Nightclubbing: Will New York City Finally Get Another Gay Mega Dance Spot?

Currently only three* gay nightclubs in NYC have the necessary cabaret license that allows dancing: Chelsea's medium-sized Splash, the basement room of the Monster in the West Village, and Escuelita, the Hell's Kitchen drag and Latin club. This week, the highly anticipated reopening of the legendary Roxy was finally (and probably, permanently) shot down when the backers of a new venture for the property retreated after facing fierce opposition from the venue's West Chelsea neighbors.

But via Paul Schindler at Gay City News, we learn of a massive project proposed for West 42nd Street that, should it come to fruition, would be the largest and most elaborate gay entertainment complex in the city.

At a time when city officials nervously double-check and then triple-check their once confident projections about tourism growth and more than a few gay locals grumble about the dearth of fresh nightlife choices, a $20 million project could bring nearly 80,000 square feet in tourism and dance club space to West 42nd Street — in the form of New York’s first full-service gay hotel and the first new nightclub serving the LGBT community in more than five years to have a cabaret license, needed if patrons wish to dance. Officially described as “The Out NYC: a hospitality and entertainment destination geared to the gay community,” the project, due to be completed by early next year, is informally dubbed “a hetero-friendly urban resort” by its developers. In addition to 123 guest rooms and a 10,000-square-foot dance club capable of serving 750 patrons, the project — which will renovate a three-story building originally developed as a Travel Inn in 1960 to accommodate the crowds expected at the 1964 World’s Fair and later used by the Red Cross, before it was abandoned several years ago — will also include a gym, spa, restaurant, and 24/7 café, making it the most ambitious commercial development ever to court New York’s gay community.

It should be said that a dance club that holds 750 people strains the definition of what we've known as a "megaclub," but in these days of dwindling and smaller gay dance clubs, that's pretty good. According to Schindler's exhaustive article, seasoned NYC promoter John Blair, the man behind the demised Roxy, will be resurrecting his late Chelsea club XL at the new complex on W.42nd.

*The NYC Eagle may have a cabaret license for its relatively small ground floor, but I've only seen dancing there on the day of the Folsom East Street Fair.

Marriage Optimism In Albany

Over at Gay City News, Paul Schindler has written an inside look at the negotiations to get the state senate to agree to a marriage equality vote before the end of the year. The Empire State Pride Agenda's Alan Van Capelle and openly gay Sen. Thomas Duane remain optimistic that "the votes are there."

“For the very first time, we have an historic commitment from the Senate majority to bring the bill to the floor,” Van Capelle told Gay City News the morning after the announcement. “I believe that we had the votes to pass the bill in June. I believe if it had been debated last night we would have had the votes.” Others echoed Van Capelle’s assessment of the significance of Tuesday evening’s announcement. “I would say that what it means is that there is almost a certainty that the marriage equality bill be voted on imminently,” said Marty Rouse, national field director for the Human Rights Campaign, which was also represented at the Paterson meeting. Agreeing with ESPA’s handicapping of the bill’s chances, Rouse said, “We’ve talked to our legislative allies, and our understanding is that the votes will be there when the vote comes to the floor.” Senators also voiced satisfaction, with Duane telling Gay City News, “I feel very happy, very positive.”

However NY1 has today posted a recap of likely votes and it doesn't look good.

While the vote is all but guaranteed, the bill's passage is anything but. A NY1 tally of lawmakers shows support for same sex marriage is not even half way there. Of 62 senators, 21 are supportive. The remaining 41 are opposed, wouldn't say, or couldn't be reached Wednesday, a state holiday. Proponents admit some of the 30 Republicans will be needed. A spokesman for the GOP conference says none are publicly supportive. Opponents like New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms Executive Director Jason McGuire say they have reason to be concerned at the polls, referencing a socially moderate Republican pushed out by a conservative in a recent congressional contest upstate. "No senator wants to be the next Dede Scozzafava and lose their seat because of the issue of marriage," McGuire said. On the other side, there's political heft for supporters facing a tough vote. Generous campaign contributions from gay rights supporters helped return Democrats to senate power for the first time in more than four decades.

NY Senate Promises Marriage Vote And Debate (Sometime This Year)

NY Gov. David Paterson appeared on the local news last night and with great gravitas announced that a major breakthrough had been made with the NY Senate regarding marriage equality. An agreement had been reached that the Senate would debate and vote on marriage equality at an unspecified date to occur before the end of the end. I was thinking, "THAT'S all you got?" but apparently the agreement is a big deal. Paul Schindler at Gay City News:

Flanked by four members of the State Senate Democratic majority and the leader of New York's LGBT lobby, Governor David A. Paterson announced an agreement by which the Senate leadership has, for the first time, agreed to debate and vote on a marriage equality bill before the end of 2009.

"This is the first time that the Senate leadership has indicated that it will support a vote on marriage equality," the governor said. "This is a stunning and very happy development in this process. I will continue to place marriage equality on any special sessions that I call on Monday and Tuesday because I feel that the bill should be debated immediately. However, I have profound respect for the leadership of the Senate and the process that they took to bring us to this vote."

