NYPL Blogs: LGBT@NYPL

Booktalking "Gravity" by Leanne Lieberman

Miranda J. McDermott, Grand Concourse — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:14:45 -0400

Gravity by Leanne Lieberman, 2008

Ellie, a 15-year-old Orthodox Jew, is happy to go to Bubbie's (her grandmother's) cottage this summer to learn about the flora and fawna. There, she meets Lindsay, a beautiful, provocative blond girl, whom Ellie is attracted to. Unlike boys, whom she is supposed to like, Ellie is captivated by Lindsay. They swim together in a canoe, and she visits Lindsay at her cottage.

However, Leviticus 18:22 states: "A man should not lie with a man the way he lies with a woman. It is an abomination and they should be put to death." This does not bode well for thoughts of a positive relationship with Lindsay.

In fact, as Ellie dreams of marrying Lindsay, she imagines a likely response from her Jewish relatives, "Lightning will leap down from the heavens, rivers will flood, tornadoes will spin. There will be locusts, hail and fire. First born children will suddenly perish, which means Abba (her father), Ima (her mother) and Neshima (her sister) will all die slow and agonizing deaths."

As she thinks of famous pairs, such as Romeo and Juliet, they all seem to consist of one male and one female, not two females or two males. When Lindsay and Ellie return to their homes and resume school, Ellie pursues Lindsay and they begin visiting each other at their houses. When Ellie asks Mrs. Lowenstein (her sex ed teacher) about lesbian attractions, she is informed that "Evil impulses are often just like a bad habit." Ellie fervently attempts to banish thoughts of girls from her head; she even creates a bald spot on her head by punishing herself for such thoughts. However, she is unable to stop thinking about females, and the more Ellie thinks about how gay attraction is frowned upon in Orthodox Judaism, the less enthusiastic she is about the religion. Ellie's sister Neshema is also pulling away from Orthodox Judaism as she moves towards college. Bubbie supports both Neshema and Ellie in their quest for their identities as young women in the world.

Gravity by Leanne Lieberman

Cataloging Gay Community Center libraries: I have greatly enjoyed cataloging the gay community center library in Dublin, Ireland, the Outhouse, and also the gay community center in Albany, NY. Neither of the libraries had a cataloging system. I used index cards and put the pertinent information (title, author, publication date, publishing co., etc.) on each card. I rearranged the books on the shelves so that they were in subject areas. I was also interested to discover the content of such libraries. There is much more written on gay male than on lesbian romance. However, I was happy to discover books on lesbian romance for teens in the collection of The New York Public Library. I have found the gay community to be very welcoming as well.

Edmund White in Real Life and Fiction

Dennis Orlov, Volunteer, Collections Strategy/LGBT Collections — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:07:28 -0400

"Is that what we are: libertines?"

"It's what I am," Jack said, "and what you aspire to be."

Jack Holmes and His Friend.

Edmund White, born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1940. When he was 7, his parents divorced and he (with his mother and sister) went to live in Evanston (on the outskirts of Chicago), while spending summers with his father in Cincinnati.

Edmund attended The Cranbrook Academy, and later the University of Michigan, where he studied Chinese. In 1962 he moved to New York, pursuing Stan, a boy he was in love with (with whom he lived for 5 years). As he "wasn't really suited for any kind of work except journalism," Edmund landed a job in publishing (Time-Life Books, then The Saturday Review and Horizon).

White has spent quite a large amount of time living overseas: Rome (1970-1971) and France (1983-1990).

Starting in the mid 1970s, the Violet Quill, a group of 7 gay New York writers was formed, with White as part of it. The group met at the members' apartments, reading and critiquing one another's work. Together, these writers and their work represented the kind of gay writing that hadn't existed before: openly and admittedly gay, with all the pleasures and consequences. The kind of writing, where characters are struggling with or enjoying being gay, whom readers can relate to and know they are not alone, that there are others like them, who went through similar feelings of realizing and knowing they are different, thus normalizing the experience.

