MATTACHINE MAGAZINE

As a global pandemic threatens the global community across class and race, the coronavirus quarantine is further exposing the gap between queer homeless youth and young adults. Kate Barnhart, executive director for News Alternatives for LGBT Homeless Youth, Jazmine Perez, Marsha's House program director, and Alex Roque, president and executive director for the Ali Forney Center all discussed the challenges facing the LGBTQ homeless community. 

Gay bars are an essential pivotal place for history, and the lesbian bar had become a rare breed even before a global pandemic shut down the nightlife down indefinitely. Lisa Cannistraci, founder and owner of Henrietta Hudson, the oldest surviving bar in the country told her personal and professional story. She was joined by bartender Desiree Rotella. They discussed the challenges facing lesbian bars commemorating pride in a pandemic as well as the response to the recent Black Lives Matter momentum.

51 years after the queers of Stonewall Inn fought back against police, there's a fresh anti-police brutality movement spreading across the world. Julian Sanjivan, co-President of InterPride, talked with Mattachine Magazine about the George Floyd protests and their resonance with the Stonewall Riots, celebrating Pride during a pandemic, and making the world safer for gender nonconforming people. Trigger warning: sexual assault, police brutality Outright Action International - Vulnerability Amplified: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on LGBTIQ People https://outrightinternational.org/content/vulnerability-amplified-impact-covid-19-pandemic-lgbtiq-people

New York City is the birthplace of Pride, but this is the first WorldPride held in the United States. 50 years after the Stonewall riots ignited a revolution, the gay community from around the world will celebrate all throughout midtown New York. We spoke with Cathy Renna, activist and organizer with Heritage of Pride about the Pride March and movement.

50 years after the Stonewall Riots rose up against the police, we're getting ready for a World Pride celebration that welcomes the NYPD. This year, there will be a movement to remind the gay community and Pride Celebrations exactly why they began. We spoke with Natalie James, co-founder of the Reclaim Pride Coalition about their planned Queer Liberation March.

The Stonewall Riot is seen as the turning point in the gay rights movement. Patrons at the Stonewall Inn, a regular meeting place for New York City's queer community were finally fed up with being harassed by police and hiding in the shadows. On June 28, 1969 when police tried to raid the Stonewall Inn, rather than going quietly into the night, the Stonewall crowd fought back. That fight exploded queer oppression and the gay rights battle into the national spotlight and galvanized the movement. We spoke with co-owner of the Stonewall Inn Stacy Lentz about what happened on that fateful night, the current state of the fight for gay rights, and what she and the Stonewall team are preparing for this June.

Years before the Stonewall Riots, gay culture was alive and thriving -- underground -- in New York City's bar culture. The "Sip-in," modeled after the Sit-in protests of the Civil Rights movement, was an effort to bring gay culture and rights out of the shadows and into the mainstream. Led by Dick Leitsch, President of the New York chapter of the Mattachine Society, the demonstration sought to show how gays were mistreated for something as simple as buying a drink.  We spoke with Randy Wicker, activist and author who was present for the demonstration. He talked about the motivations for the Sip-in, gay rights demonstrations before and after, and the difficulties of being turned away.