Tag Archives: good work

Last night I attended the Imperial Court Of New York’s 26th Annual Night Of 1000 Gowns, which this year benefited PFLAG and New Alternatives. Swirling amidst all of the winking pomp and circumstance were empresses, emperors, duchesses, dukes, viscountesses, dowager empresses, and probably a dozen other royalty titles unknown to me. Also in the room were 100% of all the …

Last night Mamma Mia’s Andrew Chapelle took the tiara in the Ali Forney Center’s Sixth Annual Broadway Beauty Pageant, their gay gay gay and wonderfully hilarious competition among Broadway’s most talented chorus boys. Participants included Andrew Chappelle (Mamma Mia!), Wilkie Ferguson, III (Porgy and Bess), Corey Mach (Godspell), Jesse Swimm (Mary Poppins) and Anthony Wayne (Priscilla Queen of the Desert). …

Last night my loyal companion Aaron accompanied me to the Soho Housing Works Cafe for an Ali Forney Center fundraiser, where I finally met Frank Selvaggi and Bill Shea (above), the JMG readers who donated $100,000 to Ali Forney after reading about them here. Lots of bold-face names were in the house. Via press release from Renna Communications: The attendees …

Theater Mania tips us to rehearsal photos from the coming edition of Ali Forney Center’s Broadway Beauty Pageant, the annual gay gay gay competition of Broadway’s most talented chorus boys. Tickets are still available, but may sell out before the Monday show. I’ll be there!

Who’s up for an evening of handsome hotties in the name of several very good causes? On March 26th, Jeffrey Fashion Cares 2012 brings together fashion’s most fabulous for a dazzling evening of cocktails, a silent auction, and haute couture on the runway. Join the leading International Fashion and Luxury companies as they come together with New York City’s charitable …

Jared reports at Allure Of Sound: Xelle, a group made up of JC Cassis, Rony Goffer and drag sensation Mimi Imfurst, have released the music video for their catchy new single “Invincible.” This is not your average pop music video; it actually has a powerful anti-bullying message. Proceeds from the sale of “Invincible,” which it out now on iTunes, will …

Read all about it.

Just about the time I was perusing the below Wall Street Journal report, one of its subjects, Frank Selvaggi, emailed me on Facebook to reveal that he and his partner were initially inspired by the Thanksgiving Day guest post made here on JMG by Ali Forney Center executive director Carl Siciliano. It just “clicked” for Frank Selvaggi and Bill Shea …

The holiday season frightens me. It is the time of year our homeless kids are most likely to attempt suicide. Kids who have been cast out of their homes suffer badly during a season that celebrates and idealizes family togetherness. Yesterday I met with a group of kids at our drop-in center in Chelsea. They were all out in the …

Last night Father Tony and I attended Instinct Magazine’s posh event at District 36 where Carl Siciliano was feted as one of 2011’s Leading Men, an honor bestowed on gay men outside of the usual celebrity orbit of movies and television. Carl (above in the white shirt) is well-known here as the founder and executive director of NYC’s Ali Forney …

Fantastic news from SAGE! New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) announced today that Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) was awarded an Innovative Senior Center (ISC) contract to open the nation’s first full-time center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults. SAGE the country’s oldest and largest …

Information and tickets.

Ali Forney Center head Carl Siciliano: “We hope that this video will promote awareness of the terrible peril that LGBT youth face when left homeless in the streets. With the recent spectacle of elected officials taking budgetary actions to endanger and abandon homeless youth in New York City, we hope the rally on October 24th will send a loud and …

The hive mind of a group of video game enthusiasts has solved a question about an AIDS-related enzyme that has long stumped virologists. Players of the online game Foldit have helped discover the structure of an enzyme that had the scientific community stumped for a decade, representing a significant step forward in attempts to cure retroviral diseases like AIDS. The …

Ruth Brinker, who founded San Francisco’s Project Open Hand, has died at the age of 89. Project Open Hand was the world’s first charity to provide meals to people with AIDS. In 1985, having retired from a career in food services, Ruth heard about a neighbor who died of AIDS. She was shocked to discover that malnutrition was as much …

The New York City Council has awarded the Ali Forney Center the contract to take over a floundering 20-bed facility for homeless youth. Along with the contract comes a $620K grant. Julie Bolcer reports at the Advocate: “We are grateful to have the additional shelter beds,” said Carl Siciliano, the executive director of the Ali Forney Center, in a telephone …

Apple has pulled their iTunes store from a Christianist site that funds anti-gay hate groups like the Family Research Council. This move comes after pressure from petition site Change.org convinced other major companies such as the BBC to end their affiliations as well. Apple has removed their iTunes store from the “Christan Values Network” (CVN.org) after more than 22,000 people …

This weekend in Fairport, New York, Jason Curtis, 14, counter-protested the red-caped loons of the Society for Defense of Tradition. “I know kids that are gay and I don’t want them to be criticized,” he said. [Photo credit: Bethany Young]