BGSQD

OLNY Poly Movie Night: Three of Hearts: Kinsey
2018-01-03 18:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | NY
Open Love NY presents Poly Movie Night, a FREE series of feature films that focus on the portrayal of consensual / ethical non-monogamy in cinema. This month we’ll be at our regular venue, the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division.
Please join us for Kinsey (2004), written and directed by Bill Condon and starring Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, and Peter Sarsgaard.
We’ll meet at 6:30 pm at the Bureau (in room 210 of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center at 208 West 13th Street) for pre-screening socializing and start the movie at 7 pm. The more people come, the more likely we’ll continue the event! The event is free, although a $10 suggested donation to help fund future events is much appreciated.
Synopsis: When Indiana University Professor Alfred Kinsey turns his attention from insects to the scientific study of human sexuality, his controversial work has a profound impact on society’s attitudes toward sex. Along the way, he makes discoveries about himself as well. Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes.

Artist Adriana Varella in conversation with curator Denise Carvalho
2018-01-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Join us for a conversation with our current exhibiting artist, Adriana Varella, and curator Denise Carvalho.

Varella’s exhibition, Getting Lost in Oneself (PrOceSS), is on view at the Bureau through January 21, 2018.

Image: Adriana Varella, CRACKS 1, metal barricade collected in the streets of NYC (5ft x 6ft).

Dr. Denise Carvalho is a Brazilian-born curator, art critic and scholar who lives and works in the United States. She holds a Ph.D. in cultural studies, M.A. in art history from the University of California, Davis, a Masters in anthropology from Hunter College, and a B.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts.

As a curator, her exhibitions include “Amor” (2016) at Oi Futuro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; “ Love on the Edge” (2015) at Galeria Arsenal in Bialystok, Poland; “Beyond Limits” at the Art Institute in San Diego and as part of the Postglobal Biennial (2013); the 3rd Mediations Biennale in Poznan (2012), with exhibitions at the National Museum, the Jesuit Gallery, the Zamek Culture Centre, and the Archdiocesan Museum; “Innerspacing the City” (2013) at the Chelsea Museum (2011); “Minimal Differences” (2010) at White Box, NYC; “Intangible Interferences” (2010) at Momenta Art in Brooklyn, NY; “Bodies of Dispersion” (2010) at Galeria Arsenal, Bialystok, Poland; “A Part of No-Part” (2010) at the Chelsea Museum, NYC. She is also the curator of “Preemptive Resistances” at Westport Arts Center (2009), “Holy Holes” at Dumbo Arts Center (2008), and “Infinitu et Contini” at Smack Mellon (2007). She has curated earlier international exhibitions and symposia, such as “Hybrid Dwellings” at Arsenal Gallery in Poland (2001) and “Fairy-Tale” (1999) at the Center for Metamedia in the Czech Republic. Her curatorial projects explore current theoretical issues through multimedia works.

As an art critic, Dr. Carvalho has published numerous articles and reviews in art magazines and journals, including Art in America, Sculpture, Art Nexus, NKA Journal of African Contemporary Art, Afterimage, and The International Journal of Art and Society, as well as in several artists’ catalogues. Dr. Carvalho is also an independent scholar and has taught at various universities in the United States, including Indiana University in Bloomington, Ohio State University, School of Visual Arts, Fashion Institute of Technology, Institute of Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, New Jersey City University, Pratt Institute, San Francisco State University, Humboldt State, and CSI CUNY.

TELL 40: First Look/Fresh Start
2018-01-13 19:00 - 21:30 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
TELL is an evening of story telling from the mouths and minds of queers in NYC hosted by Drae Campbell at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division since February 2014.
First Look/Fresh Start is the theme of the 40th installment of TELL, with special guest host Topher Gross. Featuring Harvey Katz, Mariah MacCarthy, Emily Ray Reese, and Wazina Zondon.

$10 suggested donation to support the Bureau and the performers. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Topher Gross (photo by Asher Torres)
Topher Gross is a born and bred Brooklyn kid who learned the art of storytelling from his Jewish grandma, Edith. He is an appearance enhancement artist aka hairstylist, party thrower+ yenta, aspiring cartoon voice over actor and marijuana dispensary owner. Topherhas performed stories at Tell, Tell It, at various burlesque shows, dinner tables, on live journal and a blog for original plumbing magazine. He was featured on the Graham Norton show as the “big gay following” of Kylie Minogue.

Harvey Katz first became a woman at a turquoise and peach colored Bat-Mitzvah in Miami in the early 90’s before coming into his manhood in a small city in Georgia. He spent 13 years on the road as a spoken word poet and is currently maybe pursuing a career in nursing. His lack of boundaries and general impulsiveness means he’s collected a story or two over the years. Catch him hosting Take Two Storytelling or trying to convince people to buy his hats on Etsy. This is life post poetry career.

Mariah MacCarthy writes plays, Young Adult novels, essays, overly-revealing one-woman shows, and sexts. She’s won some awards, her favorite being the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. She’s an angry queer and she loves you.

Emily Ray Reese is a Lesbian from a ghost town in the mountains of New Mexico. She came to New York ten years ago after volunteering for the Peace Corps in El Salvador. Reese is a filmmaker by day and a dance floor demolisher by night.

