BGSQD

Affirmative Laughter (in person & live-streaming)
2022-06-17 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Come celebrate Pride with some laughter! Your favorite queer comedy show is back in your favorite queer comedy space. Host Elsa Eli Waithe is bringing some of the city’s best queer comics from Hulu, BET, and MTV.
Jes Tom
Calvin Cato
Maggie Scrudder
Mila Myles
Wanjiko Eke
Doors at 6pm, Show at 7pm and as always $5 suggested donation to benefit the Bureau and the performers!
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.
Watch the livestream on the Bureau’s YouTube channel!
Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
All attendees required to wear masks.

Bad Gays with Ben Miller & Grace Lavery (in person & live-streaming)
2022-06-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us to celebrate Bad Gays: A Homosexual History by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller, hosts of the eponymous podcast. Author Ben Miller will be joined by writer and professor Grace Lavery. Too many popular histories seek to establish heroes, pioneers and martyrs, but the past is filled with queer people whose sexualities and/or dastardly deeds have been overlooked. Everyone remembers Oscar Wilde, but who speaks for Bosie? What about those “bad gays” whose un-exemplary lives reveals more than we might expect? With characters such as the Emperor Hadrian, anthropologist Margaret Mead, and notorious gangster Ronny Gray, Bad Gays tells the story of how the figure of the white gay man was born, and how he failed. According to The Washington Post, “Bad Gays succeeds in its goals in every way, offering an infuriating, thoughtful, deliciously judgmental history of the very worst we had to offer.”
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

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.

Ben Miller is a writer and researcher. He is a Doctoral Fellow at the Graduate School of Global Intellectual History at the Freie Universität Berlin, has taught on queer history, literature, and visual cultures at the Humboldt Universität and The New Centre for Research & Practice, and has collaborated with artists including Elijah Burgher and AA Bronson. A regular contributor to the Arts and Leisure pages of The New York Times, Ben’s essays, criticism, and fiction have been additionally published in Literary Hub, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Jacobin Magazine, SAND, Apogee Journal, and Tin House. Since 2018, Ben has been a member of the board of the Schwules Museum, one of the world’s largest independent institutions dedicated to archiving and exhibiting queer histories and visual cultures.
Grace Lavery is Associate Professor in the Department of English at UC Berkeley, and affiliated faculty in the Department for Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, and the Program in Critical Theory. Her research focuses on the history of interpretation during the period of modernity, with particular focus on the relations between three figures: the psychic device, the transsexual body, and the aesthetic phenomenon. Otherwise, she works across genres of writing and of cultural object, publishing scholarly monographs, experimental memoir, and genre fiction. Her first book, Quaint, Exquisite: Victorian Aesthetics and the Idea of Japan, won the North American Victorian Studies Associations Best Book of the Year award in 2020. Her second, Please Miss: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Penis, explores the literary and cultural forerunners of the transition memoir, especially through readings and détournements of Hardy, Wilde, and Dickens. Her third, PLEASURE AND EFFICACY: FEMINISM, PSYCHOANALYSIS, AND TRANS EMBODIMENT, explores the history of trans feminist techniques of physical and mental transition, from George Eliot to Kevin Rowland. She is currently completing a book-length essay on the American sitcom, and a campus whodunnit. Her scholarly essays have been published in Critical Inquiry; Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Criticism; Transgender Studies Quarterly; PMLA; Social Text, and elsewhere. She is a former editor of Transgender Studies Quarterly, and writes publicly for multiple readerships, occasionally reviewing films for Bitch and Catapult, books for The Guardian, and publishing personal essays in them.us, Gay Magazine, Autostraddle, and many others.

Fever Spores: The Queer Reclamation of William S. Burroughs Book Launch (in person & live-streaming)
2022-06-23 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Please join editors Brian Alessandro & Tom Cardamone and multiple contributors as they launch the anthology Fever Spores: The Queer Reclamation of William S. Burroughs. Inexplicably, William S. Burroughs has not been embraced by the LGBTQI community as one of our own, even though his queerness was central to his life and work. Fever Spores serves as an appreciation and reclamation project. The collection includes interviews and essays from emerging and established writers, filmmakers, musicians, artists, and critics, many of whom will be on hand tonight to share their work.
Readers include contributors Laura Schleifer, Charlie Vazquez, Xan Price, Peter Dubé, Timothy Young, Dennis Leroy Kangalee, Jason Napoli Brooks, Sam Desmond, & Sven Davisson
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

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.

Brian Alessandro is a writer, artist, and filmmaker. His work has appeared in Newsday, Interview Magazine, Bloom, PANK, Huffington Post, Turtle Point Press, Lambda Literary, Edmund White: By the Book, and (Re): An Ideas Journal. He has also written and directed the feature film, Afghan Hound, founded the literary journal, The New Engagement, and wrote the novel, The Unmentionable Mann. He recently co-adapted Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story into a graphic novel for Top Shelf Productions. He holds an MA in clinical psychology from Columbia University and has taught the subject for twelve years.
Tom Cardamone is the editor of Crashing Cathedrals: Edmund White by the Book, and is the author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning speculative novella Green Thumb as well as the erotic fantasy The Lurid Sea and other works of fiction, including two short story collections. Additionally, he has edited The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered.

