The hospital, adorned with graffiti that reads “Trans Lives Matter,” and “Queer Freedom,” looms over a small corner of the beach. Some residents are advocating for a playground to replace the building, which threatens the de facto nude status of the beach by introducing children within eyesight.

 “It’s always been a queer beach,” said Victoria “Queen of Riis” Cruz from under her sun tent. “We’re born naked,

Victoria ‘Queen of Riis’ Cruz enjoys an afternoon at The People’s Beach, the queer Jacob Riis Park beach in Queens she has frequented since the 1960’s. Photo by Annie Iezzi

everything else is just an asset.” 

 Cruz has been frequenting The People’s Beach  since 1963. She said that convalescent patients from the hospital used to frolic with the beachgoers, enjoying the healing power of the ocean.

 The queer community and the nude community at The People’s Beach–with much overlap between them–have initiated petitions to #saveriisbeach. The beach would be closed during the demolition, and likely impacted moving forward, dependent upon the future development of the plot.

 Veronica Kirschner, a nudist who has enjoyed Riis for more than 10 years and who initiated a petition to make Neponsit Hospital a scenic landmark, worries about decreased privacy and increased police presence. She said that last week, she was harassed by park rangers demanding identification while she sunbathed in the nude.

 “When we come together in community, we are spectacular,” she said, regarding organizing efforts to mitigate harm from the demolition.

 Another petition, Protect NYC’s queer beach, has been circulating on Instagram, courtesy of Pony Knowles. An Instagram account, riis.beach, that posts historic and contemporary images of life at Riis, has also been instrumental to community mobilization. On that platform, concerned beachgoers organized a “save Riis beach” community Zoom to share information, skills, and ideas. More than 60 members of the LGBTQ+ community attended in support, and a second Zoom meeting is scheduled for Friday.

A memorial to the late Ms. Colombia, a beloved New York City queer icon, hung on the barbed-wire fence at The People’s Beach in Jacob Riis Park in Queens. Photo by Annie Iezzi

The effort to save the beach is as much rooted in its history as its present. Many worry about the destruction of a memorial to the late Ms. Colombia, a beloved NYC queer icon, that has long adorned the barbed wire fence between the hospital and The People’s Beach. A colorful wind spinner pokes out between the wires, twirling amidst blooming fake flowers and an homage rainbow dress.

 Queer beachgoers are especially concerned about the closure of the beach, community safety, and the possible diminishment of queer gathering space.

 “Riis Beach, particularly this corner in front of the abandoned hospital, is a safe haven for queer, trans and nonbinary folks, and it’s important that it remains that way,” said trans-inclusive sex educator Cristina Pitter.“The abandoned hospital reflects the way that marginalized people are also abandoned, so finding sanctuary here alongside this building goes hand in hand.”

 Pitter said that park facilities and accessible bathrooms could be constructed on the empty lot. Others on the beach said they would like to see a community or holistic healthcare center erected there, and some suggested that a privacy sand dune would suit the plot well.

 “One can only hope that New York City will have a proper infrastructure in place to build, protect and advocate for marginalized communities in this space,” Pitter said.

 Constructed in 1914 as a tuberculosis hospital, and officially known as the former Neponsit Nursing Home, the iconic Queens building has housed medical facilities since its erection. In 1998, the hospital made headlines in its last iteration as a nursing home, when the city relocated all its residents without warning and in the middle of the night, citing unsafe building conditions.

 Last spring, during a turbulent storm that hit the Rockaways, a chunk of corrugated metal flew off the hospital’s roof and into the driveway of a nearby house. According to Robby Schwach, the Deputy Chief of Staff under City Councilman Eric Ulrich, this active decay kicked off the city’s most recent move to demolish the hospital.

 “It would be crazy to keep paying money to maintain it, when it is falling apart,” said Schwach, who is also a community liaison for the office. He says that City Health and Hospitals, which owns the property, has selected the architecture firm Urbahn to design the demolition.

 Urbahn hopes to present a demolition plan this fall and could have “shovels in the ground” by spring, Schwach said. The city will also host a community meeting to hear the concerns of beachgoers and neighborhood residents alike. According to the original deed, if the plot is not used for a healthcare facility, it will automatically become a city park, but whether or not that park’s playground will abut The People’s Beach remains undecided.

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For 47 years, Dignity/New York has been providing the LGBTQI community with a space free from traditional rhetoric that condemns same-sex attraction. The New York chapter hosts 100 members and is one of 30 chapters within the national organization, Dignity USA. They welcome people of all backgrounds.

Former Dignity USA president, Lewis Speaks-Tanner, said that the ministry is for both those who are looking for a church home and those who are seeking reconciliation.

