BGSQD

Publishing Triangle Finalists Readings 2024: Second of Two Nights, Hybrid In-Person & Virtual
2024-04-16 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | NY
Join us for the second of two night’s of hybrid in-person & virtual readings by finalists for Publishing Triangle Awards at the Bureau! Both readings will also stream on the Bureau’s YouTube channel: youtube.com/@bgsqd
Please note: the Bureau is usually closed on Tuesdays, but we will open at 6 pm 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.
Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Readers on Tuesday, April 16th:

Emily Zhou, author of Girlfriend (LittlePuss Press), Finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction and a Finalist for the Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature

Helen Elaine Lee, author of Pomegranate (Atria Books), Finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction

Elina Alter, translator of Wound, by Oksana Vasyakina (Catapult Books), Finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction

Chloe Chun Seim, author of Churn: A Novel in Stories (Texas Review Press: The University Press of Sam Houston State University), Finalist for the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction

Lamya H, author of Hijab Butch Blues (The Dial Press), Finalist for the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction

Zachary Zane, author of Boyslut: A Memoir and Manifesto (Abrams Image, an imprint of Abrams Books), Finalist for the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction

Greg Marshall, author of Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It (Abrams Books), Finalist for the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction

Alicia Mountain, author of Four in Hand (BOA Editions), Finalist for the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry

Destiny Hemphill, author of motherworld: a devotional for the alter-life (Action Books), Finalist for the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry

Casey Plett, author of On Community (Biblioasis), Finalist for the Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature

Renee James, author of BeatNikki’s Cafe (Amble Press/Bywater Books), Finalist for the Joseph Hansen Award for LGBTQ+ Crime Writing

Robyn Gigl, author of Remain Silent (Kensington Publishing Corporation), Finalist for the Joseph Hansen Award for LGBTQ+ Crime Writing

Lawrence Lindell, author of Blackward (Drawn & Quarterly), Finalist for the Jacqueline Woodson Award for LGBTQ+ Young Adult and Children’s Literature

Books will be available for purchase! To reserve a copy of any title, please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “Publishing Triangle Finalists Readings” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

Suggested donation to benefit the Bureau: $10
All are welcome to join, 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

The Publishing Triangle’s 36th Annual Awards Ceremony will take place on Wednesday, April 17th, at 7 PM, at The New School, 63 Fifth Avenue (between 13th and 14th Street). The ceremony, which will be hosted by poet and activist Emanuel Xavier, will also be livestreamed, and a reception will follow. The awards ceremony and reception are both free and open to the public.
To see the full list of finalists for each category visit The Publishing Triangle’s website.

The Publishing Triangle is a group of queer folks who work to further the publication of books and other materials written by LGBTQ authors or with LGBTQ themes.
We come from all types of backgrounds. We are on staff and we’re freelancers. We are editors, agents, and booksellers; we work in sub rights, publicity, sales, design, and production. Many of us are writers. We are also librarians, teachers, booksellers, and even avid readers who don’t work in a publishing-related field.
Our primary method of shining a much-needed light on queer books is through our awards program. We give out ten awards annually (at an awards ceremony, usually in April at the New School in Manhattan), each with a cash prize of between $500 and $3000. Seven of these awards honor the best books published in the previous calendar year in nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and trans/gender-variant literature. There is a lifetime achievement award and an emerging-writer award; and we also honor a book-industry figure each year (not a writer) with our leadership award.
Through our social media and our newsletter—as well as through readings, social networking events, and other programs in the New York City area—we strive to promote a sense of camaraderie in the queer literary community.
Membership dues start at $40 a year for individuals (there are additional levels of membership for families and businesses). For more details, see our membership page.
If you have additional questions about the Triangle and its programs, please email us at info@publishingtriangle.org or write us at the address listed below.
The Publishing Triangle
511 Avenue of the Americas, #D36
New York, NY 10011

TELL 91: FIRE (in person & live-streaming)
2024-04-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, 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.
The theme of the 91st TELL is FIRE. Featuring storytellers Christen Clifford, Léoh Hailu-Ghermay, Klondyke, and Marg Suarez.
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.

DRAE CAMPBELL’s first performance was at age 5 in a nightclub opening for a punk band. Drae has a BFA in Theater from The University of Arts in Philadelphia. Some Theater credits include: The Nosebleed (Lincoln Center Theater), Only You Can Prevent Wildfires (Ricochet Collective), Non-Consensual Relationships with Ghosts (La MaMa), My Old Man (Dixon Place), Oph3lia(HERE). TV includes “New Amsterdam,” “Bull ” and “Dinette ” (web series, directed by Shaina Feinberg). Drae has been hosting and curating TELL for more than 9 years which is now a SILVER Signal Award-winning podcast of the same name. www.draecampbell.com

Christen Clifford is a mother, artist, and writer. She has been a Mainstage Storyteller at The Moth, a bartender, waiter, art model, salesperson at Victoria’s Secret, and is now a PT AssocIate Professor at The New School- which is a fancy way of saying adjunct. Her risograph art book BabyLove was acquired by the Thomas J Watson library at The Met. Her work has been written about in Artforum, Art in America, artnet, artnews, Hyperallergic, NYT, Chicago Tribune and on some right wing websites. She lives in Queens and online @cd_clifford

Léoh Hailu-Ghermay is a first generation Tigrayan-American, Black queer artist and advocate (and former Drae Campbell-backup-dog walker) living on occupied Munsee-Lenape and Canarsie Land. They begrudgingly work for nonprofits in order to do some small amount of good in this evil world and ecstatically spend their free time creating art and gathering community together. They’re a proud Aries (everyone say happy belated birthday) so there is literally no better theme for them. They’re excited as fuck.

Klondyke is an alien tragg*t superstar!!! Child of a black hole and a supernova, raised by a 4th dimensional rockstar. Experimental musical theatre composer, and first winner of Cakeboys Takes the Cake Competition they are here to terrorize norms out of existence through the great unifier: MUUUUSIIIIIC!

Marg Suarez is a tinkerer, troubleshooter, and lifetime learner. By day, Marg works as a veteran union elevator mechanic in a Midtown Manhattan high-rise; by night, Marg teaches apprentices to diagnose electronic elevator controls. On weekends you can find Marg carting kiddo to swim lessons and birthday parties on their electric cargo trike, organizing volunteers with a community-owned Wi-Fi network, or procrastinating about home improvement projects. Marg lives in Brooklyn with 1 beautiful spouse, 1 precocious 6-year-old, and 5 rescued cats.

The Rainbow Book Fair Events at the Bureau (in person & live-streaming)
2024-04-20 12:00 - 18:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
The New York Rainbow Book Fair is America’s longest-running LGBT book fair and the largest LGBT book event in the country. It has grown every year since its beginning in 2009. It brings together thoughtful, interesting people of all ages, from early teens to those in their 70s and 80s, from a spectrum of countries, ethnicities, gender identities, and viewpoints. It attracts readers and writers, of course, but also publishers, editors, agents, and media attention—people who have never experienced queer culture, and others who have made it the focus of their lives. Rainbow Book Fair is open to the public, with book discounts and giveaways.
Please join us for The Twelfth Annual Rainbow Book Fair, which will take place in New York City on Saturday, April 20th, from noon until 6 PM, at The LGBT Community Center. For more information on the biggest LGBT book event in the US, please click here.
The Bureau will host readings throughout the day in conjunction with the Rainbow Book Fair. Details below.

