Tag: New York City

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NYC Pet Shelters See Surge In Dog/Cat Adoption Rates

Bloomberg News reports animal shelters in New York City have suddenly seen a surge in adoption rates during the coronavirus threat.

That’s right, in the New York City area, the epicenter of the disease, there is suddenly a run on pets. At least of the adopted or fostered kind. Muddy Paws Rescue and Best Friends Animal Society are reporting shelters they work with are either all out of or almost out of cats and dogs after a surge in applications of as much as 10-fold in the past two weeks.

Ordered to shelter in place at home, and both a little bored and a lot anxious, New Yorkers apparently see the four-legged friends as way to calm frayed nerves.

“For the moment we definitely don’t have any dogs left to match” with foster volunteers, said Anna Lai, the marketing director at Muddy Paws. “Which is a great problem to have.”

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Full Ground Stop At All NYC Area Airports Due To Staffing Shortages

(image via Erik Odiin/Unsplash)
UPDATE: The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its brief suspension of flights to New York City-area airports due to coronavirus-related staffing issues at a regional air-traffic control center.

The halt was lifted after about 30 minutes. Initially, air traffic controllers were warned it could last several hours.

Apparently someone in the regional New York center for air traffic control tested positive, so the FAA shut it down. Inbound flights are being diverted and take-offs have been canceled. From CBNC:

Air traffic into major New York City-area airports was halted on Saturday, the Federal Aviation Administration said, as coronavirus continues to cause staffing issues at FAA facilities around the country.

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Student Doctor Sues Over Anti-Gay Harassment During NYC Residency

A doctor in New York City has filed a lawsuit alleging he was repeatedly the target of homophobic comments during his first-year residency at The Brooklyn Hospital Center. The New York Post reports Dr. Chad Jensen, a surgical resident, says among the vulgar jokes made at his expense was a supervisor referring to him as a member of the ATM or ‘a** to mouth crew.’ In his lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, Jensen alleges the surgical residency program director, Dr. Armand Asarian, and Dr. Sandeep Sirsi, the associate director, “regularly made hateful, anti-gay comments about their gay patients and unscientific judgments that these patients’ own ‘lifestyle’ caused their illnesses.” The 32-year-old physician, who left the residency program before his year was up, told the Post he was surprised to experience ‘that kind of discrimination’ in New York City. Jensen moved to New York City from California in June 2017 to take the one-year residency. It was during that time he came out as gay. “It just reinforced all of those fears, essentially putting me back into those 29 years that I was living in fear, feeling like I couldn’t be myself,” Jensen told the Post. According to the lawsuit, the Brooklyn Hospital Center did determine after Jensen’s departure that he “had been harassed because of his sexual orientation.” Asarian was reportedly removed as director of the surgical residency program and Sirsi was forced to resign. Jensen is now a resident in the Bronx at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln. He tells the Post he brought the lawsuit because he felt “like he had no voice.” “It made me think of all the other people in this country that are also gay and feel like they have nowhere to go and it leads them down dark paths,” Jensen explained to the Post. “So me coming forward, I wanted to let people know that they’re not alone.” The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and asks for the hospital to institute anti-bias training. (source: NY Post – stock photo via Depositphotos)

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Bronx Teen Charged In Fatal Christmas Eve Attack On Gay Couple

A Bronx teen has been charged with murder, gang assault and robbery for the brutal beating that killed 60-year-old Juan Fresnada on Christmas Eve. New York Daily News reports Abu Conteh, 18, was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the mugging that profited a gang of attackers $1 and led to the death of Fresnada. As previously reported, Fresnada and his longtime boyfriend, Byron Caceres, 26, were assaulted around 1:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve when they were targeted by muggers outside a McDonald’s restaurant. Fresnada attempted to protect his younger partner in the attack but was overwhelmed as three men took part in the assault which lasted about 15 minutes according to Caceres. In surveillance video, one of the gang can be seen slamming a metal trash can down on Fresnada’s head before fleeing the scene of the crime leaving the elder man bleeding in the street as cars, passers-by and a city bus passed by without stopping. Surveillance video showed Fresnada bleeding on the ground as passers-by, cars, and even a city bus passed by without checking on the man bleeding on the sidewalk.

Fresnada eventually died from his injuries inflicted by the gang, which included swelling in the brain, after clinging to life for three days on a ventilator at Lincoln Hospital. Conteh was reportedly picked up at his home not far from the scene of the crime after being identified as one of the assailants. Two accomplices have also been identified and police are currently searching for them. The 18-year-old’s mother, Isataturay Conteh, told the Daily News her son is innocent. “He saw people fighting and he knows those people in the video but he never touched that man,” said the mother. “It’s not him who killed this man.” Even with the arrest of Conteh, Caceres says he’s been worried that the suspects might come looking for him. “I’m nervous about it,” he told the Daily News. “I’m thinking a lot about it…. A lot of people told me that I should cover my face when I was talking to the news.” “Hopefully justice comes on the way,” he added. “If I have to go to court, if I have to go the grand jury, if I have to do something to recognize this guy, I will do it.” The couple had lived together in a small apartment in the Bronx since 2016.