“Sometimes [visitors] stay and they find a home,” Speaks-Tanner said. “A lot of times what will happen is that they find they can reconcile who they are, both their sexual nature and their spiritual nature, and they are able to resolve that and go to do other things.”

Dignity’s pastors and priests are from  LGBTQI community. Some are former priests who have been excommunicated or have left the Catholic Church because of their sexual and/or gender identity. Others are theology scholars or chapter members who show an eagerness and willingness to preach.

Sean Collins, 33, had been volunteering to read scripture and minister the Eucharist. He said the experience for him was fulfilling.

“[Presiding over service] was something I had always wanted to be able to do as a young kid,” Collins said. “But then thinking ‘Oh, I don’t know if I can do that because being Catholic, I don’t know if I’m up to the celibacy rules.’ So, it’s nice to do that and share it with this community especially.”

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“I had a lot of male barbers that would cut my hair and they would not be into cutting it down really low [short],” said Parker, 55, a landscape photographer and resident of Sunset Park, Queens. “They tried to talk me into keeping it a little longer.”

But Khane Kutzwell, 43, came to the rescue with her barbershop, Camera Ready Kutz that caters to the grooming needs of the LGBT community. On her website, she includes queer, asexual and intersex people to her barbershop in the comfort and privacy of one of her apartment’s bedrooms at Eastern Parkway in Crown Height, Brooklyn.

Parker’s colleague told her about Camera Ready Kutz three years ago and she has been a customer ever since. She even brought her 14-year-old son there after a hair clipper was pressed to tight to his scalp and cut him in a traditional barbershop.

“A lot of barbers tend to put a lot of pressure on the scalp when they were cutting his hair and he didn’t like the experience,” Parker said. “It’s like a dentist, you have to feel comfortable to go on a regular basis.”

They travel 30 minutes to get to Kutzwell’s two bedroom apartment, where one of the bedrooms serves as a barbershop.

Kutzwell started her barbershop in 2007 when her friends in the LGBTQ community complained about the service they received at neighborhood barbershops. For the community, getting a haircut is an irksome experience because they could never get what they wanted.

Kutzwell’s family emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago when she was really young and she grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens. Her upbringing shaped who she is today.

“I didn’t grow up male or female,” she said. “My family just treated me as whatever I presented at the moment.”

Now she identifies herself as a trans-entity, an entity who’s always transitioning through gender. But in the male dominated business, Kutzwell identifies herself as a female.

“I wake up sometimes and I feel more male than female, sometime more female than male,” she said, “So, I don’t identify as anything in particular, I just let myself be.”

Kutzwell said that she is not the barber for the LGBT community.

“If you look it up on the internet, there are tons of other LGBT friendly barbershops, so I’m not claiming that I’m the only one here,” she said. “But I always try to step up the game through the internet.”

Apart from promoting the business through website and Facebook, she has built a mobile app to make reservation easier for her prospective customers.

Although Kutzwell’s barbershop caters to the LGBT community, her customers include people from all backgrounds, races, gender, sexual orientation, and religion, such as the Orthodox Hasidic Jewish Community in Brooklyn and Muslim women. Her vast range of clientele gives her a boarder sense of different cultures in the world.

“Every culture has their own way of conducting haircut, like the Hasidic Jewish, they don’t want their side to be touched, or Muslim women who would only remove their headscarf in front of the people they trust,” she said. “Those cultural variations always amazed me.”

Apart from offering tolerant service, Kutzwell has many promotional discounts such as her famous “Get A, Get 50 percent off” program for students who get good grades.

“In the end, it’s about supporting your community,” she said.

Kutzwell’s next project will be her own mortar and brick storefront LGBT friendly barbershop in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She hopes the barbershop will be a place where people can hang out and get their hair and nails done in a nonjudgmental space. Her dream is to have barbers and beauticians, who share her belief of unprejudiced service to the LGBT community, housed in one spot.

“I’m planning on taking a beautician class, so I can take a better care of my clients,” she said. “After all, I’ve always wanted to go back to school and sharpen up my skill.”

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Players trickled in to Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan on a recent Saturday night, lugging hockey bags into revolving doors of locker rooms. Men and women draped in thick pads, standing on skates, stood in line at the water fountain, preparing for games on either two rinks.

Some of the players are gay.

When the New York City Gay Hockey Association first started, opponent players would yell out “fag” on the ice. It was more than the expected high-sticking, roughing and swearing that heated games bring out in players.

“Like a bunch of nancy, faggoty boys playing on the ice, and you know what, we have a few of those,” said former board member and current Wizards alternate captain, Robb Riedel. “And we can queen out as much as anyone else. … [But] once you’re on the ice you’re playing. Even if someone is more feminine, they’re still playing just as hard and shooting just as hard.”