Wazina Zondon is a queer Muslim Afghan raised in New York City. She is the co-writer and co-performer of Coming Out Muslim: Radical Acts of Love, a personal storytelling performance capturing the stories and experiences of being queer and Muslim.
When she’s not agitating and reclaiming a truly radical Islam, she teaches Sex Ed at an all-girl, high school in Brooklyn, NY. She also co-hosts Follow that Flannel, a silly yet informative sexuality podcast.

'Queer City: A Reader' book launch & 'Queer City' film screening
2018-01-14 16:00 - 18:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Bodies that listen, dance, resist, manifest and become visible in our contemporary city. Bodies that dance the sounds of funk music, rap, samba, voguing, waacking, among other sonic styles of contestation, resistance and struggle. Through talks, dinners, experiences and exchanges, a city seeks to discuss how we live, work, share and survive the different LGBT + stories and realities… and how we understand all this through a queer, intersectional and non-normative lens?

The mini-documentary Cidade Queer – Queer City, directed by Danila Bustamante takes the name of a 2016 site-specific, collective curatorial process in São Paulo, Brazil. The overall process, film, and related publication, Queer City: A Reader were organized by Lanchonete.org, ArtsEverywhere/Musagetes, EXPLODE! and many other partners. Queer City: A Reader contains an account of the site-specific program in São Paulo, but also invites other contributors at the intersection of the contemporary city and queer thought. The Reader is one of the first books out of Publication Studio São Paulo (in partnership w/ Publication Studio Guelph housed at the Musagetes/ArtsEverywhere office).

Copies of Queer City: A Reader will be available for purchase at the event for $20.
To reserve a copy of Queer City: A Reader please write to the Bureau at contact@bgsqd.com.

https://publication-studio.myshopify.com/products/queer-city-a-reader

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opTx-OShKvI

Event image: photograph from Pato Hebert‘s Ataqueridas series

Lanchonete.org is an artist-led, cultural platform focused on how people live and work in, navigate and share the contemporary city with the Center of São Paulo as our outlook. It gets its name from the ubiquitous lunch counters—convivial, fluorescent-lit, open-walled, laborious, points of commerce—that populate almost every street corner. Lanchonete.org is about the issues that big cities face, the different forms of ‘urban power’, and the Right to the City, but not insomuch as to define these constructs…rather to stretch the platform as far as is necessary to consider diverse viewpoints. Lanchonete.org takes its cue from French philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre’s Le Droit à la ville (1968), or one that “demand[s] a transformed and renewed access to urban life.”

Queer Sex Magic 101
2018-01-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
If sex is sacred, your body is a temple. Join writer, witch and tarot reader Ashley Young for an evening of learning how to worship It! This workshop provides hands on tools on how to incorporate magic into queer sex practices. From creating altars with candles and crystals, using divination such as tarot and developing sex rituals, participants will examine how to call on spiritual practice to enhance one’s queer relationship with themselves and others. This workshop will also look at alternative relationships and sex practices such as polyamory and kink.

Space is limited to 20 participants. The $10 fee will be shared equally between the instructor and the Bureau.
Tickets:
https://www.artful.ly/store/events/14193

Ashley Young is a Black Queer genderqueer (pronouns they/them/their) writer, teacher, witch and tarot reader. They are a spirituous, pagan and Santeria practioner reading cards through their small business Black Unicorn Tarot and in house at Catland Books in Brooklyn, NY. They identify as a polyamorous, kinky, Dominant Mama switch. Their work has been published in three anthologies and several online journals on topics such as POC LGBTQ issues, mental illness, sex/body positivity and more. Ashley lives in Brooklyn with a fellow witch and two sweet, wild cats.

Ron Amato & Models Discuss His Photo Book "THE BOX"
2018-01-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Join fine art photographer and Fashion Institute of Technology Associate Professor of Photography Ron Amato for a brief presentation of his striking, sexy, and sensual book of male nudes, The Box.

Following Amato’s presentation, he and several of the models featured in The Box will answer questions, and Amato will sign copies of the book.

To reserve a copy of the book please contact the Bureau at contact@bgsqd.com.

Ron Amato is an full-time Associate Professor of Photography at New York City’s FIT (The Fashion Institute of Technology), where he has been for the last 12 years, 6 of which as the Chairperson of the Photography Department.

He has exhibited extensively in the US and internationally, been published in a number of anthologies and photographed for fitness and sports magazines, including Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness and Sports Illustrated. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband Seth and their two Fox Terriers, Ben and Zeb. Visit Amato’s classy, but NSFW website at www.ronamato.com.

Opening reception for MARK JOHN SMITH’S - MAN MANY MEN
2018-01-25 18:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
MARK JOHN SMITH’S – MAN MANY MEN
January 25th – March 18th 2018
Opening reception on Thursday, January 25th, 6-9 PM
*Bring a pen – this work needs defacing.
The Bureau of General Services – Queer Division is proud to present Man Many Men, a solo exhibition of new works by artist Mark John Smith.
Download Press Release here.
Press release
Press disease
Press release
Press please

British gay
Language
Dyslexia*
Every day

*sic
sick
six

In a series of new interactive and immersive works, Smith questions the conflicting lexicon of the everyday in relation to spaces of intimacy. His work explores the manner in which prejudice and bias are enacted through the self – via both high and low relief implementations of façade.
Man Many Men is comprised of elements imported from the entertainment industries, inviting visitors to employ all senses in an experiential tapestry that fuses language, gesture and identity. This is a body of work that hurts, sleeps, cries, fucks, exhales, sucks, breathes, sees.
On February 15, join Smith for a walk-through of the exhibition. Why not snuggle down as we invite you to embed yourself in the creation of new confessional and constructed narratives? There’s always a need for a ‘duvet day’.

