Nahshon Dion, a Black trans writer and filmmaker living in the Bronx, knows where to find her happy place — one that unexpectedly reminds her of seeing mountains, waterfalls and horses while growing up in the foothills of the San Gabriel Valley, Calif. For Dion, walks around Crotona Park and Indian Lake bring her back to her youth in Pasadena and Altadena in Los Angeles County. While Dion, 46, said her early childhood was “tranquil and quiet,” her life since then has seen turmoil. For one, it took a few tries over several years for Dion to get and keep a home in New York City — but her home he ..read more

As the co-chairs of the NYC Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, it is our duty to uplift our city’s proud legacy as home to world-changing queer movements and longstanding queer communities, and to do our part to help ensure that queer New Yorkers are able to live safe, healthy, joyous lives for generations to come. That’s why we’re fighting for what the policy world calls “social housing” — permanently affordable homes, democratically owned and controlled by the people who live there, in conjunction with the public. That might mean limited equity cooperatives, or maybe community land trusts, or maybe ..read more

Niko Kowell had long given up his dream to spend his life in the depths of the ocean. Then the pandemic happened. The 40-year-old transgender non-profit professional spent his life advocating for the transgender and queer community at San Francisco Community Health’s Trans: Thrive, a drop-in program. After spending 14 years working his way up from program assistant to associate director of health equity — where he managed millions of dollars in city and state contracts — Kowell hit a wall during COVID-19 and quit in September 2021. From there, Kowell pivoted to his other life-long passion: scu ..read more

Queens World Film Festival Thursday, April 18 through Friday, April 19; various times  Kaufman The Zukor Theater, 74-15 35th Ave #6f, Queens, NY Queens World Film Festival spotlights 7 LGBTQ+ films from, for, and about community, including “Ambrosia” by Amy Northup, “Unlucky in Love” by Catriona Rubenis-Stevens, “Check Please” by Victor Mignatti and Scott T. Hinson, and more. Tickets and full-schedule via QueensWorldFilmFestival.org. Queer Country Swing Party Thursday, April 18, 6 p.m. 9 Bob Note, 270 Meserole StreetBrooklyn, NY Copperhead Meg and Elia Lara host Queer Country Swing Night ..read more

The proliferation of anti-trans legislation across America has led to the normalization of transphobia in many parts of the United States, but New York — which boasts robust LGBTQ protections — has been somewhat insulated from that culture of hate. Several developments in the first few months of the year, however, have threatened to upend the status quo and inject transphobia into New York City and the surrounding area. In January, the anti-LGBTQ group known as Moms for Liberty, which has promoted book bans targeting queer content, hosted an event in Manhattan, drawing a crowd of LGBTQ activis ..read more

The Supreme Court issued an order on April 15 granting a stay of a trial court’s preliminary injunction that was intended to block enforcement of Idaho’s statutory ban on gender affirming care for minors. The court’s order provided no explanation of why the stay was granted, which is typical of orders issued by the court without an opinion on their so-called “shadow docket.” However, the court’s order only partially granted Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador’s “Emergency Application” for the stay, stating that the preliminary injunction was stayed “except as to the provision to plaintiffs of ..read more

Becky Jackson, a transgender eighth grader, has identified as a girl since the third grade, and participated as a girl in elementary and middle school sports events. At the time, West Virginia’s Secondary School Activities Commission had a policy “allowing transgender students to join teams matching their gender identity if their school determined that ‘fair competition’ would not be impacted by the student’s participation,” according to the opinion released on April 16 by the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Becky’s case. But West Virginia’s legislature, res ..read more

Heartbeat Opera’s Spring Festival features a version of “Eugene Onegin” as you’ve never seen it before as well as a brand-new opera, ‘The Extinctionist.” ‘Onegin’ HB The Extinctionist [Philip Stoddard, Katherine Henly.Russ RowlandAdapted by director Dustin Wills, the music of “Onegin” is newly arranged by Dan Schlosberg. Jacob Ashworth is the musical director for this productions and also plays violin. At times interpolating cast with musicians and vice-versa, this is Onegin through a glass, queerly. Newly released letters show how Tchaikovsky felt about having to keep his queerness under wrap ..read more

The parents of Kawaski Trawick, the gay black man shot to death by police in his Bronx home in 2019, said they found out through media reports that the officers responsible for his death would not be punished. The shocking revelation came at a Monday afternoon rally in which advocates and elected officials railed against Police Commissioner Edward Caban’s decision, announced on April 12, that neither Officer Brendan Thompson nor Herbert Davis would be punished because, in the department’s view, they acted within the law. In a statement provided by Ellen and Rickie Trawick, Kawaski’s mother and ..read more

“Egoist” is a remarkable romantic drama about Kosuke (Ryohei Suzuki), a fashion director, who falls for Ryuta (Hio Miyazawa), his personal trainer. Their relationship, however, hits a snag when Ryuta wants to break things off. The wealthy Kosuke responds by paying a monthly fee to help Ryuta, who is caring for his single mother, Taeko (Sawako Agawa). Yet this arrangement, while seemingly selfish, unexpectedly develops into something selfless.  Directed and cowritten by Daishi Matsunaga, the film is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Makoto Takayama. Masunaga coaxes a phenomenal p ..read more