Director Jeff Kagan founded the New York City Gay Hockey Association (NYCGHA), the state’s first official gay hockey organization, in 1999. He was moved to create the gay-friendly association after he and another player, in a former league, realized that each other were gay, but not out.

The NYCGHA< is one of many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations that have sprouted in New York City. In the 16 years since its establishment, its philosophy has remained that anyone is welcome, and players have stuck around for the love of hockey and to share in friendship.

“Part of the thing was you couldn’t find 15 gay guys [in 1999] that played hockey to build a team,” said Riedel. “So really it was open to whoever wanted to play.”

Seven teams of both men and women, gay and straight, compete in four different skill divisions within the Chelsea Piers adult ice hockey league ranging from division 1 (advanced) to development (beginner). Players pay a $650 fee at the start of the season in September and the association pays a team fee to Sky Rink. All seven teams have roughly 15 players.

The games are free. Most of the audience consists of player’s spouses, although all don’t always show. On Saturday night, three people watched from the plastic bleachers.

Green high beams and dozens of fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling shone brightly on the scraped-up ice. A Zamboni, an ice-resurfacing machine, wasn’t in sight and the national anthem wasn’t about to boom through speakers, but as 8:30 p.m. approached, players were skating, stretching and strategizing. Division 7b rival, the Thundercats (6-5), presumably, were questioning whether they would be able to upset the Wizards’ 13-0 season.

Riedel, 40, is gay. The magazine editor joined the association in 2003 after 10 years off the ice. Growing up skating competitively in New Hampshire, he said he stopped at the age of 15 because he didn’t feel aggressive enough and was shying away from the sport.

Part of him was buying into gay stereotypes. He said that through the media and television two decades ago, gay men and women were stereotyped as feminine. When it came to sports, especially, they were clumsy, not talented and not aggressive.

“I sort of felt like that as a kid,” Riedel said.

It took him a year to join the NYCGHA.

“I found coming back as an adult, my mindset had totally changed, and I’m just as aggressive as everyone else out there,” he said.

Vince Aita, 41, the Wizards’ straight captain, began playing hockey late in life. He always loved watching the sport as a kid, but realized that not knowing how to skate and play wasn’t an excuse. He started skating lessons at the Piers for a year, contacted lower division teams and Kagan responded. Aita’s been on the Wizards for nearly eight seasons.

“It was kind of mentioned immediately up front that it was part of the gay hockey association, but I think the thing that was kind of funny about it from the get-go was orientation was never a question from start to finish on either my side or on Jeff’s side,” Aita said. “I think part of being a very gay-friendly environment is that it’s not gay. It is gay-friendly.”

Dean Baer, the Wizards’ second alternate captain, formerly married with two children, came out later in life.

“I didn’t have many other older gay friends, and now I do,” said Baer, 45. “And that’s through hockey. Whether they’re gay or not, that doesn’t make a difference. Now I have some people that I can relate to a little bit better.”

Gay and straight, players stood in position as the puck dropped at center ice. Riedel pushed alongside four teammates donning red, white, gold and green uniforms. Every time the puck was slapped, a player was slammed into the boards and skates suddenly reversed direction, noise echoed through the arena.

After a steady back and forth, Mark Checkosky’s shot found the net around the 11th minute in the first period, giving the Wizards a 1-0 lead. As the buzzer drained, there was no intermission, but rather, players began the second period on carved ice.

The Thundercats spoiled the Wizards’ 1-0 lead with a game-tying goal near the 12-minute marker in the second period, intensifying a thirst for winning.

Nearing the final few minutes with a tied game it looked as if it were heading into overtime until Checkosky scored the Wizards’ game-winner, bumping their streak to 14-0.

Riedel said he believes the goal of the NYCGHA is actually to run itself out of existence and that there needn’t be a gay hockey team. Though he’s looking forward to the playoffs through early March.

“[You hope] that attitudes have changed enough that you wouldn’t need it and I think we’re headed in that direction,” he said. “You’ll have everyone from an attorney to a plumber, who would never meet in real life otherwise, and every Saturday night we come play hockey and then go drink at a bar.”

Around 10:45 p.m. that’s just what some of the Wizards did. Heavy gear strapped over their shoulders, they rode the elevator down to the parking garage, tossed their sticks and skates in the car, and headed for a round of celebratory drinks, preparing to stay until last call.

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Despite being ex-communicated from his (Baptist) church and asked to leave the navy for being gay, Tommie Watkins refused to give up any part of his identity. Photo by Rajeev Dhir.

There is an ethereal echo that resonates every morning at the same time in the chapel at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in Chelsea. Faculty and students gather for the daily 10 AM service, singing in unison, accompanied by the grind of the old organ in the corner. Their voices seem to float, almost reaching the high cathedral ceilings. Among those who sing every morning is Tommie Watkins, whose mantra is to “live out loud”.

