Photographs by Jolie Ruben

Last night, hundreds of fabulously dressed, devilishly handsome (not to mention rich and successful) young gay men filled a purple-tinted, music-pumping Exit Art gallery (conveniently right downstairs from TONY headquarters) to celebrate the Stonewall Foundation’s annual fund-raiser Revel 2009. Music by award-winning DJ Corey Craig and a five-hour open bar courtesy of Stoli drew a packed house where the handsome young donors from major New York City organizations rubbed elbows and drank exotic concoctions served by equally handsome bartenders. Read more »

Photographs by the Drunken Photographer

Artists and corporate sponsors mingled with local celebrities—including stage legend Joel Grey, Mad Men’s Bryan Batt and soap star Scott Evans—at GLAAD’s eighth annual OUT Auction at the Metropolitan Pavilion on Sunday night. The lavish event auctioned off work by GLAAD-approved artists in order to raise money to continue GLAAD’s awareness and antihomophobia programs. (Disclosure: TONY was a media sponsor of the event.) During his speech, GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios referenced a national headline from last month about a Chicago high school student who reported a teacher for using the term black fag (and eventually got the teacher suspended) as a way to remind people why they were there, though it is questionable whether the loosened-up crowd, who required some shushing, got the message. The art collection as a whole was somewhat of a mixed bag, and it seemed GLAAD’s art-loving guests weren’t quite as enthusiastic as organizers were hoping. Read more »

Photographs by the Drunken Photographer

The term fashionably late was not taken lightly at Saturday’s House of Xtravaganza’s Moda: La Envidia Xtravaganza at Irving Plaza—the ball got rolling four hours after the doors opened, but even the downtime had a certain flair. There was more than enough atmosphere to soak up: a tidal wave of glitter over everything, homemade signs, a profusion of feather headdresses, high heels and beautiful, double-jointed voguers. The main thrust of the event was a long list of runway competitions, with prizes ranging from thousands of dollars to Wendy’s gift certificates and coyote skins, but Xtravaganza honored both the iconic (Tracy Africa received an honorary award) and the anonymous (ready-and-willing spectators plucked from the audience could flaunt like the pros). We were sincerely touched by the overwhelming camaraderie of the crowd. “A ball scene is about coming together like a family. Every house is really like a family, it’s about having fun,” said Mink, a longtime House member. Jennifer, another House member echoed the sentiment, “This ball is all about tolerance. Everyone here is so gracious.”

Photographs by the Drunken Photographer

After four and a half years of men stripping for charity while calling out bingo numbers, Will Clark’s Porno Bingo hit a major milestone last night: The weekly show has now officially raised more than $100,000, one bingo card (and occasional pair of panties) at a time. For the special occasion, Mathew Rush was this week’s eye candy and number caller. The burly skin-flick star was happy to participate, saying, “It feels good to give back. I get a very nice feeling inside.” In addition to calling numbers, Rush exchanged breezy banter with Clark on the small Pieces stage, breaking to auction off his shirt and underwear (see postsale photos above). The party also included a moody tune courtesy of local singer-songwriter Dudley Saunders.

Photographs by Beth Greenfield

Hopefully, the facts about last night’s marriage-rights vigil—organized by Marriage Equality New York (thank you, MENY!) in Union Square—are not an indication of how this week’s possible New York State special-session vote on the issue (delayed, sadly, from this afternoon) will go. First of all, there were not many people on board (200, at most, showed up to hold candles and chant, and the only two speakers were Council Speaker Christine Quinn and MENY director Ron Zacchi). Second, the chants were kind of lame (”They will vote! Yes! They will vote! Yes!”). And finally, the whole event was upstaged by a hideous combo of commercialism and war worship: the slick, mobbed, loud release party for the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was already in full swing at the south end of the park when the gays showed up with candles and signs and rainbow flags and messages of love. It would have been funny if it weren’t so disturbing.

Photographs by Keith Sullivan

TONY’s reporter was struck down by the Office Virus on the day of this weekend’s edition of the monthly QxBxRx (Queers, Beers & Rears) bash at Cake Shop, featuring performances by Guts for Garters, and Jen Urban and the Box. But our photographer still made it to the party, and it seems quite a good time was had by all in attendance! Check out our pictures of the debauchery above—and if you were there, tell us what happened in the comments.