Noon
The Publishing Triangle Hosts Judy Grahn
in Conversation with Donna Minkowitz and JP Howard
***
2:30 PM
Stay Black and Die: On Melancholy and Genius
I. Augustus Durham + Brittnay L. Proctor in Conversation
Join the Bureau for a conversation with authors I. Augustus Durham and Brittnay L. Proctor to discuss Durham’s new book, Stay Black and Die: On Melancholy and Genius (Duke University Press, 2023). Examining the works of Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, Marvin Gaye, Octavia E. Butler, and Kendrick Lamar, Stay Black and Die chronicles the relationship between black “mothers” and “sons” to argue for the black feminine/maternal, through the lens of abstraction, as the site of melancholy and genius.
To reserve a copy of Stay Black and Die: On Melancholy and Genius (Duke University Press, 2023, paperback, $28.95), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Stay Black and Die for April 20th” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

***
4 PM
Samra Habib Reads
Samra Habib (they/them) is a writer, photographer, and activist. Their bestselling memoir We Have Always Been Here is an exploration of faith, art, love, and queer sexuality, a journey that takes them to the far reaches of the globe to uncover a truth that was within them all along. It’s a triumphant memoir of forgiveness and family, both chosen and not, and a rallying cry for anyone who has ever felt out of place and a testament to the power of fearlessly inhabiting one’s truest self.
As a journalist they’ve covered topics ranging from fashion trends and Muslim dating apps to the rise of Islamophobia in the US. Their writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Advocate, and their photo project, “Just Me and Allah,” has been featured in Nylon, i-D, Vanity Fair Italia, Vice, and The Washington Post. Samra works with LGBTQ organizations internationally, raising awareness of issues that impact queer Muslims around the world.

***
5 PM
Andrea Lawlor Reads
Andrea Lawlor teaches writing at Mount Holyoke College, is the recipient of a 2020 Whiting Award for Fiction, and has been awarded fellowships by Lambda Literary and Radar Labs. Their publications include a chapbook, Position Papers (Factory Hollow Press, 2016), and a novel, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, a 2018 finalist for the Lambda Literary and CLMP Firecracker Awards. Paul, originally published by Rescue Press in 2017, is out now from Vintage/Knopf (US) and Picador (UK & Ireland).

Stay Black and Die: On Melancholy and Genius--I. Augustus Durham + Brittnay L. Proctor in Conversation (in person & live-streaming)
2024-04-20 14:30 - 15:30 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join the Bureau for a conversation with authors I. Augustus Durham and Brittnay L. Proctor to discuss Durham’s new book, Stay Black and Die: On Melancholy and Genius (Duke University Press, 2023). Examining the works of Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, Marvin Gaye, Octavia E. Butler, and Kendrick Lamar, Stay Black and Die chronicles the relationship between black “mothers” and “sons” to argue for the black feminine/maternal, through the lens of abstraction, as the site of melancholy and genius.
To reserve a copy of Stay Black and Die: On Melancholy and Genius (Duke University Press, 2023, paperback, $28.95), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve Stay Black and Die for April 20th” in the subject line.
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

This event is taking place in conjunction with the The Twelfth Annual Rainbow Book Fair, held at The LGBT Community Center on Saturday, April 20th, from noon to 6 PM:
“The New York Rainbow Book Fair is America’s longest-running LGBT book fair and the largest LGBT book event in the country. It has grown every year since its beginning in 2009. It brings together thoughtful, interesting people of all ages, from early teens to those in their 70s and 80s, from a spectrum of countries, ethnicities, gender identities, and viewpoints. It attracts readers and writers, of course, but also publishers, editors, agents, and media attention—people who have never experienced queer culture, and others who have made it the focus of their lives. Rainbow Book Fair is open to the public, with book discounts and giveaways.”

I. Augustus Durham is an assistant professor of English at Lehman College, CUNY, whose research focuses on black study from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. His work has been published in Black Camera: An International Film Journal, Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International, and Journal of Religion and Health; and an essay on the film Moonlight for an edited collection on the work of Tarell Alvin McCraney. Prior to his appointment at Lehman, he was the President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in English at the University of Maryland, College Park. Durham is at work on two new projects: an examination of a singer, and a project on invention.

Brittnay L. Proctor is a researcher and writer of performance, popular culture, and sound/visual culture at the nexus of blackness, gender, and sexuality. She is Assistant Professor of Race and Media in the School of Media Studies at The New School (NY, NY) and author of Minnie Riperton’s Come to My Garden (Bloomsbury Press: 33 1/3 Series). She is currently working on two book projects; one of which soundtrack’s black Southern migration to California during the Second Great Migration and the other, which draws on LP records and Compact Disc’s (CD’s), to trace the sonic and visual discourses of gender and sexuality in funk music.

Queer Collage Workshop (in person only)
2024-04-27 14:00 - 17:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us for a queer collage workshop with Charlie Welch on Saturday, April 27, from 2 to 5 pm.
No experience necessary! All are welcome to join!
We will have some materials (magazines, printed matter, glue, cardboard) and tools (scissors) available, but we encourage you to bring materials and tools to share. Thank you!
The collages will be scanned to produce a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch zine!
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.
Space is limited to the first 16 people who show up!
Free! But donations to support the Bureau’s work are much appreciated.
All are welcome to attend, with or without donation.
We will pass a bag for donations, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @bgsqd

Pinko Issue 3 Launch: Reading and Discussion (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-01 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join the editors and writers of Pinko, a magazine of gay communism, for a reading and discussion on our third print issue. The issue contains our editorials on trans eradication and Palestinian survival, essays about black lesbian sex writing, consent and its limits, and a presentation of imbrication theory, plus a roundtable on political violence, an interview from our book After Accountability, and a memorial to the gay socialist publisher Jeffrey Escoffier. Illustrations by the artist KT Pe Benito grace the issue.
Copies of Pinko issue 3 and After Accountability will be available for purchase!

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 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

Poets of the Archipelago: Bruce E. Whitacre, Kelsea Valentine, and Gigi (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-02 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join Bruce E. Whitacre, Kelsea Valentine, and gigi to launch Bruce’s second poetry collection, Good Housekeeping, from Poets Wear Prada. Whitacre will be joined by one or two other exciting poets reading from work that will entertain, inspire, and share the experience of LGBTQ+ life.

To reserve a copy of Good Housekeeping (Poets Wear Prada, April 1, 2024, paperback, $18), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Good Housekeeping for May 2” in the subject line.

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

Suggested donation to benefit 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

Bruce E. Whitacre’s Good Housekeeping, Poets Wear Prada, is a BookLife Reviews Editors Pick. The Elk in the Glade: The World of Pioneer and Painter Jennie Hicks, placed 2nd in Contemporary Poetry at The BookFest Spring 2023. His crown sonnet about the culture of violence won the Nebraska Poetry Society’s 2023 Open Poetry Contest. More info at www.brucewhitacre.com.

Kelsea Valentine is a poet and multidisciplinary artist from the abysmal plains of Nebraska, now based in Brooklyn, NY. She founded the Poetry Is a Team Sport artists collective and organizes publications and readings across the city.

A multidisciplinary artist and educator living in Brooklyn, gigi explores gender, ecology, spirituality, and the Absurd through poetry, figure modeling, and visual art. Rarely working alone, gigi believes in the generative power of artistic collaboration as a means to continuously evolve the process. Some of their most notable influences are Sol Lewit, Taehyoung Jeon, Frankie Gallina-Jones, Dolan Morgan, and the southern red oaks of Anne Arundel County.

