Hola everyone! My name is Angel Avina, and it’s my turn to share with you today’s adventures we had through out the city of New York! We started the day out bright and early meeting in our dorms lobby at 9am to start our subway ride to the offices of GLSEN. GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network) is a k-12 education program that works in providing numerous resources for students and academic professionals to promote the inclusion of LGBTQ communities into education. Emily Greytak, Director of Research, and aunt of our lovely Abby Schneller, greeted us in their conference room with a box full of delicious pastries and where we started right off the back with introductions. After intros we met Ikaika Regidor, Youth Program Director, who took us into a hall to do an exercise that involved us placing ourselves in a time line according to a slip of paper that stated a fact on LGBTQ history, some dating back to the 1600’s.
After we were done we came back together around the conference table and had the opportunity to meet the different members of the other departments and what exactly each one of the departments was currently working on. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how mentally engaging this organization was since I had never heard of it before. I’ve recently been interested in the reformation of sexual studies in k-12 institutes, so getting an insight on how one organization has been able to provide so many resources in this field has elevated my interests to another level. After each representative spoke we were able to ask questions and below is just a sample response that we received.
GLSEN was wonderful in providing us a synopsis of what they do and what is left to accomplish in providing for the LGBTQ communities in schools. We got to go home with a really nice folder packed with all their resource information and contacts, and trust me; I look forward to working with GLSEN in the future.
After GLSEN we made our way over to Christopher Park, right out side of the Stonewall Inn. Today was the first day of our small group presentations on the historic locations that we will be visiting through out our travels. Today Abby, Jynx, and Jake presented on the history of Stonewall including its riot and what came after it for the community. Below is a bit of Abby’s presentation.
After the presentation we crossed the street over to Stonewall Inn where we met with Tree Sequoia. This man was definitely a character and one that had us laughing through out his whole presentation. He gave us a very blunt history of the place, no sugar coating. It was run by the mafia in its earlier days, as were most of neighborhoods. He focused mainly on the aftermath of the riot in regards to the Inn, such as the bar getting split into two and how the community supported them by allowing them to come into their stores so that the police couldn’t arrest them. He also mentioned that one of the police officers that was in the riot later apologized for deeming them as sick before he passed away. Tree spent most of his time talking about his life growing up and how he came to be so well rooted into his queer community. He told us how his career started out in the bars and was always bouncing around from one to the other. Tree put the time period into perspective for us stating:
“Years ago you had to worry about being gay. I was in a gang and I used to have to hide having sex on roof tops and on top of piles of trash bags and then go back home and lie about it to the gang. I’d say I was away with my family or something”
He finished up with answering questions and the last question that I asked was what advice he would have for a group of young queer individuals and he responded with;
“Play it smart, meet the right people and learn how to live on your own so that you don’t have to rely on anybody.” “Go to school, get your education and then you can afford to be gay.”
After our session with Tree, our group activities came to an end but I would like to mention how I finished the rest of my day. A group of us headed over back to Times Square to buy some Broadway tickets and decided to watch Kinky Boots. Let me just say, Billy Porter was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! Everyone reading needs to see this man while he still in the show. The lights, the music, the vocals, the crystal encrusted Boots; all had me at the edge of my seat in goose bumps. We met him after the show and he was surprisingly humble, and even knew where Purdue University was. The person that really took my breath away for the night was a complete surprise, Lady Bunny. The legendary drag queen goddess came out of the same doors and I was not expecting it. I chased her down a few blocks in order to get a picture. I must say, the inner elementary school girl came out of me and was in utter shock. After the picture I thanked her and re-joined my group a few blocks down.
Over all, my day was full of queerness and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The day completed my stay here in New York City on an ultra high note, from the resourceful information from GLSEN, to the history of Stonewall Inn and ending with the experience of my second Broadway show. On my way back I was thinking to myself as I looked back to these past few days, and I can truly say I took full advantage of this opportunity and New York was everything I expected and more!