Paterson was joined by the Senate's deputy majority leader, Jeffrey Klein, who represents portions of the Bronx and Weschester, Brooklyn Senator Eric Adams, Manhattan Senator Eric Schneiderman, and Thomas K. Duane, the out gay Chelsea senator who is the lead sponsor of the marriage equality bill. Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, was also on hand.

Politicos, Activists, Stars Come Out For Pride Agenda's Annual Dinner

Last night I attended the Empire State Pride Agenda's annual dinner, a massive and swank affair held in sprawling ballroom where activists mingled with Gov. Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, Sen. Chuck Schumer, emcee Margaret Cho, Alan Cumming, Cheyenne Jackson, and Anne Hathaway (who brought her openly gay brother and smokin' hot father - who is an LGBT activist/ally in his own right.) Gay City News' Paul Schindler reports:

During an evening when Governor David A. Paterson employed both his trademark humor and a sobering lesson in the state’s fiscal crisis to reiterate his pledge that “marriage equality is coming to New York State” –– “just in the next few weeks,” no less –– the head of the Empire State Pride Agenda issued a stern warning to members of the State Senate, allies included, who might fail to help make that a reality.

Addressing Senate supporters who have nonetheless “run to the sidelines as fast as they can,” Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of New York State’s LGBT lobby, said, “We have campaigned for you, we have raised money for you, we have supported you in every way imaginable, and we should have no patience for these sorry summer soldiers.” Coming less than a year after ESPA orchestrated the raising of more than $1 million to support the Democratic takeover of the Senate, Van Capelle’s remarks, delivered at the group’s annual Manhattan fall dinner on October 22, reflected his rising frustration with the allies the LGBT community helped install.

“We can find other friends who will do that job for us and do it faster,” he said of the potential that Senate Democrats might fail to heed his call. “We know such friends exist.” The threat to find “other friends” was, in fact, an echo of challenges Van Capelle once issued to the Republican leadership that held sway over the Senate for decades until last November’s election. Then, he warned that if the GOP leadership was unwilling to allow votes on marriage equality, transgender rights, and a school anti-bullying measure, the Pride Agenda would work to put a new team in charge. The group held true to that pledge.

The 1200 attendees of the event raised over $1M for the Pride Agenda. Near the end, I got to shake the governor's hand - he's even tinier than Bloomberg. Here's a slideshow of my photos.

Gay City News On Albany Revolt

If you're still trying to figure what the hell has been going on in Albany this week (and who isn't), Gay City News editor Paul Schindler has posted an excellent and very detailed breakdown of this still chaotic situation.

Late yesterday, Schindler got openly gay state Sen. Thomas Duane (left, at podium) to finally comment on the widespread speculation that he is contemplating joining the Democratic Senate defectors who now support GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

"Yes, I did miss a Democratic press conference on Monday," he responded, when asked about the reports. "And except for when I really needed to be in the Capitol, I chose not to be there because it's a very toxic place, full of only rumors. My not being there has nothing to do with anything other than it not being a place where I wanted to spend a lot of time. I don't think anyone should read anything more into it." Duane, however, conceded that he had not attended any meeting of the beleaguered Democratic caucus since the Senate was thrown into turmoil Monday, and made no attempt to deny rumors that he was talking to the Republicans. When asked if he could dispel stories that the GOP had reached out to him, he responded, "I have spoken to people on both sides of the aisle about seeing every issue accomplished that I have spent my whole life working to accomplish." He then added quickly, "And with that I will leave you," and ended the call.

Secret alliances, indicted pols, wealthy influence peddlers, sexual scandal, domestic violence, double-crossing, pork barrel corruption - it's all in a days work in Albany. Where same-sex marriage may end up in this swirling sewer called New York state government is anybody's guess at this point.

RELATED: I will never make fun of Illinois politics again.

(Photo via Gay City News)

Gay City News On Senate Deal Collapse

Gay City News' Paul Schindler has written a great recap of this tumultuous week in the New York Senate. If you've been confused by the alliances, the deals, the un-deals, and where things stand at the moment - read the story. An excerpt:

[Sen. Malcolm] Smith has taken a gamble - he and his fellow Democrats may well be consigned to another two years in the minority. And whether in the minority or the majority, Smith has undoubtedly gotten at least some of his Senate colleagues wondering whether he is the Democrat best suited to lead the caucus. No sure-bet challengers have come forward or even come to mind for most political observers.

If the Democrats cannot hold onto the majority, marriage equality is effectively dead for two years - it was the intransigence of Skelos on that issue and others such as transgender rights that convinced the Pride Agenda that it needed to cast its lot fully and squarely against the Republicans this year. At the same time, Van Capelle is breathing a huge sigh of relief that the potential betrayal has been staved off.

"We applaud Senator Malcolm Smith's ongoing efforts to lead the new Senate majority that voters chose during the recent elections," he said in a written release. "By stating that reform in the Senate cannot include bargaining away civil rights, Senator Smith has once again demonstrated his commitment to standing up for all New Yorkers."

On an upbeat note, Van Capelle continued, "The Pride Agenda looks forward to continuing to work with Senator Smith when the legislative session starts." However, with a bow to the political reality that even if the Democrats run the Senate, GOP votes would be needed to get gay marriage over the goal line, he added, "In the meantime we will be working with legislative leaders - Democrats and Republicans... to earn the votes we need to bring the marriage equality bill to the floor of the Senate for passage."