Happy Pride Month!

[Jaybifla]

Happy Pride to everyone. I have actually never been to a gay pride event. Can you believe it? I did attend “Gay Days” in Orlando a few years back and saw the Broke Straight Boys booth. I remember seeing Kayden Alexander and Paul Canon there. I wanted to say hello but was too shy. I think Mark should re post some of the Broke Straight Boys Pride videos for fun. I hope one day Broke Straight Boys will have a future booth at a Pride event or at Gay Days in Orlando again.
Again, Happy Pride.

 

[Repareur]

Happy Pride to everyone. I have actually never been to a gay pride event. Can you believe it? I did attend “Gay Days” in Orlando a few years back and saw the Broke Straight Boys booth. I remember seeing Kayden Alexander and Paul Canon there. I wanted to say hello but was too shy. I think Mark should re post some of the Broke Straight Boys Pride videos for fun. I hope one day Broke Straight Boys will have a future booth at a Pride event or at Gay Days in Orlando again.
Again, Happy Pride.

I think that’s a great idea. I was at a couple of pride parades in Dallas years ago. But I’ve never seen the Broke Straight Boys booth in person but Mikeyank has a famous on screen encounter that I have heard about and watched.

 

[mikeyank]

I think that’s a great idea. I was at a couple of pride parades in Dallas years ago. But I’ve never seen the Broke Straight Boys booth in person but Mikeyank has a famous on screen encounter that I have heard about and watched.

It was Gay Pride of 2012. Broke Straight Boys had never participated in NYC Pride. As a matter of fact, Stowe1 had been very vocal on the forum for years that the one Pride that Broke Straight Boys needed to attend was NYC where the gay liberation movement started with the Stonewall Uprising, but that is another story.

It was a last minute decision, perhaps three or four weeks prior that Sha announced that they would be attending and I heard from all my forum friends that this was my chance to meet my "heroes". lol In the days before the event I said that of course I would go but I had no intention of appearing on camera in a BTS episode. I even said that on the morning of the event through PM's to my friends that I would not appear on camera. My bestie at the time was Ms. Kianna in California.

We talked the morning of the event as I got off the subway and headed to Hudson Street near Horatio Street I believe, where Sha said that the booth would be. I arrived early in the day before noon and as I approached the location I saw in the distance the Broke Straight Boys Booth and then I spotted Jason Matthews and Blake Bennett standing there shirtless in their red shorts standing in front of the booth. I stopped a few hundred feet away as my heart began pounding and I needed to conjure up the courage to approach them. I took a deep breath and forged forward. I approached Blake and said in a shaking voice that I was mikeyank from the forum. Blake gave the biggest smile showing off his pearly white teeth and yelled to Jason. "Jason. Look who is here. It's mikeyank". And the two of them started talking to me and asking questions and they made me feel like the celebrity and not them. I will never forget how sweet and kind they both were to me.

They introduced me to Denver Grand, Cole Gartner from College Dudes, who I knew from other Pride event BTS's. Then Blake looked me in the eyes and said, "How about doing a video?" I said that no I wasn't interested in appearing on camera, and Blake got even closer to me and looked me right in the eyes and said "Please!!!", and I decided how could I say no to Blake and the video began. He interviewed me and then I said I'd like to "phone a friend" and I called Ms. K in California and she spoke to Jason and to Blake and to Sha and Denver and Cole, while the camera was rolling. She later told me that she asked Blake who his favorite scene partner was and he told her it was Jason.

After the video ended, I spent the longest time talking with Sha and I had a million questions about "my hero", Jimmy Johnson, as Sha didn't film the scenes back then, but he was the organizer and chaperone for the boys on all the Pride events and Jimmy had been on so many the previous year. Sha had nothing but positive things to say about Jimmy. I also asked Sha about the change from David filming Broke Straight Boys-1 to Clay taking over and Sha was very open and a really great guy to talk to. My forumite buddy Stimpy had prepared a list of questions for the boys which I printed out and gave to Sha. He did a whole segment back at the hotel room later that night asking those questions. I got my Broke Straight Boys towel autographed with personal messages from all the participants, which I proudly show to any forumites who've visited me here in NYC, including Peter, Bart and Rep.

