Tag Archives: Harry Hay

Radically Gay: The Life and Visionary Legacy of Harry Hay

Thursday, September 27 – Sunday, September 30
CLAGS, The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies
365 Fifth Avenue
New York NY 10016
Click here for details.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Harry Hay’s birth, CLAGS and the Harry Hay Centennial Committee present this four day long conference exploring Hay’s life and ideas and the multiple facets of LGBT life that Harry Hay himself pioneered. These aspects will be organized around four major themes: the arts, political activism, spirituality and sexual identities. The conference will feature presentations from scholars, activists and artists all exploring the evolution of LGBT life in the 60+ years since Hay and a small cohort of Californians founded the Mattachine Society.

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Mattachine

Thursday, December 15
9:00 pm – 4:00 am
Julius
159 W. 10th St. (at Waverly Pl.)
New York, NY
FREE

John Cameron Mitchell and Amber Martin make the yuletide gay with the 47th installment of their beloved Mattachine party.  Guest DJ Angela DiCarlo joins Mitchell and Martin on the decks.  No mistletoe required for makeout sessions at this Shortbus-infused boite.  The gregarious and amorous crowd runs the gamut: radical faeries, experimental filmmakers, cabaret stars (Mx. Justin Vivian Bond, Lady Rizo) and the occasional film / television star (Alan Cumming, Graham Norton).  Don’t you just love theat-ah people?

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Mattachine

Thursday, October 20
9:00 pm – 4:00 am
Julius
159 West 10th Street
New York, NY
FREE

John Cameron Mitchell and Amber Martin return for another edition of Mattachine. Named for the pioneering “homophile” organization started by Harry Hay in the 1950′s, the party celebrates queer forebears by carrying their history of bravery, resistance and flamboyance into the present.  This week’s edition honors gay-rights titan Frank Kameny who died this week at age 86. That’s him holding the Gay is Good sign.  He started the DC branch of the Mattachine Society after being fired from his government job.  Find out more in the NY Times obituary.

Sandwiched into one of the cities oldest gay bars you’ll find a friendly crowd of gender queers, academics, artists, performers and longtime neighborhood residents. Arrive early for the conversation. Stay late for the ecstatic dancing and sloppy make out sessions.

Photo (c) Flaneur Photo

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Q. Who was Edward Carpenter? And why does he matter?

A. Edward Carpenter is one of the early forefathers of the queer liberation movement. Challenging both capitalism and the values of Western civilization, the gay socialist writer Edward Carpenter had an extraordinary impact on the cultural and political landscape of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

One of the earliest advocates of freedom for the people he termed “Homogenic”, Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) set the stage over one hundred years ago for what would become today’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Freedom Movement. At a time when same sex loving men were imprisoned for their desire, he lived openly for nearly 40 years with his dear “boy”, George Merrill. Carpenter’s writings and life inspired several generations of homosexual people, including the novelist EM Foster, who wrote his novel Maurice after visiting him. Carpenter’s influence on Mattachine Society and Radical Fairies founder Harry Hay directly contributed to the birth of the modern LGBT movement. Even the poet Allen Ginsberg traces his gay poetic lineage back to Walt Whitman through Carpenter.

Read the full post on the Comfort & Joy website.

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