Williamsburg hotspot Metropolitan's vine-tangled patio, scattered with picnic tables and lawn chairs, draws throngs of tank-top-wearing, chain-smoking, $2-PBR-swilling gays from across the city seven nights a week—and the neighbors have had enough. Members of Community Board 1 unanimously rejected a proposal to renew the establishment's liquor license. It isn't that the gays are too proud, they say, it's just that they're too damn loud! more ›

After years of work, New York's gay hotel/resort/nightclub The Out NYC is almost ready. But before they start letting gay (and, presumably, straight or at least curious) guests grind in their bedrooms, the massive venture is doing something lowkey flamboyant and opening its enormous zombie club, XL. There will be gay. more ›

Looking for a nice lesbian-friendly city? You won't do badly in New York. In response to The Advocate's strange annual list of the nation's gayest cities (Salt Lake City? Okaaaay) the ladies of Autostraddle have gone and made a list of the "21 Most Lesbianish Cities" around the country and guess what? We're number two! more ›

Oh noes yous gays, Grindr has been hacked! Who would have thought that a casual hookup app might not be completely secure? "We are certainly aware of a lot of these vulnerabilities and ... they will be fixed as fast as humanly possible," the popular app's founder, Joel Simkhai, admitted. more ›

No doubt about it, the gays just think New York City is fabulous. Lesbians do too, though they're reasons for coming can be a little more staid. Community Marketing has released its 16th annual Gay & Lesbian tourism report [PDF] and when it comes to leisure and business travel, American homosexuals choose New York City hands down. No wonder we're pushing out another gay tourism campaign! more ›

New York City is really getting gay these days. We've got the gays getting gay married all over the place, a gay "urban resort" in the works and now comes word that we'll soon be home to the nation's first LGBT senior center. Because gay people get old and want to complain about how nobody visits them to their gay friends, too! more ›

Hundreds of people packed a Community Board 4 meeting in Hell's Kitchen last night to debate Boxers, the popular Chelsea gay sports bar that wants to open on 10th Avenue near 52nd Street. That's just down the block from Public School 111, and many parents are concerned about its proximity to their children—because of the "alcohol exposure," not because it's a gay bar, of course. All that firm, rippling gayness has nothing to do with it! Please let area resident Nivia Cefello, who has lived in Hell's Kitchen for 65 years, explain: more ›

Last December our President signed into law a repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. But despite that the policy hasn't actually gone away. Until now. Tomorrow the U.S. Army will become the first branch of the military to officially do away with the policy. For all those worried that something was going to suddenly appear on the horizon and end the march of progress, well, breathe easy. Looks like we're in the clear. The full text of the announcement, after the jump. more ›

The latest group to join the preemptive opposition for a rumored Walmart location in Brooklyn is the Stonewall Democratic Club, the "oldest and largest citywide Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) Democratic organization." The group has thrown its support behind the Wal-Mart Free NYC organization, which is committed to stopping the retail giant from getting a foothold in the city. SDNYC released a statement today explaining why it thinks Walmart is bad for homosexuals: more ›

Carl Paladino is upset at the media for seizing on his various lightning rod statements. He told City Room, "It just seems like there’s a continuous misstatement, or abuse or exaggeration by certain members of the press that just keep chasing us around." But when there's video of him dropping the F-bomb during a town hall meeting this past March, why can't we all just enjoy it? more ›

A small but well-publicized group of homophobic, anti-Semitic Baptist zealots from Kansas brought their dumb message of hate to Manhattan this weekend, standing around with inflammatory signs like "The Jews Killed Jesus" outside a West Village synagogue that caters to gays and lesbians. But instead of straightening out the gays and bringing the Jews to Jesus, these hateful hayseeds actually succeeded in helping out one of their targets, the Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, which turned the demonstration into a fundraiser! more ›

SNL is back! Not sure if the exclamation point is necessary, but their 33rd season kicked off this past weekend with some good stuff. LeBron James was host and Kanye West was the musical guest -- West actually showed up in a good sketch, though oddly enough not this musical one. The below is a ballad to the President of Iran called "Iran So Far" delivered by Andy Samberg and Maroon 5's Adam Levine. "You can't deny there's something between us. I know you say there's no gays in Iran, but you're in New York now, baby!" more ›

The Russian bathhouse on East 10th Street gets a very bad rap from a former employee who claims all sorts of nonsense was going on there. Susan Shellogg, a massage therapist/aesthetician/reflexologist, filed a lawsuit against the Russian and Turkish Baths; the Sun reports Shellogg says she was fired "because of her gender and her refusal to consent to clients' sexual demands, and in retaliation for complaints about sexual harassment and a hostile work environment she made to the bathhouse's owners." Eep. And the Post has some of the crazy details:

Her court papers say that when she complained to the bosses "that male employees openly fondled male customers during treatments in open common areas," they told her it was "good for business" and "the gays were bringing in all the money." Only men were allowed on Sunday mornings, which was referred to as "Gay Day" or "Sausage Fest," the suit says, with male employees and clients being "urged and encouraged to engage in homosexual activity." more ›

Gays for Giuliani: CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on the latest satirical endorsements. more ›