Anthology Reading: I Wanna Be Loved by You: Poems on Marilyn Monroe (in person & live-streaming)
2022-06-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
LGBTQ+ contributors will read their poems on Marilyn Monroe, as well as additional selections from their work.

Featuring editors Susana H. Case & Margo Taft Stever, & contributors Joel Allegretti, Patricia Carragon, Alexander Cavaluzzo, Robert Anthony Gibbons, Matthew Hittinger, Lynn Mcgee, Elaine Sexton, & Bruce E. Whitacre

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

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.

Editors:
SUSANA H. CASE is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently The Damage Done (Broadstone Books, 2022). Dead Shark on the N Train (Broadstone Books, 2020) won a Pinnacle Book Award for Best Poetry Book and a NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite and was a Finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award. She is also the author of five chapbooks. Her first collection, The Scottish Café (Slapering Hol Press) was re-released in a dual-language English-Polish version, Kawiarnia Szkocka (Opole University Press). She is a co-editor of Slapering Hol Press. (www.susanahcase.com)
MARGO TAFT STEVER‘s latest of three full-length poetry collections are Cracked Piano (CavanKerry Press, 2019), which was shortlisted and received honorable mention for the 2021 Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize, and The End of Horses, Broadstone Books, 2022. Her latest of four chapbooks is Ghost Moose (Kattywompus Press, 2019). She is currently an adjunct assistant professor in the Bioethics Department of the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Stever also teaches a poetry workshop at Children’s Village, a residential school for at-risk children and adolescents. She is founder of the Hudson Valley Writers Center and founding and current co-editor of Slapering Hol Press. (www.margotaftstever.com)

Readers:
JOEL ALLEGRETTI is the author of, most recently, Platypus (NYQ Books), a collection of poems, prose, and performance texts, and Our Dolphin (Thrice Publishing), a novella. His second book of poems, Father Silicon (The Poet’s Press), was selected by The Kansas City Star as one of 100 Noteworthy Books of 2006. He is the editor of Rabbit Ears: TV Poems (NYQ Books). The Boston Globe called Rabbit Ears “cleverly edited” and “a smart exploration of the many, many meanings of TV.” (www.joelallegretti.com)

PATRICIA CARRAGON‘s poem Paris the Beautiful won Poem of the Week from great weather for MEDIA. Her latest book from Poets Wear Prada is Meowku and her debut novel, Angel Fire, is from Alien Buddha Press. Patricia hosts Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. (www.patriciacarragon8.wordpress.com)

ALEXANDER CAVALUZZO is an East Village-based writer and artist. His writing has appeared in publications ranging from Newsweek to Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine. (www.alexandercavaluzzo.com)

ROBERT ANTHONY GIBBONS, a native Floridian, came to New York City in 2007 in search of his muse Langston Hughes and found a vibrant contemporary poetry community. His first book, Close to the Tree, was published by the New York-based Three Rooms Press. He is a Cave Canem Fellow (2019–2021) and has received residencies from the Norman Mailer Foundation and the DISQUIET International Literary Program. In 2018, he completed his MFA at City College.

MATTHEW HITTINGER is the author of The Masque of Marilyn (GOSS183), The Erotic Postulate and Skin Shift, both from Sibling Rivalry Press, and the chapbooks Platos de Sal (Seven Kitchens Press), Narcissus Resists (GOSS183), and Pear Slip (Spire Press). He received his MFA from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program, where he won a Hopwood Award. His work has appeared in many journals and anthologies, has been adapted into art songs, and in 2012 Poets & Writers Magazine named him a Debut Poet on their eighth annual list. Hittinger lives and works in New York City. (www.matthewhittinger.com)

LYNN MCGEE‘s poetry collections include Tracks (Broadstone Books), Sober Cooking (Spuyten Duyvil), and two award-winning chapbooks: Heirloom Bulldog (Bright Hill Press) and Bonanza (Slapering Hol Press). A children’s book, Starting Over in Sunset Park, co-written by Lynn McGee and José Pelauz, was published by Tilbury House Publishers and distributed by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. (www.lynnmcgee.com).

ELAINE SEXTON‘s most recent collection of poetry is Drive (Grid Books). She teaches at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute, serves as the visual arts editor for Tupelo Quarterly, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. She is an avid bookmaker and micro-publisher, and founder of the 2 Horatio poetry seminars. (www.elainesexton.org)

BRUCE E. WHITACRE has completed master workshops with Jericho Brown, Alex Dimitrov, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and Mark Wunderlich. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and lives in Forest Hills, Queens. (www.brucewhitacre.com)

Queer Liberation March! (Bureau closed for Pride)
2022-06-26 | Foley Square, Lafayette Street Worth Street, Centre St,, New York, NY, 10013, United States
The Bureau will be closed for Pride, Sunday, June 26th.
We encourage you to join the the 2022 Queer Liberation March for Trans and BIPOC Freedom, Reproductive Justice, and Bodily Autonomy. The March will start in Foley Square and march north up 6th Avenue to Washington Square Park for a community gathering. For additional information, explore the links on this webpage, especially the Accessibility page.

