-SPECIAL EVENTS-
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) present their sixth annual Respect Awards New York, June 1 at Gotham Hall. The 2009 awards honor PepsiCo and will be chaired by Ryan Pedlow and Cathy Tennelli. The event, which features a cocktail reception and seated dinner and awards ceremony, benefits GLSEN’s work as the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students.
May 17, hit the streets for a cause beginning in Central Park for the annual AIDS Walk New York 2009. The walk is 6.2 miles long and takes roughly 2-3 hours to complete.This springtime Manhattan staple supports the services provided by Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and other AIDS service organizations in the Tri-State area. To join or sponsor a team or donate, visit aidswalkny.net.
May 17, hit the streets for a cause beginning in Central Park for the annual AIDS Walk New York 2009. The walk is 6.2 miles long and takes roughly 2-3 hours to complete. This springtime Manhattan staple supports the services provided by Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and other AIDS service organizations in the Tri-State area. To join or sponsor a team or donate, visit aidswalkny.net.
Kick off Pride season the right way—by the water and in a state where outdoor beer tents are perfectly legal! June 1 in the gay beachfront mecca Asbury Park, NJ, party with the Jersey girls at the 18th Annual New Jersey GLBTI Pride Celebration. This seaside event features a block party, festival and parade along with live music and comedy, food, arts and crafts, community information, exhibits, rides and more. Post-festival, be sure to sweat out all the fair food and cheap draft beer at one of the many nearby gay/lesbian bars and clubs. New Hope, Pa., celebrates gay pride May 15 with a parade and a wide variety of kid-friendly events tailored for families with LGBT parents, their supporters and friends. Or, if you’re not hot on heading out of the boroughs to show your rainbow stripes, late May and early June promise plenty of prideful fun right here at home. Never miss a parade or festival by heading to Staten Island Pride June 6, Brooklyn Pride June 13 and Queens Pride June 7. And of course, get ready for more to come in mid-June and througout the summer!
NYC’s very own WNBA team, the New York Liberty, kicks off another action-packed season on this summer. If playing ball in the rapidly-intensifying heat isn’t your thing, make B-ball a spectator sport and watch the Liberty burn up the courts from the sidelines. Don’t miss the opening day festivities on June 7.
On June 6, the Hetrick Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk High School, will hold its annual School’s Out fundraising event at the home of Peter Wilson and Scott Sanders in East Hampton. School’s Out celebrates the end of the school year and raises money for school programs for the over 1,000 LGBT youth the HMI serves annually.
Don’t know what to give your mama for Mother’s Day? How about 20 Broadway stars? Broadway at the Center presents When You’re Good To Mama: The Mother of All Mother’s Day Concerts, May 10 at The Center. When You’re Good to Mama is a new benefit concert with some of Broadway’s best performing songs that even those not familiar with Broadway will love. This concert will honor the unique relationships between LGBT people and their mothers, and is sure to become a staple in the community.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center and The Bi Writers Association present their Putting the ‘B’ in LGBT Summit, a free one-day event to be held on May 30 at The Center. The summit is co-organized by the Bi Writers Association and the Center and co-sponsored by The New York Times Company GLBT & Allies Affinity Group and The Natl. Gay & Lesbian Task Force. Event speakers include Cindi Creager, National News Director, GLAAD; Dr. Jaime M. Grant, Director of Policy Institute, Natl.Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Sean Kennedy, News & Features Editor, The Advocate; and Chagmion Antoine, Correspondent for 365 Gay News on Logo. By holding the summit, organizers hope to develop a consensus between LGBT rights organizations, journalists and political officials that inclusion of bisexual people in the discussion of LGBT issues is necessary.
On May 31st, LAVA will host its 2009 Handstand-a-Thon at the LAVA Center in Brooklyn. The event is a fund-raiser for the LAVA Studio scholarship fund as well as LAVA’s community programming. Handstand experts along with first-timers young and old are invited to come tlog seconds and minutes with their feet off the floor. Handstanders can use the wall, a spotter, or several spotters, and handstand times will be added to a collective handstand pool. The goal for the total time of people with their feet raised is 3 hours; the goal for the total funds raised is $20,000. The event will be enlivened by performances from current LAVA Studio students. Nourishment for the hard-working upside-downers will be provided by LAVA’s very special taco truck, wine from local restaurant BEAST, and a barrel of Sprecher’s root beer.
-UPCOMING-
Broadway Bares 19.0 “CLICK IT!” will have Broadway’s hottest boiz grabbing their hard drives and the grrrls getting ready to play with some brand new software for what is sure to be a Broadway Bares that will fry more than your mother board. BROADWAY BARES 19.0 will have over 200 of Broadway’s hottest dancers bringing the information superhighway to life and will surely have all of New York a“twitter” during two performances at the Roseland Ballroom June 21.
Pride is just around the corner. Don’t forget to pick up your next copy of GO on June 12 to stay in the know about all the fantastic event
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