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Group Travel, Mykonos - 1990 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...
Mar 30, 20211 min read
Porn Star Turned Therapist
BAMMER47: When I met Stu Fenton at a Fire Island pool party in August 1999, he didn’t divulge much about his life. But, when we...
Mar 14, 20212 min read
Madonna Didn’t Call
STORY" I grew up in South Africa. In 1994, we were promised a new constitution with protected rights and social acceptance for gays. I...
Jan 26, 20215 min read
The 1993 March on Washington
STORY: I attended the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation on April 25, 1993, with a group of...
Dec 20, 20202 min read
What I Learned
STORY: It was one of those days I will never forget. It was the Spring of 1999, probably in late March, just after my birthday. It was on...
Dec 20, 20206 min read
Catharsis
STORY: In the mid-nineties, I was a naive 21 y.o. young man, full of fear about my budding homosexual orientation. Coming out was not an...
Jul 11, 20204 min read
For Dougie
STORY: I grew up in a family of “eccentrics.” I’m a direct result of their quirks and quips, attenuated somewhat by the many years I...
Jul 1, 202010 min read
Looking Back
STORY: Two recent developments refocused my attention on all the friends I lost to AIDS in the 80s and 90s. Recently, Peter Gorobetz, a...
Mar 1, 20202 min read
Remembering Workouts and Worries
STORY: It was once the epicenter of the gayest neighborhood in New York City. Today, any traces of the infamous Chelsea Gym are nearly...
Jan 19, 20203 min read
Busted!
STORY: In The Fall of 1996, I was twenty years old and had just moved into my own apartment in LA. I was going to school, working full...
Jan 3, 20209 min read
BAMMER and Me: Confessions of a Male Escort turned Addiction Counselor (Part 1)
PODCAST—EPISODE 9: Stu Fenton has had quite the life! In his early twenties, Stu was a Colt model and a male escort. That high life led...
Nov 13, 20191 min read
The Dead, The Living, and The Inheritance
STORY: Fall is a time of sad anniversaries for me. When I tested positive for HIV in the fall of 1988, it was hardly surprising. Many sex...
Nov 11, 20196 min read
Angels and Demons
STORY: We five were an unusual gang—“the famous five”—as we liked to call ourselves. It was comprised of me, my best friend Mark, his...
Aug 8, 20196 min read
Marcus
STORY: 1989—I met Marcus Lutsky at Uncle Charlie’s Downtown Bar in NYC in the Spring of 1989. It was a Saturday night and I was on the...
Jul 19, 20185 min read
Making My Grandmother Cry
STORY: I make my grandmother cry. I come out to her and her fists close and her eyes fill up. She is silent for the longest moment and...
Jun 9, 20185 min read
Me and Michael
STORY: A few pictures of Michael Dowell and me in the early-to-mid-90s. We lost Michael in 1995. This next shot is a self-portrait he...
Jun 8, 20181 min read
Fire Island Weekends
STORY: In all my years at the Pines, my housemates were always fellow worker bees who toiled hard for our time at the beach. Our delight...
Jun 8, 20181 min read
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, 20181 min read
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, 20182 min read
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 7, 20181 min read
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