GayHistory | Bammer 2021

Mar 14
2 min

Poppers

BAMMER47: Poppers! Some gay men love their stimulating properties for sex and dancing, while others can’t stand that they may leave you...

Mar 14
2 min

The History of Organized Male Nude Swimming in the U.S.

BAMMER47: Did you know that, until the 1960s, it was a widespread requirement that boys who swam in segregated groups in public school...

Dec 21, 2020
2 min

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...

Aug 29, 2020
6 min

Same-sex Marriage, New York Style (2011)

STORY: June 2011, my partner, Juan, and I left our 13-month-old son, Oliver, home in Roanoke with his nanny, and traveled to New York...

Feb 11, 2020
1 min

What “Ordinary People” Thought About Gays – 200 Years Ago

COMMENTARY: We can change the past by what we choose to remember. Too often historical narrative is controlled by the status quo, those...

Nov 12, 2019
6 min

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...

Oct 31, 2019
1 min

BAMMER and Me: Life in NYC Avant Garde Theatre Scene and Stonewall

PODCAST—EPISODE 8: Mike talks with Frank Carucci, a life-long New Yorker, about working in the NYC avant-garde theatre scene, the...

Jun 9, 2019
1 min

BAMMER and Me: Caleb Holland, Self Discovery (Part 1)

PODCAST—EPISODE 1: Our first episode is about cross-generational perspectives on LGBTQ issues and themes between Mike Balaban and...

Mar 5, 2019
3 min

Nigeria Gay Life

STORY: Welcome to my world! I’m Nigerian, 33, Christian born and bred in the city of Lagos, where life is comfortable, at least for the...

Jun 9, 2018
1 min

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, 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 8, 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...

May 25, 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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