Rabbi Steven Greenberg’s friendly face first greeted us in Sandi Dubowski’s award-winning documentary “Trembling Before G-d.” Here was a gay Orthodox Jewish clergyman who insisted that it was alright to be a gay Orthodox Jew, a stance not particularly popular in the Orthodox community. In fact, some rabbis have noted that gays, according to God, should be put to death. Comment

You’ve got to hand it to the Bush administration—they take care of their own.  From tax breaks for the wealthy to cheating New York City out of 9/11 security funds in favor of “red […]” Comment

When we ask what can we do about unsafe sex and crystal use, I think we should look at the evidence that Peter Staley has presented – his own experience. His honesty and candor have earned him a leadership role in recent efforts to come to terms with methamphetamine, the party drug that is enjoying a revival in New York City. Comment

Garner certainly has something to say on the topic; she is a child of gay parents and an experienced advocate for the gay and lesbian community. Yet, she can’t decide with whom she wants to share her knowledge – lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families (LGBT), or those who discriminate against them. Comment

Gay men in New York City who are seeking treatment for a crystal meth problem may find that they have few options available to assist them in ending their crystal use, according to community health providers and activists. “We’re not licensed to do substance abuse treatment,” said Dr. Dawn Harbatkin, medical director at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, a gay health clinic. “Our goal is to assess someone, to stabilize them, and refer them to appropriate interventions. The difficulty we’ve been having is finding appropriate interventions.” Comment

Dieter Roth, the German artist whose phantasmagoric works include projects now on view at P.S. 1 in Queens as well as at the museum’s sister institution, MoMA Queens, was a hoarder, literally and metaphorically. Roth collected ephemera, constructed and re-constructed wooden sculptures and filmed every moment of his life for six months in the 1980s, among other ventures. Comment

Dear Attorney General John Ashcroft, Thank you for putting up the surveillance camera in my building’s laundry room. Comment

Two weeks after receiving a letter that Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney sent to the nation’s governors and attorneys general, Gov. George Pataki and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer continue to maintain their public silence about whether New York State laws permit same-sex couples to marry. New York gay and lesbian activists are lobbying Spitzer, a Democrat who supports the right of gay couples to marry, to answer Romney that New York same-sex couples, who go to the Bay State to marry when it becomes legal on May 17, would be recognized as spouses by New York. Comment

John Cadigan is a large, bearded, often morose, sometimes not morose, sometimes far worse than morose, schizophrenic in his early 30s. Katie Cadigan, one of his two sisters, older than John but looking younger, is a lively, attractive, spirited woman who, like John, grew up in the Danbury, Connecticut, area, but as an adult has mostly lived, as does John, in Northern California. Comment

An evangelical Christian who lost her job for violating her employer’s policy against sexual orientation discrimination and harassment cannot mount her own claim of religious discrimination, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco ruled on April 26. Comment

Last year saw an unprecedented amount of exposure for LGBT issues from the success of TV shows like “Queer Eye” to the Supreme Court decision declaring sodomy laws unconstitutional to the worldwide debate over same-sex marriage. But an anti-gay society does not give up without a fight, from legislatures to the streets. The New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project reported this week that reports of violent attacks on lesbians, gay men, people of transgender experience and bisexuals rose 23 percent in 2003 and 46 percent in the last half of the year, as compared with the same period in 2002. Anti-LGBT homicides were up 80 percent in New Comment

Size queens take note: bigger isn’t always better. Morgan Spurlock’s deliciously disturbing documentary, “Supersize Me,” takes McDonalds (and even some school systems) to task for enabling America’s obesity. A hybrid of Michael Moore and Johnny Knoxville of “Jackass,” Spurlock embarks on a grueling 30-day McD’s-only diet, much to the horror of his vegan chef girlfriend, gaining almost 30 pounds in the process. Comment

The world is outraged at the treatment of Iraqi men who were humiliated, sexually assaulted and tortured in Abu Ghraib prison by United States Army personnel charged with detaining and interrogating prisoners of war. The notorious prison is the detention site where Saddam Hussein’s torturers murdered thousands of Iraqis during his regime. Comment

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected an asylum claim by Belinda Burog-Perez, a lesbian from the Philippines, who was seeking review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals. Comment

Indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch challenges the notion that anything in life is “larger than life” with “Coffee and Cigarettes,” a series of short films on a unified theme: the humble coffee break, with its requisite small talk, accompanying cigarettes, and absolute normality. Comment

In the stunningly beautiful and subtly delicate new play “Intimate Apparel,” produced by The Roundabout Theatre Company at the Laura Pels, Viola Davis gives a performance that is so understated yet richly developed that one feels privileged to be able to see her. Comment

Ira Siff prepares his protégé, Madame Galupe-Borszkh, for Symphony Space Mme. Vera Galupe- Borszkh— the last, the very last prima donna of the drag troupe La Gran Scena Opera— […] Comment