In support of Man Many Men, Mark presents Blue Blue Balls, an intimate and jarring publication featuring images and text lifted from within the artist’s personal devices. The book features an accompanying essay by Matt Whitman – artist filmmaker and faculty at Parsons School of Design.
“We become complicit in a kind of ‘Freudian slip’. Smith slowly points us outside of the safe assumptions built within language and toward something a bit more sinister. The mistake, in its innocence and earnestness is, in fact, a reminder of our role as viewer and violence of assumption.”
Copies of the book will be available at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division for the duration of the artist’s show.

Mark John Smith is a British artist based in Brooklyn, New York. He holds an MFA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design and BA Hons Degrees in Fine Art and Art History from The University for the Creative Arts in the United Kingdom. Mark is a founding member of Franklin Collective and currently serves on the advisory board of Rutgers University’s Design Thinking program. Last year Mark exhibited with Franklin Collective at Petzel Gallery, Manhattan, NY in group show WE NEED TO TALK…. In November 2017, Mark launched JML50, The Reading Room 2017, and The Placards 2017, new publicly commissioned works currently on view at the Jefferson Market branch of the New York Public Library. In mid-2018, a feature length documentary following his work on JML50 will be released.

Affirmative Laughter Returns
2018-01-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Host Elsa Waithe is bringing some of NYC’s funniest non-straight non-White non-cis male comedians together for a night dedicated to diversity and hilarity.

This Month:
Jes Tom
Sydnee Washington
Wanjiko Eke
David Bradley Isenberg
+MORE!

The Bureau will host Affirmative Laughter on the last Friday of every month.

Homo GoGo Man: a fairytale about a boy who grew up in discoland
2018-01-27 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Author Christopher Duquette reads a chapter from Homo GoGo Man: a fairytale about a boy who grew up in discoland, a novel about club hopping in New York City from 1976 – 2004. Duquette will be accompanied by a DJ playing music relative to the hedonistic disco era that captivated and eventually devoured a curious and confused young man who had been fatally bitten by the disco bug, hoofing professionally and recreationally for thirty years of his adult life.

Born in 1958 like Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson (R.I.P.), Christopher Duquette was part of the X-gens who wanted the most out of life, regardless of the cost. Proving his emotionally and financially unsupportive parents wrong, he succeeded in completing a Master Degree in 5 years from Stony Brook University, found cache in the corporate world acquiring well paid employment to finance his hedonistic lifestyle until crashing and burning from too much of the above at age 44.

OLNY Poly Movie Night: Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs
2018-02-07 18:30 - 21:30 | NY
Open Love NY presents Poly Movie Night, a FREE series of feature films that focus on the portrayal of consensual / ethical non-monogamy in cinema. This month we’ll be at our regular venue, the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division.
Please join us for Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs (2008), written by Matt Groening and directed by Peter Avanzino and starring Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, and Stephen Hawking.
We’ll meet at 6:30 pm at the Bureau (in room 210 of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center at 208 West 13th Street) for pre-screening socializing and start the movie at 7 pm. The more people come, the more likely we’ll continue the event! The event is free, although a $10 suggested donation to help fund future events is much appreciated.
Synopsis: 1000 years in the future, Philip J. Fry (originally from the year 1999 when he accidentally froze himself), feeling distraught after a break up with his polyamorous girlfriend, launches himself into the anomaly, a rip in the fabric of the universe. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Animated.

TELL 41: Ghosts
2018-02-10 19:00 - 21:30 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
TELL is an evening of story telling from the mouths and minds of queers in NYC hosted by Drae Campbell at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division since February 2014.
Ghosts is the theme of the 41st installment of TELL. Featuring Moira Cutler, Mieke Dee, Lulwana Mulalu, and Dorian S.
$10 suggested donation to support the Bureau and the performers. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Drae Campbell is a writer, actor, director, story teller, dancer, and nightlife emcee. Drae has been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on stages all over NYC. Drae’s directing work has appeared in Iceland, NYC, Budapest and in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The short film Drae wrote and starred in with Rebecca Drysdale, YOU MOVE ME won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at OUTFEST 2010 and has been shown in festivals globally. Drae won the grand prize at the first annual San Miguel De Allende Storytelling Festival in Mexico. She once reigned as Miss LEZ and also got dubbed “the next lezzie comedian on the block” by AfterEllen.com for her comedic stylings on the interwebs. Campbell hosts and curates a monthly queer storytelling show called TELL at BGSQD. Check her out online! www.draecampbell.com.

Moira Cutler has a lot of stories and has had more than her share of adventures. She’s travelled a bunch, done crazy things, and trusted many strangers. Moira has done a bunch of acting for Susana Cook and her own obscure little shows.

Mieke Dee

Lulwama Mulalu is a lover of words, a Pisces, a queer poet and singer-songwriter from the small county of Botswana, in Southern Africa. Her name means to make good and she believes that everything happens for a reason. Lulu is a senior currently studying Psychology and Drama, with voice somewhere in the eclectic mix at Bennington College, VT. She enjoys spelling colour with a U and is the biggest Ellen DeGeneres fan in the world. No really, it borders on being an obsession.

Dorian S. is an ex suburban teen who spends most of his time teaching yoga, reading, playing with cats, commuting, pondering US health care, and making playlists. He has always loved a good story and is just happy to be (here).”