A Pride Sunday annual event since Stonewall 50 in 2019. We dispense with parading, in our effort to reclaim Pride from the corporations, the cops and self-promoting politicians.
As members of the LGBTQIA2S+ communities, we will make our voices heard, and celebrate our resilient and historical drive towards liberation for all.
When we gather as community, we acknowledge our cultural and other very human differences… We ask those with the privilege and the access to assist us in making the march a direct lifting up of those who suffer more greatly because of the way stigma & oppression are normalized in our society.
Marshals and volunteers are encouraged to signup and make this effort a reflection of what we want Queer community to look like.
All the signup links are here
https://ReclaimPrideNYC.org/links

SMAHTGUY: Barney Frank's legacy, graphically (in person & live-streaming)
2022-06-30 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Come meet cartoonist Eric Orner (The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green) talk about his latest book Smahtguy, The Life & Times of Barney Frank. NPR says “Smahtguy isn’t just a great story, it’s an enveloping visual experience crafted by a terrific artist with an amazing line. Even if you were to page through this book without looking at any of the words, it would still be a great read.” Carlo Quispe, a talented NYC-based, queer cartoonist will be MC-hosting the event, swapping stories of the cartooning life with Eric, and showing his own work as well.
Carlo will be sharing from his 2020 comic strip PACO and he will have free copies to give out!
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

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.

Copies are also available at our physical store and can be purchased at the event.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

Check out this review of Smahtguy in SGN: Seattle’s LGBTQIA+ News & Entertainment Weekly:
https://www.sgn.org/story.php?ch=arts__entertainment&sc=books&id=316555

Carlo Quispe is a Peruvian born cartoonist living in Brooklyn and is the creator of the experimental Queer comic Uranus, published by Printed Matter. He is the author of CARLITO and SuperManuel and is currently making the third volume of Uranus Comics with collaborator and cartoonist Mike Diana.

Eric Orner is a former staff counsel to former Congressman Barney Frank, and speechwriter for Congresswoman Maxine Waters. He is also the acclaimed author of The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, which during its 15-year run was one of the country’s most widely published gay comic strips. The comic strip was adapted into a feature film (of the same name) in 2005. Eric Orner has also published cartoons and illustrations in the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the San Francisco Chronicle as well as in Houghton Mifflin’s Best American Comics. During the Aughts he did a tour of duty as a storyboard artist at Disney TV animation and other studios in Los Angeles. He is a native Chicagoan and a former Bostonian, who now resides in New York. Eric frequently illustrates the fiction of his brother, novelist Peter Orner. Smahtguy, the Life and Times of Barney Frank is his first graphic novel.

Closed on Sundays in July & August
2022-07-03, 2022-07-10, 2022-07-17, 2022-07-24, 2022-07-31, 2022-08-07, 2022-08-14, 2022-08-21 and 2 more dates | NY

Carlos Allende presents Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love (in person & live-streaming)
2022-07-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us on Wednesday, July 6 at 6:00 PM at the Bureau as we welcome Carlos Allende, author of Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love, in a conversation with Jonathan Vatner, author of The Bridesmaids Union.

ABOUT COFFEE, SHOPPING, MURDER, LOVE: Despite everything you know and value, Carlos Allende’s new novel Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love will make you root for its bitter, spectacularly superficial, and highly immoral protagonists. The story is a savagely camp, relentlessly unsentimental, incisive account of our worst impulses and our current deranged political moment. It’s a brilliant, laugh-out-loud work of dark comedy.

Set in Los Angeles, a year before same-sex marriage became legal, the novel follows the misadventures of two gay men for whom it didn’t get better: Jignesh Amin, an overweight, angry Indian-American working as a bookkeeper, and Charlie Hayworth, a socially inept white guy from Leitchfield, Kentucky. After Jignesh murders the beautiful office intern because she insults his writing, and Charlie starts dating Jignesh because he wrongly believes he’s rich, the two men embark on a madcap journey that includes a few other deaths, a money-laundering scheme, a gay cruise, and an ass-backward trip to Los Cabos, Mexico.

Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love will leave you cackling while also weeping at what shame does to the psyche, how social media demolishes the spirit, and how much fun it is to conjure abject moral decrepitude.

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

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.

CARLOS ALLENDE is a media psychology scholar and a writer of fiction. He has written two previous novels: Cuadrillas y Contradanzas (CBH Books, 2008), a historical melodrama set during the War of Reform in Mexico, and Love, or the Witches of Windward Circle (Rare Bird, 2015), a horror farce set in Venice, California. Based on his research on narrative persuasion and audience engagement, he developed the course The Psychology of Compelling Storytelling, which he teaches in the Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension. He lives in Santa Monica with his husband.

JONATHAN VATNER is the author of THE BRIDESMAIDS UNION (St. Martin’s Press, 2022) and CARNEGIE HILL (Thomas Dunne Books, 2019). His fiction has earned praise from People, Town & Country, The New York Post, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He is the managing editor of Hue, the magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology, and teaches fiction writing at New York University and the Hudson Valley Writers Center.