Not all of Edmund's work is gay-themed, Caracole (1985) centers on heterosexual characters, relationships and desires, while Forgetting Elena (1973) can be read, in a coded and indirect manner, as a commentary on gay culture. White's biographies of Genet, Proust and Rimbaud are a result of his obsession with these great and controversial personas, their lives and art. Arts and Letters (2004) tells stories of his encounters with some of the most provocative writers, artists and personalities of our time. Fanny: A Fiction (2003) is a historical novel about Frances Trollope and Frances Wright. Hotel de Dream: A New York Novel (2007), a "fantasia on real themes provided by history" unlike White's other works, takes place in the 19th century (Read the NYT review). White is also the man behind The Joy of Gay Sex (with Charles Silverstein) published in 1977, and re-released in 2003 with Felice Picano (a DIY manual). Edmund White has also written plays, some of which were actually staged.

White is a recipient of multiple awards and distinctions, including making a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1997) and American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1999), as well as Chevalier (Officer) de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government (1993).

There are many parallels and similarities between White and his characters. He uses his own experiences as inspirations and basis for characters and their lives. Midwesterners moving to New York City; gay and promiscuous; gay and hoping to become straight, marry and have kids some day; therapy/seeing shrinks; aspiring or established writers and/or in the publishing world; literary, educated and hedonistic; travel; use of alcohol and drugs; characters named Jack... Maybe too many of the ideas and personal traits and experiences are his own, but he has lived an interesting life, so why not?

White has been influential not only as a literary and cultural critic (particularly on gay issues), but also as an activist helping found the Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York City in 1982, and was closely involved in the foundation of the French HIV/AIDS NGO AIDES in Paris in 1984.

Currently, White is a member of the faculty of Princeton University's Creative Writing Program.

Jack Holmes and His Friend, the latest novel by Edmund White (released earlier this year) is a story about a friendship between two men: one straight, one gay. Seems like the oldest story in the world: Boy meets Boy, Boy falls in love with Boy, Boy 2 is straight and does not feel the same about Boy 1... But Jack Holmes and His Friend is different. There is a marriage, children, an extramarital affair (or two), a case of the clap and a case of the crabs, and even an orgy over a period of a few decades. The two main characters "take turns" narrating, so we see the happenings from their appropriate perspectives. Youth, New York City, aspirations and lack thereof, responsibilities, commitment, love. Friendship. Being libertines...

City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s is an autobiography. Frank, direct and unapologetic, without holding much back, it paints a picture of life in New York City, as well as the lives of gay men at the time. An eye-witness of the Stonewall riots, White gives an account of the actual events and those leading up to the riots, and changes following them. Edmund discusses fashions, relationships, literature and writing (including accounts of his own), arts and culture, drugs, sex, emerging artists and everything in between. If you enjoy memoirs, White's other non-fictitious My Lives (2005) and Our Paris: Sketches from Memory (1995) will satisfy your love for sticking your nose into other people's business.

Chaos, a novella about a respected writer, who still operates on the values of the liberated 1970s pursuing sex. White explores the ideas of aging, romance and sex, as part of life in the 21st century. It is compelling, but somewhat chaotic (which obviously works very well for a book with such a title). Jack, the main character, his writing career, love and sex life (with quite a few discomforting details) and the randomness of these things (just like life itself) are all pieces that are interwoven into a wild, maybe a bit bleak, pattern. Also, in Chaos are a few short stories, involving gay men all dealing with/confronting aging in their own ways.

These are few of the published books by Edmund White, this prolific author has written many more. For more information, a complete bibliography and all things Edmund White, please visit his official website.

To me, Edmund White was a wonderful discovery. His characters are realistic: none of them are perfect; they have their good and bad moments. His writing style is simple and easy to read, however that does not go for his characters. His power of observation and way with words draws them in a very honest and vulnerable light. With his memoirs and biographies, he satisfies those who enjoy reading about time periods/people's lives in those periods. For me, it was New York, the historical accounts of this ever-changing city and the lives of its people, gay or straight. This is one author whose books I will be coming back to for sure.

