Yesterday In Provincetown

Left to right: Chris Turner, Andy Towle, Michael Goff, Armistead Maupin, some short dude, Brian Sims.

Today In Provincetown

Ito, fetch me a sidecar.

Friday In Provincetown

Via Towleroad:

If you are at Bear Week in Provincetown come to Towleroad's coffee meet-up on Friday from 9-11:30 am at the Central House restaurant at the Crown & Anchor (247 Commercial) and meet literary legend Armistead Maupin and Joe.My.God blogger Joe Jervis who are our special guests, along with Andy Towle and Michael Goff.

RELATED: Maupin's final Bear Week show at the Crown & Anchor is Friday night.

BONUS: Hit the top link for a woofy Bear Week photo compilation.

Next Friday In Provincetown...

Andy Towle writes at Towleroad:

Join us for our weekly Friday morning coffee meet-up on JULY 18 from 9 - 11 am at the Central House restaurant at The Crown & Anchor Inn. This week's guest is our friend and fellow blogger Joe Jervis who writes Joe.My.God! Come meet Joe along with Towleroad's Andy Towle and Michael Goff and enjoy some coffee to start your Friday!

I'm sure I'll have run into most of you long before Friday, but I encourage you to attend. At least at that hour you won't find me with a drink in my hand. Probably.

At The 2012 Toys Party In Chelsea

Above is the ten-foot-high mountain of toys I encountered at last night's Toys Party, the 27th annual holiday event at Chelsea Piers which raises money for SAGE (Services & Advocacy for Gay Elders).  The event always sells out and the well-dressed crowd of over 2300 was already in a  block-long line when I arrived.  I didn't get a lot of photos as my loyal photographer Dr. Jeff was unable to attend, but below you'll find some shots of JMG readers, uberblogger Andy Towle, NYC Council candidate Corey Johnson, radio host Michelangelo Signorile, nightlife photographer Gustavo Monroy, GLAAD's Rich Ferraro, blogger Kenneth Walsh, and hilarious comedian Robynne Kaamil.  Mayor Bloomberg reportedly spoke to the crowd, but I must have been somewhere else in the giant complex. I don't think I've ever been at such an enormous gay party where most of the crowd didn't have their shirts off.  The toys are donated to the USMC's Toys For Tots program.

UPDATE: The final shot above (that I'm in) is from the event's digital photo booth. Hundreds of more booth photos can be viewed here.

UPDATE II: The embedded slideshow seems to be slowing the page load today, so I've removed it. See the full-screen photos here.

CORRECTION: Although I'm pretty sure I heard the party's announcer say "Toys For Tots," which is a USMC program, I've been corrected as to the destination of the toys. They will go to: "The 9th Police Precinct Community Council, Ali Forney Center, Brooklyn ACE Integration Head Start, God’s Love We Deliver, Grace Baptist/Faith Mission, St. Ann’s Episcopal Church of the Bronx, St. Francis Desales Church of Rockaway NY, UWS Jericho Project/Brick Church, and Youth 4 Seniors/Harlem InterAgency Council."

SLIDESHOW: New York City Scissor Sisters Listening Party At Rockbar

Last night's listening party for the upcoming third album by Scissor Sisters, Night Work, was a blast. In the house: Jake Shears, uberblogger Andy Towle, promoter Joe Fiore, and our own Father Tony. Plus lots of familiar faces and DJs from Manhattan nightlife. Big thanks to Fly-Life's Martha and Carmen Cacciatore for putting it all together. As always, the slideshow below is by JMG staff photographer and bon vivant Dr. Jeff.

LGBT Activists Convene In NYC For Immigration Equality Forum

A large group of noted LGBT activists are in NYC this weekend to attend an immigration equality forum at the Desmond Tutu Center in Manhattan. The event is sponsored by the Four Freedoms Fund of the Public Interest Projects and will feature speakers from the LGBT-focused Immigration Equality group as well as experts from the comprehensive immigration reform movement. Last night attendees gathered at the historic Stonewall Inn for a cocktail reception (slideshow below), although attendance was hampered by the air travel mayhem caused by Snowmaggedon III. I should have a full report from the conference posted here by late Sunday. I'm posting photos and updates on Facebook as we go.

Rex Wockner Interviews Me

On his way up to cover the Maine marriage battle last month, gay reporter Rex Wockner swung by my place to interview me about this here website thingy. The interview, just posted on Wockner's site, is transcribed verbatim, which makes me realize that I clearly have a problem speaking in concise, complete sentences. Hello, run-ons. Also, I seem to have a, like, Valley Girl thing going on. Totally. The interview starts with questions about the genesis of JMG, which some of you will already know from last month's Instinct Magazine interview. But anyway, if a peek inside my blogging routine interests you, have a look. Hopefully I don't sound like too much of a tool.

RELATED: Wockner also interviewed Towleroad's Andy Towle, who is far better spoken.

Bloggers Honored By NYC's LGBT Anti-Violence Project

Last night Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend, Andy Towle of Towleroad, and Bil Browning of The Bilerico Project and I attended the NYC Anti-Violence Project's Courage Awards, where we were honored for our work as "citizen journalists" - a term Pam calls "the glamour word for bloggers, don'tcha know, since we didn't have PJs on." We had elected Pam as our spokesperson and here is the speech she made on our behalf after our introduction by SiriusXM host and activist Michelangelo Signorile.

Because crimes against LGBT people are seldom reported on a national basis, and covered mostly in local papers, if at all, we have a valuable opportunity to raise awareness about how severe and widespread these crimes are, and the frequency at which they occur. As one of the few forums, and perhaps the most effective, that exist right now to communicate these crimes to other gay people and our heterosexual allies, we can inspire them to take action.