To: All The Friends I Killed with Joshua Bookman & Cary Alan Johnson (online event)
2022-07-07 19:00 - 20:15 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
Join us online to celebrate the launch of Joshua Kent Bookman‘s second novel To: All The Friends I Killed along with writer Cary Alan Johnson.
After the death of his best friend, a young man vanishes from the United States, seeking a fresh start in France. He stumbles upon work at a vineyard, and thinks he has found a way out in a land of ancestral beauty.
But he quickly discovers Europe alone can’t solve his problems. Haunted by his past, he has to come to terms with his own and his society’s expectations of adulthood. Dark enchanted truths about love and friendship complicate the story of how he lost his best friend- a sister, a girlfriend, a lodestar.
In this coming-of-age novel, we are faced with the life choices of the millennial generation, the postponement of traditional benchmarks in our twenties, and the queer or asexual attitude towards contemporary loneliness.
Registration on Eventbrite required in order to gain access to the Zoom link.
Click here to register
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau.
You can make a donation when you register on Eventbrite. Thank you for supporting the Bureau!
All are welcome to join, with or without a donation.
Once you have registered on Eventbrite you will receive an email with the link you need to join the event on Zoom – or you can simply return to the Eventbrite page and click on “Access the event.” But you will only be able to access this AFTER you have registered.
Otherwise you can watch the live-stream of the event on the Bureau’s YouTube channel.

Copies of To: All The Friends I Killed are also available at the Bureau’s physical store.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
Joshua Kent Bookman (1990) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and reformed by life and work in Sweden, France, and Italy. Previous published works include Fruits of Mer (Paulette Éditrice), close to elsewhere, Hitom, and Some Reverse American Dreams (LYS Förlag). To: All The Friends I Killed is Bookman’s second novel.
Cary Alan Johnson is an author, activist and Africanist raised in Brooklyn. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. A long-time innovator in queer politics and cultural activism, he was a founder of several ground-breaking organizations, including the Blackheart Collective, Gay Men of African Descent, Other Countries, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. A public health and HIV specialist, Cary is currently the country director for Population Services International in Burundi.

CANCELED!
2022-07-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
WE REGRET TO ANNOUNCE THAT AFFIRMATIVE LAUGHTER WILL NOT TAKE PLACE IN JULY. WE WILL ANNOUNCE FUTURE DATES ONCE CONFIRMED.

The July edition of Affirmative Laughter brings you host Elsa Eli Waithe and comedians:
Alex Babbit
Megan Broussard
Chewy May
Carolyn Bergier
Jax Dell’osso
Doors at 6pm, Show at 7pm and as always $5 suggested donation to benefit the Bureau and the performers!
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.
Watch the livestream on the Bureau’s YouTube channel!
Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
All attendees required to wear masks.

Harsh Cravings Reading (in person & live-streaming)
2022-08-04 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Author Jason Haaf reads from his debut novel, Harsh Cravings by Polari Press. Harsh Cravings is a diary style memoir influenced by Mary MacLane’s I Await the Devil’s Coming. Written over the course of 90 days, it is a reflection of what it is to navigate a queer life, marriage and memories in New York City in 2020.

Copies of Haaf’s Harsh Cravings ($15) are currently available for purchase at the Bureau and will be available at the event. Or purchase on the Bureau’s online store (click link above).
To reserve a copy, please email us at contact@bgsqd.com
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books by 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

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.

Jason Haaf is a writer living in Brooklyn, NY. His works have appeared in “Hello Mr.” magazine, “Rendering Unconscious: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Politics & Poetry” and “The Trapartisan Review.” He is the editor and contributor of “Bent Book: a queerish anthology.”

You Can't Escape Lithuania (2016) screening + Q&A with Romas Zabarauskas (in person)
2022-08-11 19:00 - 21:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us for a screening of a queer road movie You Can’t Escape Lithuania (2016, 80 min.) + Q&A with the director Romas Zabarauskas!
The screening will take place in person, but we will live-stream the Q&A on the Bureau’s YouTube channel at approximately 8:30 PM EDT.
To stream the film You Can’t Escape Lithuania view the options here.
Plot: After his star actor, Indre, murders her mother, a wealthy and egocentric filmmaker Romas decides to help her escape Lithuania. Romas’ Mexican boyfriend Carlos reluctantly joins the trip. On the road, Romas starts shooting an improvised experimental film, provoking Indre and Carlos for his art and personal amusement.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/YXKWJMitrks
Scholar Clinton Glenn*: “the film’s primary focus is less about depicting accurate and positive representations of LGBT characters and more about the potential for a queer critique of narrative, be it cinematic or nationalist. … Zabarauskas’ films represent a potential origin point for LGBT representation in Lithuanian cinema, and as such, remain fascinatingly outside the binary of affirmative versus negative representation, and can perhaps be seen as a Lithuanian take on New Queer Cinema”.
Filmmaker, Anthology Film Archives Co-Founder Jonas Mekas**: “You’re conscious why this film is being made; it refers to itself, it constantly reminds you that there is a reason. … it’s Brechtian, self-referential … and that is why I think it succeeds … politically and cinematically”.
*2020, “We are the new Lithuania” Deconstructing Queerness and Nationalism in Romas Zabarauskas’ You Can’t Escape Lithuania (Nuo Lietuvos nepabėgsi) and Porno Melodrama, Lambda Nordica, 25(3-4)
**2016, at the Bushwick Film Festival premiere
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.

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.

Ish brown’s “Clique” Pilot Live Performance Fundraiser
2022-08-12 18:30 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
$10 Tickets to join in person or online (tickets required)
All funds go towards the production of the pilot episode of “Clique”

IN PERSON:
To purchase a ticket to attend the live performance in person at the Bureau click here.
IN PERSON AUDIENCE LIMITED TO 35
Any remaining tickets will be available at the door

ON ZOOM:
To purchase a ticket to watch the livestream on Zoom please click here.
Once you have purchased a ticket on Eventbrite you will receive an email with the link you need to join the event on Zoom – or you can simply return to the Eventbrite page and click on “Access the event.” But you will only be able to access this AFTER you have purchased a ticket.

