people are shaping change. A book signing will follow the discussion.
To reserve a copy of Generation Queer: Stories of Youth Organizers, Artists, and Educators, Kimm Topping (Author) and Anshika Khullar (Illustrator), (Tu Books, May 27, 2025, hardcover, $22.95) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Generation Queer for October 5 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Generation Queer on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd.

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Kimm Topping, Ed.M., is an artist-educator, writer, and historian dedicated to preserving LGBTQIA+ history. Their first book, Generation Queer, is a nonfiction YA highlighting the stories of LGBTQIA+ youth activists. Their historic tours of Cambridge and New York City spotlight queer and feminist activism from the 1970s to the 1990s, and their series, Mapping Feminist Cambridge, is available through the Cambridge Women’s Commission.
As founder of Lavender Education, a national program promoting LGBTQIA+ history and youth leadership, Kimm leads impactful workshops, professional development, and historic walking tours. Kimm lectures at Harvard Graduate School of Education, specializing in gender, sexuality, and equity. Their work has been recognized by the 2025 Curve Power List and the 2023 Inaugural In-Service Award from the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.

Joshua Obawole Allen (b. 1995, Brooklyn, New York) is a multidisciplinary artist and activist whose practice envisions a more just, equitable, and joyous world.
Working at the intersections of art, community organizing, and cultural strategy, Allen uses visual storytelling to honor Black queer and trans life while shifting the cultural conditions so that Black queer and trans people are not merely surviving, but thriving.
Their work has been included in group exhibitions at AM:PM Gallery (2025), the Center for Black Visual Culture at NYU (2024), Leslie-Lohman Museum (2024), Armory Week (2024), the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporic Arts (2024), and the national For Freedoms / Wide Awakes billboard campaign (2020). They are featured in the 2024 For Freedoms monograph published by Phaidon Press and the anthology Generation Queer from Lee & Low Books. In Spring 2025, Allen appeared as a cover star for Dazed Magazine.
Allen is also a regular contributor to Queerty x Native Son, where they write on art, culture, entertainment, and politics, helping to shape public discourse around intersectional justice and representation.
In addition to their artistic and editorial work, Allen brings over a decade of experience in grassroots organizing. They served as the first-ever Activist-in-Residence at New York City’s LGBT Center, where they piloted a mentorship program for Black queer and trans youth. In 2020, they were recognized as one of The New Yorker’s Hometown Heroes for their community service during the COVID-19 pandemic. That same year, they led a record-breaking grassroots fundraising campaign that raised over $300,000 in just 18 days for Black trans youth, and later co-organized the Brooklyn Liberation March, which drew over 15,000 people in support of Black trans lives.
Allen’s work continues to build bridges between art and activism, rooted in the belief that cultural change is inseparable from systemic change.

Untitled Musical Project Presents ~ Lisa Stephen Friday, D’LOURDES, & Déa and the Drips (in person & live-streaming)
2025-10-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
UNTITLED Musical Project Presents ~ D’LOURDES, Lisa Stephen Friday, & Déa and the Drips
A night of togetherness and music, celebrating, and fundraising for the UNTITLED Musical Project Community at the Bureau, in room 210 of The LGBT Community Center.
Featuring openings acts by D’LOURDES & Lisa Stephen Friday.
Déa and the Drips will play their upcoming debut album, Transvolution, a project about evolution and revolution. The songs promote authenticity and self-made beauty, and are poetry mixed with pain mixed with pleasure. Ranging from folky introspectives to punk anthems with shades of pop melancholy.
Sit, stand, sway, dance; for it will be joyful.
An interview with Déa about Transvolution:
https://switchbitchnoise.com/interview-dea-thatcher-on-transvolution-the-new-album/

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd

UNTITLED is a not-for-profit dedicated to supporting musical theatre writers of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and their intersecting identities by fostering their work from inception. Through writers’ groups, developmental readings, dramaturgical support, and resources aimed to further artists’ professional careers in the creation of new musical theatre, UNTITLED creates a space and community where BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ writers can create bold, new, and challenging works.

D’LOURDES is a queer Filipino-American music artist who first appeared with the release of their self-titled EP in May of 2022. With the heart & lyrics of a singer songwriter, they blend alternative rock, funk, & RnB to cultivate a type of alternative pop that is purely their own. You can find them at the intersection of Alanis Morrisette, Paramore, and Olivia Rodrigo.

Lisa Stephen Friday (she, her, hers) is a singer, musician, actor, and theater maker based in New York City. Her work has awarded her a New York Voices commissioning for the 2025/26 season with Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater. Lisa’s work includes her one-woman show TRANS AM the musical, DOLL/GIRL (about the life and work of Greer Lankton), and her latest project: A Musical for Henrietta. In 2022, TRANS AM premiered at the Keegan Theater in Washington DC and was featured in the Hangar Theater’s summer season. TRANS AM made its New York City debut at Joe’s Pub in March. In 2023, DOLL/GIRL had its first public presentation at Judson Memorial Church, where Lisa and co-creator Joseph Ritsch were artists in residence. TRANS AM will be featured at Joe’s Pub in September 2025, thanks to collaborative efforts with the WP Theater and New York State Council on The Arts. From 2000-2006, Lisa fronted and wrote songs for the band Lisa Jackson and Girl Friday. They were a featured act at NYC’s CBGB’s and headlined the monthly party Homocorp and shared the stage with bands such as The Psychedelic Furs, The Motels, and Pat Benatar. Recent theater credits include Robert O’Hara’s Barbecue at The Human Race Theater in the role of Adlene and Pipeline Theatre Company’s World Premiere of House of Telescopes. Prior to her years with Lisa Jackson and Girl Friday, Lisa worked as an actor and singer in NYC, performing in regional productions at theaters like Goodspeed Opera House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and The Ordway Theater. In 1999, Lisa toured the country with the National touring company of the Buddy Holly Story.

THE DRIPS are a new BK based Indie trio that fuses together a gnarly potion of folk, pop, & punk-rock. The coven is made up of Déa, Aspen, and Caro, who met on a moonlit night in a dunkin-donuts parking lot. Their hex-proof cauldron bubbling with musical musings is specially brewed to seduce queer comrades far and wide.
https://linktr.ee/madebyDTM

lesbian book club: October edition (in person only)
2025-10-11 11:00 - 12:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
We’ll be reading fiction and non-fiction — classic, contemporary, revealing and visionary. As a group we will decide what to read each month, focusing on lesbian authors and/or related topics. Co-founded by lesbian book lovers Judi Komaki and Piper Olsen.