His philosophy may seem a little bemusing since Watkins, 39, is very soft-spoken. His voice is hard to detect among the dozen or so who are assembled, but he’s relatively easy to spot among the group, even if the colorful and ornate interior of the church distract your eye. With a smile beaming across his face as he sings, he stands confidently in the pews because he knows this is where he will be ordained and accepted as an openly gay priest.

“The Episcopal Church in particular has a good history in social justice and taking the lead on gender, class and race and I think that it was just a kind of a guide. I was guided here and into the Episcopal Church,” he said.

Tommie clip 2

That journey was not an easy one. He was raised in a conservative African-American family in Birmingham, Ala. and was ordained at the age of 17 as a Baptist minister. He kept his sexual orientation hidden from family and friends. Watkins said he became so depressed he started looking for an escape. When the opportunity to break away (from Birmingham) came up, he took it and enlisted in the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. in 1993. Four years later, he was kicked out when the secret relationship he was having with a fellow male student became public.

Tommie clip 1

“I was betrayed by the guy I was dating when our relationship became public. He told the Navy I was trying to make him gay,” Watkins said.

He sued the government when he was asked to repay $90,000 in educational costs and won the four-year lawsuit. Instead of getting support from the church, he said, he was asked to leave.

“My church said that I needed to kind of disavow my calling as a minister and I said I wouldn’t, so they said you can’t come back here and preach because I was openly gay.”

Longtime childhood friend, Tony Halsey said Watkins’ said he was concerned about the toll Watkin’s sexual orientation was taking on his emotional wellbeing. Watkins started drinking and suffered bouts of depression.

“He gave so much to that church and the church has been a huge part of his family and upbringing,” said Halsey, who felt sorry for Watkins.

Watkins found solace in writing and published a book, “Living Out Loud”, about his experiences. Even though his book was well received, Watkins still felt as though there was something missing and eventually came back to religion. While he was not ready to reconnect with his Baptist roots, Watkins discovered the Episcopal Church, where he said he was warmly received as an openly gay man.

Fellow seminarian Gretchen Creele said she was stunned when she first heard about Watkins’ struggle.
“I think it’s reprehensible what he went through,” she said. “But he’s gregarious. He has a full personality. He walks into a room and he fills a room in a happy glowing way.”

Creele, 52, who is also from the south, said Watkins is a role model for other students.

“To see his inner strength that he lives out is inspiring to me,” Creele said.

Watkins will graduate in 2016 and is planning to return to Alabama to preach on familiar territory as an openly gay minister, where he hopes to include health and social justice in his ministry.

Tommie 3
“I just tell people they can live out loud. That’s the only way we can really change the world by being authentic to who we are,” Watkins said.

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Danny Fred, 29, says he can’t fit into the mold of the stereotypical gay male presented on the front cover. Photo by Rajeev Dhir.

There’s an almost schoolboy like charm to Danny Fred. He’s got a very youthful face and it’s hard to believe he’s 29 years old. His eyes squint when he laughs, an infectious sound that echoes through the living room of his modest apartment in Jamaica, Queens.

Settling back into his sofa, he rested a leg on the seat, ready to open up about his upcoming date. He was excited – the two met on an online dating site. After speaking on the phone for about a week, they agreed to their first face-to-face meeting over the weekend.

“I’ve met a lot of guys in the bars. I’ve met guys talking on the phone,” said Fred, who’s a proud Puerto Rican-Italian. “But now I actually meet guys a lot of the time online.”

Talking to guys on the internet, he said, is easy, because it allows you to build up a persona and chat comfortably without any pressure. Meeting in person, though, is an ultimate goal. But there is something that always makes him a little nervous before every first date. Fred is disabled.

“I was born with cerebral palsy and I’m HIV-positive,” he said. “It isn’t easy being a gay man with a disability in New York City.”

That’s because Fred believes he isn’t what most people consider to be the stereotypical gay male. For decades, clean-cut, muscular Caucasian men have become the dominant image of what gay men look like in mainstream media, even though diversity is the focus at most Pride celebrations annually and gay men who don’t fit that image find themselves on the outside.

Because his disability causes Fred to walk with a slight limp and he takes retrovirals everyday for the HIV virus, he said he faces discrimination in his social, romantic and everyday lives.

“I’ve had people look at me differently. I’ve had people within the LGBT community stare at me as I walk down the street,” said Fred.

Even though he’s embraced and accepted his disability, he tries to hide it by changing the way he dresses when he goes out in public so it won’t be noticed nearly as much. Even with something as invisible as the HIV virus, Fred said he’s felt the cold shoulder from other gay men.

“I’m fearful about what someone might say. Some gay men are like, oh no, I don’t want to catch it. Or oh, no, I don’t ever want a lover with HIV.”

