LGBT@NYPL

The New York Public Library is very pleased to be offering teen programming in conjunction with the exhibition at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building highlighting the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

Martin Boyce and Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt were both teenagers at the time of the riots, and will be participating in a panel discussion with Philip Bockman and David Carter on Monday, June 29th at 4 pm in the South Court Auditorium.

As gay marriage and equal rights are being spotlighted in the media and are under discussion 

Diana Davies. Gay Liberation Front meeting at Washington Square Methodist Church, 1970.

As part of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, the Library is gathering together eight members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), the pioneering activist group that began in just weeks after the July 1969. It was not only the first organization to use the word "gay" in its title, it also declared its solidarity with other liberation movements against racism, militarism, and sexism.Though it last only until 1972, it had a major influence on the many gay civil rights organizations that followed. The panel will include Perry Brass, Steven F.Dansky, Jim Fouratt, 

 Above: Gay Activist Alliance flyer from 1970.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the Library is running an exhibition, "1969: The Year of Gay Liberation." The free show, which runs from June 1 through June 30, is in the Third Floor North Hall of the Stephen A. Scharzman Building at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street. Just look for the chartreuse walls and authentically funky typefonts and colors of that tumultuous year. As curator Jason Baumann notes in an introduction to the exhibit, gay activism was taking place alongside struggles for African-American civil rights, the women's 

 The library has received a generous gift consisting of 300 sketches by the Cuban-born artist Emilio Sanchez (1921-1999) from the Emilio Sanchez Foundation. Sanchez is best known for his paintings of houses and architectural themes which emphasize the play of light and shadow on color. But the gift, which will become part of the Library's Print Collection, consists of small drawings male and female figures that were executed on the backside of flyers, envelopes, invitation cards and other pieces of paper. For example, one colorful and robust drawing of male figures was done on the back of an invitation from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force dinner (see illustrations); a number of 

We now have a Facebook page. Just search for us (LGBT@NYPL) from any page on Facebook and become a fan. Our page will stream the blog post you're now reading and feature additional photo albums and events. We'd love to hear your reactions, thoughts, ideas, and suggestions, and hope to see you there soon. 

 Staff at the Library were deeply saddened today by news of the passing of pioneering scholar, and LGBT Committee Ambassador, Eve Kosofksy Sedgwick. Sedgwick's breakthrough studies, like Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire and Epistemology of the Closet, transformed LGBT scholarship across the humanities. She taught us to read in a whole new way---not to read homosexuality as much as the productive power of its invisibility. She also radically widened the possibilities of scholarship with deeply personal, vulnerable, autobiographical thinking, like her essay "White 

A 1914 letter from a Navy man who received an "undesirable discharge" for what appears to be a suspicion of homosexuality was recently donated to the Library by David Jarrett, a co-chair of the Advisory Committee of the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation. 

In the letter, which was written by an M.C. Cowles to another sailor named Cal Chord, the discharged Navy man says "I don't know...what the real cause is, although I have a suspicion." Cowles was called down to sick bay and examined by a physician, after which he was asked "Has any man stayed with you?" Cowles told the doctor "'No and that I considered it an insult 

Thanks to a generous grant from initial funder Time Warner Inc., LGBT@NYPL is expanding its outreach to LGBTQ teens with a series of workshops, talks, and discussion groups at branches in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. The programs range from panels on love and dating to hands-on workshops where participants can create their own graphic novels. Watch these pages for posts of upcoming activities.

UP NEXT: Two panels on dating and sexual identity.

Questions and Answers with Midwest Teen Sex Show Host Nikol Hasler

Nikol Hasler

Midwest Teen Sex Show host Nikol Hasler has been offering 

LGBT Committee co-chairmen Hermes Mallea and Carey Maloney met with Mariela Castro Espin, the Director of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education (Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual) in Havana on December 24, 2008.  CENESEX has been advocating and educating for LGBT rights, HIV prevention, and gender equality in Cuba. Ms. Castro has been instrumental in passing groundbreaking rights for Cuba’s transsexual population. 

The meeting took place at the Cuban Women’s Federation headquarters.  Mallea and Maloney presented Ms. Castro with a copy of Becoming Visible: An Illustrated History of Lesbian and Gay Life in Twentieth-Century America, based on the 

On November 18th, the Library's LGBT Committee was honored to host a conversation between LGBT Committee Ambassador the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, the first openly-gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, and Urvashi Vaid, Executive Director of the Arcus Foundation and a longstanding leader in the LGBT movement. The conversation was attended by LGBT Committee members; and staff from American Express Pride Network; Liz Claiborne; The New York Times GLBT & Allies; Out@Time Warner; and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LGBTA Affinity Network. The event was a tremendous success and marked the growing reach of the Committee. Robinson and Vaid eloquently engaged with 

Steven Fullwood, archivist at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, is a very busy man. In addition to his pioneering work as Project Director of the Black Gay and Lesbian Archive at the Center, he is also a prolific writer, editor, and publisher. Last year, Fullwood co-edited an essential bibliography of Black LGBT writings with Lisa C. Moore, editor of RedBone Press, Carry the Word: A Bibliography of Black LGBTQ Writings. Recently, Steven and Lisa slowed down for a few moments to answer a few questions about Carry the Word and their upcoming plans.