DOORS OPEN AT 5:30pm
SHOWTIME AT 6:30pm
Q&A at 8:30pm

My name is Ish Brown, a young driven and aspiring Producer/Director from Harlem USA. I’m raising funds to shoot my pilot for an original scripted LGBTQ+ show. “Clique” is based around five friends all from the diaspora living in New York City, facing challenges & triumphs in their lives with subjects around careers, friendships, love, & society. We are doing this live performance of the pilot episode to help raise the funds for us to officially shoot the pilot episode. So come out and witness an exclusive performance with these amazing talented actors and actresses!
Cast:
Ish Brown (@iishonnishbrown) as Romeo Christian
Neicy Carter (@neicysounbothered) as Alexis Carter
Mikella Matthias (@keli.b) as Monica Dupree
Tyshawn Judd (@Mr_Tyboogs) as Sebastian Morretto
Erik Dawson (@Meeterik) as Terrell James
Tokyo Lei (@_tokyolei101) as Marcus Porter
Samaj McDonald (@wheres_maji) as Jay Combs
Keith G Tolbert III (@K_gq_t36) as Lamont Irving
Joshua Jenkins (@j.andrew32) as Jaquan Smith
Michael Katz (@Michaelkatzofficial) as John Carpenter
Shai Pratt (@Shaiboogie_) as Kwan King
John-Deric Mitchell (@johndericmitchell) as Michael Coooper
Julianne Lorndale (@julianneisfunny) as Amanda Reed-Bangel
Jay Huncho (_popsmurff) as ZaMeek aka Meek
Krystal Norman (@__krysssss) as Giselle Jones
Kira Janine Bennett (@kira.Janineb) as Milan Deveroé
Linda Collins (@lindacollins.nyc) as Katherine Reed-Bangel
Tia Armani (@itsjsttia) as Robyn Davis
Featuring a brief introduction by Damien Alan Lopez of Garden State Equality.
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.

Sebastian J. Plata in Conversation with Lev A.C. Rosen (in person & live-streaming)
2022-08-31 19:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Author Lev AC Rosen will be in conversation with Sebastian J. Plata, whose recently-released first adult thriller, Seeing Strangers, was named one of LGTBTQ Reads’ and CrimeReads’ Most Anticipated Novels of 2022. Seeing Strangers is a stylish novel of obsession and social satire set in a world where sex is just a swipe away.
Life is going well for Greg Kelly. He’s married to the handsome and kind Cristian, a Spanish-born artist who is also a talented cook. Greg’s work as a translator for an IT startup allows them to live comfortably in a stylish Bushwick two bedroom and enjoy just about all NYC has to offer—including sleeping with other men, since Greg and Cristian’s marriage has been open for the past few years. This arrangement has been particularly appealing to Greg and his exceptional sexual appetite. Now approaching their mid-thirties, fatherhood calls and they enlist a friend to act as surrogate.
In order to focus on building a family, Greg and Cristian decide to close up the marriage when the baby arrives. Greg is going to miss his hookups, but at least he has the summer for one last hurrah. He methodically plans his hookups via Grindr and Tinder, carefully coordinates train routes for quick lunchtime hookups, and scouts potential candidates anywhere, anytime, like an old time Hollywood casting director.
As their baby’s due date draws closer, anxiety sets in over Greg’s impending parental responsibilities, the loss of his sexual freedom, and even his marriage to Cristian. But before he can sort out his feelings, a spurned hook-up reappears—Russell, an arrogant tv producer, who had wanted a relationship with Greg. And the problem is, Russell just won’t go away, infiltrating himself into Greg’s life in the worst ways possible, threatening his marriage and sanity. Greg is left asking, what does it mean to find happiness but still crave more?

To reserve a copy of Seeing Strangers (Agora Books, 2022, hardcover, $26.99) please write to us at contact@bgsqd.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

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.
Sebastian J. Plata was born in Poland, grew up in Chicago, and spent most of his twenties in Tokyo. In addition to writing, he also works in the subtitle translation industry. He is currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Seeing Strangers is his first thriller. Find him online @sebastianjplata.
Lev Rosen writes books for people of all ages, most recently Camp, which was a best book of the year from Forbes, Elle, and The Today Show, amongst others and is a Lambda finalist, an ALA Rainbow List Top Ten and is being adapted into a film directed by and starring Billy Porter. His next book, Lavender House, will be released fall of 2022. He lives in NYC with his husband and a very small cat. You can find him online at LevACRosen.com and @LevACRosen

History and Present of Trans Survival: an Intergenerational Community Town Hall, Presented by Pinko Magazine (in person & live-streaming)
2022-09-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Pinko Magazine presents an intergenerational community town hall on the history and present of trans survival.
The current anti-trans political climate has left many people feeling apocalyptic. One of the aims of the anti-trans/queer political movement is to destroy intergenerational spaces for queer community. But our community does exist, and it holds wisdom about what we have seen before. This community town hall will bring together discussants from different generations to share what we have seen in the past, what have we done to oppose it, what has worked, what is scaring us, what are we seeing for the first time, and what can be done.
Lou Cornum, a Pinko Magazine editor, will moderate a panel discussion followed by a Q&A.
Panelists:
Cecilia Gentili, Kiara St. James, Nsambu Za Suekama, & Nikki Easterday
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