Duvet Day
2018-02-15 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Join artist Mark John Smith for a walk-through of his solo exhibition Man Many Men, on view at the Bureau through March 18, and a book signing of the accompanying publication Blue Blue Balls.
*Bring a pen – this work needs defacing.
Snuggle down with Mark as we invite you to immerse yourself in the creation of new confessional and constructed narratives. Mark’s practice calls for your voice to be added to an ever evolving, collaborative tapestry as archive. There’s always a need for a ‘duvet day’.
Think Felix. Think Tracey. Think Robert.
They miss you.

Mark John Smith is a British artist based in Brooklyn, New York. He holds an MFA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design and BA Hons Degrees in Fine Art and Art History from The University for the Creative Arts in the United Kingdom. Mark is a founding member of Franklin Collective and currently serves on the advisory board of Rutgers University’s Design Thinking program. Last year Mark exhibited with Franklin Collective at Petzel Gallery, Manhattan, NY in group show WE NEED TO TALK…. In November 2017, Mark launched JML50, The Reading Room 2017, and The Placards 2017, new publicly commissioned works currently on view at the Jefferson Market branch of the New York Public Library. In mid-2018, a feature length documentary following his work on JML50 will be released.

Affirmative Laughter: Black Comedy Month
2018-02-23 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Host Elsa Waithe brings some of NYC’s funniest non-straight non-White non-cis male comedians together for a night dedicated to diversity and hilarity.
Featuring:
Dara Jemmott
Whitney Chanel Clark
Dave Lester
Chanel Ali

The Bureau hosts Affirmative Laughter on the last Friday of every month.

Proximity: Words + Visions
2018-03-01 19:00 - 21:30 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Proximity: Words + Visions gathers poets, performance artists, & scholars sharing work focused on bodies, unravelings, de/stabilizations, intersections, mis/communications, & the mutability of binaries & borders. Hang out & bring all your selves.
Featuring:
Chia-Lun Chang, Miguel Gutierrez, Tiara Roxanne, and xtian w.
Reception: 7:00
Event: 7:30
Suggested Donation: $10, but no one turned away for lack of funds!

Chia-Lun Chang is the author of One Day We Become Whites (No, Dear/ Small Anchor Press, 2016). Recent work appears in Bettering American Poetry, PEN America, Hyperallergic, Literary Hub, MuseMedusa, Evergreen, 6×6, and The Tiny. She has received fellowships and support from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Tofte Lake Center, and Poets House. Born and raised in New Taipei City, Taiwan, she lives in New York City.

Miguel Gutierrez lives in Brooklyn where he writes, makes music and performances, and practices a form of bodywork called the Feldenkrais Method®. In addition to performing all over the godammn world, he’s read the text he’s written for his dance shows at the Poetry Project, People Herd, GUTS, Radar, and was in residence in 2012 at RadarLAB in Mexico. His writing has appeared in the Movement Research Journal, Emily Roysdon’s Uncounted, the “Tears” issue of handjob, the zin, and online in his blog about celebrities called Stargayze.com. His book of performance texts WHEN YOU RISE UP is available from 53rd State Press and he is at work on a second book of performance texts and essays called THE THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE. www.miguelgutierrez.org

Tiara Roxanne was born in a ghost town. She is a Berlin-based scholar and poet. She writes essays and poetry while engaging in theory and philosophy. She is currently researching intersections between the Indigenous body and Posthumanism. She was the recipient of the Zora Neale Hurston Award at Naropa University and has been featured in CA Conrad’s Jupiter 88, The Monster Issue of Gesture: A Literary Journal, Semicolon, Phlyogeny, Love Shuffle Review, Din Magazine, Interkors Magazine and Continent.

xtian w is a poet, essayist, performer, & city dweller. Their work appears/ is forthcoming in Bone Bouquet, Hematopoiesis Press, & Prelude, & they’ve made collaborative performances with friends. xtian is interested in trans everything.

Elsa & Wanjiko Do Half Hours
2018-03-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Your 2 favorite Black lesbians, Elsa Waithe and Wanjiko Eke are recording 30mins sets. Come support and put your laughter in the space. Hosted by Jes Tom.

Tina Alexis Allen presents her memoir Hiding Out
2018-03-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Join author Tina Alexis Allen for a reading from her new book Hiding Out: A Memoir of Drugs, Deception, and Double Lives.

Tina Alexis Allen is a GLAAD Award-nominated actress, producer, scriptwriter and playwright. Allen was a cast member of the TV series Outsiders (WGN America), and co-starred in the feature films Moving Mountains (2014), Tom’s Dilemma (2016), as well as the web-series Looking for Kathleen. Allen is also the co-founder of Gina Raphaela Jewelry’s mission-driven No More Violence collection.

Copies of Hiding Out are available for purchase at the Bureau. To reserve a copy please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com. Please support the Bureau by buying books from us. Thank you!

Confront White Womanhood
2018-03-04 13:30 - 16:30 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
All tickets for this workshop have sold!! Thank you all for your enthusiastic interest in this workshop. We will have approximately 5-10 tickets available at the door. So if you did not buy in advance, come early and we can take the first 5-10 folks! See you on March 4th!!
Follow this link: https://eepurl.com/dkFZyr to sign up for our mailing list and stay up to date on future workshops.