"I Remember..." Joe Brainard

Dennis Orlov, Volunteer, Collections Strategy/LGBT Collections — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:02:57 -0400

Joe Brainard was born in 1941 in Salem, Arkansas and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A gentle, unathletic stutterer, Joe exhibited artistic talent from an early age. It was his way of dealing with the outside world of the public school in a working-class neighborhood. “Artistic” was a wide range of things, including designing his mother’s dresses. He won practically every art contest he entered.

Dayton Art Institute gave Brainard a full scholarship, but Joe attended only for a few months, running off to New York City (late 1960 or early 1961). Here, reunited with his high-school friends Ron Padgett and Dick Gallup, as well as having made friends with many a literary and artistic stars, he began producing art at an astonishing rate. His breakthrough came when in 1964 Larry Rivers picked him as a companion artist for his show at the Finch College Museum. A few months later, he had his solo exhibit at the Allan Gallery, then MoMA, the Whitney, Yale University Museum, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

In 1964, Brainard began a close relationship with Kenward Elmslie (writer, performer, editor and publisher), that was based based on mutual artistic admiration and deep companionship and lasted to the end of his life (despite other lovers, including actor Keith McDermott).

Drawings, collages, assemblages, paintings, book and albums covers, theatrical sets and costumes, Brainard did very well, with bold simplicity, casual elegance and humor, which set his style apart as unique and inimitable. When it comes to his writings, they fall into several categories: memoirs, dairies, PopArt, short essays and verbal-visual collaborations (with other poets and himself).

I Remember is probably one of the books Joe Brainard is best known for as a writer.

Ingeniously simple in its concept, I Remember is a recollection of things from his childhood in the '40s and '50s in Oklahoma, and his life in New York City in '60s and '70s. Not a traditional memoir, I Remember is a series of statements (each starting with “I remember”), some interconnected, some completely unrelated, some general and banal, some very personal and revelatory.

“I remember daydreams of dying and how unhappy everybody would be.”
“I remember the only time I ever saw my mother cry. I was eating apricot pie.”
“I remember that life was just as serious then as it is now.”
“I remember the sound of the ice cream man coming.”
“I remember once losing my nickel in the grass before he made it to my house.”
“I remember ringworms. And name tags.”
“I remember the first erection I distinctly remember having. It was by the side of a public swimming pool. I was sunning on my back on a towel. I didn’t know what to do, except turn over, so I turned over. But it wouldn’t go away. I got a terrible sunburn. So bad that I had to go see a doctor. I remember how much wearing a shirt hurt.”

The Nancy Book, a very naughty and humorous, mischievous and poetic, surreal and even absurd interpretation (and appropriation) of the classic comic strip character Nancy (Nancy and Sluggo by Ernie Bushmiller). Placed in various scenarios and spaces, Nancy will never be the same...

By early 1980s Joe grew very dissatisfied with his art: he set his standards higher and higher to the point where he could not reach them anymore. He stopped producing art, but continued to read and go to exhibitions.

He died in 1994 of AIDS-induced pneumonia.

Ten Imaginary Still Lifes you should read right now. Yes, silly. Just follow the link. Enjoy. The pure genius of Joe Brainard...

Check out www.joebrainard.org for goodies, including Joe’s bio, some samples of this visual work, things that critics have had to say about him and his creations.

The Writings of Samuel R. Delany

Dennis Orlov, Volunteer, Collections Strategy/LGBT Collections — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:07:41 -0400

“Things have made you what you are... What you are will make you what you will become.”

—Samuel R. Delany, Dahlgren

(Whatever. You wish you could grow a beard like that...)

Samuel Ray Delany, Jr., a.k.a. “Chip” (a nickname he gave himself at a summer camp, approximately age 12, because all of his friends had nicknames and he didn’t. “They mostly call me Chip” he introduced himself and it stuck to this day).

An African-American writer, born (1942) and raised in Harlem. Predominantly known for his science fiction, but has also written some memoirs, pornography (a term he endorses himself), criticism and some essays on sexuality, writing (literary criticism) and society. Delany was published by the age of 20, with the science fiction novel The Jewels of Aptor, which he had actually written at 19.

A winner of four Nebula awards, two Hugo awards and a Stonewall Book Award over the course of his career, Delany was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2002.