Fred talks about being a gay man with a disability

Danny Fred talks about being a gay man with a disability 2

Racial bias can also be problematic within the community, according to Dennis Chin, who came out while he attended the City College in New Jersey. The 29-year old said it’s even more apparent in the online dating world, where personal preferences can often isolate and segregate certain groups. Sites like Adam4Adam, Manhunt and smartphone apps like Grindr and Jackd allow users to post racial and physical preferences, with some men’s profiles advertising “no fems, no blacks, no Asians” and even “no fatties”. Chin said he was bombarded with these kinds of messages, which influenced his own personal perceptions when he first came out.

“In the early 80s and 90s and I think even now, the face of the gay movement is a white, buffed up male,” he said. “You identify with what’s available. You think of yourself as white. I didn’t think of other Asians as datable or desirable and that was really a reflection of myself.”

Chin on race in the LGBT community

Dennis Chin on race in the LGBT community

But some people aren’t surprised that gay people discriminate. The problems facing the LGBT community are just reflective of larger society, said Richard Rothstein, 65, who felt the isolation that came with the anti-Semetic rhetoric he said he grew up with during his childhood in Manhattan. Although it deeply affected him, he said, those experiences better equipped him to deal with prejudice within the gay community.

Richard Rothstein, 65, believes there’s no difference between discrimination in mainstream society and the LGBT community. Photo by Rajeev Dhir.

“I know what discrimination and being on the outside is all about,” said Rothstein. “I know what being segregated is all about. That’s going to empower me. That’s going to make me stronger in terms of dealing with now being gay.”

Rothstein, who came out at 40, overcame the challenges of living as a gay Jewish man in New York City, but still faces biases from the community at large. Ageism is rampant in the gay community, where stereotyping occurs against individuals based on their age groups. It isn’t uncommon in the gay community, he said, for younger men to be cast as submissive “twinks” or older men to be seen as “daddies”.

“My best friend is a 27-year-old straight man and when we go out we often catch heat about the sugar daddy nonsense,” he said. “Because why else would a man his age be with a man my age. It never occurs to people that we love each other, share some important common interests and have fun when we’re together.”

Rothstein on discrimination within the LGBT community

Richard Rothstein on discrimination within the LGBT community

Licensed clinical social worker Paul Hays said any oppressed minority, including the LGBT community, isn’t immune to the ills of the greater society. One way to handle that is to shun others (who aren’t part of the norm) for their differences. Being at the receiving end of discrimination of any kind, Hays said, can have a long lasting effect on someone’s emotional well being.

“You see examples of that everyday. Drug and alcohol use in our community is sky-high compared to other populations. Teen suicide, that’s what we’re hearing a lot about today,” said Hays. Treating gay people who suffer from problems like racism and other forms of discrimination, he said, comes by providing a safe and open spot to open up.

Advocacy groups like Audre Lorde Project have been working with LGBT and gender non-conforming people of color from all walks of life adjust to the realities of living in a diverse community to help fill in the gaps and provide community support.

“We are not mainstream. We are not like the big groups that do corporate service or have these support groups,” said Irma Bajar, ALP’s membership program coordinator. “So we don’t represent the Will and Grace or Ellen DeGeneres. In this particular space that ALP has created, there is no box, there is no ‘if you are a gay man that you look a certain way or your body is a certain shape’. There is none of that.”

Anthony Trocchia, 44, facilitates the Disabled Queers of New York group once a month at The Center on 13th Street. Photo by Rajeev Dhir

Rejection from the mainstream has also lead to an increased number of people reaching out to support groups for social networking. These groups often cater to niche communities, which represent a variety of racial minorities, physical abilities and personal interests. Anthony Trocchia, a 44-year old man with muscular dystrophy, started a support group for disabled gay men four years ago. Disabled Queers of New York (DQNY) offers a safe and open space for men of different abilities. Trocchia said the group has been a success, with at least a dozen members that meet once a month.

“It’s (being a gay man with a disability) is difficult,” said Trocchia, who has used a wheelchair for the last 33 years. “I wanted to create an environment where guys could meet each other.”

Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York formed out of a gay men of color group in 1990 to meet the specific needs of a growing Asian and Pacific Islander community within the LGBT population of the city.

“There was a lot of discrimination in the mainstream gay clubs where black Latino and Asian folks would not be able to go into clubs and there would be regular racial bias,” said Chin, who’s the chair of GAPIMNY. “So that men of color group formed because there was this strong desire to talk about race and validate their own experiences as gay men of color.”

Although groups like DQNY and GAPIMNY provide a safe, open space for their members, some people believe they can have a harmful effect on minority groups they serve.