For our October 11th meeting, we’ll read On Strike against God, Joanna Russ, edited by Alec Pollak (Feminist Press, July 3, 2024, paperback, $17.95). Purchase a copy before October 11th, and receive a 15% discount ($15.25 instead of $17.95). Just mention the lesbian book club when making your purchase.

Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required.

GOLD FOR THE DEAD Book Launch (in person & live-streaming)
2025-10-15 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Lambda Literary and Goldie Award-winning author Ann Aptaker releases the latest in her acclaimed Cantor Gold crime series, GOLD FOR THE DEAD, with a reading and book signing, and featuring a conversation with best selling-selling award-winning author Felice Cohen. Join us for an evening of lively, edgy Queer crime fiction and discussion celebrating the Queer women who write it.
To reserve a copy of Gold for the Dead (Bywater Books, October 14, 2025, paperback, $18.95) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Gold for the Dead for October 15 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Gold for the Dead (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Gold for the Dead
This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Ann Aptaker’s Cantor Gold Crime series has been the recipient of Lambda Literary and Golden Crown Literary Society’s Goldie Awards. Her short stories have appeared in the anthologies Fedora, Mickey Finn: 21st Century Noir, Private Dicks & Disco Balls, Scattered Smothered Covered & Chunked, Our Happy Hours: LGBT Voices from the Gay Bars, Switchblade Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, the Guns & Tacos novella series, and the online zine Punk Soul Poet. Her short story, “Neon Women,” was selected for inclusion in the 2025 Best American Mystery and Suspense anthology.

Felice Cohen is the author of the 2023 Goldie Winner Half In: A Coming-of-Age Memoir of Forbidden Love (about a secret age-gap affair she had at 23 with her 57-year-old female boss), 90 Lessons for Living Large in 90 Square Feet (…or More) (inspired by the viral YouTube video of her tiny NYC studio) and What Papa Told Me (about her grandfather’s life before, during and after the Holocaust). Felice has been featured on Good Morning America, NBC, NPR, Time, Globe & Mail and more. Felice splits her time between NYC and Cape Cod, MA.

TELL: TESTED (in person & live-streaming)
2025-10-18 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
TELL is a monthly queer storytelling show hosted and curated by Drae Campbell. It is the longest running event at the Bureau! 11 years and going. Each month there is a different theme and a different line up of queer artists who tell true stories from their lives on a theme.
The theme for October 2025 is Tested, featuring storytellers Gabriella M. Belfiglio, Sunny Jay, and Chris Manley.

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.
Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
Suggested donation to benefit the storytellers and the Bureau: $10.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.
We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD

Drae Campbell is the host and curator of TELL, an award winning podcast that can be found anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Theater: The Nosebleed (Lincoln Center Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theater & National Tour, Lortel Nominated), Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater), Only You Can Prevent Wildfires (Teatro Circulo), My Old Man (Dixon Place), Storm Still (DirectorFest, Drama League), La Cage Aux Folles (Barrington Stage Company).
Film and TV:Senior Escort Service, Blunderpuss, It’s Very Common, TOW.
TV: Bull, New Amsterdam.
BFA, The University Of The Arts
Ig @draebiz and @tellqueerz

Gabriella M. Belfiglio is a queer artist teacher and mother living in Brooklyn, NY. She is the author of the newly released book The Fig Thief. She is a winner of the W.B. Yeats Poetry Contest. Belfiglio has had writing published in the award-winning anthology Poetic Voices Without Borders, The Potomac Review, The Monterey Poetry Review, The Centrifugal Eye, and Lambda Literary Review, among other places. Belfiglio is an anti-violence activist, working to make the world a safer place for all people. She can most often be found reading with a cat on her lap.

Chris Manley (he/they) is an American writer, performer and clown. He is best known for his character Buttons. He was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for his performance in “The Nosebleed,” has performed with Cirque du Soleil and is honored to be listed in Le Petit Clown August Alphabetique alongside Abbott & Costello. He has performed at Lincoln Center, Ars Nova, The Montreal Just for Laughs Festival, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, The People’s Improv Theater, the Toronto Sketch Fest and the Chicago Sketch Fest. You can see him in several national commercials and award winning films.

Sunny Jay (performer, cartoonist, & metaphysician) recently retired from ex-patriotism abroad in the EU and has returned to his home empire of the US. He currently resides in the Philadelphia and awaits the revolution. (popcorn)

Kate Bornstein and Caitlin Sullivan: Queer Love on the Run (in person & live-streaming)
2025-10-19 15:00 - 16:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join Generous Press and queer luminaries Kate Bornstein and Caitlin Sullivan to celebrate the launch of NEARLY ROADKILL: QUEER LOVE ON THE RUN. After a brief reading from the book, the authors will chat with Generous publishers Elaina Ellis and Amber Flame about gender rebellion, queer sex on the internet, and the intersection of political resistance and happily ever after.
In this rowdy erotic cyber-romance originally written in the 1990s, two people meet online and fall in love in every guise they can manage. As Scratch and Winc go from anonymous lovers to accidental heroes and gender outlaws, they expose the shadowy Web stretched between technology and capitalist greed, nearly becoming roadkill on the internet superhighway. With a little help from their friends including a brave teenager and a mysterious hacker, these darling rebels fight government intervention and find chosen family in this eerily prescient tale.
The 30th anniversary “reboot” edition includes an updated lens for today’s readers, as GenZ investigative journalist Drew uncovers what just might be the greatest queer love story of all time. Like Octavia Butler’s PARABLE OF THE SOWER, Margaret Atwood’s A HANDMAID’S TALE, and George Orwell’s 1984, the return of NEARLY ROADKILL is right on time with urgent lessons for our contemporary landscape.
Generous Press aims to please readers like you by publishing lush, high-caliber romance fiction and other books about love by brilliant LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and disabled authors. Built on joy, we are writing a world in which all people feel cherished and free.
NEARLY ROADKILL is published in collaboration with Row House Publishing.

To reserve a copy of NEARLY ROADKILL: QUEER LOVE ON THE RUN (Generous Press, September 9, 2025, paperback, $18.99) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Nearly Roadkill for October 19 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Nearly Roadkill (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Nearly Roadkill

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

KATE BORNSTEIN is a trans icon whose pioneering books about nonbinary gender, GENDER OUTLAW and MY GENDER WORKBOOK, are available in six languages and taught at hundreds of colleges. Kate’s 2006 book, HELLO, CRUEL WORLD: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws propelled them into an international position of advocacy for marginalized youth, earning two citations of honor from the New York City Council.

CAITLIN SULLIVAN has written several plays, 2 1/2 novels, a comic book, worked as a journalist, and reported and edited for the Seattle Gay News for many years. She lives in a small rural town near a loud donkey and quiet cows.