Queer(y)ing Bodies - Texts On Trauma, Transformation, and Truth (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-04 15:00 - 16:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Queer poets, E Kerr (they/he) and Billie R. Tadros (she/they), document their own lived experiences with identity, embodiment, and gender, through both traditional and experimental poetic forms. Kayleb Rae Candrilli has said that the “tenderness” of Kerr’s debut collection trans [re]incarnation “is in lineage with a growing chorus of trans voices, voices that demand space, safety, and softness,” and Katie Manning says that the poems in Tadros’s most recent collection Graft Fixation “interrogate our understanding of bodies, especially women’s bodies, through collisions of language and form.” Join these poets for an afternoon of readings that queer and query the body.
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 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

Elias Kerr is a Transmasculine poet, who writes under the pen name E Kerr. They graduated from the University of Scranton in 2023, with a masters degree in occupational therapy, and double minors in English and writing. They are the recipient of the inaugural 2022 Stemmler/Dennis LGBT& Award. Their work has been featured in various publications, including Rappahannock Review, Another Chicago Magazine, and the Hollins Critic and their debut collection, trans [re]incarnation, was released in April, 2023, with Mason Jar Press. Kerr lives and writes in Scranton, PA, with their cat, Nola.

Billie R. Tadros is an Associate Professor in the Department of English & Theatre at The University of Scranton, where she also teaches in the Women’s & Gender Studies program and directs the concentration in Health Humanities. She earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and her M.F.A. in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, and she is a graduate of the Writers Institute at Susquehanna University. She is the author of three books of poems, Graft Fixation (Gold Wake Press, 2020), Was Body (Indolent Books, 2020), and The Tree We Planted and Buried You In (Otis Books, 2018).

Book Launch: Providence by Craig Willse (in person only)
2024-05-08 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join Craig Willse for the New York City launch of his debut novel Providence, which Publisher’s Weekly calls “a sweat-soaked doom spiral . . . that turns familiar tropes of dark academia and fatal attraction on their heads.” Craig will be joined for a discussion and Q&A with Kyle Dillon Hertz, author of celebrated novel The Lookback Window.
To reserve a copy of Providence (Union Square & Co., April 23, 2024, paperback, $18.99), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Providence for May 8” in the subject line.

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

Advance Praise for Providence:
Providence’s bad gays will keep you up all night with their terrible decisions, hot sex, and irresistible trail of hidden clues. Is Craig Willse the secret love child of Tana French and Patricia Highsmith? There’s no other explanation. My new favorite thriller!
– Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

Providence is a deeply compelling meditation on the ways desire and loneliness conspire to make even the brightest people betray themselves. Willse’s clear, intelligent writing has both heart and thrills. I stayed up all night reading this incredible novel.
– Kyle Dillon Hertz, author of The Lookback Window

Providence is a page-turning thriller. It’s also a queering of the modern-day gay narrative. Willse has crafted a sexy debut with a protagonist who doesn’t fit the worn tropes of damaged victim or oppressed saint, but instead a morally-ambiguous anti-hero who keeps you guessing.
– Alejandro Varela, National Book Award Finalist and author of The Town of Babylon

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.

Suggested donation to benefit 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

Off The Grid: A Crazy Cockette Who Spent His Adult Life Underground: Book Release Party, Reading, & Memorial (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-09 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
New book event alert! Join us for a rare and fleeting book launch and reading of Off The Grid by Rumi Missabu.
Rumi was a key figure in San Francisco’s now legendary Cockettes, a 1960s hippie gender-bending performance troupe. For 35 years, Rumi lived off the grid, surviving through under-the-table work with little money. In this short and snappy memoir, Rumi reflects on his life defined by defiance and transient living, with just an expired library card as proof of existence.
Sadly, we just lost Rumi on April 2, 2024, so this event will also serve as a memorial as well as a book launch party and a reading. Rest in power, Rumi! We love you and we miss you!
This reading will feature August Bernadicou (the book’s editor), Agosto Machado, Robert Croonquist, and Huckle Faerie.
One reviewer wrote, “Wacky and wonderful. Shocking twists and turns. Can you imagine living completely underground? Only in San Francisco can an actor pull off their greatest performance—surviving without a trace. Read and be amazed. Blink and you’ll miss it.”
Don’t miss this opportunity to dive into Rumi Missabu’s captivating story of resilience and unconventional living.
To reserve a copy of Off the Grid ($15), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Off the Grid for May 9” in the subject line.

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

Suggested donation to benefit 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

SECOND TUESDAY (ON A MONDAY!) PRESENTS: CHLOE O. DAVIS, AUTHOR OF THE QUEENS' ENGLISH: THE YOUNG READERS' LGBTQIA+ DICTIONARY OF LINGO AND COLLOQUIAL PHRASES (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-13 18:30 - 19:30 | The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, Room 101, New York, 10011, United States
The LGBT Community Center’s Second Tuesday lecture series welcomes Chloe O. Davis, author of The Young Readers’ LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases, on Monday, May 13, at 6:30 PM. Chloe will be joined in conversation by actor-writer-comedian Amanda Bruton.
On The Queens’ English: The Young Readers’ LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases
This playful, richly illustrated visual dictionary is the perfect book for anyone who has ever wondered about the origin of phrases like “boi,” “drag,” or “demisexual,” the history of the word “queer,” and the wonderfully diverse, wide-ranging histories that have contributed to LGBTQIA+ culture and vocabulary.
Drawing from traditions as divergent as the ancient poet Sappho to the underground ball scene of the 1980s, from the Stonewall Riots to RuPaul’s Drag Race, this glossary is a colorful compendium—and a celebration of every king, queen, butch, femme, trans, folx, and enby who has shaped the history, identity, and limitless imagination of queerness.

This event will take place in person at The LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, 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 of General Services—Queer Division will be on hand to sell copies of The Queens’ English: The Young Readers’ LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, April 30, 2024, hardcover, $19.99) by Chloe O. Davis. To reserve a copy please email contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve a copy of The Queens’ English for May 13th” in the subject line.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
Chloe O. Davis is an author who works in the entertainment industry in New York. A graduate of Hampton University and Temple University, she has centered her creative platform on amplifying the narratives of Black culture and heightening the awareness of the LGBTQIA+ community. Davis’s work as a dancer, actor, and creative has allowed her to travel to all fifty states and internationally where she has spent fifteen years researching, writing, and creating The Queens’ English: The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases.