“Sometimes, that comes at the expense of just sectioning yourself off, rather than coming to the issue,” said Terry Purdue, 28, an African-American gay man who has also faced discrimination based on his race. “I understand being able to appreciate the black, white and Asian differences.”

Purdue said he would rather people confront prejudice rather than self-segregate, which is what Chin would like to see more of within the community.

“We need to have a conversation about how you deal with that (discrimination) in the larger context. Having conversations like ‘are you being racist?’ don’t go anywhere,” he said. But what does, Chin added, is breaking down the definitions of the stereotypical gay man. “And that has to come from within the community.”

Fred agreed, adding, breaking down those walls comes first from within. “It’s taken us years to be comfortable with ourselves,” he said. “No matter what I do, I’m always going to have this disability. I’m always going to be HIV-positive. And I can’t change that. I hope that once people get to know me, they can see past the physical form and look at the person in their heart.”

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Qween Amor sets a subway scene from Pavement Pieces on Vimeo.

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Members of Affirmation, a Mormon LGBT support group. Photo courtesy of Affirmation Gay and Lesbian Mormons website.

While it’s almost certain which presidential candidate has the Mormon vote in the bag for the Nov. 6 election, the Mormon gay community, which some call “Moho,” is keeping its own counsel. While some gay men align with the LGBT community at large in their more liberal attitudes, others adhere to traditional Mormon values in their choice of candidate.

Whichever way they vote, gay Mormons have been emerging more recently as a vocal force within the Mormon community. Randall Thacker a senior vice president of Affirmation, an organization that supports LGBT Mormons, said that despite the obstacles, he’s been able to reconcile his sexuality with his religious beliefs.

“Gay Mormons feel that it’s all or nothing, that they can’t be both,” he said.

After coming-out, Thacker was not excommunicated from the Church. Though he faces restrictions because of his orientation, such as exclusion from the priesthood, he is allowed to attend Church and even plays music for the children’s group of his ward.

Apparently, unapologetic homosexuality is no longer a one-way ticket to hell—rather, tolerance of homosexuality depends upon the local Mormon leadership. In some instances, openly gay Mormons have been accepted into the Church without penalty.

Joshua Behn, president of Affirmation, spoke of an instance of flexibility within the Church.

“One of [the organization’s] vice presidents, he went back to the church and went to his bishop and said, ‘You know what, I’m coming back to Church, but I’ve got a boyfriend and I’m not gonna change, this is who I am…and this bishop [said] ‘all right, we’re glad, come in to our ward,’”Behn recalled.

Social networking has provided an important means of support for LGBT Mormons. David Burton, an openly gay man who is still very much active in the LDS Church, saidthat once he came out, he realized he shared his story with many others.

“There are so many gay Mormons out there,” he said. “I feel like…they’re like popping up everywhere.”

Gay Mormon students come out in “It Gets Better Video”

Kevin Lindley, a 27-year-old graduate student from Idaho said, “Look–we exist, we’re real people, and that’s ok.”

According to the Pew Forum, a research center devoted to the study of religion and its impact on public life, members of the Church of Latter Day Saints are some of the most socially conservative citizens in the United States. Although small in number, Mormons traditionally vote for Republicans in droves. According to Pew, only 1.7 percent of American adults identify as Mormon. The same study reveals that, in 2009, Mormons were even more conservative than Evangelicals, the group widely thought of as being the most zealous in support of conservative values. While 50 percent of Evangelicals identified with the Republican Party, for Mormons, that number jumps to 65 percent. It would follow that this relatively small religion, known for its insularity and sense of community, would likely support a Presidential candidate who is also a Mormon. The likelihood of support is even greater since Romney’s platform reflects the Church’s conservative values.

Conservatism can be found among gay Mormon voters as well. Of the 11 men interviewed, four indicated they were Republican. One “independent moderate” and two Republicans said they plan to vote for Mitt Romney.

Though Mormon doctrine emphasizes tolerance and acceptance, the LDS officially disapproves of homosexuality. However, the Church maintains this can be “forgiven through severe repentance.” As of late, the Church has veered more toward a policy in which homosexuality is tacitly permitted, as long as the attraction is not acted upon.

Kevin Lindley is an openly gay member of the Church who is married to a woman, in what he refers to as a “mixed-orientation marriage.” Lindley lives in Idaho and says the reaction to his coming-out was one of tolerance.

“I’ve received a really, really positive feedback from everybody who I’ve personally interacted with,” he said.

Some experiences are not so positive. There are those who have left the LDS voluntarily because of the Church’s attitude toward homosexuality.

Joseph Broom, a convert to the Mormon faith and member of the Church for 28 years, explained, “I could have been excommunicated and I had told myself that I would never permit myself to go through that process and I would resign. And that’s what I did.”

Many people like Broom have left the Church, but still identify with the faith.