For centuries, violence has been done in the name of—and even physically enacted by—white women. By examining historical contexts in conjunction with personal story-sharing exercises, we confront how white supremacy shows up in our own behavior. Through vulnerable discussions about individual complicity, we empower attendees to disrupt white supremacy from within their own communities.
Organizers Sophie Ellman-Golan, Rhiannon Childs, and Heather Marie Scholl (two white women and one Black woman) designed the Confront White Womanhood workshop to interrogate the ways white supremacy manifests within feminist spaces.
At this session, we will be joined by Jewel Cadet from BYP100. We will focus on the white history of feminism and the ways efforts for white female empowerment have harmed People of Color. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how white women can take tangible steps to interrupt our own racial biases and confront the ways we cause harm. We believe that white women can be better accomplices in the fight for freedom and are committed to helping them embody that change
Tickets are $20.
Partial ticket proceeds will be donated to BYP100 NYC, additional donations will be collected during the workshop.
Purchase tickets here.
BYP100 is a national, member-based organization of Black 18-35 year old activists and organizers, dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. We do this through building a network focused on transformative leadership development, direct action organizing, advocacy, and political education using a Black queer feminist lens. Donations will specifically benefit the NYC chapter which has done educational actions about Marion Sims, Swipe It Forward, Anti-Columbus day tours, and HOME (Housing Over Monitoring and Evictions) campaign.
For additional information on operating principles please visit www.ConfrontWhiteWomanhood.com
Please note that the Bureau will not be open to the general public during the workshop.

Canceled due to storm! OLNY Poly Movie Night: Mediterranean Food
2018-03-07 18:30 - 21:30 | NY
Hi all, The Center is closing at 4 PM today due to the coming storm. The Bureau will not be open today. Stay warm! Stay safe!
Open Love NY presents Poly Movie Night, a FREE series of feature films that focus on the portrayal of consensual / ethical non-monogamy in cinema. This month we’ll be at our regular venue, the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division.
Please join us for Mediterranean Food/Dieta Mediterránea (2009), directed by Joaquín Oristrell and starring Olivia Molina, Paco León, and Alfonso Bassave.
We’ll meet at 6:30 pm at the Bureau (in room 210 of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center at 208 West 13th Street) for pre-screening socializing and start the movie at 7 pm. The event is free, although a $10 suggested donation to help fund future events is much appreciated.
Synopsis: In this Spanish romantic comedy, Sofía, Toni, and Frank grow up together in a seaside village. While Frank encourages Sofía’s ambition to be a world-famous chef, she is also drawn to Toni’s vision of traditional family life. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles.

CopWatch Training
2018-03-10 16:00 - 17:30 | NY
CopWatch is an effective and legal tool for empowering communities, ending police misconduct, unprofessional behavior, and discrimination. You have the right to observe and record all police activities in public places. Learn how to exercise your rights safely and legally. Workshop will be taught by comedian and activist Elsa Waithe. Suggested donation of $5 to $10, but no one will be turned away.

Spread the word!!!

Please note: The Bureau will be closed during the workshop (4 to 5:30 PM)

“What to do if you’re stopped by the police”: a handy guide from the New York Civil Liberties Union. Print it out. Share it widely. Keep it with you. And you can find other “know your rights” cards (in English and Spanish) here.

TELL 42: Pets
2018-03-10 19:00 - 21:30 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
TELL is an evening of story telling from the mouths and minds of queers in NYC hosted by Drae Campbell at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division since February 2014.
Pets is the theme for the 42nd installment of TELL. Featuring Memphis, Kelli Dunham, Jesse Glasgow, and Pooya Mohseni.
$10 suggested donation to support the Bureau and the performers. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Drae Campbell is a writer, actor, director, story teller, dancer, and nightlife emcee. Drae has been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on stages all over NYC. Drae’s directing work has appeared in Iceland, NYC, Budapest and in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The short film Drae wrote and starred in with Rebecca Drysdale, YOU MOVE ME won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at OUTFEST 2010 and has been shown in festivals globally. Drae won the grand prize at the first annual San Miguel De Allende Storytelling Festival in Mexico. She once reigned as Miss LEZ and also got dubbed “the next lezzie comedian on the block” by AfterEllen.com for her comedic stylings on the interwebs. Campbell hosts and curates a monthly queer storytelling show called TELL at BGSQD. Check her out online! www.draecampbell.com.

Memphis is an Italian Greyhound mix and possibly a “Carolina Dog” from Tennessee. She is a great hunter and lives with her human, Drae, in Brooklyn. She is working on an autobiography about her life. Working title; Dramatic Paws, A Southern Gal in Brooklyn. Her first novel, “Chicken Bone Reality” is currently out of print.

Kelli Dunham is the ex-nun genderqueer nurse author storytelling nerd comic so common in modern Brooklyn. Kelli has appeared on Showtime and the Discovery Channel, the Cinderblock Comedy Festival, the Queerly Festival, Solocom, the Gotham Storytelling Festival, and nationwide at colleges, prides, fundraisers and even the occasional livestock auction. She is also the co-founder and producer of Queer Memoir and Organ Recital: A Festival of Stories About Bodies, Health & Healthcare. Kelli is the author of seven books of humorous non-fiction, including two children’s books inexplicably being used by Sonlight conservative home schooling association in their science curriculum and Freak of Nurture, a collection of humorous essays published by Topside Press. She is currently working on a slightly ludicrous self help book tentatively titled: “Shit This Hurts: An Irreverent Guide to Grief.”