Amanda Bruton is an NYC based actor-writer-comedian. She has said words on several TV shows including FBI, Manifest, OITNB and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She is currently writing and developing the comedic podcast, Preggo My Lesbo, about her journey to becoming a queer parent. Amanda’s original sketch comedy character, Connie “Big Ballz” Bumbaloni has over 25K followers on TikTok which means she is fractionally famous in some parts of Jersey. @theamandabruton

OUTspoken: The Publishing Triangle’s Reading Series, May Edition (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-15 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
The Publishing Triangle presents its monthly OUTspoken Reading Series as host Rob Byrnes welcomes Alfred Doblin, David Santos Donaldson, Robert Graves, Destiny Hemphill, Fay Jacobs, James Pauley, and Emily Zhou.
Join us as in-person or watch the live-stream (see below) 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

Suggested donation to benefit 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

Opening Reception: Dyke+ ArtHaus Visits the Bureau (in person only)
2024-05-17 18:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Dyke+ ArtHaus Visits the Bureau (May 17-Sep 8, 2024)
Opening Reception: Friday, May 17, 6-8 PM
Dyke+ ArtHaus, based in Philadelphia, is a community-driven space for Dyke artists of all persuasions, centering those 40 and over. Invited to visit the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division for the summer, D+AH put out an Open Call for U.S.-based Dyke/Lesbian- identified artists, 40 years of age and over. Over 60 artists from 14 States responded by submitting works of sculpture, painting, collage, photography, textile, drawing, and installation. Visual art created at any time was considered.
Co-curated by Juno Rosenhaus, Dyke+ ArtHaus Founder, and Lola Flash, artist and activist, this exhibit aims to reflect the diversity of Dykes and the diversity of their art practices. The theme is the show itself.
The Dyke+ ArtHaus Visits the Bureau exhibition continues the legacy of lesbian artist exhibitions such as A Lesbian Show (1978), The Dyke Show (1979), Great American Lesbian Art Show (1980) and Rebel Dykes Art and Archive Show (2021).
Let’s get this party started.
Check out the exhibition website at:

dykearthaus.org/dyke-arthaus-visits-the-bureau

ARTIST QUOTES:
“I have been creating art my entire life and I often feel like the token lesbian in shows and programs. I want to be part of this show to be in community with other dyke artists.” ~Emily Lombardo
“Because I believe we all gain when we set aside the reflex to be self-referential and instead make the effort to accept others on their own terms. And this exhibition encourages this possibility.” ~Kristina Feliciano

Exhibiting Artists
(in alphabetical order)
adrians black
Afua Kafi-Akua
Allison Michael Orenstein
Amina Cruz
Angela L Muriel
Anne Keating
Carol Massa
Caroline McAuliffe
Cassandra Langer
Charlotte Mia Rose
Chris Cinque
Coe Lapossy
Dorian Katz
E. Hynes
E. Lombardo
Elisabeth Jacobsen
Erika Kapin
eva r. barajas
Fumiko Ohno
Hannah Barrett
Heather Lynn Johnson
Heather Raquel Phillips
heidi andrea restrepo rhodes
Jeanise Aviles & Kenzi Crash
Judy Ornelas Sisneros
Julie Lindell
Karsen Heagle
Kate Conroy
Kate Fauvell and S. Willis
Katie Bush
Kris Sanford
krissy mahan
Kristina Feliciano
Lacey Erb
Leah DeVun
Li Studier
Liz Ensz
liz margolies
Lois Bielefeld
lorry morales waldie
Maureen Catbagan
Maya Alam
Megan Levine
Melissa Wilkinson
Michela Griffo
Michelle Schapiro
Morgain Bailey
Morgan Gwenwald
Nancy Rodrigo
Paula Allen
Penny Perkins
Rachel Beser
Ronniemae Painter
Sarah E. Brook
Shari Diamond
Shelley Marlow
shiloh burton
Sokari Ekine
Star Morris
Tracy Morgan
Valarie Walker
Vick Quezada

Book Launch: Out in the World (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-19 15:00 - 16:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join queer authors Amy B. Scher and Mark Jason Williams for the launch of National Geographic’s first-ever LTBGTQIA+ inclusive travel book, OUT IN THE WORLD! Celebrate as they share their local faves and raves (featured in the book), discuss the ever-expanding opportunities for queer travel, and reveal their top picks from destinations in the guide—fun spots around the globe that you must add to your list.
About the book:
This first-of-its-kind travel guide explores inclusive destinations around the world where LGBTQIA+ travelers and allies can have an uncensored and memorable vacation experience. Full of fun and practical travel information, this comprehensive guidebook takes you from familiar destinations to surprising spots.
With an eye toward memorable and meaningful experiences, each destination highlights what to see, where to eat, and where to stay—without focusing solely on gay bars and pride parades. Each robust itinerary—a guide to Curaçao’s beaches, Christmas in the Cotswolds, or a kitschy trip to Dollywood—provides all the information needed for a well-rounded vacation that also supports local LGBTQIA+ communities. With personality-focused chapters such as “Romantic Rendezvous,” “Boozy Trips and Trails,” and “Fun Haunts and Spooky Spirits” there is a destination in these pages for every type of traveler. Veteran travel writers Amy B. Scher and Mark Jason Williams offer can’t-be-ignored advice, including how to plan, ways to be safe while traveling, and important customs to honor while touring abroad.
To reserve a copy of Out in the World: An Lgbtqia+ (and Friends!) Travel Guide to More Than 100 Destinations Around the World (National Geographic Society, May 7, 2024, hardcover, $30), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Out in the World for May 19” in the subject line.
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

Suggested donation to benefit 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

Amy B. Scher is the bestselling author of five books that help people become their happiest, healthiest, and most creative selves. As a longtime travel writer, she writes about how exploring our own neighborhoods and destinations around the world help us discover who we really are. Her books have been translated into over 20 languages and her work has appeared in the Washington Post, CBS, New York Daily News, Good Morning America, Oprah Daily, Thrillist, and more. Amy lives with her wife and their bad cat in New York City. Visit her at www.amybscher.com.

Mark Jason Williams is an award-winning playwright, essayist, and travel writer who has visited 50 countries across all seven continents. In addition to writing for National Geographic, his work is published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, HuffPost, Wired, Time Out, The Globe and Mail, Thrillist, Salon, Out Magazine, Good Housekeeping, and more. Out in the World is his first book. Mark is a lifelong New Yorker with a BFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He lives with his husband and their two senior rescue dogs. Visit him at markjasonwilliams.com.

CU T Book Launch: R/B Mertz & Fellow Queer Poets (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-23 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
To celebrate the launch of author R/B Mertz’s first poetry collection, CU T (called an “astonishing debut” by CAConrad, “visceral and cutting, vulnerable and brave” by Craig Santos Perez), we will hear from a gorgeous cadre of queer poets: Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Sarah M. Sala, and andriniki mattis, as well as Mertz. Reading will begin at 7PM and books by all the poets will be available for sale.

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 Bureau: $5.
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

DARREL ALEJANDRO HOLNES is an Afro-Panamanian American writer. He is the author of Migrant Psalms (Notre Dame University Press, 2021), winner of the Drinking Gourd Poetry Prize, Stepmotherland (University of Notre Dame Press, 2022), winner of the Andres Montoya Poetry Prize, and the International Latino Book Award. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry, the CP Cavafy Poetry Prize, and scholarships and fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Cave Canem, and CantoMundo. He has also received fellowships to MacDowell, UCross, and the Camargo Foundation. Holnes is also a playwright. He is a member of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, Civilians R&D Group, Page 73’s Interstate 73 Writers Workshop, and other groups. His play Bayano was also a finalist for the O’Neill Center’s National Playwrights Conference. His most recent play, Black Feminist Video Game, was produced by The Civilians for 59E59, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Center Theater Group, and other theaters and won an inaugural Anthem Award. He founded the Greater Good Theater Initiative, a festival of Latinx short plays, and a college professor in New York, NY.

andriniki mattis was born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He has been awarded fellowships from Cave Canem, Poets House, and The Poetry Project. He received his M.A. in Creative Writing and Education from Goldsmiths University of London and a B.A. in Political and Poetic Resistance from Brooklyn College. His writing has appeared in wildness, Indiana Review, Wasifiri, Montez Press, and elsewhere. He is the author of Quiet Fires (Anamot Press 2023) and the chaplet Living Btwn the Lines (Belladonna* Press 2018).