BARGAIN WITCH: Brooke Palmieri in conversation with Claywoman (in person & live-streaming)
2025-10-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us to celebrate the publication of DOPAMINE Books’ latest release, Bargain Witch: Essays in Self-Initiation, the debut collection from trans scholar and self-initiated witch Brooke Palmieri. In Bargain Witch, occult history, the eternal now and our magickal queer futures align. Palmieri takes us into his stories, from working at London’s oldest occult shop to bonding with his scrappy familiar to saluting the queer witches whose shoulders we stand on, in a work Susan Stryker asserts is ‘Magic, through and through.’
Brooke will be joined in conversation by Claywoman.
To reserve a copy of Bargain Witch (Dopamine/Semiotext(e), October 7, 2025, paperback, $17.95) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Bargain Witch for October 24 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Bargain Witch (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Bargain Witch
This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Brooke Palmieri is a writer and artist living in Joshua Tree, California and working at the intersection of memory, history, and transsexual alternate realities. He will be in conversation with Claywoman, is a 500 million year old extra terrestrial from the Mirillion Galaxy. She comes to Earth from time to time to chat with Earthlings. She loves Earth and all its inhabitants, who she finds incredibly fascinating, giving lectures at various events and engaging in public conversation with prominent Earthling artists and intellectuals.

Claywoman is the conception of actor/writer and performer Michael Cavadias, BFA from NYU Experimental Theater Wing. Film and TV credits include Wonder Boys, All We Had, I Remember Nothing, Girls, and Difficult People. Theatre credits include Ahohni’s “She Who Saw Beautiful Things” at The Kitchen and “Star Odessey – The Pilot” at MoMA PS1. Michael’s character Claywoman was originally created at Blackips Performance Cult in the 90s and developed at Mabou Mines. “The Mystery of Claywoman” (directed by Rob Roth) was presented at The New Museum, The Wild Project, Town Hall, Abrons Art Center and Howl Festival. “Conversations with Claywoman” was featured at The Meltdown Festival in London and continues regularly at Pangea in New York City. Claywoman recently performed at The Yaga Gathering in Lithuania. Michael’s newest projects include “Cancellation Island”, a fictional podcast co-written by John Cameron Mitchell, and a Claywoman video/film series to come.

Queer Junk Journaling 101 (in person only)
2025-10-25 12:00 - 14:00 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Ready to cut, paste, and collage your way into creative liberation? Join us for Queer Junk Journaling 101—a hands-on workshop designed for LGBTQ+ adults (ages 18 and up) who want to explore the joyful, low-pressure world of junk journaling. Whether you’re a seasoned scrapbooker or a total newbie, this is your invitation to play with washi tape, stickers, ephemera, and emotion—while crafting pages that celebrate your travels, your truth, and your tenderest thoughts.
Inspired by five years of practice and a passion for queer visibility in a hobby dominated by cishet influencers, this workshop oﬀers a welcoming space to create, connect, and reclaim the page. With junk journaling now making headlines in the NYTIMES and LATIMES, there’s never been a better moment to dive in. Come make something messy, meaningful, and magnificently yours.
JOURNALS AND PAPER CRAFTING SUPPLIES WILL BE PROVIDED BUT YOU ARE WELCOME TO BRING YOUR OWN EPHEMERA AND TOOLS!
Space is limited to the first 16 people who arrive.
The Bureau normally opens at 1 pm, but we will open at 11:30 AM on Saturday, October 25th, for this event.

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

About the facilitator:
Michael Williams is a New York–based photo editor and visual storyteller whose career spans editorial portraiture, performing arts publicity, and celebrity event coverage. Born into a farm family in small-town Iowa, he began photographing professionally in high school and earned his BA in Journalism & Mass Communication from the University of Iowa, with a minor in French and study abroad in Lyon. His path has included an MFA stint at Columbia College Chicago, a fellowship in Amsterdam, and roles at Gamma Liaison, Getty Images, and now Everett Collection, where he directs entertainment photo assignments. Outside of work, Williams continues to photograph—especially his vintage Barbie collection, featured in LIFE and PEOPLE—and leads creative workshops in junk journaling and stationery arts for the LGBTQ+ community.

Lesbian Lives Book Celebration (in person & live-streaming)
2025-10-26 11:00 - 13:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Closing book celebration for the Lesbian Lives 2025 Conference
Featuring readings by Lana Lin, SaraEllen Strongman, Padraig Rooney, Cheryl Clarke, and Diane DiMassa.

Copies of the following books will be available for purchase at the event:
Essential Poems by Pat Parker, edited by SaraEllen Strongman (Sinister Wisdom, October 14, 2025, paperback, $19.95)
The Autobiography of H. LAN Thao Lam, Lana Lin (Dorothy A Publishing Project, September 30, 2025, paperback, $18)
Rebel Angel: The Life and Times of Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Padraig Rooney (Polity Press, April 15, 2025, hardcover, $29.95)
Archive of Style: New and Selected Poems, Cheryl Clarke (Triquarterly Books, August 15, 2024, hardcover, $29)
Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist, Diane DiMassa (New York Review Comics, September 2, 2025, paperback, $34.95)
To reserve a copy/copies of any of these titles, please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve a book/books for October 26 event” in the subject line, and let us know which titles in the body of the email.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.
Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.
We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better:
sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!
Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

About the Lesbian Lives 2025 Conference:
For the first time since its inception in 1993, the Lesbian Lives Conference is crossing the Atlantic to New York City! The conference is hosted by the Journal of Lesbian Studies, Sinister Wisdom, and CLAGS: the Center for LGBT Studies at the City University of New York. Lesbian Lives brings together academics, artists, writers, and activists to showcase, enjoy, and critically analyze lesbian culture.
Rooted in an ethos of inclusivity, dialogue, diversity, and accessibility, the conference welcomes people of all sexualities and genders.
Lesbian Lives 2025 will be held on October 24 and 25 at the Graduate Center CUNY, 365 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10016.
In keeping with its arrival in the global city of New York, this year’s theme is:
“The Lesbian International: Creating Networks of Knowledge Across Space and Time”
Our aim is to foster international and interdisciplinary conversations on critical issues in lesbian studies today. By engaging with global scholars, activists, and artists, we seek to deepen understanding of the lesbian erotic and generate new knowledge, artistic imaginations, and activist strategies to sustain lesbian lives and resistance.
UPDATE: Lesbian Lives 2025 is completely sold out. We are running a waiting list for people still interested in joining the conference. Stay tuned for public event announcements as well. To join the wait list for a registration if more become available, click here.