Tuesday’s vote in Maine to repeal its law allowing gay couples to wed was a disheartening, disgusting blow. And now we must steel ourselves for New York’s say in the matter, as the State Legislature will vote on Tuesday, November 10, in a special session, on whether to pass the same-sex marriage bill. What can you do about it? For one, you can make calls to state legislators, imploring them to vote for the bill. And come Monday, November 9, you can join LGBT New Yorkers and their supporters—that means you, straight folks!—at the Marriage Equality New York Pre-Session Vigil in Union Square, a grassroots gathering at 6pm. Bring pro-marriage signs, a candle or flashlight, and a message: love. Vote in favor of love.

Photographs by Alex Schechter

As up-and-at-’em tourists sat down to an early breakfast in nearby Midtown cafes, the Saint at Large’s All Saints Halloween After Hours party at Club Purgatorio was just getting started. We stopped by around 8am to join the crowd who had chosen strobe lights over daylight. Upstairs from the quiet, cozy coat-check lobby was a thriving dance party, and the crowd—mostly shirtless (and very attractive) men—showed no signs of slowing down. Junior Vasquez, who started his set around 9am, had the packed dance floor in a trance that was broken only during a brief interlude of burlesque-ish sideshow performances. These included the spectacular Narcissister (who actually makes a show of putting her clothes back on, rather than taking them off), Xander the Witch Doctor, and a contortionist. Scantily clad hotties took turns up on the dance podiums, and one dancer was even kind enough to offer the whole club an impromptu peep show. Let’s just say he was good with his hands.

Photographs by the Drunken Photographer

This year’s annual Halloween Madonnathon at Pyramid offered up many flavors of the Madge, from sexy boys in kilts paying homage to her 2001 Drowned World tour to naughty girls emulating her Erotica phase. Chip Duckett, host of the club’s weekly 1984 party, spun Madonna all night long—never repeating!—showcasing her more than 25 years (!) of hits. According to some in the crowd, this year’s edition was not as packed with actual Material Girls as past Madonnathons have been (perhaps everyone was saving their costumes for the next night). But that didn’t dampen the fun: The dance floor remained packed with enthusiasts late into the night.

Photographs by the Drunken Photographer

All sorts of boys were streaming into Brandon Voss and Tony Fornabaio’s newish midtown adventure on Saturday night—twinkie, trendy, trannie, circuity, Sam Champion—to sample the different levels of clubby fun at Providence. DJ Mike Cruz worked it for the main floor with joyful, energetic beats from his chandelier-level perch, while DJ Lina (sexy in a royal-blue dress) got the nearby lounge moving with a soulful set. And a towering, space-age-clad Epiphany popped onstage down in the Triumph Room to break up a jammin’ DJ Xavier set that had the floor jam-packed from midnight on. Oh, and did we mention how hot the boys were? Here. See for yourself.

Photographs by Scott Dunay

To say that Friday night’s Original Plumbing launch party at Sugarland was something of an inside job would be an understatement. The two promoters, Sierra and Scout, are both hooked into the Williamsburg party scene. Sierra, who works the parties at Metropolitan, also hosts Hey Queen once a month at Sugarland, while Scout used to hold the general floor manager position there. And yet they were surprised at the turnout.“Three quarters of these people were already here before 11pm,” said an excited Sierra, gesturing to the eclectic crowd of queens, trannies, lesbians and punks that had already filled the place up.

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Photographs by Taylor Derwin

The East Village’s fashionably divey The Hose was the scene of some especially creative fund-raising last night: a soirée for the upcoming “Cold Water” exhibition at La MaMa Galleria, cocurated by the epicentral downtown performer Justin Bond and the New Yorker theater critic Hilton Als. The exhibition will feature work by performers who also do visual art (including Rufus Wainwright, Thurston Moore and Tilda Swinton). “We decided to have an art party as a fund-raiser,” said Bond. “So we have live nude models, and all these amazing people sitting around and drawing them, and we’re auctioning off the drawings.” Among those doing the drawing, auctioning, posing, gawking and buying: Bond, Lady Rizo, Rob Roth, Nicholas Gorham, VGL Gay Boys Jeffery Self and Cole Escola, Gayletter bloggers Abi and Tom, and even our own photographer for the night, who unexpectedly bared all on a red-velvet couch with only a naked woman and a stuffed white tiger for company. Anything for art!

Photographs by Michael Alexander

Some people wait for the annual excuse of Halloween to dress up in wild makeup and costumes. Not so the glorious freaks that came out for the second-ever reincarnation—not “reunion,” as we had originally termed it (see below)!—of the legendary ’90s soiree Click + Drag at Santos Party House this weekend. Of course, TONY was there; and Michael Alexander’s fantastical photos of the grandeur and debauchery, above, capture some of the polysexual perversity on copious display.