R/B Mertz (they/them) is a trans/non-binary poet and artist. They were raised inside Catholic fundamentalism, about which they wrote the memoir Burning Butch (Unnamed Press, 2022), which was a finalist for Memoir Magazine’s Best Memoir Grand Prize. They also wrote the essay, “How Whiteness Kills God & Sprinkles Crack on the Body” (Mistress Syndrome); and the play “Where the Heart Is” (Another Chicago Magazine). Mertz taught writing in Pittsburgh for eleven years and was honored to be a finalist for City of Asylum’s 2020-21 Emerging Poet Laureate of Pittsburgh. On January 1, 2021, Mertz left the US for love, and they now reside in Toronto, Ontario, traditionally the territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. They teach writing at Sheridan College.

Sarah M. Sala is a poet, educator, and native Michigander. Her debut collection, Devil’s Lake (Tolsun 2020) was named a Distinguished Favorite for the Independent Press Awards, a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, a Publishing Triangle Award, and an Eric Hoffer Provocateur Award. She is the founder of Office Hours Poetry Workshop, and teaches writing at New York University. Her work appears or is forthcoming in POETRY, BOMB, The Southampton Review, The Brooklyn Rail, and Columbia Journal. www.sarahmsala.com

Book Launch: Murray Out of Water by Taylor Tracy, with Nicole Melleby (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-24 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us for celebrating Taylor Tracy’s debut middle grade novel in verse, MURRAY OUT OF WATER, out from Quill Tree Books, HarperCollins Children’s publishing, with a short reading and conversation with acclaimed queer middle grade author Nicole Melleby, author of the recently released WINNIE NASH IS NOT YOUR SUNSHINE.

MORE ABOUT MURRAY OUT OF WATER:
Perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead, Natalie Lloyd, and Jasmine Warga, this beautiful novel in verse explores one girl’s struggle to regain her magic after a hurricane forces her to move away from her beloved ocean that, she believes, has given her special powers.
Bighearted and observant twelve-year-old Murray O’Shea loves the ocean. Every chance she gets, she’s in it. It could be because the ocean never makes her apologize for being exactly who she is—something her family refuses to do—but it could also be because of the secret magic that Murray shares with the ocean. Though she can’t explain its presence, the electric buzz she feels from her fingertips down to her toes allows her to become one with the ocean and all its creatures, and it makes Murray feel seen in a way she never feels on land.
But then a hurricane hits Murray’s Jersey Shore home, sending the O’Sheas far inland to live with relatives. Being this far from the ocean, Murray seems to lose her magic. And stuck in a house with her family, she can no longer avoid the truths she’s discovering about herself—like how she feels in the clothes her mom makes her wear, or why she doesn’t have boys on the brain like other girls her age.
But it’s not all hurricanes and heartache. Thankfully, Murray befriends a boy named Dylan, who has a magic of his own. When Murray agrees to partner with him for a youth roller-rama competition in exchange for help getting her magic back, the two forge an unstoppable bond—one that shows Murray how it’s not always the family you were given that makes you feel whole…sometimes it’s the family you build along the way.
To reserve a copy of Murray Out of Water (Quill Tree Books, May 21 2024, hardcover, $19.99), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Murray Out of Water for May 24th” in the subject line.
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

Suggested donation to benefit 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

Taylor Tracy writes books filled with humor and heart that explore the joys and hopes of queer kids, focusing on mental health, found family, and the importance of a sense of community. She lives in New Jersey with her family, including a fluffle of mischievous rescue bunnies, and loves everything her home state has to offer: the best bagels, pizza, and beaches. When not writing, she can be found down the shore, in the rock gym or next to her growing pile of books to read and love.

Nicole Melleby, a Jersey native, is the author of highly praised middle-grade books, including the Lambda Literary finalist Hurricane Season and ALA Notable Children’s book How to Become a Planet. She currently teaches at the Fairleigh Dickinson MFA Creative Writing program and lives with her wife and their cats, whose needs for attention oddly align with Nicole’s writing schedule.

Serkan Görkemli’s Sweet Tooth and Other Stories in Conversation with author Javier Fuentes (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-25 15:00 - 16:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Serkan Görkemli will read from his debut fiction Sweet Tooth and Other Stories, followed by a conversation with author Javier Fuentes (Countries of Origin). The short-story collection was called “a stellar debut” (Scott Alexander Hess) and “that rare linked collection with the emotional heft of an epic novel” (Nawaaz Ahmed).
To reserve a copy of Sweet Tooth and Other Stories (University Press of Kentucky, May 14, 2024, paperback, $24.95), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Sweet Tooth and Other Stories for May 25th” in the subject line.
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

Suggested donation to benefit 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

Serkan Görkemli is the author of Sweet Tooth and Other Stories and Grassroots Literacies: Lesbian and Gay Activism and the Internet in Turkey. Originally from Türkiye, he’s a 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow and an associate professor of English at UConn and lives in NY.

Javier Fuentes is the author of Countries of Origin, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut novel. He’s a Spanish American writer, a 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow, who earned an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University, where he was a teaching fellow. Born in Barcelona, he lives in New York.

Lost & Found (in person literary workshop)
2024-05-26 11:30 - 12:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Lost & Found is a literary workshop designed to provide an opportunity for writers to read, review, and receive constructive criticism of their work, especially projects or pieces that are still works-in-progress or have hit a roadblock. Participants are required to bring one page (up to both sides) of material of any genre they’re working on to read aloud. Then, as a group, we workshop the piece—asking questions, providing feedback, offering solutions, and so on. The goal is to provide writers with a framework for creative development and a consistent network of feedback.
This will be the first of six sessions scheduled on alternating Sundays:
5/26, 6/9, 6/23, 7/14, 7/28, and 8/11
Please RSVP for the first session on May 26th at this link:
https://forms.gle/5ShUkKrrtutYs2my7

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.

Questions? Contact moderator Mark Alan Burger here:
markalanburger@gmail.com

Moderator bios:

Mark Alan Burger is a writer, poet, publisher, and the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Fallible House. His work has appeared in Hello Mr., Interview Magazine, and Vanity Fair, and has received support from FAWC. He lives in Brooklyn.

Cortez is a poet and short fiction writer living in Brooklyn, New York. She is a current MFA candidate at Stony Brook University where she also teaches an undergraduate section of Intro to Creative Writing. She was named a finalist in the 2023 Honeybee Literature Prize in Fiction, and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Brooklyn Rail and The Good Life Review.

PORTALS: Clarity Haynes and Alannah Farrell in conversation (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-26 15:00 - 16:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Please join us for a celebration of Clarity Haynes: Portals, artist Clarity Haynes’ new monograph. At this event, Clarity Haynes will present a short slideshow as a background for her work, and then there will be a conversation between Haynes and artist Alannah Farrell, who has modeled for Haynes’ torso project. The event will start promptly at 3 pm and continue until 4:30 pm. Books will be available for purchase at the event.
To reserve a copy of Clarity Haynes: Portals (New Discretions Publishing, February 20, 2024, hardcover, $45), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve a copy of Clarity Haynes: Portals for May 26th” in the subject line.
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
Suggested donation to benefit 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

Clarity Haynes is a queer feminist painter based in New York City. Her work centers on the torso as a site for portraiture, queer feminist altars as a site for still life, and crowning and birth. Recent solo exhibitions include Portals at New Discretions, New York (2024), Collective Transmission at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut (2021), and Altar-ed Bodies at Denny Dimin Gallery, New York, co-presented with New Discretions (2020). Her monograph, Portals was recently published by New Discretions and D.A.P. Haynes is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner award and a NYFA award, and her work has been discussed in the New York Times, the New Yorker, Artforum, Hyperallergic, and Artnews, among others.

