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 ›

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 ›

Despite a major presence in the national psyche, the story of the comely college co-ed who goes "Lesbian Until Graduation" is probably just a myth, at least according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The same study from the Center [PDF] that told us that kids these days aren't having sex as much also indicates that women with bachelor’s degrees are actually less likely to have had a same-sex experience than those who did not finish high school. more ›

David Barton gyms seem more well known for their fashionable atmosphere (they refer to the gyms as "clubs" on their website), but they're serious enough to pull in experienced trainers making $100,000 a year. Unfortunately, they don't seem tolerant enough to keep them. Deborah Cooke and Christina Rodino, former David Barton fitness trainers and lesbians, have filed a lawsuit against the chain claiming co-workers frequently used derogatory terms against them. more ›

Yesterday at the Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear, attendees were treated to several collage-like montages of media talking heads listing all the things we need to be afraid of, including flip flop, bedbugs and hurricanes. There's one new thing to add to that list: conspiratorial lesbian-controlled low-rent apartment buildings! more ›

Last month, New York City kicked off a big global advertising campaign to attract more tourists to the Big Apple. The ads appear in a number of venues, and the Post notes that media space has been bought in Out magazine and on the LOGO network, as well as LGBT websites. A Bloomberg administration official explains that gay and lesbians have more disposable income, as they are usually dual-income without kids, "What we're saying... more ›

The 25-year-old man shot and killed by police Friday evening had a troubled history with the law and an official review of the shooting by the NYPD concluded that its officers acted properly. Plainclothes police approached Ronald Battle Friday night around 11 p.m., while responding to a complaint that two armed men were outside the Rangel Houses development on Harlem River Drive. Battle ran when he saw the police and attempted to enter one of the housing project's buildings where he lives. Unable to enter, Battle jumped over a fence. Cops say that Battle pulled a gun and when he refused to drop it one of the officers fired four shots at him, hitting him once in the back and killing him. A loaded 9mm pistol was found next to his body. more ›

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke today, giving a speech and sort of answers some of questions posed by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger and School of International and Public Affairs Dean John Coatsworth. We're sure video and transcripts will come shortly, but in the meant time, The Bwog, New York, and City Room have been liveblogging the speech. Here's a sample of questions posed, via the City Room:

In response to a question about the treatment of homosexuals in Iran, Mr. Ahmadinejad was initially evasive, instead talking about the death penalty, which, he pointed out, exists in the United States: “People who violate the laws by using guns, creating insecurity selling guns, distributing guns at a high level are sentenced to execution in Iran. Very few of these punishments are carried out in the public eye.” more ›

Mayor Bloomberg headed to jury duty this morning, with a smile, a number of bodyguards and press aide Stu Loeser. When he showed up to the waiting room for prospective jurors, apparently a woman called a friend and said he was there for the "same foolishness" as everyone else. more ›

Yesterday was the 38th Annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March, and thousands of people participated - from shimmying and showing off their outrageous costumes to waving gay pride flags and hollering their support. The grand marshals of the parade were religious leaders Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and Reverend Dr. Troy Perry; Kleinbaum said, "We stand for a progressive religious voice. Those who use religion to advocate an anti-gay agenda I believe are blaspheming God’s name.” more ›

Back in 1990 the Rock The Vote campaign was founded and aimed towards getting the MTV generation into the polling place. Now the politicians are joining MySpace in an effort to reach the younger generation. more ›

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. more ›

A Manhattan jury found four women guilty of gang assault for attacking a man outside the IFC Center last summer. The man, Dwayne Buckle of Queens, said that the group of lesbians attacked him because he was straight, while the women contended Buckle had used slurs and threw a cigarette at them - and that another man stabbed him. more ›

BusinessWeek assistant managing editor and blogger Bruce Nussbaum may have been one of the 40 most powerful people in design (back in 2005), but he was no match for State Supreme Court Justice Edward J. McLaughlin. more ›

David Byrne's foldable Montague mountain bike has been stolen. The avid city biker rode in the 5 Boro Bike Tour last year, commenting: "The organizers close the FDR drive, the BQE, the Belt Parkway and the Verrazano-Narrows bridge on one side — so we get the thrill of riding in the middle of the street, not having to stop at red lights and no worries of the ubiquitous jaywalking peds on suicide missions." more ›

She said she realized her mistake when “he pointed to my lower area between my legs.” more ›

Surveillance video and witness testimony marked day of testimony in the trial of four lesbians who beat up a man in Greenwich Village last summer. more ›

Remember when a filmmaker claimed that a group of lesbians attacked him outside the IFC Center last summer? And it was revealed that the women felt they were defending themselves, with one woman saying, "I admit I did cut him one time for my own safety"? Well, the case has made it to court. more ›

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

Reader Jim sent us this sign he saw at one of the 14th Street L stations that was "taped to a column in the same haphazard fashion as legitimate MTA service change notices." But it turned out not to be an MTA service notice but a warning from the Lesbian Avengers!

Now, just so we're clear, I have one simple rule: I never sit on the train when there is a woman standing. Ever. Period; the end; no exceptions. There are those who would say that in this day of equality and women's lib, I have every right to sit where and when I please. And they may be right. But it seems to me that no matter how liberated we make our womens, or how absolute our equality becomes, women will still always wear heels and occasionally carry our children to term for 9 months. Those two things alone earn them a seat in my book -- case closed.

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- And some of the most gorgeous New York City photograph we've seen are from Arnold Pouteau - here are his pictures on Flickr 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 ›

This is why it isn't a good idea to hit on strangers on the street. Early Friday morning 28-year-old Queens native Wayne Buckle hit on a 19-year-old lesbian from Newark named Patreese Johnson in front of the old Waverly theater on Sixth Avenue. After she turned him down he allegedly spat on her which incited Johnson and a gaggle of her Jersey friends to surround, beat and stab him. more ›

Supporters of gay marriage walked across the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday, in order to show opposition to President Bush's proposed Constitutional amendment that would define marriage. Only a few hundred people joined the march due to the bad weather, but that didn't stop a very sweet presentation. Newsday reports that Gus Archilla, 90, and Elmer Lokkins, 86, who have been together for 61 years received a check from jewelry company Love and Pride. Archilla and Lokkins were married three years ago in Canada. We also thought this quote from an 11 year old with gay godparents was great: "The people who are trying to stop lesbians and gay men from having legal rights in marriage are bullies just like the ones in my school. They are filled with fear, ignorance and hatred. I know we can stop these bullies." more ›

Police are still investigating the murder of 61 year old William Oliver, whose stabbed body was found in Prospect Park on Saturday. Oliver was found near the Vale of Cashmere, a secluded area near Grand Army Plaza (here's a map of Prospect Park). He was described as an "avid walker" by his siblings; Oliver usually shuttled between his brother's and sister's homes by walking in the park. The Vale has been a gay cruising spot in the park, leading police to suspect the death may be hate crime related. While Oliver's family is not sure if he was gay, Clarence Patton of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project told the NY Times that "at least 10 percent of victims of anti-gay violence are not gay, but rather are targeted in places thought to be gathering spots for gay men or lesbians," saying, "At the end of the day, a man is dead, and it doesn't really matter." more ›

Finally-- a post that should offend just about everyone! This week's cover story in New York Magazine tackles one of the most pressing questions of our day: are Jews smarter than everyone else, and if so, by how much?. The original title of the article was "One more reason to hate the Jews", but apparently the far blander "Are Jews Smarter?" won out. The article goes on to make a fairly dispassionate argument-- presenting and then debunking some recent scientific studies that connect Ashkenazi genes to higher intelligence. An excerpt: more ›