No Queens

STORY: My first boyfriend, Jim Fragale, was turning 40 and I was 27. It was 1979. He’d moved to NYC from West Virginia in 1963 at 24....

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

Full Circle

STORY: 1976 – When I first moved to NYC in 1976, as far as the world knew, I was a 24-year-old straight guy, former college jock, and...

Jun 8, 20183 min read

Hi!

STORY: Without a doubt, New York City is a veritable cornucopia of hot men. However, sanity and stability are for sure not qualities that...

Jun 8, 20182 min read

The First Happy Gay Film

STORY: 1974—We’ve just bought tickets to see “Love Simon,” the new, gay coming of age film that we expect to make us happy. The first...

Jun 8, 20182 min read

Group Travel, Rio—1990s 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...

Jun 8, 20181 min read

The Bodyguard

STORY:1985 – During a solo vacation in Ibiza in September 1985, I met a muscular hunk, traveling with his younger boyfriend, who...

Jun 8, 20181 min read

My First Night at the Saint

STORY: I moved to New York City in the fall of 1980 and quickly landed a job at a top corporate design agency, making $15,000 a year. It...

Jun 8, 20184 min read

In Search of (Gay) America

STORY: In 1979 and with no gay life to speak of, I scrimped to save a few thousand dollars, negotiated my departure from my firm, sublet...

Jun 8, 20183 min read

Shot Boy

STORY: 2012-2013: For better or worse, bars are the center of gravity in the gay community. We make our friends, find our lovers, express...

Jun 8, 20183 min read

Greek Fraternity or Gay Fraternity?

STORY: June 25, 1978: In December 2017, I reconnected with a younger fraternity brother I hadn’t seen since Gay Pride in NYC 39 years...

Jun 8, 20182 min read

A Brazilian New Year in Hong Kong

STORY: 1999 – For New Year’s Eve 1998, I found myself in Hong Kong, visiting my best friend from grad school and his family. I stayed...

Jun 8, 20182 min read

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 7, 20181 min read

The Closing of Chicago’s First Gay Bathhouse

COMMENTARY: One of our members, Alex Kacala, generously contributed the linked story below, which he’d written for an online gay...

Jun 7, 20181 min read

My Perfect Life

1977: I was living the perfect life. I was attending a small state university in northern California. Although I was attracted to men, I...

Jun 7, 20185 min read

Speaking in Code

STORY: My second buddy was a florist who lived at home. I’d bring him to Ray’s and my house where we’d dangle our feet in the pool, and...

Jun 7, 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

Bermuda: April 2018

STORY: Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of going onboard the cruise ship Carnival Pride for a week-long family vacation to Bermuda,...

Jun 6, 20182 min read

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...

May 24, 20184 min read