Alannah Farrell is a queer gender-non-conforming painter who lives and works in New York City. They spent their late teens and early adulthood working and playing in queer NYC nightlife of the 2000s alongside even stranger side hustles while completing their BFA at The Cooper Union, New York, in 2011.
Throughout their life, they have consistently documented themselves, their friends, lovers, and community— and all the messy bittersweetness of being an imperfect, changing, growing human who loves humans for all those same reasons.
They have exhibited their work in solo and group exhibitions at galleries including Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA; Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX; Lyles & King, New York, NY; Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown, NY; Harper’s, New York, NY; Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; The Painting Center, New York, NY; Theirry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY; and UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles, CA among others. Their work has appeared in Art in America, Artforum, New York Magazine, Hyperallergic, Interview Magazine, THEM, and more.

Cartoonists on Palestine (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us for a comics reading and performance by cartoonists writing about Palestine, including contributors to the collection Cartoonists for Palestine, MC’d by Solomon Brager and Shay Mirk. We will have readings from Jennifer Camper, Marguerite Dabaie, Eli Valley, Kazimir Lee, and Ben Passmore, and a live drawing to musical performance by Tracy Chahwan accompanied by Nebila Oguz and Omar Dewachi.
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
Cartoonists will be selling merch at the event to fundraise for the Gaza Scholarship Fund for Displaced Students. Co-sponsored by Jewish Currents magazine and Cartoonists for Palestine.

Tracy Chahwan is an illustrator and designer from Lebanon. She started her career in Beirut, producing street art and posters for local independent music venues like the Beirut Groove Collective, and working with the Samandal and zeez comics collective to publish experimental comics and anthologies.

Nebila Oguz is a Turkish-American animator and cartoonist currently based in Philadelphia. She started illustrating by making political posters during the 2013 Gezi Park protests while living in Ankara, Turkey. Her work has appeared in comic anthologies as well as in her zine I Didn’t Ask to be Here, where she breaks apart the absurdities of living and working in the United States. She is currently working as a Teaching Artist with Spiral Q.

Omar Dewachi is an Iraqi Canadian academic and sound artist based in New York City. Skilled in classical Iraqi and Arabic music, he performs across Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Since 2018, he has been involved in sound design and music composition for theater, and has produced experimental and electronic music projects under the alias “Puppets of Babylon.” He teaches anthropology at Rutgers University.

Jennifer Camper is the author of books including Rude Girls and Dangerous Women and subGURLZ, and editor of two Juicy Mother comics anthologies. She was the creating director of three Queers & Comics Conferences and has been featured in the documentary film No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and exhibitions.

Marguerite Dabaie is the author of the graphic novel The Hookah Girl and Other True Stories. Their most recent comic, Legends in the Heights, draws on autobiographical, socio-political, and historical-fictional comics with a decorative flair.

Kazimir Lee has lived for almost equal amounts of time in Malaysia, the UK, and the US. They now reside in Brooklyn. They enjoy queer subtext, parenthood, ghost stories, and karaoke.

Ben Passmore is the author of the ongoing comic book series Daygloayhole, as well as the Eisner Award-nominated and Ignatz Award-winning comic collection Your Black Friend. He also wrote and illustrated Sports Is Hell, collaborated with Ezra Claytan Daniels on BTTM FDRS, and now contributes to publications such as The Nib and The New York Times. He lives in Philadelphia.

Eli Valley is a Jewish Currents contributing writer. His comics collection Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America and Israel is available from OR Books.

Hosts:
Sarah “Shay” Mirk is a graphic journalist, editor, and teacher. Shay was a contributing editor at comics publication The Nib, the author of Guantanamo Voices, and an editor of Cartoonists for Palestine.

Solomon Brager is the author of the graphic memoir Heavyweight (William Morrow, 2024) and the director of community engagement at Jewish Currents.

Celebrating the Reissue of the Classic Gay Novel Time Remaining by James McCourt (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-30 18:00 - 19:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Please join us in celebrating the reissue of James McCourt’s 1993 novel of drag, AIDS, New York City and beyond: 1993’s Time Remaining. Critic Harold Bloom listed Time Remaining as one of the 100 best novels of the 20th century.
“McCourt is that rarest of contemporary American authors — a true iconoclast.” Dennis Cooper.
To reserve a copy of Time Remaining (Library of Homosexual Congress, April 30, 2024, paperback, $19.95), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Time Remaining for May 30” in the subject line.
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

Suggested donation to benefit 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

James McCourt is the author of multiple works of fiction and nonfiction. He is best known for his acclaimed 1971 debut novel Mawrdew Czgowchwz (pronounced Mardu Gorgeous) which is currently available with the New York Review Books Classics imprint. Queer Street: The Rise and Fall of an American Culture, 1947-85, published in 2003, was identified by The New York Times as an “heroically imaginative account of gay metropolitan culture, an elegy and an apologia for a generation.” Critic Harold Bloom listed Time Remaining as one of the 100 best novels of the 20th century.
James McCourt lives with his husband, author Vincent Virga, in New York City with summers spent in Ireland. They’ve been together since 1964.

Tim Young has written the new introduction for Time Remaining. He has been thinking and writing about the role of literature and music in the narrative of life for many decades. In addition to a series of essays on popular culture for Design Observer, he has contributed work for The Yale Review.

Book Release Party for Poets Regie Cabico and Drew Pisarra (in person & live-streaming)
2024-05-31 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
In honor of their celebrated new poetry collections, A Rabbit in Search of a Rolex and Fassbinder: His Movies, My Poems respectively, Regie Cabico and Drew Pisarra will be marking the occasion by reading their own and each other’s poems.

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 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

Regie Cabico is the first openly queer and Asian American poet to win the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam. He’s appeared on HBO, NPR, and TEDx Talk. He is the executive director for A Gathering of the Tribes.

Drew Pisarra is the author of two sonnet collections (Periodic Boyfriends and Infinity Standing Up), two short story collections (You’re Pretty Gay and Publick Spanking), and two radio plays (The Strange Case of Nick M., and Price in Purgatory).

The Pinko Commie Dyke Reads...With Friends (in person & live-streaming)
2024-06-05 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Julie R. Enszer reads from her new, fully illustrated poetry collection, The Pinko Commie Dyke: Poems From a Leftist Lesbian Cabal, joined by poet Irena Klepfisz and multihyphenate writer Donna Minkowitz (journalist, essayist, memoirist, and soon-to-be novelist). Poet, writer, and founding publisher of Indolent Books Michael Broder will introduce the readings.