Although he has identified as homosexual since his adolescence, some have considered him bisexual due to his marriage to Marilyn Hacker (an American poet, translator and critic), that lasted for twelve years and bore a daughter, Iva Hacker-Delany. During the marriage, Delany and Hacker joined and separated multiple times, at some point entering a three-way relationship with another man.

Always coming back to his native New York, Chip Delany has spent some time living in Greece, San Francisco and London. As a teacher at the University of Massachusetts, he lived in Amhurst, as an English professor — in Buffalo, NY, and Philadelphia, as the Director of the Graduate Creative Writing Program at the Temple University.

Highly dyslexic, Delany developed ways of getting around it by primarily constant and endless revisions and rewritings of his manuscripts.

Some of the more prevalent themes in his writings are socioeconomic standing and the move from one social strata to another; race and sexuality; his seeming obsession with unorthodox beauty: large calloused hands; nail-biters; hare-lips; homelessness and mental disorders...

Some of Delany’s creations:

Dhalgren takes place in Bellona, a fictional city in American Midwest that has been cut off from the rest of the world by some unknown catastrophe. There are no communications coming from or going into the city (no radio, TV, or phone). One night two moons show up in the dark, and a red, swollen to а hundred times its size, sun rises one day. Things shift constantly, whereas time contracts and expands. The novel documents the reactions of the few survivors of Bellona to the events taking place there, in particular its protagonist’s, who suffers from amnesia and, possibly, schizophrenia, trying to figure out who he is and where he comes from.

Not the most accessible read, due to its non-linear, circular narration, almost stream of consciousness babble at some points; its lack of linear plot or consistent chronological narrative; its graphic hetero-, homo-, and bisexuality. The novel received both critical acclaim and extreme dislike from both within and outside the science fiction community. A fellow writer stated that Dhalgren is “a terrible book” that “should have been marketed as trash.” (Ouch... probably won’t see that one on the book jacket).

In Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, the first part of a diptych (whose second part still has not been finished some 28 years later) describes events of the far future, where humans populate over 6,000 planets (sharing them with nonhumans and aliens). RAT (Radical Anxiety Termination), a psychosurgery which makes one a passive slave is performed on Korga, whose story is one of the novel’s main threads. Delany, again, brings issues of race, social standing and sexuality to the forefront of the thematic constellation. Technologies of the future (interconnected web of information, holograms, space travel, etc) and limited access to those technologies by people of certain races (Korga is black) drive the point of disconnection and isolation African Americans have experienced for generations.

Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, a two-part non-fictional discourse, where Chip Delany draws on his personal experiences to examine the relationship between redevelopment of the Times Square and the public sex lives of the working-class men: straight, gay and bisexual, in New York City from the 1960s to the 1990s. In the first part, he shares with the reader about his sexplorations in pornographic theaters in New York (especially those in or around Times Square) and the relationships inside and outside of the theaters. In the second part of the book, Delany philosophies on the nature of human social interaction established in urban settings, in particularly “contact” and “networking.” What brings the two parts of the book together? Well, you are just gonna have to read the book and find out...

Delany’s writings bring up some very important and interesting points. His fiction, although poetic, is not always straight-forward, sometimes without an ending that provides closure, riddle-like. Both his fiction and non-fiction focus on human condition and contact. In his very own life, Delany has demonstrated kindness and compassion to the people he comes into contact with (buying food for the homeless, helping complete strangers with securing a job, sending his writings as materials to people working on research, etc.).

For a more detailed biography of Samuel R. Delany, visit pseudopodium.org.

On an unrelated note, a couple of weeks ago New York Magazine published quite a wonderful article/collection of images dedicated to the 25th anniversary of ACT UP. The men and women who started it, who they are and where they are now. Check it out!

Hello from LGBT@NYPL

Dennis Orlov, Volunteer, Collections Strategy/LGBT Collections — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 08:38:38 -0400

Hello, all. Thank you for keeping an eye on what's going on at the LGBT initiative at The New York Public Library.

My name is Dennis Orlov, I am a 30-year old recent transplant from Portland, Oregon. I am fascinated by this city, its history, and its people, especially when it comes to the LGBT community. I am not a specialist on LGBT issues or history, neither am I a writer. I'm just an avid reader, trying to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of the history of "my people."