“I’m no longer an active Mormon, but I consider myself at the same time a member of the Mormon community,” he said.

Gay Mormons have been a driving force in applying increased pressure on the Church to reassess its position on homosexuality. Leaders within the Church have begun to change the way in which they deal with people who do come out, however the LDS’s position on gay marriage has not budged.

Though the Church is adamant about its apoliticism, insisting it does not encourage its members to vote for a particular party, the Pew foundation study indicates a positive correlation between Church attendance and conservative political ideology. Among the 11 people interviewed, those who were closer to the Church, or in mixed-orientation marriages in which they currently do not act on their homosexuality, tend to be voting for Romney.

Lindley has realized the dream of the idyllic Mormon family, which so many gay Mormons are excluded from. He has a five-year-old son and is “happily married” to a woman. His vote will be cast for Romney.

Of the men who said they would be voting for the challenger, none indicated Romney’s social policies or the fact that he’s a Mormon as selling points. In fact many, like Lindley, indicated they would never vote for someone based on their religion. “I’m not like ‘Oh you’re a Mormon, check.’”

According to the Pew study, Mormons are more economically conservative than the general public. About 75 percent of Mormons surveyed in 2011 said that they “prefer a smaller government providing fewer services.” Indeed, all of the men interviewed who are voting for Romney indicated that the economy was the most important issue for them in this election.

“You know in this case it’s really the way the economy’s going,” he said. “With Romney I think we’ll be progressing in a way, because he has a lot of experience in the business world.”

For the Romney voters in the group, it’s hard to imagine how they can reconcile the candidate’s position on gay marriage with their own sexuality. Though Romney has sent mixed messages regarding his position on gay civil rights, he has taken a solid stance against same-sex marriages. Of the interviewees who support Romney, it appears that issues of social justice simply take a back seat to economic concerns.

Lindley explained that he “doesn’t really have an interest in opposing individual rights” but that he trusted the Legislature and Supreme Court to prevent a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

David Burton, a 40-year-old marketing consultant living in Washington, D.C., was the sole undecided voter of the bunch. He represented the inner struggle that many voters are experiencing this election cycle.

“You know I’ve wrestled a lot with this upcoming election because the two issues that are most important to me are the economy and gay rights.” Burton said.

If he concludes the economy is of the greatest concern, he will vote Republican, but if gay rights end up being more important to him, then Obama gets his vote.

Though some gay Mormons have been able to look past Romney’s position on same-sex marriage, many simply cannot permit the possibility that their civil rights as gay men will not be realized under a Romney administration.

David Baker, a 23-year-old political consultant living in Washington D.C. identifies as a “liberal Republican.” Largely due to Romney’s position on gay marriage he will not be voting for the Republican nominee. Instead, Baker says he will be writing in the former governor of Utah, Republican John Huntsman, for President.

The rest of those interviewed said they would be voting for Obama come November—six of the 11 men indicated they will be siding with the incumbent.

Joseph Broom, an openly gay man who is no longer an active member of the Church, nevertheless still considers himself a member of the community. Broom understands Romney’s policies as totally incompatible with his sexuality.

“For me, personally, social issues are paramount,being a gay man voting for Romney or supporting the Republican Party as it has become, is just totally out of the question,” Broom said.

Corey Clawson, a PhD candidate at Rutgers, also found Romney’s position to be indigestible.

“I cannot support Romney as a candidate who would endorse an amendment threatening the possibility of securing my family’s well-being,” he said.

The post The “Moho” Vote appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

After fleeing Peru in 2001 because he was persecuted for being gay, Jair Izquierdo settled in New Jersey, met his future husband, and started a life with him. But that life was brought to an abrupt halt last year when Izquierdo was deported for being in the country illegally.

Izquierdo and his partner, American citizen Richard Dennis of Jersey City, N.J., are one of thousands of binational same-sex couples in the United States that struggle with deportation. They were joined together by a civil union, but Izquierdo was an illegal immigrant, and because immigration law is federal, rather than state, Dennis was unable to sponsor him for citizenship.

“Most people don’t even realize how screwed up it is,” Dennis said of the current immigration law and how it applies to gay couples. “There’s so much subjectivity and fear and misinformation.”

The Defense of Marriage Act

The problem for couples like Dennis and Izquierdo is the Defense of Marriage Act, which ruled in 1996 that marriage is a legal union between a man and a woman. Because of DOMA, the federal government and its agencies, including those responsible for immigration benefits, are prohibited from recognizing same-sex marriages and civil unions.

“It’s very hard to explain to the many people who call us every day because it’s so patently unjust,” said Victoria Neilson, the legal director at Immigration Equality, a national organization that advocates for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered immigrants.

