4 posts categorized "ALI FORNEY CENTER"

Oct 09 2017
Idris Elba's Biggest Turn-On + Maxine Waters Reclaiming Time For Ali Forney + Here's The Corker + Speedo Freak? + Pence's Race-Baiting Fake-Out + Streep Smacks Weinstein — 6-PACK! Comments (0)

Screen Shot 2017-10-09 at 11.55.56 AMKate Winslet has outed Idris Elba as a foot fetishist!

I'm down with any information about Elba being freaky, in any way.

Keep reading for more on this, plus slightly more serious stuff — like Corker calling Trump a WWIII-monger, the upcoming Ali Forney fundraiser featuring Maxine Waters and Tituss Burgess, and that fake-ass P.R. stuff VP Pence pulled over #TakeTheKnee ...

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Feb 12 2016
Ali Forney's Carl Siciliano On Trying To Buy THAT Church: A TRIUMPH OF LOVE OVER HATRED Comments (0)

Gay ali forney Carl siCilianoCarl Siciliano (Image via The Randy Report/Blog Talk Radio)

I'm loving The Randy Report's interviews, and not just because I was one of them!

Here, Randy speaks with Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director of The Ali Forney Center, which is devoted to housing and advocacy for homeless LGBT youth.

One of the hot topics is the Center's bid to purchase a Harlem church which had become a hornet's nest of virulent homophobia courtesy of the Rev. James Manning.

Via Randy's write-up:

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Mar 24 2012
Beautiful Boys: A Review Of The 6th Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant Comments (2)

IMG_6567And this bitch didn't even win!

IMG_6461This past Monday, I was thrilled to attend The 6th Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant, a hilarious and ribald event staged at Symphony Space (before a sold-out crowd) to raise money for The Ali Forney Center.

As a member of the Host Committee, I'd pledged to sell $500 worth of tickets, which I absolutely did—mostly to myself! I took José, brought my pal Jason along 6a00d8341c2ca253ef016764157837970b-400wi(VIP tickets including the afterparty) and the rest went to a Boy Culture reader who later informed me he'd been a homeless gay youth just a couple of years ago and to a lucky, last-minute couple.

As much work as it was trying to interest people in tickets, the show would go on to sell out, raising a record-breaking $75,000.

Arrived early to cover the junior red carpet, but it was kind of a bust for me because as a hobbyist blogger, I don't have pro lighting and it was in a 100-degree antechamber that might as well have been a cave.

I grabbed a few quick tidbits from the contestants but skipped everyone else, including judges Jackie Hoffman, Michael Musto and Tonya Pinkins, feeling bad about taking up anyone's time when they were impossible to see. Speaking of which,I didn't see expected guests Paul McGill, Rachel Dratch or John Glover, but I did at least make the acquaintance of Broadway expert Richie Ridge, one of whose helpers turned out to be Alex, a Boy Culture reader who kept my spirits up in the stifling heat.

IMG_6464Probably lots of Preparation H on those fresh faces (in some cases, perhaps coincidentally)

IMG_6492Sat down just in time to see the show open, featuring hysterical emcee Tovah Feldshuh who, as she pointed out, starred in Broadway's longest running one-woman show—take that, Lena Horne. She cracked wise about Grindr, Boy Butter and her many unconsummated Tony nominations. She was, without a doubt, 10 times funnier than last year.

IMG_6481Tonya Pinkins, Jackie Hoffman, Ali Forney's Carl Siciliano & Michael Musto

IMG_6486With Body (& Soul) Beautiful, Carl Siciliano, the director of Ali Forney

KEEP READING FOR TONS OF PICTURES & VIDEO, SOME OF IT RATHER REVEALING...

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Mar 27 2011
On The Drag: The 25th Annual Night Of A Thousand Gowns Comments (4)

IMG_9829Dina Manzo and this Black Swan queen: "Perfect!"