As part of my volunteer experience at NYPL, I will take it upon myself to keep you up-to-date on the happenings, as well as dig through the gems of the collection and post some thoughts and observations here.

You may already know this, but the way NYPL's LGBT Collections came together was truly a communal happening. International Gay Information Center (IGIC), initially a committee of the Gay Activists Alliance, whose collection of books, periodicals, pamphlets, newsletters, press releases, and ephemera related in any way to gay rights, history, or culture spanning from 1974 to 1989 (the story is that the materials had occupied two apartments, were growing exponentially, maintained by volunteers, and becomming quite a financial burden), was donated to The New York Public Library in 1989. That gift inspired donations by other organizations and individuals. ACT UP, Mattachine Society of New York, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Jonathan Ned Katz, Barbara Gittings, and Kay Tobin Lahusen, to name a few. Now, as one of the world’s most extensive collections of LGBT history, it is available to the public. Over 3,000 images from the collections have been digitized and are freely available in the Library’s Digital Gallery.

Speaking of the Digital Gallery, The Robert Giard Foundation has given NYPL its exclusive permission to digitize some of the images (currently 203) from Robert Giard’s Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers, a two-decade project of photographing just that — over 600 gay and lesbian writers (playwrights, novelists, poets, and performance artists). Particular Voices can be enjoyed here.

What does this have to do with me? Well, it happens to be a great way to start navigating the LGBT literary accomplishments in general and NYPL’s LGBT offerings in particular. So, please join me in my humbly ambitious adventure as I explore the works of these authors, posting once a week for the next few months. Recommendations and comments are welcome. I think...

I will leave you with this gem of a poster from 1960 for Mattachine Society Inc. of New York.

There is so much more where this came from...

Until next time,

D.O.

Booktalking "How They Met & Other Stories" by David Levithan

Miranda J. McDermott, Grand Concourse — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:30:18 -0500

The way that I have been inspired to read teen literature tends to be from meeting authors, listening to them talk about their work, and then getting curious about what they wrote. This happened to me first with Walter Dean Myers, then with David Levithan. I heard Levithan discuss his work at a Teen Week event at The New York Public Library and was inspired to read How They Met and Other Stories. Levithan seemed very interesting to me. I have read some of his other works, but I am impressed by the variety of perspectives he has on love stories in this particular work. Explore more of Levithan's work in the Library's collection >>

The following is a booktalk that I wrote for high school students:

How They Met & Other Stories by David Levithan, 2008

Ever get stuck babysitting a six-year-old who turns out to love Starbucks, only to find out a dreamy guy who works there decides he wants to hang out with you?

What about stepping up to be interviewed for college by an alum who just happens to be your closeted boyfriend’s father?

Or bringing your date “Glinda the Good Witch” to the prom, when your strongest desire was to artfully dodge her bold attempts to ensure that there was absolutely no air between you two?

How about dating a “startling boy,” the son of one of your father’s business partners, and you don’t even know what business they’re in, let alone who this Andrew Chang is. By your account, he appears to be a clone of his father... and he definitely can’t move his feet in a coordinated manner on the dance floor.

What about desperately trying to get your family to accept your dancer boyfriend and allow him to attend your Bar Mitzvah? You’re lucky if you have a brother who will stand up to your parents on your behalf and defend your right to be with your love on that special day.

From gay men and/or women who haven't yet realized that they’re gay to gay and straight stories of romance, Levithan writes from a cornucopia of perspectives in this eye-opening collection of romantic short stories.