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please bring proof of vaccination and a photo id!
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.
Panelists’ bios:
Cecilia Gentili is an advocate, organizer, and storyteller working at the intersections of sex work, immigrant rights, incarceration issues, and trans liberation. Originally from Argentina, Cecilia came to the United States and survived for 10 years as an undocumented immigrant, gaining a living through sex work. She has years of experience working in direct services with organizations like The LGBT Center and Apicha Community Health Center, which led to her moving into policy work, becoming the Director of Policy at GMHC before creating Trans Equity Consulting to advocate directly for better policy for trans people at the local, state, and federal level. Cecilia is also a founding member of Decrim NY, a coalition working towards the decriminalization, decarceration, and destigmatization of people in the sex trade. Cecilia has also performed in the hit FX Show Pose, in her one-woman show The Knife Cuts Both Ways, and in countless storytelling events across the country.

Kiara St. James has been a community organizer and public speaker. She has used her intersectional identities as a platform to highlight and bring tactile and systemic change to a very diverse audience, encouraging everyone to speak with their authentic voices, their truth to power. She has been instrumental in changing shelter policies that were discriminatory towards the Trans community, and presented workshops concerning marginalized communities at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria and the United Nations, as well as at other conferences and academic institutions. Kiara has also been coordinating meetings with legislators to discuss the importance of passing Gender Expression Non Discrimination Act, a bill that will enrich the lives of all New Yorkers through creating culturally affirming spaces, which was legislated into law on January 28, 2019. Kiara is the Founder and current Executive director of the New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG inc), a grassroots 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is Trans-led and intent on creating new opportunities for the Black Trans community through various partnerships and sustainable innovative initiatives with an aim for long term impact.

Nsambu Za Suekama, ‘a blessing in disguise,’ or Bl3ss for short (they/she) is a disabled New Afrikan of nonbinary and transgender experience. They are engaged in mutual aid work and political education with the informal collective Afrofuturist Abolitionists of the Americas and are a member of the Pan-Africanist organization Forward Ever, Backward Never (as part of the Third World People’s Alliance). Her theoretical work sits at the crossroads of Black Ecology, Third Worldism, and transfeminism, the most well known of which include “Femme Queen, Warrior Queen: Beyond Representation, Towards Self-determination,” “To The Ones Who Can Fly: A Message from the Whirlwind,” and “Who’s Man Is This? Black Radical Ecology and the Anthropogenic Question.” Nsambu is also a poet and performer and likes to spend weekends on boat rides.

Nikki Easterday (they / them / theirs) is a Staff Attorney with the Trans Health Project at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF). Mx. Easterday has significant experience contesting barriers to accessing gender-affirming care. Previously, Mx. Easterday worked as a Health Attorney with Community Health Advocates (CHA) and Community Health Access to Addiction and Mental Healthcare Project (CHAMP) advocating for access to health care and challenging discriminatory health care policies. Mx. Easterday also assisted with the federal implementation of the Affordable Care Act as a research associate with George Washington University, with a focus on anti-discrimination provisions.

Michael Gillespie and Hugh Ryan in Conversation (in person event)
2022-09-07 19:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join translator and scholar Michael Gillespie and writer and curator Hugh Ryan for a conversation about Gillespie’s new book, Berlin Garden of Erotic Delights. Set among the glittering clubs and grimy side streets of 1920s Berlin (with detours to Italy and Paris), these charming, witty, and erotic tales capture the trials and triumphs of early 20th-century gay life without apology or shame. Granand’s exciting stories are told with humor, emotional acuity, and deep compassion for his gay subjects. Twice banned and long suppressed in Germany and never before available in English, this rediscovery of a lost gem allows 21st-century readers to experience the thrill of positive depictions of queer life from a time when that was almost unthinkable.
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

Berlin Garden of Erotic Delights is available for purchase at the Bureau’s physical store and can be purchased at the event.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.

Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.
Author photo credits:

Hugh Ryan: M. Sharkey

Michael Gillespie: Phil Cantor

Rocks in the River Book Launch with John Ollom (in person and live-streaming)
2022-09-09 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Rocks in the River is the third book by author and art journeyman John Ollom, MFA. Founded on 22 years of movement, artistic teaching, and guidance, Ollom has expanded his methodology to bring in new embodied ways to find peace and vision in times of fear or change. This book is divided into three currents in the river so we can navigate this metaphor together. It is a place where people are processing change and turmoil in their lives. Do they stay on the same rock they have known all their life? Do they give up and surrender to the overpowering currents? What complex is pulling them under? What current excites us? Ollom offers us a place of respite, an artistic vision of insight and revelation in this turbulent river journey.
“A true original and visionary.”
—Charles Busch, Award-Winning Actor, Playwright, Cabaret Performer, Drag Legend

“This is art therapy on steroids.”
—Brendan Rowe, Sexual Abuse Activist and Counselor

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
Rocks in the River ($25) will be available for purchase at the event, as well as t-shirts ($20). John will be happy to sign copies!
John Ollom’s previous book, Internal Landscapes ($30), will also be available for purchase.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.

Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Ollom is an art journeyman, author and art director. His book Internal Landscapes reveals the evolution of his Internal Landscapes© method and provides an extensive reference that combines movement art with Jungian Depth Psychology. His book of poetry Dark Matter is shown on video at ollomart.com . John received his MFA from Goddard College and his BFA in Ballet from Texas Christian University.
John’s work has been the subject of numerous articles and documentary films including: Late Bloomers by Annette Cyr, Professor of Art at the National University in San Diego; The Making of M.U.D.: An Exploration of the Work of John Ollom and Ollom Movement Art by Robert Kazmayer, MA; There’s Something About John by Emma McCagg, “About, or in, the Liminal Space: John Ollom at 954 Dance Movement Collective”, in Phindie, and an ArtAsAir.com featured artist. He can also be heard in the Goddard in the World podcast.
He has been teaching in New York City and around the country since 2000. His methodology has been taught at the Eastern Michigan University, Kalani Retreat Center in Hawaii, Atmananda Yoga Sequence, Baruch College, CUNY Hostos, CUNY in the Heights, Easton Mountain Retreat Center, and Smith College. During the pandemic, he has been working with clients through Zoom and in Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan.
In 2010–2011, John Ollom was chosen as the Artist in Residence at the Eastern Michigan University Dance Department. In 2022, John was asked to be an art journeyman presenter at the Rutgers University Queer Health Colloquium Part 2: Spectrums.
John has served as the Artistic Director of Prismatic Productions, Inc./Ollom Art since 2002, where he has choreographed such works as The Catalyst, Love and Longing, The Journey, John Ollom’s The Journey, Anatomy of Woman, Dido and Aeneas, The Other Species, Love Stories, Internal Landscapes, Man of War, M.U.D. (Men Under Dirt), Kuan Yin’s Compassion, Nemetona, The Portal, and Prisoner of My Projection. His choreography and direction can also be seen in the film Karpos and Kalamos.
For more information, please visit www.johnollom.com. For more information about the nonprofit Prismatic Productions, Inc. or Ollom Art, please visit www.ollomart.com.

Rajiv Mohabir and Anastacia-Reneé at the Bureau (in person & live-streaming)
2022-09-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
If you’re in the NY area, come listen to Rajiv Mohabir read from his gorgeous, award-winning memoir Antiman (out now in paperback) at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division! The winner of our 2019 Prize for New Immigrant Writing, Antiman explores the fraught constellations of race, sexuality, and cultural heritage that have shaped Rajiv’s experiences as an Indo-Guyanese queer poet and immigrant to the United States. Rajiv will be in conversation with queer writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, speaker and podcaster, Anastacia-Reneé. Anastacia-Reneé’s forthcoming book of poems, Side Notes from the Archivist (HarperCollins, March 2023), is a rich and beautiful collection of verse and image—a multi-part retrospective that traverses time, space, and reality to illuminate the expansiveness of Black femme lives.
Moderated by Chaelee Dalton
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
This event is free and open to all!
Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.

Copies of Antiman are also available at the Bureau’s physical store and can be purchased at the event. To reserve a copy please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!
Rajiv Mohabir is the author of Cutlish (2021, Four Way Books, finalist for the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award, longlisted for the 2022 PEN/Voelcker Award), The Cowherd’s Son (2017, winner of the 2015 Kundiman Prize) and The Taxidermist’s Cut (2016, winner of the Four Way Books Intro to Poetry Prize and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry in 2017), and translator of I Even Regret Night: Holi Songs of Demerara (1916) (2019), which received a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant Award and the 2020 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets. His essays can be found in places like the Asian American Writers Workshop’s The Margins, Bamboo Ridge Journal, Moko Magazine, Cherry Tree, Kweli, and others, and he has a “Notable Essay” in Best American Essays 2018. Currently he is an assistant professor of poetry in the MFA program at Emerson College. His debut memoir, Antiman, won the 2019 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.

Anastacia-Renee (She/They) is a queer writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, speaker and podcaster. She is the author of (v.) (Black Ocean) and Forget It (Black Radish) and, Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere and Sidenotes from the Archivist forthcoming from Amistad (an imprint of HarperCollins). They were selected by NBC News as part of the list of “Queer Artists of Color Dominate 2021’s Must See LGBTQ Art Shows.” Anastacia-Renee was former Seattle Civic Poet (2017-2019), Hugo House Poet-in-Residence (2015-2017), Arc Artist Fellow (2020) and Jack Straw Curator (2020).
Her work has been anthologized in: Teaching Black: The Craft of Teaching on Black Life and Literature, Home is Where You Queer Your Heart, Furious Flower Seeding the Future of African American Poetry, Afrofuturism, Black Comics, And Superhero Poetry, Joy Has a Sound, Spirited Stone: Lessons from Kubota’s Garden, and Seismic: Seattle City of Literature. Her work has appeared in, Hobart, Foglifter, Auburn Avenue, Catapult, Alta, Torch, Poetry Northwest, A-Line, Cascadia Magazine, Hennepin Review, Ms. Magazine and others. Renee has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Ragdale, Mineral School, and The New Orleans Writers Residency.

Chae(lee) Dalton is a wintertime poet and summertime ice cream maker. They are the author of the chapbook Mother Tongue (Gold Line Press 2021) and their work appears in The Offing, Pinwheel, Penn Review, and elsewhere. A queer Korean adoptee, Dalton currently live in New York, where they teach kids science and make things with their friends.

