TEXT BY SCOTT STIFFLER, PHOTOS COURTESY OF SIGBI | Members, friends, and guests of The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative (SIGBI) started the month of June by gathering at the place “where Pride began”—The Stonewall Inn, Christopher Street, Greenwich Village, NYC. The occasion: Fête old friends, make new ones, raise a glass, and celebrate. Thus, the June 1 assembly was a night of righteous alignment, when nonprofit SIGBI’s omnipresent mission (to “drive progress in the fight for equality”) shared the bill with that prime element of the Preamble (“the pursuit of happiness”).
In a room full of team players more prone to bear hugs than air kisses, lips on all locations of the spectrum shivered in anticipation, achieving sweet release only when Luke Evans, no stranger to intimate performance venues, took to Stonewall’s tiny but mighty second floor stage. Currently starring on Broadway as Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, swoon-inducing ally Evans—in a rare public appearance sans fishnets and heels—made heartfelt remarks, as he opened the proceedings. There were performances by Yuhua Hamasaki (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Bradley Gibson (Broadway’s The Lion King), and pop singer Avery Cochran–along with a Keynote speech by Yanery Cruz (Executive Director, NYC Council LGBTQIA+ Caucus), and remarks by Stonewall owner Stacy Lentz.
Seen on the red carpet outside the Stonewall Inn, then inside the storied queer watering hole, were Lorna Luft (singer), John Bartlett (designer), Cathy Renna (activist), Steven Love Menendez (activist), Molly Murphy Weinberg (filmmaker), Jay W. Walker (activist), Dyonne L’Homie (drag queen), Paris L’Hommie (drag queen), Dirty Martini (burlesque star), Lavinia Draper (performer), and, as they say, “many, many more.”
For more information about SIGBI, click here. To visit the Stonewall Inn online, click here. For a fun activity so bereft of online presence it’s practically Luddite, keep scrolling down and see which one of the above mentioned names you can spot in the below photo roundup.
—END—
ABOUT: LGBTQCommunityNews.nyc is an independent, free source of queer-centric news, arts, info, and opinion content. Our website, podcast, and quarterly newspaper are funded by advertising revenue and reader donations. To support this project, click here for the GoFundMe campaign. Questions? Comments? Click here to contact us. To join the subscriber list of our free ENewsletter, click here.