Jesse Glasgow is an actor, writer, runner, and some other things too. She lives in Brooklyn with her wife, dogs, cat, and extensive collection of pants. She believes in you. And magic.

Pooya Mohseni is an Iranian/American actor, Transgender activist and writer.
Pooya appeared in an award winning one woman show, titled “One Woman”, in United Solo Festival at The Theatre Row, written by Cecilia Copeland & directed by Joan Kane. Her other recent stage performances include “The Good Muslim” by Zakiyyah Alexander, directed by William Carden at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage’s “The White Snake”, directed by Natsu Onoda Power, Madame in The OUTLIERS’ production of “The Maids” directed by Ben Gunderson and the title role in “Death of a Persian Prince” at NYMITF & SAIPAF, directed by Dewey Moss.
She’s a recurring guest star on the new crime drama “Big Dogs” produced by Choice Films & Theatricals, directed by Mathew Penn and Tony Glazer, to be released in 2018. She’s also a recurring guest star in the first season of the USA network’s “Falling Water”.
Follow @Pooyaland on Twitter/Instagram

Joe Ovelman’s Affair W/ a Married Man
2018-03-11 14:00 - 16:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Book Launch “Pictures and Words” 2018

On Sunday, March 11th at 2:00 PM, celebrate with Joe Ovelman and the Bureau as we launch his new book, “Pictures and Words: The Sun Rises in the West and the Sun Sets in the East,” STH Editions, 2018. Rollick along with this sweet, sad, funny account of an all-too familiar romance. Ovelman will read from his book; a short Q&A will follow. You’ll want to come and get your signed copy!

$10 suggested donation to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Joe Ovelman lives and works in Philadelphia and New York City.
https://www.joeovelman.com/portfolios/1805/works/46918

Follow @joeovelman https://www.instagram.com/joeovelman/
https://www.connersmith.us.com/artists/joe-ovelman

Pop Gym Pop Up: Free Self-Defense Workshop at the Bureau
2018-03-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Palm Heels for the people! Don’t get that joke? No worries! Come by this FREE Pop Up workshop to learn some introductory skills that will keep you feeling safe. We’ll be covering the basics: stretching, conditioning, technique, and theory, with the hope that participants will leave with some super useful foundations that will aid them in the day-to-day. Mix that in with some sweat and some movement, and you’ll have an accessible and confidence-boosting good time for all. Whether you are a beginner, or someone with experience, come work it out with us!
Open to all ages! We’ll be moving around, so participants should wear clothing in which they are comfortable stretching and sweating.
#POPGym is a new project, working towards opening a physical space in Brooklyn that offers free self-defense, fitness, and skill share classes 7 days a week. As we continue planning, we invite you to come by any of our events this summer! Our workshops have been described as, “fun”, “holistic” and “empowering”, and for any questions, comments, or inquiries for future workshops for you or your organizations, email us at info@popgym.org #popup

Curating Arts and Public Health with South African Curatorial Resident MC Roodt
2018-03-22 19:00 - 20:30 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Visual AIDS’ sixth annual Curatorial Resident, MC Roodt, will present a culminating talk reflecting on his work in South Africa and his research in New York City, followed by a conversation with South African photographer Pippa Hetherington and public health scholar Ian Bradley-Perrin. MC has spent the month of March conducting research in Visual AIDS’ archives and activating our community through dialogues and studio visits. He works and lives in Bloemfontein, South Africa, a region particularly marked by the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic: 14% of the population in his hometown are living with HIV.
As part of his Curatorial Residency with Visual AIDS, MC is currently developing a transnational exhibition project that will be presented in South Africa at the Free States Arts Festival as well as on Visual AIDS’ website. MC will also discuss the Arts & Health Project Design Strategies workshop he will facilitate during his residency. Blending the disciplines and practices of community arts and community health, the workshop introduces participants to the design of public Arts & Health projects. Artists and community health practitioners will come together to demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary perspectives and partnerships in the realization of creative public health aspirations.

MC Roodt is an HIV-positive arts practicioner, writer and artist from Bloemfontein, South Africa. MC is the Arts & Health chair at the Public Health Association of South Africa and the Programme Director of Free State Arts & Health. He is a founding member of the gRRR Kollective—an intermedia arts collective—and has curated several exhibitions in South Africa. He frequently contributes as an arts writer on various platforms and is an activist for LGBTQIA rights in South Africa. To read more about MC’s work, see his introductory post on the Visual AIDS blog.

Pippa Hetherington is currently enrolled in the ICP-Bard MFA program, graduating in 2019. Pippa has been involved with Visual AIDS through the LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN initiative and has been assisting MC during his residency. Pippa’s work is heavily influenced by travels through Africa and her fifteen years of photographic work in the social development sector of Southern Africa. She is passionate about supporting projects in the civil society space and values the need for supporting the meeting point of art and HIV and AIDS.

Ian Bradley-Perrin is a PhD student in Sociomedical Science at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. He is a fellow at the Lehman Center for American History, The Columbia Population Research Center and the Social Science and Research Council of Canada. His research focuses on the intersection of activism, the pharmaceutical industry, advertising and marketing, and public health. He has been an activist on HIV criminalization, needle exchange and harm reduction practices and vocal on distortions in the historiography of HIV/AIDS. He has also been an activist on campus organizing graduate workers to form a union and serving on Graduate Workers of Columbia bargaining committee.