Book Release: Little F with Michelle Tea and Julian Delgado Lopera (in person & live-streaming)
2025-10-28 18:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us to celebrate Michelle Tea’s latest work, Little F – a cross-country road odyssey that follows brings a queer, teenage runaway from new moon rituals in Arizona canyons to Texas bus stations, from the luxe drag stages of Houston’s Montrose district to the jazz-soaked streets of the French Quarter and beyond. In this new novel, Michelle Tea tells the story, by turns raw, romantic, and sweet, of a sheltered boy taking his first leap into queer life, among all the complicated queers who live it.
“Little F is the book I’ve been needing all my life. It’s like Michelle Tea has a magnifying glass pointed straight into every angsty teenage queer’s soul. I can’t wait for everyone to meet Spencer, her heartbreakingly tender and deliciously messy hero, whose cross-country odyssey is equal parts To Wong Foo and My So-Called Life. I saw the best parts of myself in this book. The anger. The hunger. The private, indestructible yearning. I laughed so hard I cried.” —Edgar Gomez, author of High Risk Homosexual
With readings from the book + conversation between Michelle Tea and Julian Delgado Lopera
PLEASE NOTE: THE BUREAU IS NORMALLY CLOSED ON TUESDAYS.
WE WILL OPEN AT 5:30 PM ON OCTOBER 28TH FOR THIS EVENT.

To reserve a copy of Little F (Feminist Press, October 14, 2025, paperback, $17.95) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Little F for October 28 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Little F (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Little F
This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Michelle Tea is the author of over twenty books of fiction, memoir, poetry and children’s literature. Her autofiction Valencia, a cult classic, won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Fiction. Her essay collection Against Memoir was awarded the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for The Art of the Essay. Tea is also the recipient of awards from the Rona Jaffe Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation. A founder of Drag Queen Story Hour, she has received honors from the American Library Association and Logo Television. Tea curated the Sister Spit Books series at City Lights Publishers, founded the ongoing imprint Amethyst Edition at the Feminist Press and is the founding editor of DOPAMINE Books, a collaboration with Semiotext(e).

Julián Delgado Lopera is the author of The New York Times acclaimed novel Fiebre Tropical (Feminist Press 2020), the Winner of the 2021 Ferro Grumley Award and a 2021 Lambda Literary award; a finalist of the 2020 Kirkus Prize in Fiction and the 2021 Aspen Literary Prize. Julián is also the author of ¡Cuéntamelo! (Aunt Lute 2017) an illustrated bilingual collection of oral histories by LGBT Latinx immigrants which won a 2018 Lambda Literary Award and a 2018 Independent Publisher Book Award.
Julián’s work has been supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Public Library, Baldwin for the Arts, Hawthornden Foundation, Black Mountain Institute, Creative Work Fund, Hedgebrook, California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, Headlands Center for The Arts, Brush Creek Foundation of the Arts, Lambda Literary Foundation and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. His work has appeared in American Short Fiction, Granta, Teen Vogue, The Kenyon Review, McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, The White Review, LALT, Four Way Review, Broadly, TimeOut Mag to name a few. He is the former executive director of RADAR Productions and one of the founders of Drag Queen Story Hour. Julián has been curating Latinx history projects for over 10 years in partnerships with places such as the GLBT Historical Society, SF Public Library, El/la Para Translatinas, Galería de la Raza and Brava Theatre.

Dreaming Trans Futures: Lucie Fielding and Avgi Saketopoulou in Conversation (in person & live-streaming)
2025-10-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
In a moment marked by escalating and ever-chilling anti-trans sentiment and violence, do trans joy, the trans erotic, and trans pleasure have a place? How might we go about imagining—and enacting!—pathways that lead to trans thriving? On the occasion of the publication of the second edition of Trans Sex: Nurturing Trans Erotic Embodiment and Gender-Pleasure, the book’s author, Lucie Fielding, and psychoanalyst Avgi Saketopoulou will engage in a wide-ranging conversation that dreams of trans futures steeped in and animated by desire, solidarity, mutual entanglement, and (gender-)pleasure.

To reserve a copy of Trans Sex: Nurturing Trans Erotic Embodiment and Gender-Pleasure (Routledge, October 23, 2025, paperback, $28.99) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Trans Sex for October 29 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

You can also purchase Trans Sex (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Trans Sex

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Lucie Fielding is a therapist, a sex and kink educator, and the author of the book Trans Sex: Nurturing Trans Erotic Embodiment and Gender-Pleasure (2nd Ed). The first edition of Trans Sex (2021) Clinical Approaches to Trans Sexualities and Erotic Embodiments (Routledge, 2021) was shortlisted for a 2022 Lambda Literary Award in the Transgender-Nonfiction category and was awarded the 2022 AASECT Book Award (Book for Sexuality Professionals), the 2024 SSTAR Health Professionals Book Award, and the 2024 APA Division 44 Distinguished Book Award.

Avgi Saketopoulou is an immigrant from Cyprus and Greece and a practicing psychoanalyst. She teaches at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. Her published work centers on issues of queer desire, consent, and is committed to renewing sadism as an ethical and political intervention. She is the author of Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia and co-author, with Ann Pellegrini, of Gender Without Identity. In 2025, she co-founded P-HOLE (Psychoanalytic Hub for Online Liberatory Education), a pro-trans, pro-queer, pro-Palestine, anti-racist learning group, committed to decolonial practices, and to disability and economic justice. Her next book project is provisionally titled Sadism’s Offer: Aesthetics and the Revolutionary Impulse.

Unstoppable: Straight Women on the AIDS Frontlines (in person only)
2025-10-30 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join award-winning author Victoria Noe and GMHC Director of Community Relations Krishna Stone in celebrating the release of Noe’s newest book on straight women in the HIV/AIDS community, UNSTOPPABLE: Straight Women on the AIDS Frontlines. Building on the success of her 2019 ground-breaking F*g Hags, Divas and Moms: The Legacy of Straight Women in the AIDS Community, Noe turns to how straight women are facing the shock and awe of 2025, and answering the question ‘where do we go from here?’ A book signing with Noe and some of the women in the book will follow the discussion.
To reserve a copy of UNSTOPPABLE: Straight Women on the AIDS Frontlines (King Company Publishing, September 16, 2025, paperback, $16.95), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve a copy of Unstoppable for September 14th event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Unstoppable (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
UNSTOPPABLE: Straight Women on the AIDS Frontlines