Click + Drag began in 1995 as a tentacle of the exuberantly creative weekly party Jackie 60 (which later morphed into Mother); and its unique cyber-goth-fetish-queer aesthetic soon earned a loyal following of its own. For those of us who remember it then, this weekend’s bash was a Mother lode of trips down memory alley: Presiding over the decadence, once again, were Click + Drag demiurges Rob Roth and Chi Chi Valenti; Valenti’s husband, Johnny Dynell, was deejaying for much of the night; the forbidding Hattie Hathaway welcomed visitors at the door.

But this was no mere trippy nostalgia trip. There were many new faces and new artists as well—including Our Lady J, who performed a musical floor show backed by a yellow-robed choir. “Method go-go” dancers gyrated onstage as downtown luminaries—Justin Bond, Lady Rizo, Jeff Whitty (in a Rejuvenique Electric Facial Mask)—prowled the floor; the statuesque Sequinette presided over the downstairs bar in a tableau vivant that suggested a portrait of some lost saint of glamour. And the astounding variety of the guests—walking, dancing art displays—gave the night a continuous jolt of vitality and originality. The theme may have been “The Second Coming,” inspired by Yeats’s foreboding poem, but the mood was far from dark. There was a feeling of wild community in the air, sharing a common love of the extreme. It was hard, in attendance, not to be happily dragged along by the forceful extravagance of one of New York’s most thrillingly creative cliques.

Photographs by Stephen Kosloff

On Friday night, TONY stopped by the monthly queer party held at Rebel. Desilicious, now in its seventh year, has established itself as one of the city’s best dance parties—attracting queers from all over. “I came for the night from St. Martin,” said Jeff Jhangian, who lives on the Caribbean island and arranged his NYC business trip to coincide with the party. Another partygoer, Fordham senior Marc Girard, has come to the party a few times, “When I first heard that there was a gay Indian party, I knew it was going to be fab.” He keeps returning because of the party’s welcoming vibe, “It has a sense of belonging.”
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Photographs by Anna King

Around two-hundred women (and a handful of guys) filled the Point Break bar in midtown last night for girlNATIONnyc. By day, it’s where office workers go to get a lunchtime beer; every Saturday night since 2004, though, it’s played host to one of the biggest NYC parties for gay women. Read more »

If you’re as sickened and outraged by last weekend’s brutal Queens antigay attack as you should be, then channel that anger into a march and rally in support of Jack Price, who remains hospitalized after he was beaten by the two piece-of-shit thugs who have since been nabbed for the hate crime.

The march steps off on Saturday at 2pm, near the scene of the attack in College Point, Queens, moving along College Point Blvd from 20th Ave to 14th Ave, where it will conclude with a rally in Popenhusen playground. To get there, take the 7 to Flushing–Main St and then the Q65 bus from Roosevelt and Main St to 20th Ave. Show antiqueer predators that we’re not going to take it anymore!

Folk-rock hero Bitch is back in town and playing Joe’s Pub this weekend. You can read our interview with her and fellow out musician Ferron here, and check out “Kitchen,” an exclusive track from Bitch’s new album, Blasted, below.

Photographs by Beth Greenfield and Anna King

Although the march on the Capitol was aimed at achieving nationwide federal recognition of gay rights, many local, state-focused groups such as Marriage Equality New York (MENY) made the day a hugely successful one. On Saturday, on the eve of the march and rally, around 150 MENY supporters gathered downtown at the Harman Center for the Arts. Cathy Marino-Thomas, MENY’s board president, chatted with the attendees individually, and then gathered the crowd to tell them about the work of her grassroots organization. (Marino-Thomas went on to speak alongside Cynthia Nixon, Judy Shepard, and Lady Gaga at the rally the following day.) Read more »

Photographs by Michael Alexander

Hookers, porn stars and plain old party people stayed out late on a Sunday for the 11th annual Hustlaball, sponsored by rentboy.com. Among the revelers were drag queen–porn guru Chi Chi LaRue, tattooed porn hunk Logan McCree and queer nightlife staple Ladyfag. With all this debauchery and flesh on display, you know we were there. Check out our pictures!

Well, I didn’t know what to expect today—and was really scared that the turnout would be shamefully low—but the passionate, chanting mass of marchers that descended upon the Capitol today was a beautiful surprise. Read more »