Visual AIDS’ Curatorial Residency program is made possible through a collaboration with Residency Unlimited. Launched in 2012, the program offers a one-month residency for a curator, art historian, or arts writer interested in the intersection of visual art and HIV/AIDS. The curatorial residency encourages the development of exhibitions, programs, and scholarship about HIV/AIDS and contemporary art.

Opening reception for No Reason To Be Careful: A Solo Exhibition by Marco DaSilva
2018-03-23 18:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Please join us for the opening reception of Marco DaSilva‘s solo exhibition No Reason To Be Careful on Friday, March 23, from 6 to 9 PM.
No Reason To Be Careful will remain on view at the Bureau through June 10.

Marco DaSilva has developed a meticulous process of painting that was born after his manic episode in 2013. Applying house paint, limited color and sharpie markers through a pop context to canvas and other surfaces, this culmination of work evokes the duality of heaven and hell, deconstructing his lived experience during this era of his life. He provides a richly saturated landscape of his own world to the viewer and creates his own mythology in the process. Marco will be displaying MY QUAINT STRUGGLE a book of manic poetry and photographs alongside his paintings as well as SELFIE TABLEAU a book of collages that explore the idea of the ‘selfie’ as a contemporary self portrait.

Marco DaSilva is an artist born and raised in New York City. He holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing from SUNY New Paltz and currently maintains a studio practice in Bedford- Stuyvesant. He creates his own symbology through his paintings and drawings which explore the notions of duality through the intersections of his multi racial queer experience. He has exhibited his work at IMAGE Gallery, Heath Gallery and The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art among others. He was an NYFA Artist as Entrepreneur Fellow and is currently a Visual Arts fellow for Queer Art Mentorship’s 2017-2018 cycle. https://marcodasilva.net/

Pushing the Limits: Ana Simo and Sarah Schulman in Conversation
2018-03-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Authors, activists, and co-founders of the Lesbian Avengers, Sarah Schulman talks with Ana Simo about her provocative first novel, Heartland, and much more.

Copies of Ana Simo’s Heartland (Restless Books, 2018) are available for purchase at the Bureau. To reserve a copy please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com. Please support the Bureau by buying books from us. Thank you!

Ana Simo is the author of a dozen plays, a short feature film, and countless articles. HEARTLAND, her debut novel, is an uproarious, word-drunk romp through an alternate, pre-apocalyptic United States that blends elements of telenovela, pulp noir, and dystopian satire. A New Yorker most of her life, she came of age in a Cuba where a revolution’s sense of endless freedom was almost immediately replaced by iron-fisted censorship and rabidly homophobic witch-hunts that jailed or institutionalized LGBT people, forcing her and others to flee.

Sarah Schulman‘s work spans novels, plays, journalism, and nonfiction. She is a Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the College of Staten Island. Some of her recent works include the movie United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, and the nonfiction work Conflict is not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility and the Duty of Repair. Her 19th book, MAGGIE TERRY, a novel of murder and intrigues, will be published in September, 2018 by The Feminist Press.

Book Launch: Tadzio Koelb's Trenton Makes with Vincent Virga
2018-03-28 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Please join Tadzio Koelb, author of TRENTON MAKES for a reading and conversation led by Vincent Virga.

A vivid, brutal, razor-sharp debut about a woman who carves out her share of the American Dream by living as a man.

1946: At the apogee of the American Century, the confidence inspired by victory in World War II has spawned a culture of suffocating conformity in thrall to the cult of masculine privilege.

In the hardscrabble industrial city of Trenton, New Jersey, a woman made strong by wartime factory work kills her army veteran husband in a domestic brawl, disposes of his body, and assumes his identity. As Abe Kunstler, he secures a job in a wire rope factory, buys a car, and successfully woos Inez, an alcoholic dime dancer. He makes a home with her, but for Abe, this is not enough: to complete his transformation, he needs a son.

1971: A very different war is under way. The certainties of mid-century triumphalism are a distant, bitter memory, and Trenton’s heyday as a factory town is long past. As the sign on the famous bridge says, “Trenton Makes, the World Takes.”

The family life Abe has so carefully constructed is crumbling under the intolerable pressures of his long ruse. Desperate to hold on to what he has left, Abe searches for solutions in the dying city.

Written in brilliantly stylized prose, this gripping narrative is a provocative and incisive exploration of the nature of identity, and a disturbing portrait of desperation. Tadzio Koelb has crafted a slim gut shot of a novel that heralds the arrival of a writer of startling talent and imagination.

Copies of Trenton Makes are available for purchase at the Bureau. To reserve a copy please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com. Please support the Bureau by buying books from us. Thank you!

TADZIO KOELB is a graduate of the prestigious writing program at the University of East Anglia in the U.K. He has translated André Gide’s work, and is an active reviewer and essayist for a variety of publications that include The New York Times and The Times Literary Supplement. He teaches writing at Rutgers University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

VINCENT VIRGA is the author of GAYWYCK, the first gay Gothic written to show that genres have no gender. He is the author of several novels and 28 non-fiction books. He is also a picture editor of 163 books, his latest is BOBBY KENNEDY by Chris Matthews.

Leather and Lust
2018-03-29 19:00 - 21:30 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Leather and Lust – Come One, Come All To An Evening Of Literature with Sassafras Lowrey, Laura Antoniou, D.L. King, and Nairne Holtz.