“For some time we have been seeing increasing fluoroquinolone resistance in specific regions of the country,” said Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, in an April 29 telephone press conference. Comment

The most prominent national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lobby in Washington, D.C., the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), has signaled that a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage has a viable chance of passage in the U.S. Senate. LGBT advocates, including the leader of another prominent national group, have met the announcement by HRC’s executive director, Cheryl Jacques, with some doubt. Comment

At the April 26 hearing, the Bloomberg administration pledged to work with the Council to provide documentation and make specific allowances that the Council says are currently missing from the administration’s policies regarding harassment in schools. Department of Education officials have expressed opposition to the legislation, stating that the bill encroaches upon executive branch prerogatives and would adversely impact school funding. Comment

Email Mike Signorile at Mike@Signorile.com. Comment

From playful scribbles to methodical lines, drawing becomes so much more than the subsidiary product of painting or design. Drawing is often seen as the foundation for visual art and yet rarely seen as an end unto itself. Exhibiting works that have obsessively drawn lines, compulsive repetition and methodical attention to detail, Eyewash abd Gallery Boreas in Williamsburg offer a glimpse of current and common ideas on drawing. Comment

In 1993, Bill Clinton retreated from his campaign promise to end the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. The “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy that emerged was portrayed as a compromise by the administration. Men and women in the armed forces would not be asked about their sexual orientation, but could not serve openly, or engage in “homosexual conduct.” Comment

Philadelphia’s renowned dance company, Philadanco, begins their touring season on May 18th at the Joyce Theater. The performance will be split into two programs.  The first is a collection of repertory pieces performed by the ensemble with “Elegy” by Gene Hill Sagan, “Sweet in the Morning” by Leni Wylliams, and “Steal Away” by Alonzo King. The second program is entitled “We Too Dance…African American Men in Dance, includes “Back to Bach” by Eleo Pomare, “A Place for Peace” by Nathan Trice, and “Blue” (New York Premier) by Christopher Huggins. Comment

It’s easy to forget that some of our Chelsea friends and neighbors are also rock stars. Comment

April 29-May 5, 2004 Comment

On May 5 the New York City Council overwhelmingly passed the Equal Benefits Bill, legislation that will require city contractors to give the domestic partners of their employees the same benefits as they give spouses. Forty-three council members voted in the affirmative—more than enough to override a promised veto by Mayor Mike Bloomberg—with just five voting no and two legislators abstaining. Comment

By GUS SOLOMONS JR. Comment

The Burog-Perez decision is one of three recent cases in which federal appeals courts rejected gay asylum applicants. Comment

When Jim de Sève set out to make a documentary about gay marriage three years ago, little did he know the issue would soon erupt onto the front pages of every newspaper in America—and keep on exploding. Comment

In the ongoing national debate about same-sex marriage, the prevailing argument in the nation’s gay and lesbian community has been in favor of states according full access to civil marriage licenses for same-sex couples. Comment

The 14th St. Y presents a one session crash course “Instant Yiddish.” Through games and songs, this Yiddish language simcha should not to be missed!  Learn 50 + Yiddish words and phrases. 7 p.m. at the 14th St. Y, 344 E. 14th St. $12 for Y members and $18 for the general public. 212 780 0800 Comment

The federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled that a gay man’s employment discrimination claim could not be heard in court, because he had signed a mandatory arbitration agreement routinely required by securities industry employers when he was hired. Comment

Forty-seven leaders from 31 statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups held a two-day “Marriage Summit” in Crystal City, Va., outside of Washington, DC, last weekend in a mood of crisis to bolster their skills, morale, and effectiveness as they face down an unrelenting assault on gay rights from a better funded and organized religious right. Comment

This May marks the third year of the Tribeca Film Festival, the brainchild of neighborhood resident Robert De Niro, his business partner Jane Rosenthal, and Rosenthal’s husband Craig Hatkoff. Comment

As I discovered on a recent jaunt to China, Thailand, and Cambodia, Southeast Asia offers more than enough hassle-free wonders to satisfy any American traveler, gay or straight, whether seeking to party or to pray at an ancient Buddhist temple. Comment

If you don’t know who Larry Kramer is, put down this paper and pick up the New York Press. You’re not a faggot. Comment

What was anticipated––and hoped––to be the Second Coming didn’t quite happen last week. Aprile Millo’s first assumption of the title role in “La Gioconda” at Opera Orchestra of New York (April 20) offered great promise, but not, as yet, revelation. Comment

Romney invoked an obscure 1913 state law that was designed to prevent biracial couples from states where interracial marriage was prohibited from getting married in Massachusetts. The governor has notified 50 governors and attorneys general about his decision. Comment