Scenes from a Jamaican Childhood

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 06:10:40 -0400

Tomorrow, November 1st at 6pm, join Thomas Glave (English, General Literature, and Rhetoric, SUNY Binghamton) at the CUNY Graduate Center for this year's Audre Lorde/Essex Hemphill Memorial Lecture. Thomas Glave is the author of Whose Song? and Other Stories, The Torturer's Wife, and the essay collection Words to Our Now: Imagination and Dissent (winner of a 2005 Lambda Literary Award). He is editor of the anthology Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles (winner of a 2008 Lambda Literary Award). The Audre Lorde/Essex Hemphill Memorial Lecture is meant to commemorate the lives of the American poets, Audre Lorde (1934 -1992) and Essex Hemphill (1957 -1995), as well as to encourage exciting scholarship and literary production within the communities to whom their poetry and prose spoke. Both Lorde and Hemphill were instrumental in the development of distinctive forms of writing among American poets, particularly people of color and members of the LGBT community.Co-sponsored by CLAGS, the CUNY Center for the Humanities, and the New York Public Library's LGBT Initiative.

The Skylight Room (9100)
CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016

Remembering Frank Kameny

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:26:14 -0400

"We all know that Gay is Good. It's up to us to get out there and make it better---much better!"

It Gets Better

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:53:44 -0400

In case you need some inspiration this National Coming Out Day, check out It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating A Life Worth Living edited by Dan Savage and his partner Terry Miller. The book shares stories of coming out and thriving from LGBT notables from Gene Robinson to Suze Orman, as well as everyday people. My favorite is Urvashi Vaid's essay "The only reason big changes happen is when people like you and me decide to fight for things to change, when we take action to make things different." Check it out!

Navy Discharge Letter, 1914

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:53:52 -0400

Given today's historic repeal of DADT, it important to remember just how long exclusion from military service has been affecting LGBT people in the U.S. It is often thought that exclusion of gays and lesbians from military service focussed in WWII. However, there is evidence that there were soldiers discharged for homosexuality as early as the American revolutionary war. Last year, the Library received a unique letter documenting a member of the U.S. navy who was discharged for homosexuality in 1914. The donor, David Jarrett kindly transcribed the letter with the donation. The letter is being cataloged and digitized for the Library's Digital Gallery. Below is the transcription....

Letter addressed to Cal Chord, El ic (R), USS Glacier, Pacific Station, via San Francisco, Cal.

Washington, D.C. June 19, ‘14.

Dear friend, Cal :-

I am writing this under peculiar circumstances.

It may surprise you, but the fact is I have received an undesirable discharge, under the most indefinite motives or charges. The fact is I don’t know with the exception of “Undesirability” just what the real cause is, although I have a suspicion. I have gone to Secretary Daniels concerning it, and he promises to look into the matter thoroughly upon the Dolphin’s arrival which will be in about 10 days. Until that time I am nearly crazy with shame at having been so preemptorily ousted without even a trial.

The reason I am writing you is that you are thoroughly conversant with recruiting laws, and I ask to find out if there is any possible chance to get back in the Service after having been “kicked out” It makes my blood boil to think that this has happened.

Following are details connected with the case, and after you have read them, let me know your opinion as to legality of trying to get in again.

On June 3, I was called to the Sick Bay and examined thoroughly. I dont (sic) know what Dr. Traynor found, but immediately upon completion of the exam, he asked me a question which if it had been an enlisted man I would have floored him. He says “Has any man stayed with you ?” You can imagine that I was mad as --- and I told him “No and that I considered it an insult to ask me such a question. He says “You’re a Liar” At that I lost control of my temper & told him he was a gentleman & we were both mistaken. He says “I’ll give you one more chance, I’ll give you a minute to tell the truth” I immediately told him that I didn’t need his minute & that I had been telling him the truth. He says “All right, I’ll prove that you’re a liar” I then & there dared him to & said furthermore that at no time could such an accusation be brought against me & proved, and that all the examinations would reveal nothing as nothing had happened, to which he refused. “That’s all right” he said & “You’ll have plenty of time to think it over,” “You can go, now.”

Fifteen minutes later, the C.M.aa. came & took me down to the brig. I was not under confinement but placed thus: -- “Held under close observation as to immoral conduct, pending an investigation.” This fact was entered in the log. On June 6 (Sunday) I was told to pack my bags & hammock as I was to be transferred to the Chester which was coming up to Boston for engine & general repairing for discharge for Undesirability in accordance with C in C’s letter # So and So dated June -- 1914

This is absolutely all that took place. I tried twice to see Captain Earl but don’t know whether my message got to him or not, as I didn’t see him. I was simply held below decks like a dog & watched & classed with. Gee, Cal, I can’t bring myself to think of the degradation this suspicion has produced on me, I’m nearly crazy, and am writing this to you to relieve my mind, knowing that you are a friend in whom I can confide. I have relatives but they cannot understand a Navy man like you.