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better:
sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Deep into her fourth career, St. Louis native Victoria Noe is a Chicago-based award-winning author, speaker and activist with two degrees in theater. Her Friend Grief series – the result of a promise she made to a dying friend – recognizes the importance of friendships in shaping our lives and illuminates an often disrespected form of grief. Noe’s long-time HIV/AIDS activism then led her to write F*g Hags, Divas and Moms: The Legacy of Straight Women in the AIDS Community, the groundbreaking book that honors the women who changed the course of the epidemic. An accomplished public speaker, she has presented to a wide variety of organizations and events, including ACT UP/London, Mt. Sinai Hospital, the Muse and the Marketplace, BookExpo America, Chicago Women’s History Center, Printers Row Lit Fest, and Open Hand/San Francisco, as well as libraries and bookstores around New York state and the Midwest. During COVID, she led workshops for Let’s Reimagine and Global Grief Network, and Honoring Our Experience. Noe’s 2023 book, What Our Friends Left Behind: Grief and Laughter in a Pandemic, shares the challenges faced by people who grieved a friend during COVID.
With Unstoppable: Straight Women on the AIDS Frontlines, Noe shares more stories of women in the HIV/AIDS community, and how they’re responding to the shock and awe of 2025.
She is a member of ACT UP/NY, Alliance of Independent Authors, and Chicago Writers Association. Try to keep up with her at victorianoe.com or email her at victoria@victorianoe.com. She promises to respond quickly. Probably.

Krishna Stone is the Director of Community Relations in the Communications Department at GMHC (founded as Gay Men’s Health Crisis in 1982, the world’s first HIV and AIDS service organization). She originally connected with GMHC in 1986 as a walker in the first annual AIDS Walk New York and then started volunteering at GMHC. In 1993, she became a staff person at GMHC. As of 2024, she has been an employee for 32 years! She organizes community events such as rallies, candlelight vigils, non-denominational gatherings, press conferences, local/state/national conferences, dance party/fundraisers, panel discussions, trainings, and site visits for people all over the world. She coordinates interviews for media outlets, helps with social media promotion and developing public service campaigns and promotional materials. Krishna is also an ordained non-denominational minister.
For 21 years, she was a volunteer announcer along the route of the annual NYC LGBT Pride March. She continues to volunteer with other community-based organizations as well. In 2014, she received an award from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for “her outstanding dedication to combatting the spread of HIV.”
In 2017, Krishna was one of the four Grand Marshals for the NYC LGBT Pride March and in 2019, she was awarded the Sam Ciccone Community Service Award by the Gay Officers Action League New York (GOAL-NY). She was also profiled in both of Victoria Noe’s books on straight women in the AIDS community.
In 2020, she received the Gay City News Impact Award for her commitment and service for the LGBTQ+ community. And in 2021, she was spotlighted by POZ Magazine’s POZ 100: “Black Advocates—both HIV positive and negative—who are making a difference in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the United States”. On December 1, 2022, she received the World AIDS Day award from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene “for her work at GMHC and planning past World AIDS Day citywide events.”
She is the proud mother of her 30-year-old daughter, Parade.

Fire Island Invasion (in person only)
2025-11-01 15:00 - 16:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Fire Island Invasion
Book Reading • Photo Presentation • Live Conversation
Photographer Anderson Zaca and cover star Fifi Dubois bring the legendary Fire Island Invasion to life with stories, images, and insight.Zaca’s striking black-and-white portraits celebrate drag as protest, pageantry, and pure brilliance—rooted in the rebellious spirit of the ’70s and still dazzling today.
To reserve a copy of Fire Island Invasion, Anderson Zaca(Damiani Ltd, May 6, 2025, hardcover, $50), write to contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve a copy of Fire Island Invasion for November 1 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

You can also purchase Fire Island Invasion (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Fire Island Invasion

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Kids on the Street: Joseph Plaster in conversation with Hugh Ryan (in person only)
2025-11-06 18:00 - 19:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join authors Joseph Plaster and Hugh Ryan as they discuss Kids on the Street: Queer Kinship and Religion in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, a hidden history of queer and trans street youth who, abandoned by family and society, forged street families, faith traditions, and mutual aid networks to survive in San Francisco’s Tenderloin.
Kids on the Street is the winner of The Publishing Triangle’s 2024 Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction, the Urban History Association’s Joe William Trotter, Jr. Book Prize for best first book in urban history, and the 2024 Oral History Association Book Award.

To reserve a copy of Kids on the Street (Duke University Press, February 24, 2023, paperback, $28.95) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Kids on the Street for November 6 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Kids on the Street (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Kids on the Street

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Hugh Ryan is the author of When Brooklyn Was Queer, The Women’s House of Detention, and the memoir My Bad: A Personal History of the Queer 90s (and Beyond!), forthcoming in 2026.

Joseph Plaster is a queer public historian and author of Kids on the Street: Queer Kinship and Religion in San Francisco’s Tenderloin. He teaches and directs public humanities programs at Johns Hopkins University.

Expanding Dissociation-Informed Psychoanalytic Practice (registration required)
2025-11-07 19:30 - 21:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
In recent years, psychoanalysis has expanded its focus moving beyond repressive symptomatology to include dissociative processes. Concepts such as Howell and Itkowitz’s dissociative unconscious, Bollas’s unthought known, Stern’s unformulated experience, and my own idea of unexperienced-experience have become increasingly central in both theoretical and clinical discourse. Despite this growing attention, significant ambiguity remains particularly around distinguishing ordinary dissociation from defensive dissociation, as well as in understanding the various forms defensive dissociation can take. It’s common to conflate dissociation as a defense mechanism with dissociation as a structural feature of the self.
Drawing on Sullivan’s view of the self as a system, I propose a self-state continuum model of dissociative functioning—from a relatively continuous self-system to one that is structurally discontinuous. I differentiate between “dissociation of content” versus “dissociation as a structure of the self,” and highlight clinical phenomena that may help practitioners recognize these dynamics in their work. I will also illuminate some of the structural aspects of dissociation as a self-organization and provide clinical examples to illustrate how these patterns may manifest in treatment.

TICKETS: $50.00
Student tickets $25.00
(Proof of student status required)
Free for MIP candidates (RSVP candidates only)
THIS IS A HYBRID EVENT: IN PERSON AND ONLINE
CLICK HERE TO PAY AND REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON
TIME: 7:30 to 9:30PM
LOCATION: Bureau of General Services—Queer Division
Room 210 of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
208 W 13th St, NY NY 10011
***
CLICK HERE TO PAY AND REGISTER TO ATTEND ONLINE
You will receive a Zoom link after you register.