Juan Fresnada and Byron Caceres
(source: NY Daily News)

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Podcast: Dangers On Grindr, ‘Special’ renewed, Plus Tips For The Holidays With The Family

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' In this week’s podcast: • Two Dallas men plead guilty to using Grindr to commit hate crimes against gay men • The first LGBTQ-welcoming senior housing opens in New York City • An Elder at an anti-LGBTQ Missouri church has been charged with soliciting sexual favors from college guys • The acclaimed Netflix series “Special” is renewed for Season 2 • Plus, tips for introducing your significant other to your family during the holidays All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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Boss Cuts Employee’s Salary In Half After Discovering He’s Gay

Stock photo showing a fired male employee sitting at his desk

Stock photo showing a fired male employee sitting at his desk
(stock photo via Depositphotos)
A gay man working at an event company found his salary cut in half after his boss found out he was gay. Two weeks later, the gay employee was fired. The New York Post reports Wesley Wernecke was recruited, hired and began working for Eventique in New York City on June 3 as a Senior Producer. One week into settling into the new gig, a coworker noticed his wedding ring and asked, “So what does your wife’s ring look like?” According to court papers filed with the Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday, Wernecke shared that his partner, Evan, had a similar ring. Eventique founder and executive producer Liron David was in the room at the time of the conversation, and soon Wernecke found himself left out of conference meetings as well as being excluded from after-work drinks with other male colleagues. Court documents for the lawsuit allege, “David took all these tactics to exclude Wernecke because David had already made up his mind that, despite the proficiency of Wernecke’s work, he would not accept having an openly gay man working in the office, and he intended to get rid of Wernecke.” Wernecke soldiered on for months, but on September 20 David informed Wernecke that he was reducing his salary from $145,000 to $70,000. “I couldn’t sleep at night thinking you were being paid so much more than the other females in the office,” David told the 32-year-old reports the Post. Wernecke says he believes David made the comment “to reinforce Wernecke’s understanding that David considered Wernecke to be a sexual deviant and unfit to work at Eventique.” Wernecke soon discovered his pay was actually slashed to $58,000. And two weeks later, on October 4, Wernecke was told he was being fired due to “deficiencies” and “errors” in his work. Wernecke’s lawyer, Anthony Consiglio at the law firm Cary Kane, told the Post his client is an “accomplished marketing director and producer of live events” who is now seeing a therapist for the first time in his life due to the discriminatory treatment. “These acts cannot be reconciled with the liberal anti-discrimination positions written into law in New York City and State to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people in their workplaces,” Consiglio said. Gena Zaiderman, David’s attorney, told the Post her client considers the allegations in the court filing “baseless” and “shocking.” “Mr. David firmly stands by his long-standing reputation for fairness and professionalism,” said Zaiderman. “We expect that the facts will be revealed in due course.” (source: NY Post)

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Trump Booed Bigly At UFC Match In NYC

Donald Trump has ordered US military forces to the Middle East following an Iranian attack on Saudi oil facilities

Donald Trump has ordered US military forces to the Middle East following an Iranian attack on Saudi oil facilities After being booed at Game 5 of the World Series last Sunday, you’d think Donald Trump might have thought twice about attending another public sporting event. But I’m guessing the Trumpster assumed he’d be in safe territory taking in an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) match. However, when the president entered Madison Square Garden Saturday night he was greeted by a huge chorus of boos from the audience.

Joe Jervis, of JoeMyGod, was on the scene tweeting the ‘atmosphere:’

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NYC Set To Repeal Conversion Therapy Ban

Back in 2017, the New York City Council passed a law which bans so-called ‘conversion therapy’ for everyone within its jurisdiction.

Now, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (who is gay) has announced he will introduce a bill to repeal the law.

What???

The legal maneuver comes as the virulently anti-LGBTQ law firm Alliance Defending Freedom has filed a lawsuit challenging the ban.

LGBTQ advocates fear the case could possibly be used to take such prohibitions all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which has taken a more conservative bent since Donald Trump has put two right-leaning justices in place since taking office.

If the haters were to win at SCOTUS, conversion therapy bans across the country could be at risk of being struck down.

That said, LGBTQ minors in New York City will still be protected by the separate statewide ban that was passed earlier this year by the New York State Legislature.

The City Council’s law was seen as more vulnerable to a court challenge because it was broader than others in effect, including the statewide ban.

LGBTQ advocates say repealing the NYC measure will allow them to focus less on defending the law in court and more on expanding protections against conversion therapy in other states.

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Homophobe Screams ‘You Are Desecrating The Name Of God! You Will Be Murdered!’

