No Queens
STORY: My first boyfriend, Jim Fragale, was turning 40 and I was 27. It was 1979. He’d moved to NYC from West Virginia in 1963 at 24....
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- Jun 8, 2018
- 1 min
At the Gay Games IV
STORY: In June 1994, the world gathered in New York for Gay Games IV as well as for a massive march outside the United Nations marking...
- Jun 8, 2018
- 3 min
Full Circle
STORY: 1976 – When I first moved to NYC in 1976, as far as the world knew, I was a 24-year-old straight guy, former college jock, and...
- Jun 8, 2018
- 2 min
Hi!
STORY: Without a doubt, New York City is a veritable cornucopia of hot men. However, sanity and stability are for sure not qualities that...
- Jun 8, 2018
- 2 min
The First Happy Gay Film
STORY: 1974—We’ve just bought tickets to see “Love Simon,” the new, gay coming of age film that we expect to make us happy. The first...
- Jun 8, 2018
- 1 min
Group Travel, Rio—1990s style
STORY: 1989 to mid-1990s—My husband, Ron Oyer, had a travel business in the 1990s that catered to gay men, geographically mostly from...
- Jun 8, 2018
- 1 min
The Bodyguard
STORY:1985 – During a solo vacation in Ibiza in September 1985, I met a muscular hunk, traveling with his younger boyfriend, who...
- Jun 8, 2018
- 4 min
My First Night at the Saint
STORY: I moved to New York City in the fall of 1980 and quickly landed a job at a top corporate design agency, making $15,000 a year. It...
- Jun 8, 2018
- 3 min
In Search of (Gay) America
STORY: In 1979 and with no gay life to speak of, I scrimped to save a few thousand dollars, negotiated my departure from my firm, sublet...
- Jun 8, 2018
- 3 min
Shot Boy
STORY: 2012-2013: For better or worse, bars are the center of gravity in the gay community. We make our friends, find our lovers, express...
- Jun 8, 2018
- 2 min
Greek Fraternity or Gay Fraternity?
STORY: June 25, 1978: In December 2017, I reconnected with a younger fraternity brother I hadn’t seen since Gay Pride in NYC 39 years...
- Jun 8, 2018
- 2 min
A Brazilian New Year in Hong Kong
STORY: 1999 – For New Year’s Eve 1998, I found myself in Hong Kong, visiting my best friend from grad school and his family. I stayed...
- Jun 7, 2018
- 1 min
Gay Star News Feature
COMMENTARY: Thanks to Gay Star News (and David Hudson) for running the following story about Mike Balaban and BAMMER (then called...
- Jun 7, 2018
- 1 min
The Closing of Chicago’s First Gay Bathhouse
COMMENTARY: One of our members, Alex Kacala, generously contributed the linked story below, which he’d written for an online gay...
- Jun 7, 2018
- 5 min
My Perfect Life
1977: I was living the perfect life. I was attending a small state university in northern California. Although I was attracted to men, I...
- Jun 7, 2018
- 1 min
Speaking in Code
STORY: My second buddy was a florist who lived at home. I’d bring him to Ray’s and my house where we’d dangle our feet in the pool, and...
- Jun 7, 2018
- 2 min
Luis
NOTE: Viktor Carrasquero, a young Venezuelan emigre in Hong Kong, authorized us to share the following story from his early life. Back in...
- Jun 7, 2018
- 1 min
Project Runway: Water Island Edition
STORY: Circa 1997: While Cherry Grove and The Pines were the centers of gay life on Fire Island, another small enclave of gay culture...
- Jun 6, 2018
- 2 min
Bermuda: April 2018
STORY: Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of going onboard the cruise ship Carnival Pride for a week-long family vacation to Bermuda,...
- May 24, 2018
- 4 min
Gayborhoods – Sutton Place
STORY: In the early 1980s, Sutton Place on Manhattan’s East 50s and 60s were very gay, especially after work when the bars would fill...
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