To reserve a copy of The Pinko Commie Dyke: Poems From a Leftist Lesbian Cabal (Indolent Books, 2024, paperback, $20), please write to contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve a copy of The Pinko Commie Dyke for June 5” in the subject line.
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

Suggested donation to benefit 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

About the Readers
Julie R. Enszer, PhD, is the author of several previous poetry collections including Handmade Love (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2010), Sisterhood (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2013), Lilith’s Demons (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2015), and Avowed (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2016), as well as the editor of the poetry anthology Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2011). Enszer also edited OutWrite: The Speeches that Shaped LGBTQ Literary Culture; Fire-Rimmed Eden: Selected Poems by Lynn Lonidier; The Complete Works of Pat Parker; and Sister Love: The Letters of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker 1974–1989. Enszer edits and publishes Sinister Wisdom, a multicultural lesbian literary and art journal. More at julierenszer.com.

Irena Klepfisz is a trailblazing lesbian poet and political activist and the author of six books of poetry. Along with Clare Kinberg and Grace Paley, Klepfisz in 1988 founded The Jewish Women’s Committee to End the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Her Birth and Later Years, a volume of new and collected poems from 1971–2021, was published by Wesleyan University Press in 2022. It was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and winner of the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry from the Publishing Triangle.

Donna Minkowitz is a pioneering lesbian writer known for her coverage of gay and lesbian politics and culture in The Village Voice from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, for which she won a GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Award. She is the author of the investigative book Ferocious Romance: What My Encounters With the Right Taught Me About Sex, God, and Fury, and the memoir Growing Up Golem. Her debut novel, the autofantasy Donnaville, is forthcoming from Indolent Books in 2024. More at donnaminkowitz.com.

CURATOR TOURS: Dyke+ ArtHaus Visits the Bureau (in person only)
2024-06-07 13:00 - 14:00 | Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join Juno Rosenhaus, co-curator and founder of the Dyke+ ArtHaus, for an in-person tour of the over 60 artworks by Dyke Artists 40 and elder in the Dyke+ ArtHaus Visits the Bureau exhibition. Learn about the Dyke+ ArtHaus, the exhibiting artists, and where this exhibition sits in the lineage of Dyke Art Shows. Curator Tours will occur on the following dates:
● Friday, June 7, 1-2pm
● Thursday, June 20, 1-2pm (also with co-curator Lola Flash)
● Thursday, June 27, 1-2pm

THE QUEEN OF STEEPLECHASE PARK: DAVID CIMINELLO IN CONVERSATION WITH BLAIR FELL (in person & live-streaming)
2024-06-07 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Author David Ciminello presents his novel The Queen of Steeplechase Park. He will be joined in conversation by Blair Fell, author of The Sign for Home (Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2022).
To reserve a copy of The Queen of Steeplechase Park (Forest Avenue Press, May 7, 2024, paperback, $20), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Queen of Steeplechase Park for June 7” in the subject line.
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
Suggested donation to benefit 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

About THE QUEEN OF STEEPLECHASE PARK:
THE QUEEN OF STEEPLECHASE PARK is the absolutely, positively, practically, almost-true story of infamous burlesque queen and magic meatball maker Belladonna Marie Donato.
Pregnant at fifteen after gleefully losing her virginity to pansexual neighborhood strongman Francis Anthony Mozzarelli, Bella is robbed of her baby by a pack of nefarious nuns and her embittered papa has her sterilized without her consent (legal in 1935). With the help of a besotted Francis, her newfound family of queercentric outcasts, and a top-secret meatball recipe, a devastated Bella embarks on a riotous quest through Depression-era Coney Island sideshows, the tawdry world of peekaboo striptease routines, a doomed mob marriage, and a tasty collection of wisdom-filled recipes to find her lost child, herself, and maybe even true love. It all leads Bella back home, to the scene of her original sin, where she boldly faces matters of life and death, questions of forgiveness, and a holy mess only the healing properties of great Italian cooking can fix.

“David Ciminello has written a great big rollercoaster of a novel. . . . Read this book! Hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.”
—Fannie Flagg, author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

“Ciminello is a master of delicious wordplay. His lusciously cinematic story is a veritable carnival ride culled from his family’s kitchen history. The Queen of Steeplechase Park is a tasty tale of love, sex, and the holy magic of homemade Italian cooking.”
—Blair Fell, author of The Sign for Home

“Open your mouth and ready your heart because Belladonna Marie from The Queen of Steeplechase Park is about to serve you some unforgettable tales of love and loss, with a side of meatballs. David Ciminello has re-animated Depression era Coney Island with such vivid and dazzling detail that I wanted to laugh, cry, eat a hot dog, and go for a swim all at once. A phenomenal story of a Burlesque queen searching for her lost baby in the glitz, ooze, and hum of sideshows from Brighton to Gravesend. I couldn’t put it down.”
—Lidia Yuknavitch, author of Thrust

“Meet Belladonna Marie, the force of nature plucked from the historical and culinary passions of David Ciminello. Set in depression-era Coney Island, the novel whips up a bevy of queer, memorable eccentrics, served with a heaping side of sumptuous language. From Melanzana to Puttana, The Queen of Steeplechase Park is a whimsical, gastronomical delight.”
—Suzy Vitello, author of Bitterroot

“The Queen of Steeplechase Park crackles with the hyper-real comic book energy of a graphic novel, and the recipes are a primer on how to live your best life. Buon appetito! Mangiare bene! Delizioso!”
—Stevan Allred, author of The Alehouse at the End of the World

David Ciminello is a Lambda Literary Fellow and the proud recipient of a Table 4 Writers Foundation Grant. His fiction has appeared in the Lambda Award-winning anthology Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City, Nailed Magazine, and in The Untold Gaze. His original screenplay Bruno, an Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting finalist, was directed by Shirley MacLaine. As an actor David has guest starred on Murder She Wrote, Matlock, Kojak, and Seinfeld.

Blair Fell is an actor, playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. His debut novel The Sign for Home (Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2022) was long-listed for the Center for Fiction’s first book prize and was selected both as an Indie Next and Indie’s Introduce book by the American Bookseller’s Association. His second novel Disco Witches of Fire Island (Alcove Press) will be released May, 2025.

The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports (in person)
2024-06-08 15:00 - 16:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
In December 1935, Zdeněk Koubek, one of the most famous athletes in women’s track-and-field sports, announced that he was going to be living as a man.
Overnight, Koubek became a global celebrity. For a brief moment, he seemed to be ushering in a new paradigm for sports. Readers flooded popular magazines with letters asking how a gender transition was possible. Doctors wrote op-eds urging the public to accept him. Queer Americans wondered how they, too, could follow a similar path.
In this conversation, Michael Waters and Julie Kliegman will discuss the lost stories of Koubek and other prominent queer athletes from this era. They’ll also chart the origins of anti-trans and anti-intersex policies at the Olympics today, showing how these policies were crafted, without public support, by a few reactionary sports officials.
To reserve a copy of The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 4, 2024, hardcover, $30), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Other Olympians for June 8th” in the subject line.
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.

Suggested donation to benefit 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

Julie Kliegman is a writer and editor in Queens, New York. She is the author of Mind Game: An Inside Look at the Mental Health Playbook of Elite Athletes. Her work has appeared in outlets including Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, Bookforum, The Ringer, BuzzFeed News, Vulture, The Verge, and Washington Monthly.