On Sunday afternoon, as Adam Eli, a community organizer in New York City, made his way out of the 28th Street subway station, he was followed and verbally harassed for being gay. Eli, who is openly gay and Jewish, told local news station PIX 11, “I’m sort of assuming they read that I was gay cause of the purse and also I have a patch on my butt,” referring to a pink handbag he was carrying and a gay pride patch on his jeans. The man had apparently tapped Eli on the shoulder on the subway and ordered him to remove his yarmulke. Eli declined. As Eli exited the station, he began recording the encounter on his phone which quickly went viral. https://twitter.com/aewerner/status/1171062243317997568 As the man followed him, he pointed directly at Eli and demanded he remove his pink yarmulke (kippah). On the video, you can hear Eli ask, “Because I’m gay and wearing a kippah…is that why?” “You’re desecrating the name of God,” said the homophobe as he began quoting verses from Leviticus. “You will be murdered! Take the kippah off.” Continuing down the sidewalk, Eli told the man, “No – this is my life and my city. I don’t have to take my kippah off.” “Stay in the closet!” yelled the man, his voice rising in volume. “Make sure your closet is in another closet! Take your kippah off! This is not Judaism!” “I’m cisgender, white, I have a social media platform I have resources and that’s the type of violence that I’m getting,” Eli told PIX 11 in an interview. “If that’s the type of violence that one of the most privileged members of our community is getting, can you imagine what it’s like every day in the subway to be a trans person or a gender non-conforming person or a queer person of color?” In a series of tweets, Eli explained his reasons for sharing the encounter with his followers. “ I spent the first 18 years of my life listening to people tell me I couldn’t be gay and Jewish,” he began. “Today I love my queer Jewish identity and nobody is taking that away from me.”

Eli says he didn’t report the incident to the police because he “didn’t see how that could help.” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio became aware of the encounter and tweeted his support writing, “It takes courage to confront homophobia and tell a story like this.” “I’m sorry you had to go through this, Adam,” continued the mayor. “But we’re proud of how you responded. There’s no place for hate in this city.” https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/1171230660104740865

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World Premiere: ‘Novenas For A Lost Hospital’

Guest post by Lawrence Pfeil, Jr. of TheOUTFront.com It’s hard to imagine a place filled with more of life’s drama than a hospital, and when it comes to hospitals it’s nearly impossible to imagine one more filled with history’s drama than New York City’s shuttered, St Vincent’s Hospital. Such is the point of departure for Rattlestick Playwrights Theater’s Novenas for A Lost Hospital, an intimate theatrical experience taking audiences on a literal journey through the West Village, September 5 – October 13, 2019. Opening Rattlestick’s 25th anniversary season, the world premiere of Cusi Cram’s Novenas for A Lost Hospital stars Tony Award nominee (Angels in America) and four-time Obie winner, Kathleen Chalfant as Saint Elizabeth Seton. The production and cast of thirteen are under the direction of Rattlestick Artistic Director, Daniella Topol.  This unique walking theatrical production is presented in partnership with Village Preservation, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center, NYC AIDS Memorial Board, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, St. John’s in the Village, and Visual AIDS. For the LGBT+ community, especially gay men, the connection to St Vincent’s Hospital runs deep and very personal. Located on the border of the Village and Chelsea, it was the community’s “go-to” hospital for decades. Injured protesters from the Stonewall Uprising fifty years ago were brought to St. Vincent’s Emergency Room for first aid. When AIDS grew into an epidemic twenty-five years later, far too many men were brought there one last time and their chosen families gathering there to bear witness endless times.  The one saving grace was the staff of doctors and nurses of the hospital-borne out of one plague having compassion on a community facing another. This is but one story in the 161-year legacy that was St Vincent’s Hospital.  Its ties to some of history’s most iconic moments are so much more.  As Dramaturg Guy Lancaster writes,

“St. Vincent’s Hospital was started inside a rented house on East 13th Street in 1849 during a cholera epidemic by four nuns from the Sisters of Charity. It was the first Catholic hospital in Manhattan. Survivors of disasters such as the sinking of the Titanic, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and September 11th were treated at St. Vincent’s after it moved to its eventual site on 7th Avenue in 1856.

A devastating new plague, HIV/AIDS, would profoundly affect the institution and the surrounding neighborhood from the 1980s onwards as the hospital became a center for AIDS research and treatment. By the time St. Vincent’s closed its doors on April 30, 2010, 3,500 employees had lost their jobs. The last Catholic hospital in Manhattan was replaced by a luxury condo development.”

Times Square is called as the “Crossroads of the World,” but just a mile south of it, on the same avenue, St Vincent’s Hospital could be called the “crossroads of humanity.”  For five weeks, Novenas for a Lost Hospital will allow audiences to traverse time and tale, walking with compassion through the history of this storied house of healing. More information about Novenas for a Lost Hospital HERE  Previews begin September 5. Official opening night September 19, with performances through October 13. * Guests arriving at the 6:30 time will experience an extended prologue, and audiences at both check-in times will unite for the majority of the event. Due to its traveling nature, audiences are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes and to leave heavy bags at home. Coat check is not available. Purchase tickets HERE  More information about Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, their 25th anniversary season, and subscriptions HERE (photos: Mark Abrahams)