Kristie Helms will read selections from her book, “Dish It Up, Baby,” which traces a twenty-something heroine through childhood in rural Kentucky to her first job in Manhattan, and finally to Boston as she searches for true love, a cubicle near the window and the perfect shade of lipstick. The novel explodes stereotypes about Appalachia, and coming out and offers a hilarious look at the work-a-day world of the Northeast through the eyes of its plucky heroine. 7 p.m. at Bluestockings Bookstore. Comment

I did not intend to cry at the bookstore––none of us did. But when Luisita López Torregrosa read from her achingly wondrous memoir, “The Noise of Infinite Longing” and reached the passage about her mother’s death and the funeral that reunited grown siblings separated after more than a decade—fighting back tears, her voice catching—the prose elicited a reaction from the overflow crowd perhaps not accustomed to showing such emotion in a public setting. The middle-aged man standing off to the side, his swarthy face flushed red, was surely Torregrosa’s only brother, Amaury, raising his hand in quiet solidarity with his sister as she read. Comment

New Paltz Mayor Jason West, who was charged with performing marriages for gay couples without licenses, had his motion to dismiss a lawsuit against him denied by State Supreme Court Judge Michael Kavanagh of Ulster County. West argued that Village Trustee Robert Hebel had no standing to bring a suit against him to stop the weddings. Comment

An estimated one million activists gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, April 25, for the March for Women’s Lives, an event that organizers said was the largest ever organized march on the nation’s capital. The massive gathering was called to protest recent actions by the federal government to roll back reproductive rights for women. Comment

April 27, 2004 Comment

It’s not often that elected officials in one state have the chance––or the responsibility, for that matter––to impact public policy and practice in another state. Comment

At a March town meeting about crystal meth, representatives from state and federal law enforcement agencies described meth dealers as “predators” who are selling poison to the gay community. Comment

When the time came for Richard Gere to say something nice about the American Museum of the Moving Image, he had a word for it. In fact, several good words for that cinematic historical beehive on the grounds of the old Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. Comment

The superintendent of public schools in Newark, New Jersey has declared May 11, 2004, “No Name Calling Day,” a measure meant to reinforce school officials’ concerns with the harassment faced by gay and lesbian youth and other minority groups. Comment

One writer applies that notion to a Central European mecca for American expatriates in the last decade. Comment

Many travel writers concentrate on beaches, pools, and colored cocktails in sunset lounges. Comment

Email Mike Signorile at Mike@Signorile.com. Comment

The City Council is set to vote on a bill aimed at protecting New York City public school students and staff from bullying and harassment motivated by a number of factors, including gender identity and sexual orientation. Comment

Testifying at a City Council hearing about crystal meth on April 22, a senior Drug Enforcement Administration official disclosed that the federal law enforcement agency is investigating a large number of New York City distributors of the drug. Comment

April 22-28, 2004 Comment

Two years ago this month, the New York City Council passed Int. No. 24, amending the city’s human rights law to add gender identity and expression, thereby extending protection from discrimination to transsexual, transgendered, and gender-variant people throughout the five boroughs. Comment

“Novice Blunder,” French artist Edouard Prulhiere’s first solo show at Bellwether Gallery in Williamsburg, consists of seven pieces that buoyantly continue the exploration of what painting might be. Comment

The streets, the pace, the height of the buildings––all of these combined to make me think of New York on my first visit to São Paulo. Comment

A Memoir of a Family— Comment

For many reasons there has been a lasting mystique surrounding the work of Harriet Korman. She is revered by her peers as well as by older and younger artists. Her new show at Lennon Weinberg is likely to perpetuate that particular regard. Comment

“Bulgarian Lovers” is a romantic drama from Spain about Daniel (Fernando Gullen Cuervo), a 40-something gay man who becomes hopelessly smitten with Kyril (Dritan Biba), a young Bulgarian with a bulge in his pants. Although Daniel maintains that he is a gentleman, and Kyril maintains that he is straight, the two men share some pretty sybaritic moments. Comment

In 2002 in New York City, 1, 712 people died of AIDS; in North America 15,000 died; and in Sub-Saharan Africa 2.4 million people died. Comment

Gay Men’s Health Crisis hosts a forum, Government Drug Policies and Their Effects On HIV and Our Communities. The morning discussion looks at the link between the current crystal methamphetamine epidemic and HIV transmission and the health of those living with HIV and AIDS, compares those to the impacts during the past two decades of crack, heroin, alcohol, and other drugs, and examines alternatives to the current responses from the federal and local governments. Comment

International Gay & Lesbian World Travel Expo is a lively event that attracts both consumers and the travel trade, offering an unparalleled opportunity to meet travelers face-to-face and to develop a dynamic sales network of retail agents serving the gay market. 4 to 8 p.m. at Chelsea’s Metropolitan Pavilion, 119 W. 19 St. Visit communitymarketing inc.com for more information. Comment