Results tagged “kevinaviance”

Last summer, well-known performer and drag queen Kevin Aviance was beaten and kicked in the middle of 14th Street and First Avenue by four youths yelling homophobic slurs. Aviance, who had been wearing black sleeveless hoodie, black shorts and boots, suffered a broken jaw and other injuries; Mayor Bloomberg called the attack a disgrace.

Thousands of people (WNBC says 500,000!) lined Fifth Avenue and Greenwich Village streets to enjoy this year's Gay Pride Parade, in spite of a bit of rain. In fact, one performer on the "Carnival in Rio" float told the NY Times, "Today is our day. The rain won't stop us. Mother Nature is a drag queen." One of the stars of the parade was Kevin Aviance, the drag queen who was brutally beaten by some teens in the East Village. A parade parade spectator deemed Aviance, who was wearing red high heels, silver shorts, a white jacket, and sparkly silver top hat, "fabulous."

The Gay Pride Parade started at noon at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, but don't worry, you'll be able to check it out as it winds its way down Fifth, making a right when it right 8th Street and then heads towards Christopher Street, and will take a few hours. And there will be lots of celebrating along the way and afterwards, what with Pridefest and the Dance on the Pier. The parade's co-Grand Marshals are Florent Morellet and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Mayor Bloomberg weighed in on this weekend's savage gay-bashing outside East Village gay bar Phoenix, saying, "Anybody that thinks they can get away with a hate crime is sadly mistaken. It was a disgrace." Well-known performer and drag queen Kevin Aviance is being released from the hospital today after surgery to his jaw. He hopes to recover in time to perform at the Gay Pride Parade on June 25. Aviance was wearing a black sleeveless hoodie, black shorts and boots when he walked down East 13th Street; Clarence Patton, of the NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, summed up the fears about the attack to the NY Times, "People will say: Here it is. Kevin Aviance in the East Village in boy's clothes, in a place that's supposed to be ours, getting beat up." The attack occured around 1AM on Saturday night, which is not that late for the East Village - do you feel that the neighborhood is safe or unsafe then?

Honestly, we're stunned. Growing up in the East Village we've always taken pride in how well our neighborhood handles its diversity. We were raised firmly believing that if you were black, white, yellow, male, female, straight, gay, old, young, sober, drunk, high, local, tourist, etc., it just didn't matter. Even in the bad old days of crackheads and Bowery drunks you at least had the sense that if you were being beaten on the street that someone would come and try and help out (we were so naive). Needless to say the idea of a man being beaten and kicked in the middle of 14th Street and First Avenue at 1:30 AM by four youths screaming homophobic slurs makes us sick to our stomachs.