The very cool video is on the BTS section of the site, but last I checked it cannot be streamed but I believe it can be downloaded. It includes my interview, an interview with a former model whose name I forget who showed up with a friend from upstate New York, and some real cool video of the boys on the subway going to the 911 Memorial and their thoughts and memories about the tragic event which actually took place when they were in grade school. It also includes the boys eating at a restaurant and riding in the cab back to the airport and the questions in the hotel room answering Stimpy's questions.

I am not ashamed to admit it is a day I will never forget. That's my story of Broke Straight Boys Pride 2012!

 

[juanjo]

In 1970, I was in uni in downstate Illinois [ISU]. I had driven up to Chicago with a couple of friends in an old Cadillac convertible that one of the guys, Tommy, had inherited from his father. It would probably be worth a fortune now but, meh. We stayed at the Lawson Y and on Saturday, we were headed for Bughouse Square [Washington Square Park] and a certain nearby movie theater on Clark Stree that shall go nameless. At Bughouse, we ran into the first gay pride march I had ever heard of or seen. It was not very big, there could not have been more than maybe 200 people at best. We decided to join in on a stroll to what is now Daly Plaza. I was as nervous as I could be. I am still amazed I did it and frankly, I doubt I would not have except we were all daring each other to do it and no one wanted to be the one to chicken out in front of the others.

 

[mikeyank]

June is Gay Pride Month and it all began in a bar on Christopher Street in New York City's Greenwich Village on June 28th 1969. I found this short four minute video produced by The History Channel, explaining exactly what happened on that night. I found it interesting to reflect today that fires were set and protest marches organized in what was called the "Stonewall Riots".

One year later on June 28th, 1970 was the first Gay Pride Parade and in June of 2016, President Obama declared The Stonewall Inn a National Monument. We've come a long way baby!

 

[mikeyank]

Just a personal note from that summer of Stonewall, 1969. I had completed my first year at college at the State University of New York upstate New York and I was closeted in college and did not discuss my sexual desires with my college buddies. But back home in New York City, my best friend David who was gay and much more active going out to the secret clubs and hangouts told me about this bar on West 43rd Street between 9th and 10th avenues called The Sanctuary, as it was in a former German Lutheran church. After going there himself with his more "out" friends he convinced me to attend one night that summer. I remember the doorman stopped us and said that it was a homosexual club and made sure we were aware of where we were going.

I was somewhat aware of the Stonewall Riot through the news from earlier that summer, but it got coverage but was not a huge story. I didn't even think that I could be arrested for hanging out at The Sanctuary. The club was a loud disco with mixed groups of both gay and straight men and women all dancing and doing drugs as well as drinking. I had no idea what a monumental summer that was for the Gay liberation movement. Here are a couple of pictures of the outside and inside of The Sanctuary in 1969.

 

[mikeyank]

Here are some images of June 28, 1969 outside of The Stonewall.

The New York City tabloid media was not terribly sympathetic to the homosexual movement back then. This was from the New York Post the next morning.

A week after the raid and the protest, The New York Daily News called the bar a "homo nest" and the patrons, "Queen Bees".

 

[joninliverton]

Happy Pride month, but it's a pity there aint any this year.

 

[Repareur]

Thank you Mikeyank for posting these historical post about gay pride and the Stonewall riots. We have been upstaged this year by the virus and the current riot situation which is very important. I don’t know about you guys but I have been harassed by police and my partner Mark has had some horrible experiences with them. I have black friends who won’t even drive through certain areas around here today. I’m very sorry that some bad actors are taking advantage of the situation to loot and burn which will only backfire and and give the right wing Trump Nazi’s an excuse to say you see we have to keep these people under control. I am hoping for peaceful demonstrations and hopefully change. It’s long overdue.

 

[juanjo]

Just a personal note from that summer of Stonewall, 1969. I had completed my first year at college at the State University of New York upstate New York and I was closeted in college and did not discuss my sexual desires with my college buddies. But back home in New York City, my best friend David who was gay and much more active going out to the secret clubs and hangouts told me about this bar on West 43rd Street between 9th and 10th avenues called The Sanctuary, as it was in a former German Lutheran church. After going there himself with his more "out" friends he convinced me to attend one night that summer. I remember the doorman stopped us and said that it was a homosexual club and made sure we were aware of where we were going.