Start sharpening your spurs, gays and gals, because Jake Gyllenhaal is coming to Broadway! If director Mike Nichols has his way, you’ll soon have your chance to stalk the sensitive heartthrob as he flees through the stage door of Farragut North, a new play about presidential campaign hardball penned by a former Howard Dean staffer. According to today’s Post, Gyllenhaal (who made his stage debut in a Maggie Gyllenhaal-directed production of Cats in their parents’ living room) is all-but-confirmed for the cast. But before that, Nichols will shepherd other boldface names to Broadway with a spring revival of Clifford Odets’s The Country Girl, about a washed up wino actor and his beleaguered wife. With Morgan Freeman and our personal favorite Frances McDormand rumored to play the couple, this has Compelling Theatrical Event written all over it. more ›

The firing of Don Imus has caused many to take a look at language in not only media, but music. As previously mentioned, Al Sharpton is one looking to clean up what we hear, and yesterday he led a march against racist and sexist lyrics, targeting the major labels. Around 400 others joined him in a march around midtown, outside companies like Universal Music Group. The topic reportedly carried over to a private gathering at the Apollo later on, for what would have been James Brown's 74th birthday. more ›

Millions of people marched in and watched the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on Fifth Avenue yesterday. more ›

At 11AM tomorrow, the Saint Patrick's Day Parade will start at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue and will travel up Fifth Avenue to 86th Street. And, keeping with the grand tradition of controversy regarding who does or doesn't march in the parade, parade organizer John Dunleavy has ruffled more than a few FDNY feathers by moving the FDNY from the front of the parade (behind the NYPD) to the middle of the pack; if you want to see what that means, check out this Line of March PDF - they are after a bunch of high school bands! Local politicians, such as City Councilman Miguel Martinez (who heads the council's fire and criminal justice committee) suggested parade-goers boo Dunleavy at the parade. Even City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is marching in a parade in Dublin because the city's St. Patrick's Day parade excludes gays, thinks Dunleavy is wrong. more ›

The MTA released some St. Patrick's Day rules for the Long Island Railroad: "In an effort to maintain orderly travel for our customers attending the St. Patrick's Day Parade, alcoholic beverages will not be permitted." Newsday reports that alcohol will be banned all Saturday (March 17) and early Sunday and that any alcoholic beverages will be confiscated. Given that there doesn't seem to be a fine or penalty attached to having alcoholic beverages, we bet people will still try to sneak it in. We wonder if the MTA will be making sure more LIRR are on duty to enforce this. more ›

Third Avenue, by Joe Holmes. more ›

On Wednesday, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standard, which guides the Conservative Judaism movement, voted to allow gay rabbis and gay unions. While the move was hailed by some and denounced by others, the other mechanics of how this ruling will work. From the NY Times:

But in a reflection of the divisions in the movement, the 25 rabbis on the law committee passed three conflicting legal opinions — one in favor of gay rabbis and unions, and two against. more ›

Grocery, Flatlands, by gkjarvis. more ›

With the NJ Supreme Court decision that gay couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples just one day old, it's still unclear whether or not New York will accept a NJ same-sex civil union or marriage, though it has with other states. Mayor Bloomberg said, "New York City has a policy of accepting bona-fide marriages from other jurisdictions. I've always believed it's not the government's business whom you marry." And City Council Speaker Quinn who is openly gay said, "New York State's Legislature must also act to address this injustice in New York so that all citizens are treated equally on both sides of the Hudson River." more ›

Andrew Friedman is co-director of Make the Road by Walking, a Brooklyn-based community-based organization founded in 1997 on the belief that the center of leadership must be within the community. Since then, the organization has grown dramatically and now includes over 600 members, a member-elected board composed of low-income community residents, and a staff of twelve. Over the past 5 years, MRBW has achieved many improvements to the lives of Bushwick residents. They pushed New York City to conform to federal law and provide translation services to non-English speakers in food stamp, welfare, and Medicaid offices, and got dozens of neighborhood employers to pay more than $100,000 in illegally withheld wages to garment workers. more ›

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute. more ›

The big real estate news of the day is that the empty lot on the southeastern corner of West 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue - right near the movie theater on the south side of 42nd Street - will finally get developed. The NY TImes' coverage of the deal starts off with:

A New Jersey developer plans to build a $1 billion office tower on the last parcel in the 13-acre Times Square redevelopment district, bringing an end to the 26-year effort to clean up an area that was known as the Deuce when it was a motley collection of movie houses, sex shops, T-shirt stores, pimps and drug dealers.

San Francisco is proud host of a new reality show called "How to Get the Guy" that's unfortunately not a descendant of Will and Grace, Queer Eye, The L Word, American Idol etc. Also a biodefence lab is coming to the East Bay and SFist teaches wine pairing. more ›

Linda Simpson, Media Queen more ›

Next Friday will be a big one for the new City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. It's St. Patrick's Day, and the Speaker usually marches in the parade, alongside the Mayor and other city officials. But Quinn is in the process of deciding whether she will attend, because of the parade does not allow gay groups to march. Quinn was arrested in 1999 for trying to march in the Bronx St. Patrick's Day parade, and has criticized the Mayor for marching in the "exclusive" Fifth Avenue parade. Gay activists are hoping that her presence as a lesbian public official will pave the way for Irish LBG groups to march, but as Newsday points out the parade organizers are fine with gays marching - as long as they are not part of an organized gay group - we doubt the parade will change that easily. But we will Quinn will march - but maybe with an upside-down clover in protest. At any rate, she'll keep us on our toes till the day itself - she'll decide then. more ›

Dude-- we were in LA for five days and when we returned everything was different! The temperature dropped like 50 degrees, and according to this poster we saw outside the Prince Street N/R station, the Catholic church is now cool with BOTH gay sex and condoms. Way to go guys-- keep reaching for that rainbow! more ›