On This Day Every day of the year is a day on which someone of interest was born or died or some event of interest occurred… June 19 James VI of Scotland/James I of England (1566), Blaise Pascal (1623), Alfredo Catalani (1854), Douglas Haig (1861), José Rizal (1861), May Whitty (1865), Wallis Warfield Simpson, Duchess […]
“It’s White Supremacy, Not Sex Addiction, Stupid!”: the Evergreen Review event on anti-Asian violence (5.1.21) I would like to thank Dale Peck of the Evergreen Review, Jee Leong Koh of Singapore Unbound and everyone else who helped organize this important event. I’m honored and delighted to be joining such wonderful writers and poets as Jerrine […]
More than 400 Asian New Yorkers sign letter opposing Yang By Sydney Kashiwagi City & State New York 4.21.21 Progressive activists oppose his platform on policing, housing and Israel-Palestine relations… Pauline Park, a Korean American transgender progressive activist, was skeptical of Andrew Yang when he ran for president. She thought his signature universal basic income proposal was […]
Closed-mindedness and Arrogance Heather BattalyForthcoming in Alessandra Tanesini and Michael P. Lynch (eds.)Polarisation, Arrogance, and Dogmatism: Philosophical Perspectives (Routledge) Let’s begin with a quote from the President of the UnitedStates: “CNN’s Don Lemon, the dumbest manon television, insinuated last night while asking a debate “question” that I was a racist, when in fact I am“the least racist person […]
Asian-American Community Takes a Stand Against Hate By Tat Bellamy-Walker Gay City News 24 March 2021 Asian-American advocates hold vigil in response to Atlanta shooting massacre. Pauline Park Dozens of people in the Asian-American community — including LGBTQ individuals — gathered at Moore Homestead Playground in Elmhurst, Queens, on March 21 for a vigil honoring […]
Asian Americans & the Lessons of the Atlanta Massacre (3.21.21)Pauline Parkat the AAPI vigil in Elmhurst21 March 2021 I would like to thank Carolyn Tran and all those who helped organize this important event. And I will say that I join with you today in anger and sorrow and resolve: anger at the hatred that […]
2020 retrospective 2020 was one of the most difficult and challenging years in my life as well as the country’s, though we couldn’t have known how difficult or challenging when we rang the year in at midnight on Jan. 1. 1.3.19 2020 began with a toast to the professor as members of the NYC Friends […]
I’m actually not one for big birthday parties; in fact, I’ve only had one really big public birthday party in my life. When I turned 50, I was initially inclined to keep my age as big a secret as possible, but then did just the opposite: I ended up organizing a big public event at […]
Homophobia in the office illegal: SCOTUS Landmark ruling protects LGBTQ+ under Civil Rights Act Title VII by Katherine Donleavy Queens Chronicle 6.18.20 At precisely the halfway point of Pride Month, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling protecting LGBTQ+ rights in the workplace — the mostly conservative court ruled June 15 that gay, lesbian and […]
Done With de Blasio, Progressives SayDuncan OsborneBy Gay City NewsJune 5, 2020 While his support on the left was already eroding, some LGBTQ people who previously backed Mayor Bill de Blasio or who at least have not been overly critical of his administration are now openly challenging his handling of protests responding to the police […]
New York City: yew tree estate or wild boar settlement? New Amsterdam was the first European settlement on the island of Manhattan, which the indigenous Lenape had settled long before the arrival of the Dutch. In 1664, a British warship sailed into the harbor and the Dutch surrendered without a shot being fired. Charles II renamed […]
By S.I. RosenbaumBoston Globe5 July 2019 In late May — just before the start of Pride Month — the Trump administration formally announced its intent to allow medical practitioners and health insurers to legally discriminate against transgender people. The administration proposed to undo Obama-era language that defined discrimination “on the basis of sex” to […]