Sassafras Lowrey is a teenage runaway who grew up to become the 2013 winner of the Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award. Hir books—Lost Boi, A Little Queermas Carol, Roving Pack, Kicked Out and Leather Ever After—have been honored by organizations ranging from the National Leather Association to the American Library Association. Sassafras lives and writes in Brooklyn with hir partner, and their menagerie of dogs and cats. Learn more at www.SassafrasLowrey.com

Proud member of the Middle Aged Guard, Laura Antoniou has been writing erotica for over twenty-five years. Best known for her Marketplace series of erotic novels about a realistic slave training society. The 6th book, The Inheritor, was launched with an enormously successful Kickstarter featuring a limited leather-bound edition. The second volume of fan fiction set in the Marketplace world is due out in 2018. She has also edited and appeared in many anthologies, including Best Lesbian Erotica 2015, and is the author of Rainbow Award winning comedy kinky mystery, The Killer Wore Leather. Her website is LAntoniou.com; follow her on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

D. L. King (dlkingerotica.blogspot.com) has a literary-minded cat who begs for her 9:00 treats from about 8pm, on. However, while other cats like to sit on keyboards and sleaze their way in front of your monitor, Batgirl knows how important the work of writing and editing is and refuses to bother her during those times. (No, really, it’s true.) She must be a very patient cat as D. L. is almost always at the computer. D. L. King is the editor of fourteen anthologies, including a Lambda Literary Award Winner, The Harder She Comes: Butch/Femme Erotica, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica and five Independent Publisher Medalists, (two gold and three silver) Carnal Machines: Steampunk Erotica, The Harder She Comes: Butch/Femme Erotica, Under Her Thumb: Erotic Stories of Female Domination, The Big Book of Domination: Erotic Fantasies and Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year, Volume 1. Her short stories have been published in close to a hundred anthologies, including six volumes of Best Lesbian Erotica, as well as titles such as Say Please: Lesbian BDSM Erotica, Girl Crazy: Coming Out Erotica, and Girl Fever: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex for Lesbians. D. L. King is also the editor of She Who Must Be Obeyed: Femme Dominant Lesbian Erotica. She has a couple of novels and a few novellas in print, as well as a collection of 21 of her own favorite femdom short stories.

Nairne Holtz began her writing career in the early 90s with the creation of a pansexual queer porn zine, Pornorama, that generated reviews and sales from around the world. A straight couple who ran a fetish group offered to back her financially and elevate Pornorama to magazine status. She pooh-poohed this offer she didn’t think was terribly practical: “Thanks, that’s sweet, but I’m going to library school.”
Today she manages a law library and is the author of several works of fiction. The Skin Beneath (Insomniac, 2007), was shortlisted for Quebec’s McAuslan Prize (rather respectable) and won the Alice B. Award for Debut Lesbian Fiction (she hadn’t heard of this award either until she received an email informing her she had won it). This One’s Going to Last Forever (Insomniac, 2009), was a Lambda Literary Award finalist (terribly thrilling). Her new novel, Femme Confidential, will be out in the fall of 2017.

Affirmative Laughter
2018-03-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Host Elsa Waithe brings some of NYC’s funniest non-straight non-White non-cis male comedians together for a night dedicated to diversity and hilarity.
The Bureau hosts Affirmative Laughter on the last Friday of every month.

The March 30th edition will feature:
Ashley Gavin
Sam Jay
Drae Campbell
Zilla Vodnas
Vivianne A. Njoku

NYC Queer Comic Fair 2018
2018-03-31 13:00 - 19:00, 2018-04-01 13:00 - 19:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
What is it: The NYC Queer Comic Fair the only fair in NYC geared entirely towards queer sequential art (comics, graphic novels, illustrated stories, photo-comics, or any other interesting take on the medium of still-visual narrative storytelling). The event is organized by WabiSabiZinez and Carmine Street Comics and hosted by the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division . This year we are expanding to a two day event!
When is it: The event will be hosted by the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division on Saturday, March 31st and Sunday, April 1st from 1-7pm each day.
Organizers:

• WabiSabiZinez – https://wabisabizinez.storenvy.com/
• Carmine Street Comics – https://www.carminestreetcomics.com/
• Comics by Patrick – https://comicsbypatrick.com/

Vendors:

• Adam David Bencomo – https://adamdavidbencomo.format.com/homepage
• Carlos Quispe – https://www.uranuscomics.tumblr.com/
• Doable Guys – https://www.instagram.com/doableguys/
• Drake Rogers – https://www.instagram.com/parisisburning_portraits/
• Granny Geek
• j______johnson – https://www.instagram.com/j______johnson
• Jean-Sebastien Coles – https://www.madeinbabas.com
• John Jenson – https://johnjennison.wixsite.com/illustration
• Khaleel – thisnumberisinvalid.tumblr.com
• Kyle’s Bed and Breakfast – https://kylesbnb.blogspot.com/
• luke kurtis – https://www.bd-studios.com/
• Lucky Sanford – https://www.instagram.com/luckysanford/
• Preternatch – https://preternatch.deviantart.com/gallery/
• Susse Soenderby Jensen – https://unteleported-tomatoes.net/
• SciFi Explosion – https://www.facebook.com/scifiexplosion/
• Square Bears – https://www.instagram.com/squarebears/
• #udonthave2banancy – https://www.instagram.com/stephenanton/
• Valmontgod – https://shipjumpercomic.com