Continuing Education Hours: 2
The Manhattan Institute is a NY State approved provider of continuing education hours for: LCSW, LMSW, LCAT, LMHC and Licensed Psychologists.

Johanna Dobrich, LCSW, holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Rutgers University and is a graduate of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy’s (ICP) four-year psychoanalytic training program. She is a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice in New York City. Johanna has served on the faculty of ICP, the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center (PPSC), and the National Institute for the Psychotherapies (NIP), where she has taught courses on trauma, dissociation, and contemporary psychoanalytic practice from a Relational perspective. She also supervises candidates in psychoanalytic training. She has served on the Board at ICP and currently holds a position as an advisory member. She also teaches and consults in the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis’s Certificate Program in Trauma Studies.
Johanna is the author of Working with Survivor Siblings in Psychoanalysis, for which she received the 2023 Sandor Ferenczi Award from the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). She has published numerous articles and is recognized for her thoughtful writing on trauma, dissociation, and relational psychoanalysis. Her work offers insights into the complexities of loss, mourning, and the emotional lives of “survivor siblings”. Through her articles and book chapters, she bridges theory and clinical practice, providing valuable perspectives on developmental trauma and promoting healing through psychoanalytic approaches.
She is currently completing a book titled Moving from Grievance to Hope in Psychoanalysis: Applied Case Studies, which explores the use of psychoanalytic tools to promote social and collective healing within the socio-cultural field. The book is slated for publication in winter 2026 as part of Donnel Stern’s Psychoanalysis in a New Key series.

lesbian book club: November edition (in person only)
2025-11-08 11:00 - 12:00 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
We’ll be reading fiction and non-fiction — classic, contemporary, revealing and visionary. As a group we will decide what to read each month, focusing on lesbian authors and/or related topics. Co-founded by lesbian book lovers Judi Komaki and Piper Olsen.

For our November 8th meeting, we’ll read Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America, Lillian Faderman (Columbia University Press, February 1, 2012, paperback, $24.95). Purchase a copy before November 8th, and receive a 15% discount ($21.22 instead of $24.95). Just mention the lesbian book club when making your purchase.

Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required.

OUTspoken: The Publishing Triangle's Reading Series, November Edition
2025-11-13 18:00 - 19:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
The Publishing Triangle presents the November edition of its monthly OUTspoken Reading Series as host Rob Byrnes welcomes Steven Reigns, Rodney Rhoda Taylor, Geoffrey Newman, and GOODW.Y.N.
Join us in-person or watch the live-stream to hear from some of queer literature’s most dynamic established and up-and-coming voices.

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD

Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Holiday and Everyday Greeting Card Making Workshop (in person only)
2025-11-15 12:00 - 14:00 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Please join Teresa Theophano for this fun, hands-on paper crafting workshop. We’ll create holiday and everyday greeting cards together; materials will be provided, but feel free to bring your favorite art supplies to use, too. All skill levels welcome!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Radical Queer Reading Group (in person only)
2025-11-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Starting on November 19th, the Bureau is hosting a brand new monthly reading group: the Radical Queer Reading Group!
Join us as we read radical leftist texts with a focus on queer liberation, anti-capitalism, and anti-colonialism. For November 19th, we’re reading EVERYTHING FOR EVERYONE: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE NEW YORK COMMUNE, 2052–2072 by M.E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi (Common Notions, August 2, 2022, paperback).

We’re meeting Wednesday, November 19th at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division in room 210 of The LGBT Community Center in the West Village, 7-8 PM.

Copies of Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072, by M.E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi (Common Notions, August 2, 2022, paperback, $18) are available to purchase at the Bureau. Purchase the book before November 19th and receive 15% off ($15.30 instead of $18). Just mention the Radical Queer Reading Group when you check out.

Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.
We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!
Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

The next meeting of the Radical Queer Reading Group will take place on Wednesday, December 17th, at 7 PM.
Starting in January 2026, the Radical Queer Reading Group will meet on the second Wednesday of every month.

Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold (in person & live-streaming)
2025-11-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join Jeanna Kadlec for a reading and discussion of her memoir, Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold. Jeanna will be joined in conversation by Bureau co-founder Greg Newton, who also survived a childhood in the world of American white evangelical Christianity.

About Heretic :

A memoir of leaving the evangelical church and the search for radical new ways to build community. Jeanna Kadlec knew what it meant to be faithful–in her marriage to a pastor’s son, in the comfortable life ahead of her, in her God–but there was no denying the truth that lived under that conviction: she was queer and, if she wanted to survive, she would need to leave behind the church and every foundational building block she knew.

Heretic is a memoir of rebirth. Within, Kadlec reckons with religious trauma and Midwestern values, as a means of unveiling how evangelicalism directly impacts every American–religious or not–and has been a major force in driving our democracy towards fascism. From the story of Lilith to celebrity purity rings, Kadlec interrogates how her indoctrination and years of piety intersects with her Midwest working-class upbringing. As she navigated graduate school, a new home on the East Coast, and a new marriage, another insidious truth began to reveal itself –that conservative Christianity has both built and undermined our political power structures, poisoned our pop culture, and infected how we interact with one another in ways that the secular population couldn’t see.

Weaving the personal with powerful critique, Heretic explores how we can radically abandon these painful systems by taking a sledgehammer to the comfortable. Whether searching for community in the face of millennial loneliness or wanting to reclaim a secular form of fellowship in everyday life, Kadlec envisions the brilliant possibilities that come with not only daring to want a different way but actually striking out and claiming it for ourselves.

To reserve a copy of Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold (Harper Perennial), September 23, 2025, paperback, $18.99) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Heretic for November 20 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

You can also purchase Heretic (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd

The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.

All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Jeanna Kadlec is the author of Heretic: A Queer Revolt Against Evangelicalism, Empire, and the Lies We Are Sold and the forthcoming Astrology for Artists. A born and raised Midwesterner, she now lives in New York City with her wife.

Greg Newton (he/him) moved to New York City from Connecticut in 1991, leaving behind the world of American white evangelical Christianity. He was pursuing a PhD in art history at the City University of New York Graduate Center and teaching art history and writing at Parsons The New School for Design before deciding to leave academia to found the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division with his partner, Donnie Jochum, in 2012.