We will never stop standing up for my fellow LGBT citizens when they are struck down by hate, and never ease the pressure on those who would choose to strike us down, whether by words or by fists. Whether it be a young trans woman in Colorado referred to as "it" by a lover she thought she trusted and struck down in a rage, or a bar goer who beats a gay man with his fist to the surface of a parking lot late at night after a night of drinking in South Carolina, or a man who decides he doesn't like the look of a lesbian couple in Provincetown so he decides to push them through a plate glass window, or two deadbeats in Laramie, Wyoming who decide to mete justice on a young gay man by beating him and leaving him to die on a frigid fence, we will continue to report each and every story.

We are humbled and challenged by the ability to communicate the amount of information we have regarding hate crimes to such a wide audience, and we will continue to be vigilant in my continuing coverage of violence against the LGBT community. It's a vigilance that would not be possible without my fellow bloggers Andy, Joe, and Bil. We cast a wide net and I am proud to be honored alongside them.

Pam has lots more photos and videos, including speeches made by co-honoree Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer-winning author of Angels In America, and Kushner's presenter, Law & Order's handsome BD Wong. It was a fantastic night. Please consider supporting the important work of the Anti-Violence Project - the people who, in the words of executive director Sharon Stapel, "come to the rescue of LGBT people at the absolute worst time of their lives."

November 9th: NYC Anti-Violence Project's 13th Annual Courage Awards

With the horrendous spate of brutal hate crimes seen recently in New York City, the important work of the NYC Anti-Violence Project has never been more vital. Please consider supporting them by attending Nov. 9th's 13th Annual Courage Awards fundraiser.

The New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) will hold its 13th Annual Courage Awards on Monday, November 9, 2009 at the W New York Ballroom at 541 Lexington Avenue, New York. The evening includes cocktails and a chefs' tasting and a program featuring the award presentation.

At this year’s event, AVP has the privilege of honoring Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner, author of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes and The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures, for his truthful and cutting edge political writing and analysis; Weblog creators Bil Browning (The Bilerico Project), Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God.), Pam Spaulding (Pam's House Blend) and Andy Towle (Towleroad), in recognition of the impact of LGBTQH weblogs have made in the fight for civil rights and against violence in our communities; and Clifford Chance US LLP, for their commitment to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and HIV-affected (LGBTQH) rights and extensive work on behalf of the communities AVP serves.

I am delighted and humbled to be one of the LGBT bloggers honored at this year's event. Andy Towle, Bil Browning, and I have elected Pam Spaulding to make our collective acceptance speech, during which I'll likely be fidgeting nervously nearby. Here's the mission statement for the Anti-Violence Project:

AVP provides free and confidential assistance to thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV-affected (LGBTQH) people each year from all five boroughs of New York City. The organization maintains a 24- hour, Spanish/English bilingual hotline staffed by professional counselors and trained volunteers providing professional and peer support counseling, as well as advocacy with police, courts, and social service agencies.

AVP works with the larger community through efforts to educate the public about violence within and against our communities and to reform government policies and practices affecting LGBTQH and other survivors of violence. AVP works to educate law enforcement, health care professionals, school-based staff, and social service agency personnel on violence issues impacting our communities. By calling attention to discriminatory and re-victimizing responses, AVP works to hold law enforcement and social service agencies accountable to their obligation for fair and just treatment of LGBTQH people.

Additionally, AVP tracks and documents anti-LGBTQH incidents and domestic violence and uses this information to educate our own communities about safe dating, safe cruising, recognizing the signs of abuse, and much more. AVP works to change public attitudes that encourage and condone hate-motivated violence, and to promote public policies designed to deter such violence.

Purchase your 2009 Courage Awards tickets here.

DNC Fundraiser Turning Into PR Disaster

Yesterday I posted a message from noted activist David Mixner, who says he will not attend next week's Democratic National Committee $1000/head fundraiser at the DC Mandarin Oriental.

Since then, other well-known LGBT folks such as blogger Andy Towle, Empire State Pride Agenda head Alan Van Cappelle, and former Clinton aide Richard Socarides have all announced they will not attend. And now Americablog's John Aravosis is reporting that the Washington Blade will "stake out" the event and photograph noted gays they capture entering the building.

Pam Spaulding has posted a letter from furniture mogul Mitchell Gold, who says he will "take his place at the table" but doesn't blame anybody else for pulling out. Spaulding is calling on openly gay Congress members Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin, and Jared Polis to explain why they are still supporting the event.

And over on Politico, openly gay DNC fundraiser organizer Andy Tobias says in an email:

"If this debacle of a brief represented the president's views, I'd boycott too. I totally understand all the hurt and anger, thought Joe Solmonese['s] letter to the president was spot on. Still personally totally believe in the president. His Pride Proclamation, and his call to repeal DOMA, are genuine."

Tobias closes with: "Did I mention that the Mandarin Oriental has a 10,400-square-foot spa?" Oh, in that case, sign us ALL right fucking up!

UPDATE: The HRC's national field director, Marty Rouse, will also not attend. John Aravosis calls the event "over" without Rouse's support.

Towleroad Inaugural Coverage

Make sure you drop in on Towleroad today where Andy Towle and Corey Johnson are posting on-the-scene interviews at the inauguration. Interviews posted so far: Congressman Jared Polis. The LGBA Marching Band. Here's their photo gallery of Sunday's festivies at the Inaugration Concert.

I'll add to this post through the day as Andy and Corey add new items.

On Towleroad

I'm guest-posting for Andy Towle over on Towleroad for the next two days while he and his intrepid cub reporter Corey Johnson conduct in-person reports from the inauguration. I'll cover some of the same items you'll see here, but make sure you check in at Towleroad for their interviews with politicos and LGBT newsmakers.