Jason Baumann: How did you get the idea for the book?

Lisa C. Moore: The idea was a joint 

The New York Public Library is pleased to announce the creation of the LGBT Visiting Scholars Program thanks to the generous support of LGBT Committee Ambassador Martin Duberman and his partner Eli Zal. Each year the Library will provide stipends for up to three Martin Duberman Visiting Scholars. The stipends will support travel to New York City and related expenses to do LGBT studies research in the Library's collections. The travel grants awarded will range from $1,000 to $8,500. The awards will be limited to emerging scholars---those without permanent academic appointments---or those who are unaffiliated with an academic institution. Martin Duberman Visiting Scholars will also be 

Throughout the month of October, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will be presenting the films of gay, British director Derek Jarman. Jarman, who began his career as a designer and artist, became famous as a director of experimental films that spanned punk, queer, activist and pop sensibilities. He was also a great memoirist and poet. Jarman's profound and multifacted career was cut short by AIDS in 1994.

The series will feature Jarman's best known films, as well as Isaac Julien's recent documentary on Jarman. The schedule is as follows:

10/10/08 FRI 2:30 PM Derek Jarman Derek (Directed by Issac Julien, 2008), 76 minutes. Written and narrated 

This week, September 27-October 4, is Banned Books Week, a national celebration of the freedom to read. The American Library Association compiles an annual list of most banned books based on newspaper reports and the reports from librarians across the country. These are books that have been challenged with a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that the book be removed because of its content or appropriateness.

We were thrilled recently to host a visit from Judith Armstrong, close friend of LGBT Committee Ambassador Kay Tobin Lahusen. Judith stopped by the Library to take a look at The Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs and to meet Laura Karas who is about to begin processing the collection. Laura has just completed work on the ACT UP, Gran Fury, and Joseph Sonnabend archives, which she worked on as part of the Library's MAC AIDS funded project to process and digitize AIDS activist collections. Due to her amazing work, Laura is about to move on to work on another project processing the Gittings and Lahusen Papers. Laura will organize the 

There is currently an amazing photography exhibition at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy and Louis B. Cullman Center. Focus on the 70s: The Fabulous Photography of Kenn Duncan presents 400 photographs from across Duncan's career. Kenn Duncan---who was a champion roller-skater and professional dancer before picking up the camera---worked predominantly for Dance Magazine and After Dark, which had a prominent following in the 1970s gay community. Duncan, who died in 1986, photographed a wide range of 1970s celebrities---and unknowns---in dance, theatre, and film. His subjects included: Warhol drag superstar Candy Darling; 

Last week's readings hosted by the Black Gay and Lesbian Archive at the Schomburg Center were a tremendous success. Above are pictured Pamela Sneed, Linda Villarosa, and Cheryl Clarke during the Q&A after their reading on August 18th. The readings were held in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Reading Room (you can see newly acquired boxes for processing in the back...). For more pictures click through below.

Cheryl Clarke works the mic with selections from her collection The Days of Good Looks and the new anthology To be Left with the Body.

Pamela Sneed delights with poems from her forthcoming book, KONG (Vintage Entity Press, 

We have been busy this summer negotiating the acquisition of many gift collections, large and small. This week we were thrilled to recieve the backfiles of Pinups from photographer, editor, and provocateur Christopher Schulz. Pinups is a gorgeous, smart, tender new magazine that shows the beauty of everyday gay men. The aesthetic has been called "post-bear," but it's actually very 1970's. It reminds me of After Dark and New York City gay street culture in the early days of Gay Liberation. Pinups is also, really, a very smart piece of conceptual art pretending to be a magazine. Check it out.

We are also working on acquiring a complete backfile 

We are truly saddened to hear the news today of the passing of pioneering lesbian activist Del Martin. Del and her partner Phyllis Lyon were instrumental in the founding of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first national lesbian organization in the United States. Martin and Lyon were historically married in California this June after 55 years of love and activism together. Their work together ranged from the Daughters of Bilitis and editing The Ladder, to work with NOW, and more recently serving as delegates to the White House Conference on Aging.  They authored the classics Lesbian/Woman and Lesbian Love and Liberation. We send our deepest condolences