Healing, Pleasure, and Play: A Queer Take on Psychedelics (in person & live-streaming)
2025-11-22 17:00 - 18:30 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join director/actor Marco Calvani and author Joe Dolce for an intimate, mind-expanding conversation about Modern Psychedelics: The Handbook for Mindful Exploration.
These two longtime friends will dive into the unique connection between LGBTQ people and psychedelics — how these sacred molecules have fueled healing, creativity, and ecstatic self-discovery. Expect a candid, provocative dialogue about how psychedelics can be used to deepen emotional and sexual intimacy, dissolve old stories, and awaken new layers of pleasure and transformation.
If you’ve ever wondered how expanded states of consciousness can open the heart, ignite desire, and bring more authenticity to your relationships — this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

To reserve a copy of Modern Psychedelics: The Handbook for Mindful Exploration (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, August 5, 2025, paperback, $24.99) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Modern Psychedelics for November 22 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Modern Psychedelics (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Modern Psychedelics

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Joe Dolce is the author of Modern Psychedelics: The Handbook of Mindful Exploration and Brave New Weed: Adventures into the Uncharted World of Cannabis.. He is also the founder and CEO of Medical Cannabis Mentor, an online education platform serving healthcare providers, dispensary personnel, and community colleges around the US. When not exploring the intersection of substances and consciousness, Joe runs Joe Dolce Communications, one of New York’s most esteemed presentation and media training companies. He is the former editor-in-chief of Details magazine and he lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Marco Calvani is an award-winning writer, director, producer and actor. Over the course of his twenty-year career he has received commissions from the Phoenix Theatre of London, Kunsthaus Tacheles of Berlin, and La MaMaTheatre of New York, among others. His first feature film High Tide premiered at SXSW to critical acclaim and features Brazilian star Marco Pigossi, Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei and Tony-winner Bill Irwin. As an actor, he co-stars in Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons (Netflix) playing opposite Oscar-nominees Steve Carell and Colman Domingo. The show returns for a second season in 2026.

Fight the Power! 15 Years of HOMOCATS Closing Party (in person only)
2025-11-23 17:00 - 19:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us for the closing party for
Fight the Power! 15 Years of HOMOCATS !
Special guests will read zines
from the HOMOCATS zine series at 6 PM:

Ray Cha
Abi Cohen
Leah Gabriel
Andrew Greene
Richard Haines
Laura Klein
Joseph Kaminski
Lloyd Mulvey
Karen Paris
Joe Westmoreland

About the exhibition:
HOMOCATS and the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division are excited to present Fight the Power! 15 Years of HOMOCATS, an art exhibition celebrating 15 years of the HOMOCATS zine series.
J. Morrison created the HOMOCATS at a printmaking residency at the Anderson Ranch in Colorado in 2010. Morrison was inspired during Obama’s presidency to create a zine advocating for affordable health care, marriage equality, and equal rights. 15 years on, HOMOCATS continues this quest with a mission to fight phobias, champion equal rights for all, combat harmful cultural stereotypes, and challenge stigmas, all while protesting the current U.S. administration. Paying homage to historic queer symbols such as the rainbow flag and pink triangle, Morrison’s work also engages pop art and pop culture with playfulness and humor.
The exhibition takes its name from the first HOMOCATS zine, “Fight the Power,” and features some of the original posters that were first shown in 2013 at the Bureau’s original location, at Strange Loop Gallery in Chinatown, NYC. The exhibition also includes a selection of digital c-prints (seen on TV shows), print editions, and artwork from the series. HOMOCATS zines and hand-screen-printed apparel are available for purchase at the Bureau.
The zines are beloved and collected by many museums, universities, and libraries worldwide, including the NY Public Library, MoMA, the Whitney, and the Met. The zines were featured in the “Over the Rainbow” exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and are currently on view at the University of Texas Fine Art Library in Austin.
For more information about HOMOCATS and J. Morrison visit: homocats.com

Exhibition Dates: September 26 – November 23, 2025

Closed for Thanksgiving Holiday
2025-11-27 | NY
The Bureau will be closed on
Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 27th,
and Friday, November 28th.
The Center will open at 5 PM on both dates.

Bureau closed on Friday, November 28th
2025-11-28 | NY

4th Annual Rebel Satori World AIDS Day Book Release and Reading (in person & live-streaming)
2025-12-03 19:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
The Library of Homosexual Congress, a Rebel Satori imprint, is proud to reissue two seminal novels from the AIDS crisis: Bo Huston’s Remember Me and Sacred Lips of the Bronx by Douglas Sadownick.
Tom Cardamone from the Rebel Satori imprint, The Library of Homosexual Congress, will read from Bo Huston’s work.

To reserve a copy of Remember Me (Library of Homosexual Congress, November 11, 2025, paperback, $17.95) and/or Sacred Lips of the Bronx (Library of Homosexual Congress, November 4, 2025, paperback, $23.95) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Remember Me and/or Sacred Lips of the Bronx for December 3 event” in the subject line, and in the body of the email let us know which book you’d like to purchase or if you’d like to purchase both.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Remember Me and/or Sacred Lips of the Bronx (click on either title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Remember Me
Sacred Lips of the Bronx

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!

Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Remember Me by Bo Huston
This elegiac novel, first published in 1991, is the story of smalltown friendship, longing, and the impact of AIDS on a young gay writer’s now fleeting artistic ambition. In prose poetic yet uncompromising, Huston’s work brings a life from the margins to the forefront like no other novel from an era of overwhelming prejudice, fear and powerful resilience.
A three-time Lambda Literary Award nominee, Bo Huston (1959 – 1993) was the author of two novels and two short story collections. A columnist for the San Francisco Times, he was a co-founder of the LGBT literary conference Out/Write and participated in the first March on Washington DC. Huston received his HIV diagnosis in 1988 and in diminishing health orchestrated his own exit on May 24th, 1993.

Sacred Lips of the Bronx by Douglas Sadownick
“Sadownick’s ambitious first novel combines AIDS activism, Jewish folklore, New Age therapies, kinky sex, and some extraordinary passages about life in contemporary Venice, California, and the Bronx of yesteryear. At the center is Michael Kaplan, an AIDS journalist living in post-riot Los Angeles. Sadownick juxtaposes the ghosts of Michael’s adolescence in the Bronx –his Polish grandmother Frieda, his jazz musician brother, and his Puerto Rican teenage lover –against his current struggles in L.A., particularly his deteriorating 10-year relationship with Robert, an AIDS activist and performance artist.”
-Publishers Weekly

Douglas Sadownick was born on Shakespeare Avenue in the Bronx, where he first encountered the allure of gay desire amidst the gritty sensuality of urban life. His intellectual journey took him to Columbia College, where he studied Plato and Baldwin, developing a lifelong fascination with homosexual Eros. He later earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute and founded the nation’s first LGBT Specialization in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University in 2006. He also established the Colors LGBTQ Youth Counseling Center.
In addition to Sacred Lips of the Bronx (1994), he’s the author of Sex Between Men: An Intimate History of the Sex Lives of Gay Men Postwar to Present (1996) and Healing Gay Sex and Love: A Group Experience (2025).