IMG_9803 I just returned, with my at-gunpoint cameraman José, from the 25th annual Night of a Thousand Gowns, a benefit thrown by the Imperial Court of New York to honor LGBT activist David Mixner and Princess Boy author Cheryl Kilodavis that raises cash for the Trevor Project and the Ali Forney Center.

IMG_9815Ru the day: Alexis Mateo, Delta Work, Manila Luzon & Sahara Davenport

As you know, I have done drag—I made a right camp Sam Fox. However, the Imperial Court is not bullshitting around when it comes to drag. They're a serious (and seriously regimented) org; camp was in short supply even if half the sequins on the East Coast were in the Marriott with me.

IMG_9801 We arrived to find a larger-than-expected area for the press line. However, as guests began arriving—I'm not sure why some queens did the photo call and others didn't—it was apparent that NO print press showed up and very few online outlets, leaving me as the first person on the line. It was awkward, so we just began grabbing interviews where we could, either as attendees arrived or after they'd posed for the photographers. I was especially interested in (my new pal) Ally Sheedy, Honeymooners legend Joyce Randolph (who later received an award for which she was asked to kneel—not cool to ask of someone cruising toward 90, girls) and Carson Kressley...so of course not one of them did the carpet. Still, the people who did were quite diverse and easy to grab and I was able to chat with Joe of Joe.My.God. and more formally meet Mr. Broadway, Michael Cusumano.

IMG_9790Bill Cunningham (and Matthew Rettenmund) New York

I was most excited to meet and chat briefly with Bill Cunningham, the legendary IMG_9795 octogenarian fashion shooter for The New York Times. A new documentary on him (Bill Cunningham New York) is getting lots of good press, something he seemed a bit shy about when I mentioned it. "I haven't seen it," he told me, "but I understand the filmmakers deserve a lot of praise." He remembered my name when thanking me. It was fascinating to watch him work the line; so many of the queens had no idea who he was and seemed bemused when he would hand them a pad to write down their names. (This old-school method is fail-safe, though, if you want to avoid being Miss Identified.)

IMG_9809 Mike Ruiz of The A-List: New York and his partner Martin Berusch are supernice and supersexy each time I meet them. Ruiz noted that two more A-Listers are on the way for season two—and that the show was seeking supervillains. Super!

IMG_9817Don't ask—we won't tell

I grabbed Dan Choi—with a new friend, as in, a drag queen he met at the elevator, IMG_9796 on his arm—and asked him a bit about marriage equality. He's a nice guy to talk to always. I feel like he has his regular personality—a little shy, nervously joking around—and then when he speaks about serious subjects he kicks into his activist persona. It's nice that he has a sense of humor; he needs one considering the schism in the community over whether he is our new Harvey Milk or is just milking every opportunity for attention. I don't think he's a messiah (and I don't think he thinks he is, either), and I occasionally disagree with him, but I like him and there's no denying he's had a major, grassroots impact on DADT and other gay issues. And he's hot in a suit.

As a bonus, I finally got to meet LGBT activist David Mixner, a gracious dude with a righteous sense of conviction about getting 'er done, rights-wise.

Amanda LePore walked right past me as I asked to take her picture. It felt like there was no way she didn't hear me, but she was as methodical as a glacier if a bit faster about it. It was...odd.

IMG_9818Ari Gold knows how to make an entrance...

IMG_9830...but his slaveboys know a thing or two about making an exit!

IMG_9831 Ari Gold—who released his new single as "Sir Ari Gold" thanks to being knighted by this group last year—made an entrance that would have had Lady Gaga gagging with jealousy: He waltzed in clad in a gold Arabian number with two boyslaves on leashes. I hope he curbed them. I wish I'd seen the reaction of the gorgeous hospice dog that was in the house! (Dude brought his parents. He's one of the lucky ones who could do such a thing.)

He looked sexy in his version of drag, but it was soon back to the more traditional, can-I-pass-as-a-flamboyant-chick style of drag.

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