Let me hear from you as to what I ask.

To continue: -- All the way up on the Chester we were held under confinement & upon being discharged at Norfolk, our tape & badges were ripped off on the Quarter deck. All this I have had to endure & no chance for a trial to prove my innocence of the dastardly suspicion.

Now comes the part where the suspicion was connected with me.

On May 28, Our bugler went ashore at Tampico & had connections with a Mexican girl. He came back & told the crew about it but it didn’t reach aft. The next day the Bugler & another lad went ashore & they went to the same shack but came back reporting that they couldn’t do anything.

It had been the habit of the lads on going ashore to take strolls from the ball field to surrounding districts for exercise. Of course, I took these strolls with the rest of them, and on May the 31st I went around with the Bugler. About June the 2nd the Bugler goes down to the Sick Bay with a dose of the clap, and upon being questioned as to where he got it, he said he didn’t know. The H. Std. said that he better find out, & then he told him about his connection with the Mex. girl. He said he didn’t want to tell this as he was afraid he would get a S.C.M. handed him. He was then asked who all he was out with & he told them he was out with me. Hence the examination. I can take an oath on a stack of bibles that the Doctor found nothing in the examination to implicate me, or he would have had both of us up for 10 to 20 yrs. As it was, no trial was held & the Bugler was allowed to roam the decks free while I was held under observation.

All that I can see that I am discharged for is “Suspicion” & by god I will make them prove it.

I have seen the Secy of the Navy, whom I know personally and he has promised to investigate. The Bugler is discharged also for Undesirability.

This is absolutely true & all that happened. Can you paralell a case of this kind? Even a poor beggar on the street is allowed a trial, & for me to be kicked out without a chance to prove my innocence is maddening.

If the worst comes, I will lay my case before the Iowa Senators & Bishop Cranston & if necessary employ civilian lawyers.

After reading this, tell me Cal your candid opinion as to possible chance of getting back in. I know that the Service isn’t rotten all the way then & I’m not afraid to face them.

Does an “Undesirable” bar one from reenlisting, or can it be submitted to the Department for action? Let me know, will you.

Yours in deep pain,

M.C. Cowles

Ans. as soon as possible.

Hotel Luvoris

Cor N. J Avenue. & C Sts, N.W.

Washington, D.C.

Celluloid activist : the life and times of Vito Russo

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:45:33 -0400

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out Michael Schiavi’s new biography of Vito Russo: Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo. As Schiavi eloquently glosses—“Twenty years after Vito’s death, we remember him as the author of The Celluloid Closet, as one of Gay Liberation’s angriest agitators, and as one of the earliest, most eloquent voices raised on behalf of people with AIDS.” The biography was researched using the Vito Russo Papers in the Library’s Manuscripts & Archives Division, as well as extensive interviews with Russo’s family, friends, and colleagues. Russo’s life and work were so integral to the currents of LGBT lives in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the book is bursting with the lived detail of both this pioneering activist and of the explosion of Gay Liberation.

AIDS in Oral History: Doctors and Activists Look Back on 30 Years of the Epidemic

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:41:51 -0400

To mark the 30th anniversary of the first documented case of HIV/AIDS, the Mid-Manhattan Library, the Columbia Center for Oral History and the HIV Story Projectare co-sponsoring a special program. Tonight at 6:30pm at the Mid-Manhattan Library, three oral historians play interview clips and talk about their interviews with AIDS doctors and activists. Speakers include Jim Hubbard, Co-Director of the ACT UP Oral History Project and Columbia Professors, Ron Bayer and Gerald Oppenheimer, co-authors of AIDS Doctors: Voices from the Epidemic, and Shattered Dreams? An Oral History of the South African AIDS Epidemic. An open dialogue with the audience will follow their presentations.