Reclaiming Liberation from Palestine to the World: Letters from a Living Utopia Book Launch and discussion with Yaffa AS, Leah Kim, and Rabab Abdulhadi (in person & live-streaming)
2025-12-04 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
A love letter to liberation, from Palestine to the ground beneath your feet.
When you think of freedom, where are you? And where are you headed? Dreaming of freedom from within the occupied and displaced worlds of Palestine, Letters from a Living Utopia engages with utopia as both a destination and a potential present. Addressing past and future selves among other crucial figures, Mx. Yaffa builds epistolary bridges in these pages, connecting the historical struggle for liberation of the land and its people with the intimate ways that we can recover hope–now and in the years to come.
Emerging during a time of generational dispossession, monstrous genocide, and personal pain, Letters from a Living Utopia is a journey of resilient repair that will leave every reader with the deeply felt certainty that Palestine will be free, but also that Palestine has always been free.
Yaffa AS will be joined in conversation by Leah Kim and Rabab Abdulhadi

To reserve a copy of Letters from a Living Utopia: Reclaiming Liberation from Palestine to the World (Common Notions, October 7, 2025, paperback, $18) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Letters from a Living Utopia for December 4 event” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
You can also purchase Letters from a Living Utopia (click on title below) on our online shop at bookshop.com/shop/bgsqd:
Letters from a Living Utopia:
Reclaiming Liberation from Palestine to the World

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

WE ASK ALL ATTENDEES TO PLEASE WEAR MASKS.
FREE MASKS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE ENTRANCE TO OUR ROOM.
Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:
youtube.com/@bgsqd
The Bureau will solicit donations at the beginning of the event—we especially encourage donations from those who do not plan to purchase any books.
All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.
We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD
Even better: sign up to make a monthly tax-deductible donation to the Bureau!
Thank you for committing to sustaining this vital project!

Mx. Yaffa (they/she) is a disabled, autistic, trans, queer Muslim and indigenous Palestinian culture worker and organizer. The author of Blood Orange, Whispers Beneath the Orange Grove, and Desecrated Poppies, Yaffa is also editor of Inara: Light of Utopia and executive director of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD).

Rabab Abdulhadi, founding Director/Senior scholar of Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Program at SFSU, is co-founding Editorial Board member of Islamophobia Studies Journal, lead editor of book volumes and author of over 80 articles and book chapters in seven languages. She received her PhD from Yale University (2000) and scholarly awards and community honors, including Sterling Fellowship, New Century Scholarship, best non-fiction book award, and American Association of University Professors, National Women’s Studies Association. She is compiling critical oral histories of Palestinian activism and editing an anthology on Teaching Palestine; and roundtables on Black Liberation; Abolition and Reparations; and Whose Narrative? Gender, Justice and Palestine.

Leah Kim is a mental health advocate and host of the Voices on the Side podcast. She writes about motherhood and mental health on her blog On-Motherhood.com. She has been featured in Women’s Health, Shape, Garage, and Matches Fashion and on sites such as mother.ly, Medium, and Tiny Buddha. Her writing has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, PT Magazine, Assemblage, Just Breathe, Get the Gloss, Top Sante, and Metro UK. Kim is the author of From Office Hell to Yoga Heaven: Jumpstart Your Career as a Yoga Instructor. She was Nike’s first ever Yoga Athlete and spent over a decade as Nike’s Global Yoga Ambassador. Leah is the author of Mom, Unfiltered coming out Apr 2026. Leah lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Gary Fisher: "Unpolished Truths" on the Erotics of Racism Presented by AVGI SAKETOPOULOU, PSY.D (registration required)
2025-12-05 19:30 - 21:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
At a time when psychoanalysis is struggling to think about race, what does it look like if we dare to engage race not from the perspective of identity, but of eroticism? And what if, to push things further, we take up not “respectable” or palatable sexuality that does the work of “racial uplift” (Musser) but tend to sexuality that tangles violence, trauma, and the gnarled history of slavery with arousal and excitement?
In this presentation, Avgi Saketopoulou turns to the work of Gary Fisher, a black gay man who died of AIDS in the 1980s, whose posthumously published notebook is filled with fantasies of racial abjection in the hands of, or under the boot of, a white man. When first published, Fisher’s writing shocked academics theorizing race, leaving them “speechless” (Reid-Pharr); but its subsequent engagement produced a series of important and fresh theorizations that psychoanalysis has yet to take up. What can psychoanalysis learn from Fisher and from those who wrote about him that exceeds what we think we already know about trauma, racialization, and the workings of the sexual unconscious? Bringing together Jean Laplanche, queer of color critique, and Black feminisms, Saketopoulou offers a series of challenging propositions that may help us expand our capacity to think clinically with and about race and interracial erotics.
TICKETS: $50.00
Student tickets $25.00
(Proof of student status required)
Free for MIP candidates (RSVP candidates only)
THIS IS A HYBRID EVENT: IN PERSON AND ONLINE
CLICK HERE TO PAY AND REGISTER TO ATTEND IN PERSON
TIME: 7:30 to 9:30PM
LOCATION: Bureau of General Services—Queer Division
Room 210 of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
208 W 13th St, NY NY 10011
***
CLICK HERE TO PAY AND REGISTER TO ATTEND ONLINE
You will receive a Zoom link after you register.
Continuing Education Hours: 2
The Manhattan Institute is a NY State approved provider of continuing education hours for: LCSW, LMSW, LCAT, LMHC and Licensed Psychologists.
Avgi Saketopoulou, Psy.D. is an immigrant from Cyprus and from Greece and a psychoanalyst practicing in NY. She serves on the faculty of the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and her publications have received numerous prizes, including twice the annual prize of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Ralph Roughton Award, the Ruth Stein Prize, and the Symonds Prize. Her interview on relational psychoanalysis is in the permanent holdings of the Freud Museum (Vienna). Her monograph, Sexuality Beyond Consent: Risk, Race, Traumatophilia (2023) braids psychoanalysis with performance studies, philosophy, and queer of color critique to explore the vicissitudes of overwhelm and repetition. She is co-author, with Ann Pellegrini, of Gender Without Identity, which includes a re-worked version of the essay for which they received the IPA’s First Tiresias Prize. Her thinking also appears in critical conversation with Dominique Scarfone in The Reality of the Message: Psychoanalysis in the Wake of Jean Laplanche. She is currently working on her next book project provisionally titled The Currents of Sadism: Insurgency, Psychoanalysis, and Confusional Aesthetics.