I was somewhat aware of the Stonewall Riot through the news from earlier that summer, but it got coverage but was not a huge story. I didn't even think that I could be arrested for hanging out at The Sanctuary. The club was a loud disco with mixed groups of both gay and straight men and women all dancing and doing drugs as well as drinking. I had no idea what a monumental summer that was for the Gay liberation movement. Here are a couple of pictures of the outside and inside of The Sanctuary in 1969.

Your comments on your first visit to a gay bar reminded me of mine. I was 17 and we were living in Chicago while my dad was in the process of retiring from the Navy. I was friends with a kid in the neighborhood whose father was a cop. I overheard his dad and some friends talking about a bar then called Aunt Charlies run by the older queen who apparently was very thoroughly mobbed up and they couldn't touch the place although they wanted to do so. So off I went the next Friday night, walked in like I owned the place. I met some very nice folks there including a couple of other young guys who despite looking sort of 21 were actually all underage. Aunt Charlie looked the other way so long as you behaved yourself. That was the start of what I like to refer to as my early "slut phase". Ah, memories.

 

[mikeyank]

Your comments on your first visit to a gay bar reminded me of mine. I was 17 and we were living in Chicago while my dad was in the process of retiring from the Navy. I was friends with a kid in the neighborhood whose father was a cop. I overheard his dad and some friends talking about a bar then called Aunt Charlies run by the older queen who apparently was very thoroughly mobbed up and they couldn't touch the place although they wanted to do so. So off I went the next Friday night, walked in like I owned the place. I met some very nice folks there including a couple of other young guys who despite looking sort of 21 were actually all underage. Aunt Charlie looked the other way so long as you behaved yourself. That was the start of what I like to refer to as my early "slut phase". Ah, memories.

I think that all the gay bars were run by the mob back then, juanjo. And we had several "Uncle Charlies" in NYC. I wonder if they were related????

 

[Repareur]

Your comments on your first visit to a gay bar reminded me of mine. I was 17 and we were living in Chicago while my dad was in the process of retiring from the Navy. I was friends with a kid in the neighborhood whose father was a cop. I overheard his dad and some friends talking about a bar then called Aunt Charlies run by the older queen who apparently was very thoroughly mobbed up and they couldn't touch the place although they wanted to do so. So off I went the next Friday night, walked in like I owned the place. I met some very nice folks there including a couple of other young guys who despite looking sort of 21 were actually all underage. Aunt Charlie looked the other way so long as you behaved yourself. That was the start of what I like to refer to as my early "slut phase". Ah, memories.

I had a very similar experience being taken to my first big gay bar. The old plantation in down town Dallas. I understand the original was in an old house but this location was an old warehouse building but it was fabulous. I was a kid in a candy store and yes. I’m glad it was pre aids because that started my slut phase as well. It was still the days of high disco, 1978.

 

[Foxyman1961]

Happy pride month. Hope you get to celebrate in the US cos nothing is happening in the UK anytime soon. Everything is cancelled .

 

[juanjo]

I think that all the gay bars were run by the mob back then, juanjo. And we had several "Uncle Charlies" in NYC. I wonder if they were related????

Well, you know Italians, they have big families! LOL

 

[mikeyank]

Well, you know Italians, they have big families! LOL

Very funny juanjo!

 

[kgmets]

Thank you Mikeyank for posting these historical post about gay pride and the Stonewall riots. We have been upstaged this year by the virus and the current riot situation which is very important. I don’t know about you guys but I have been harassed by police and my partner Mark has had some horrible experiences with them. I have black friends who won’t even drive through certain areas around here today. I’m very sorry that some bad actors are taking advantage of the situation to loot and burn which will only backfire and and give the right wing Trump Nazi’s an excuse to say you see we have to keep these people under control. I am hoping for peaceful demonstrations and hopefully change. It’s long overdue.

Well put.