“Gay Power to Gay Lovers”

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 05:12:36 -0400

Remember, marriage equality passed in New York last night because of 40 years of political activism. Pictured above is GAA's Jim Owles with "Gay Power to Gay Lovers" wedding cake at the Gay Activist Alliance's zap of the New York City Clerk for marriage equality in 1971. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Anti-Prom Designs

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:30:40 -0400

In case you missed the runway fashion show at this year's Anti-Prom, the fabulous designs of the students from the High School of Fashion Industries are on view in the Fifth Avenue window of the Mid-Manhattan Library. And to see the story behind the designs check out our online videos of Design NYPL 2011. The teen-selected theme for the 2011 Anti-Prom was "Super Prom." Teen designers explored the meaning of super, from caped crusaders to spandex-wearing super villains and everything in between during their visits to the Library for the Performing Arts, the Art and Architecture Collection, and the Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection. After visiting Mood Fabrics to purchase the materials for their garments, the students received constructive feedback from Simon Doonan, Creative Ambassador for Barneys, on their preliminary designs. Their creations will be on display at the Mid-Manhattan Library though the end of June.

Queering Fiction: LGBTQ in YA Literature

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 10:21:04 -0400

Boy meets Boy while wandering in the Vast Fields of Ordinary? Kicked Out Tales from the Closet? From Glee to DADT to It Gets Better, what’s happening in the world of LGBT youth? Here from authors and illustrators as they talk diversity, identity and visibility in the YA book world. For ages 12 and up.

Today at the Library's Mulberry Street Branch at 4:30pm.

Tonight: Drag Show Video Verite 2011

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:22:58 -0400

Anti-Prom 2011

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 05:55:15 -0400

Check out great coverage of this year's Anti-Prom on Fox 5 News and in the New York Times:

Hundreds of New York Teens Attend 'Anti-Prom': MyFoxNY.com

Celebrating 100 Years: The Centennial Exhibition

Wed, 18 May 2011 11:26:29 -0400

One of the notable themes in the Library's current Centennial exhibition is Gay and Lesbian history. Items on view include GMHC's safe sex packets, early issues of the lesbian journal The Ladder, a pamphlet from the Mattachine Society, and a signed copy of Wilde's Ballad of Reading Gaol. Check out the exhibition curator, Thomas Mellins, discussing Ballad of Reading Gaol, as well as an important print documenting early feminist movements in England.

Scott Matthew in Concert!

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 06:21:19 -0400

Please join us the evening of April 20,2011, when singer and lyricist Scott Matthew plays a special concert at the Tompkins Square Branch Library.

Describing the lush informal beauty of his music, Glitterhouse Records says: “Scott Matthew’s music has truth and exigency. And he forms this into songs that are purely magnetic, that expose an honest beauty and sorrow, allowing listeners to take and feel part of the experience.” Matthew’s most recent album is THERE IS AN OCEAN THAT DIVIDES AND WITH MY LONGING I CAN CHARGE IT WITH A VOLTAGE THATS SO VIOLENT TO CROSS IT COULD MEAN DEATH, and his new album GALLANTRY`S FAVORITE SON is due out in June.He is also well known for his music for films, including Short Bus and Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

www.scottmatthewmusic.com/

An Artist Dialogue - Lyle Ashton Harris and Chuck Close

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 08:20:44 -0400

Tonight: Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 6 p.m.

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Margaret Liebman Berger Forum

First come, first served

FREE - Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Widely known for his self-portraiture and explorations of identity in his photographs, videos, and performances, artist Lyle Ashton Harris has spent the last decade creating a monumental series of sepia-toned portraits with the large-format Polaroid camera. These 200 portraits of family, friends, cultural figures, celebrities, and fellow artists blur conventional roles, identities, and racial categories in subtle plays of light and shadow. Marking the publication of Excessive Exposure, a major new book from Gregory R. Miller & Co. which collects the complete series of "Chocolate Portraits," acclaimed artist Chuck Close, one of today’s most original creators of portraits in both painting and photography, joins Harris in a conversation on topics ranging from portraiture and photography in the context of the contemporary art world to aspects of their own art-making practices.