Michael Waters is a writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Baffler, and other publications. He’s the author of The Other Olympians: Queerness, Fascism, and the Making of Modern Sports. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Lost & Found (in person literary workshop)
2024-06-09 11:30 - 12:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Lost & Found is a literary workshop designed to provide an opportunity for writers to read, review, and receive constructive criticism of their work, especially projects or pieces that are still works-in-progress or have hit a roadblock. Participants are required to bring one page (up to both sides) of material of any genre they’re working on to read aloud. Then, as a group, we workshop the piece—asking questions, providing feedback, offering solutions, and so on. The goal is to provide writers with a framework for creative development and a consistent network of feedback.
This will be the second of six sessions scheduled on alternating Sundays.
Future sessions will take place on: 6/23, 7/14, 7/28, and 8/11
RSVP her for the second session!

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.

Questions? Contact moderator Mark Alan Burger here:
markalanburger@gmail.com

Moderator bios:

Mark Alan Burger is a writer, poet, publisher, and the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Fallible House. His work has appeared in Hello Mr., Interview Magazine, and Vanity Fair, and has received support from FAWC. He lives in Brooklyn.

Cortez is a poet and short fiction writer living in Brooklyn, New York. She is a current MFA candidate at Stony Brook University where she also teaches an undergraduate section of Intro to Creative Writing. She was named a finalist in the 2023 Honeybee Literature Prize in Fiction, and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Brooklyn Rail and The Good Life Review.

GETTING IN: NYC Club Flyers from the Gay 1990s, David Kennerley in conversation with Ernie Glam (in person & live-streaming)
2024-06-12 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join queer culture historian David Kennerley and Club Kid Ernie Glam for a discussion about David’s new book, GETTING IN: NYC Club Flyers from the Gay 1990s.
The 1990s in New York City was a heady time for clubgoers, especially those with a queer bent. Massive dance clubs like the Roxy, Palladium, Limelight, and Tunnel drew fiercely passionate crowds. But the plucky smaller venues like Splash, Crowbar, Pyramid, and Sound Factory Bar were just as vital. David ventured into these now-legendary clubs. And when it was time to leave, promoters handed out flyers for the next week’s parties. Most people tossed them on the sidewalk, but he saved each and every one.
GETTING IN spotlights over 200 of the most eye-popping, culturally resonant examples from his collection. The invites are not only visually stunning –– depicting flamboyant Club Kids, shirtless hunks, and sassy drag queens –– but tell a story of a unique moment in history when the LGBTQ community was reeling from the AIDS crisis and nightspots provided a refuge.
With a foreword by nightlife guru Michael Musto, it features essays and quotes from denizens from the decade, like drag doyenne Lady Bunny, DJ Larry Tee, go-go boy Mark Allen, photographer Sean Kahlil, and, of course, Club Kid Ernie Glam. Ernie will share memories of his personal exploits at the clubs, especially his association with the infamous “party monster,” Club Kid ringleader, Michael Alig.

To reserve a copy of Getting In: NYC Club Flyers from the Gay 1990s (2023, hardcover, $49), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Getting In for June 12th” in the subject line.
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
Suggested donation to benefit 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

David Kennerley is a journalist, archivist, and historian specializing in LGBTQ culture. For nearly two decades, he has been an Arts & Entertainment reporter for Gay City News, the NYC-based LGBTQ newspaper and website. Examples of his nightclub ephemera collection have been exhibited at The New-York Historical Society. His fully illustrated book, GETTING IN: NYC Club Flyers from the Gay 1990s, was published by DAKEN Press in August 2023.

Ernie Glam is a journalist, author, creator and New York City nightclub personality. He became involved in the club kid scene at the Tunnel nightclub in 1988, which led to a series of gigs at many nightclubs. He designs nightclub accessories under the AttentionShifter brand on his Etsy store. He was born and raised in Sacramento and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in the Bronx and his favorite nightclub in 2024 is Basement underneath the Knockdown Center.

Michael Andor Brodeur presents SWOLE: The Making of Men and the Meaning of Muscle (in person only)
2024-06-13 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us for a discussion of Michael Andor Brodeur’s debut book, Swole, in which he shares why brawn deserves our serious consideration.
A memoir and researched cultural history of bodies from ancient mythology, Renaissance art, to the current fascinating world of manfluencers, Swole signals a fresh examination of the meaning of manhood in the 21st century and the outsized role our bodies play in defining one’s true strengths. As Kirkus notes in their starred review, the book succeeds as “A memoir, history, and critical essay in one, sure to captivate anyone who’s ever pumped—or dreamed of pumping—iron.”
Michael Andor Brodeur will be joined in conversation by pianist Adam Tendler.

To reserve a copy of SWOLE: The Making of Men and the Meaning of Muscle (Beacon Press, May 28, 2024, hardcover, $28.95), please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com with “please reserve copy of Swole for June 13th” in the subject line.
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.

Suggested donation to benefit 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

Michael Andor Brodeur has been the classical music critic at the Washington Post since 2020. Previously, he held editorial and staff-writer positions at the Boston Globe and Boston’s Weekly Dig. His essays, humor, and criticism have also appeared in Nylon, Thrillist, Entrepreneur, Medium, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and other publications. He has also released 5 music albums under different monikers, most recently writing and performing electronic music under the name New Dad.

Adam Tendler has played the piano since the age of 6, but still sometimes can’t believe the piano is a thing—like, this big machine that makes a very particular sound that people take quite seriously, as if that sound is important and essential, eternal, timeless and primordial, like wind, waves, or volcano fire. But really it’s an accumulation of taste and preference, the sound of a piano, and a rather modern invention, right? So he thinks about that a lot. He also often can’t believe he plays the piano, particularly before a concert, and sometimes gets lost in the thought that Bach and Brahms and so many other composers never once heard the sound of, say, an airplane.
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Revisioning Democracy: The #StopProject2025 Podcast, Episode 1: Queers Confronting Autocracy: A Conversation with Sarah Schulman (in person & live-streaming)
2024-06-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Strap in your seat belt! You’re invited to join the launch of Revisioning Democracy – a new video podcast Public Conversation about the times and challenges we face right now in America to defend our democracy and rights – and revision the world we want. This Public Conversation will examine the escalating attacks on our civil rights and our resistance, including our commitment to the unfinished project of our democracy and our visions for a better future. That includes dissecting Project 2025, the conservative blueprint to destroy our democracy and impose a Christian theocracy on America – and how we fight back.
Revisioning Democracy will examine the challenges we face in America from a queer and feminist lens, and engage activists, change-makers, and thought leaders on the frontlines of the political and cultural wars. Our first guest is well-known author, journalist, and lesbian activist Sarah Schulman, in conversation with cohosts Anne-christine d’Adesky and Jay W. Walker of the Stop the Coup 2025 campaign to fight Project 2025. Info: stopthecoup2025@gmail.com

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 $10 for the Stop the Coup 2025 Campaign

Podcast Guest: Sarah Schulman
Sarah Schulman is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, nonfiction writer, AIDS historian, public intellectual and proud lesbian activist. She is the author of 20 books, including novels in multiple genres: historical fiction, literary fiction, experimental
Co-Hosts: Anne-christine (AC) d’Adesky and Jay W. Walker.
Anne-christine d’Adesky founded GenDemocracy in October 2023, then launched its Stop The Coup 2025 campaign in December 2023. She is an award-winning independent journalist and author, feminist, longtime human rights, gender equality and HIV activist, and author of four books.
Jay W. Walker is the social media manager for GenDemocracy’s Stop The Coup 2025 campaign. A queer Black leader and community organizer, he is a longtime New York City activist on LGBTQ+, HIV and racial justice issues, founding member of Rise and Resist, President of Gays Against Guns, and cofounder and lead organizer of NYC’s Queer Liberation March.