Office Hours Broadside Exhibition
2022-09-16 18:30 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us for the Office Hours Poetry Broadside Exhibition Opening Night Event on September 16th, 2022. We’ve paired up eight LGBTQ+ poets with eight visual artists to craft unique broadsides showcasing their remarkable poems. Doors open at 6:30 PM to peruse the broadsides and enjoy light refreshments. Poetry reading to follow at 7 PM. The exhibition features visual artists: Jihyun Hong, Sy Klipsch-Abudu, Jardley Jean-Louis, Lee Maxey, Brandon Menke, Meesh Nah, Luciana Pinchiero, and Mojdeh Rezaeipour. And features poets: Danielle Badra, Shangyang Fang, T’ai Freedom Ford, Jen Levitt, Holly Mitchell, James Fujinami Moore, Janelle Tan, and Paul Tran.
The reading will also be live-streamed on the Bureau’s YouTube channel starting at 7 PM.
Office Hours Poetry Broadside Exhibition will be on view at the Bureau from Wednesday, September 14th, through Sunday, September 18th.

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.

This event is free and open to all!
Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.

Office Hours Poetry Workshop is a community-based writing workshop for poets who show a demonstrated commitment to writing. We provide continued support for manuscript-development and everyday writing. The workshop culminates in a public reading each fall and spring to showcase sizzling new work.
We welcome all poets, especially people of color, LGBTQ+, and those who are womxn-identified. Our name derives from our side hustle. Many of us are freelance, adjunct instructors, who continue to thrive in the margins of academia.
The workshop fellowship meets every two weeks following the fall and spring academic calendar with optional sessions like book club and generative write ins. We charge zero fees to join. Interested writers should submit 6 pages of work to be reviewed by the workshop facilitator sarahmariesala@gmail.com or drop us a line to learn more!

The Bruising of Qilwa meets The Stardust Thief, live with the authors! (in person & live-streaming)
2022-09-18 17:00 - 19:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Mainstream speculative fiction has long borrowed elements from West Asian (Middle Eastern) storytelling, but only in recent years have West Asian authors themselves been brought into the fold to tell stories inspired by our cultures. In celebration of the launch of The Bruising of Qilwa, a debut novella set in a queernormative Persian-inspired world, Persian-Chicagoan author Naseem Jamnia will be in conversation with Chelsea Abdullah, Kuwaiti-American author of The Stardust Thief. After a brief reading, they’ll discuss their books, West Asian storytelling traditions, and bringing their cultures into a secondary world, with opportunity for a Q&A. Signing will be available after the 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.
Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel

Both books will also be available for purchase at the event.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.

Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.

Chelsea Abdullah is an American-Kuwaiti writer born and raised in Kuwait, where she grew up listening to stories about mysterious desert creatures and wily (only sometimes likable) heroes. Consumed by wanderlust, she has put down roots in various states. After earning her MA in English at Duquesne University, she moved to New York, where she currently lives. When not immersed in her own fictional worlds, she spends her free time playing video games, doodling characters, and hoarding books she doesn’t have the shelf space for.

Naseem Jamnia is a Persian-Chicagoan, former scientist, and fiction MFA graduate from the University of Nevada, Reno. Their work has appeared in The Washington Post, Bitch Media, Cosmopolitan, The Rumpus, The Writer’s Chronicle, and other venues. A Lambda Literary, Otherwise, and the inaugural Samuel R. Delany Fellow, Naseem is the managing editor at Sword & Kettle Press and the author of The Bruising of Qilwa.

Paradise Regained: Black Queer Writers Read (in person and live-streaming)
2022-09-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Three Black gay writers, each of whom released a new book in 2022, gather for a fierce read. Hosted by the inimitable Pamela Sneed. Featuring Jafari Allen, David Ambrose Jackson, & Cary Alan Johnson.
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

Safety protocol
In an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 in the days leading up to the event, we ask you to please stay home.
Please note that masks are required at all times inside The LGBT Community Center, where the Bureau is located.
Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.
All are welcome to attend, with or without 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.
Cosponsored by:
Bloom International
and
Other Countries: Black Gay Men Writing
Books by all of the authors available on the Bureau’s online store and at our physical store. These books will also be available for purchase at the event. To reserve a copy (copies) of any of these titles, please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com.
Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

Jafari Allen is is Director of Africana Studies and Co-Director of the University of Miami Center for Global Black Studies. His monograph, There’s a disco ball between us: a Theory of Black Gay Life, was published by Duke University Press in 2022 .

David Ambrose Jackson was a Lambda Literary Award finalist for his debut novel, State of the Nation. His new novel, Unlawful DISorder, has been lauded as “…a cutting portrayal of the failings of America’s mental health system.”

Cary Alan Johnson is an author, activist, and Africanist and. founder of the Other Countries writer’s collective. His debut novel, Desire Lines, was published in September 2022 by Querelle Press.

Pamela Sneed is a New York-based poet, performer, visual artist, and educator. She is the author of Funeral Diva (City Lights Books, 2020), Sweet Dreams (Belladonna*, 2018), KONG (Vintage Entity Press, 2009), Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom than Slavery (Holt, 1998), and others. Sneed has performed the Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Poetry Project, The High Line, the New Museum, and the Toronto Biennale. She appears in Nikki Giovanni’s “The 100 Best African American Poems,” and has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes.