In February, the Obama administration announced that it would no longer continue to defend DOMA in the courts. However, it will be enforced until Congress or the Supreme Court votes to strike it down. In the meantime, the administration claims to be focusing on immigrants with criminal records.

This makes sense, Neilson said, because the backlog of immigration cases in each state would ease up, and many immigrants with clean records and ties to the community would have their cases closed. But whether this theory is being put into practice is a source of contention.

“It doesn’t really seem like the word has reached the field of the actual attorneys and ICE agents who are charged with deciding whether to put people in removal proceedings or not,” Neilson said, referring to the people working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Dennis echoes Neilson’s concerns.

“They talk tough about secure communities and weeding out criminals, but I think that they just want to deport as many people as possible,” he said. “So the rhetoric doesn’t match the actions and it doesn’t match reality.”

Fighting for “Traditional” Marriage

Immigration Equality advocates for same-sex marriage so couples like Dennis and Izquierdo can be together. On the other side of the issue are the signers of the Manhattan Declaration, who believe in the traditional marriage view that DOMA reinforces.

Helen Alvare, a professor at the George Mason University School of Law, signed the declaration because she believes that maintaining traditional marriage protects children. She wants the government to consider new reforms that scholars and legislators have come up with that would result in what she calls “equal recognition.”

Then she heard the story of Dennis and Izquierdo. She called their separation “a huge tragedy in their lives,” but was left unconvinced that the laws of marriage should be changed.

“Is this situation really enough to overturn the argument that we really need to make something special of opposite sex unions?” Alvare asked. She said that traditional marriage still needs to be honored above all.

For couples like Dennis and Izquierdo, she suggested going some other way than “the marriage route.”

“Changing marriage as a tool for [immigration benefits] is not enough.”

Other Options

According to the Williams Institute at UCLA, there are an estimated 28,500 binational same-sex couples living in the United States. The options are limited if the foreign partner is in the country illegally, especially if it has been for longer than a year, like it was for Izquierdo.

“If someone’s here with a visa and they overstay, under current immigration law, it’s almost impossible to change from being here illegally to being here legally within the United States,” said Neilson. “And if a person leaves the country to try and legalize their status, if they have been here over a year, they can’t come back for ten years.”

Izquierdo applied for asylum after having been in the country for five years, and was denied. A series of appeals and requests to reopen the case have led to a court sending the decision back to the immigration judge, claiming the reasoning to not reopen were invalid.

Dennis said that they will move to Canada or Europe if Izquierdo cannot come back to the U.S., a common remedy among binational couples.

“We do see a fair amount of couples who end up giving up on the U.S. entirely and starting a new life in Canada,” Neilson said.

Ending DOMA

Since the current Congress has not passed much legislation, Immigration Equality is looking to the Supreme Court to repeal DOMA. Neilson suspects that the earliest this could happen is 2013, so Immigration Equality is pursuing other legislative actions in the meantime.

The Uniting American Families Act is pending, a bill that would amend immigration law to say “permanent partner” where “spouse” exists, so an American can sponsor his or her partner for immigration benefits.

There’s also the Respect for Marriage Act, which would legislatively appeal DOMA. Immigration Equality also encourages its clients to call their political representatives and ask for their help.

“When you work with lesbian and gay immigrant families, you see that it’s not an abstract right,” Neilson said. “It’s a fundamental desire to just be with the person you love. And that’s just such a heart-wrenching situation to talk to someone who finally found the person they want to be with, and they can’t be with them because of this unjust law. It’s got to go.”

The post Binational same sex couples struggle with deporation appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Several advocacy groups including the Human Rights Campaign, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) expressed concerns related to the repeal

.

According to The Advocate, the repeal does not solve several problems such as benefits for same-sex partners of gay service members, the insufficiency of existing channels for reporting antigay harassment and a mechanism to allow those removed from the armed forces under DADT to reclassify their discharge.



So far, the Pentagon has yet to release a public statement on the meeting.

Denny Meyer, Vice President for Region I of American Veterans for Equal Rights. Photo by Meredith Bennett-Smith



Denny Meyer, AVER’s Public Affairs Officer, said the fact that Pentagon officials were willing to meet is an important step.



“Some answers were given, but not necessarily the answers we wanted to hear,” he said. “Concerns were raised — they were not resolved — but they were raised very directly.”



The military’s policy will remain in effect until U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that the armed services are prepared to implement the final repeal, followed in turn by a 60-day waiting period. 




The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996, continues to be a sticking point for the advocacy groups. Spousal benefits for same-sex couples are not included in the repeal’s language. 
 


“The military really is trying as hard as they can,” Meyer said. “Even though they aren’t being thrown a bone. That’s the big stumbling block. We’re still being held back by these discriminatory laws.”



Officials were also pressed to create a more efficient and less intimidating channel for gay service members to report abuse.

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