I am a volunteer firefighter; I am also gay
Contents:
- THE GAY BATHHOE FIRE OF 1977
- ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER
- WW GAY
- THE FIRE PARTMENT CLOSET: BEG GAY BUNKER GEAR
- BT GAY DATG APPS FOR HOOKUPS, RELATNSHIPS, AND EVERYTHG BETWEEN
- GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
- KEV MAXEN, JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH, OUT AS FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE ACH NFL BY STT THOMPSON PUBLISHED JULY 21, 2023 NFL FOX NEWS SHARE COPY LK EMAIL FACEBOOK TWTER LKEDIN REDD HISTORY OF THE NFL AND HOW BEME THE WORLD'S RICHT SPORTS LEAGUE THE NFL WAS FORMED 1920 WHEN 10 FOOTBALL TEAMS ME TOGETHER CANTON, OH, AND STARTED THE AMERIN PROFSNAL FOOTBALL ASSOCIATN (APFA), NOW KNOWN AS THE NFL. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH KEV MAXEN ME OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY THURSDAY, MAKG HIM THE FIRST KNOWN OPENLY GAY MALE ACH THE NFL AND MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS THE UNED STAT. THERE ARE REASONS MAXEN CID TO E OUT PUBLICLY NOW, ONE OF WHICH IS BEG ABLE TO LEAD AN OPEN LIFE WH HIS BOYIEND, NICK, WHO HE HAS BEEN DATG TWO YEARS. "I DON’T WANT TO FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO THK ABOUT ANYMORE," MAXEN, WHO JOED THE JAGUARS’ STAFF LAST SEASON, EXPLAED TO OUTSPORTS. "I DON’T WANT TO FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO LIE ABOUT WHO I AM SEEG OR WHY I AM LIVG WH SOMEONE ELSE. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS FENSIVE TACKLE JAY TUFELE (97) TALKS WH ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN DURG THE JAGUARS' ROOKIE MIMP AT TIAA BANK FIELD JACKSONVILLE, FLA., JUNE 14, 2022. (GETTY IMAG) "I WANT TO BE VOL SUPPORT OF PEOPLE LIVG HOW THEY WANT TO LIVE, BUT I ALSO JT WANT TO LIVE AND NOT FEEL FEAR ABOUT HOW PEOPLE WILL REACT." MAXEN ADD THAT HIS SUPPORT SYSTEM, WHICH CLUS FAY, IENDS AND LLEAGU, SHOWED SUPPORT, ALLOWG HIM TO MAKE THE CISN TO E OUT PUBLICLY. RAIDERS' CARL NASSIB ON COMING OUT GAY: ‘I DIDN’T KNOW IF IT WOULD RUIN MY CAREER' "IT WASN’T UNTIL RECENTLY — AND WH THE IMMENSE LOVE AND SUPPORT OF MY FAY, MY IENDS, LLEAGU AND PEERS, AND THE URAGE AND SACRIFICE OM MY PARTNER — THAT I REALIZED I HAVE THE RIGHT AND RPONSIBILY TO LOVE AND BE LOVED, AND THAT MAYBE SHARG THIS WILL HOPEFULLY GIVE SOMEONE ELSE THE STRENGTH TO ACCEPT THEIR OWN LIFE AND TAKE NTROL OF THEIR OWN STORY," MAXEN EXPLAED. MAXEN SAID HE IS "HOPEFUL" HIS JAGUARS LLEAGU ACCEPT HIS TTH. "I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR," HE SAID. "SO, A LOT OF THE GUYS I N JOKE WH AND NOT TAKE ANYTHG PERSONALLY." THE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS VIO BOARD AFTER AN AFC WILD-RD PLAYOFF GAME AGAST THE LOS ANGEL CHARGERS AT TIAA BANK FIELD JAN. 14, 2023, JACKSONVILLE, FLA. THE JAGUARS FEATED THE CHARGERS 31-30. (DON JUAN MOORE/GETTY IMAG) "IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT IS DIVERSIFYG, IS A PRIVILEGE TO WORK ALONGSI KEV WHO IS HARDWORKG, DITED AND THRIVG AS A STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH FOR THE JAGUARS," JACKSONVILLE’S DIRECT OF PLAYER VELOPMENT, MARC POLLARD, TOLD OUTSPORTS. FORMER JAGUARS CENTER BRANDON LR ALSO SAID MAXEN WAS ALWAYS SOMEONE HE ULD LEAN ON. SUPER BOWL LIV WILL FEATURE 49ERS COACH KATIE SOWERS' HISTORIC APPEARANCE "KEV WAS A BIG PART HELPG ME PREPARE EVERY SUNDAY DURG MY LAST YEAR THE NFL" LR SAID. "HE WOULD WRE WORKOUTS FOR ME WH EXERCIS THAT WOULD HELP WH MY FICIENCI, WHICH HELPED ME BE THE BT VERSN OF MYSELF ON THAT FIELD. OUR IENDSHIP GREW WH THE TIME SPENT WORKG TOGETHER AND SHARG A LOT OF SIARI ON OUR VIEWS OF LIFE, BEG SOMEONE THAT JT GETS . "KEV, I’M PROUD TO LL YOU A IEND AND EXCED TO SEE WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR YOU, KEV. I KNOW YOUR STORY N HELP SO MANY PEOPLE. YOU THE MAN, ALL SHALL BE WELL." A JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS HELMET DURG AN OFFSEASON WORKOUT MAY 30, 2023, AT TIAA BANK FIELD JACKSONVILLE, FLA. (JAM GILBERT/GETTY IMAG) MAXEN WAS HIRED JACKSONVILLE AFTER SPENDG TIME WH THE BAYLOR BEARS' AND VANRBILT COMMODOR' FOOTBALL TEAMS AS A STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH. JOG THE JAGUARS LED MAXEN TO WORK PRIMARILY WH THE LEMEN, BOTH ON OFFENSE AND FENSE. HE VELOPED THEIR WORKOUT REGIMEN WHILE KEEPG TRACK OF EVERYONE’S PROGRS. IN THE NFL, TAMPA BAY BUCNEERS FENSIVE LEMAN CARL NASSIB BEME THE LEAGUE’S FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYER WHEN HE MA HIS ANNOUNCEMENT 2021 WHILE PLAYG FOR THE LAS VEGAS RAIRS. SAN FRANCIS 49ERS ASSISTANT KATIE SOWERS WAS THE FIRST WOMAN AND OPENLY GAY ACH A SUPER BOWL 2020. LINK: GET UPDAT AND MORE ON THIS STORY AT BREAKING NEWS
- THE GAY-FRIENDLY CI HAVE LOTS TO OFFER LGBTQ BUYERS—INCLUDG AFFORDABLE HOM
- JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
THE GAY BATHHOE FIRE OF 1977
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M., ne men — trapped si a buildg wh blocked-up wdows and no fire p — would not make out years after Stonewall, the tragedy at the Everard Baths — never vtigated as anythg but an accintal mattrs fire — marked the begng of the end of a brief, exuberant heyday of New York Cy gay life that was able to thrive part bee of cheap real tate and a cy ernment that was willg to look the other way when me to, say, S&M clubs like the Mhaft the Meatpackg District (drs clud no logne). But even as the '70s New York were a relatively open, excg time to be a gay man New York — pri paras, gay bars and clubs proliferatg, a mastream weekly gay newspaper, a gay rights prott at the 1976 Democratic Natnal Conventn New York — beg openly gay, whether on the street or the workplace, still me wh dangers.
The bathhoe had long been an anonymo space where gay men uld be themselv whout shame — but the fire at the Everard rerced the ia for many queer men that the few spac they thought were tly their own weren't always safe.
ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER
LGBTQIA+ is an abbreviatn for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer or qutng, tersex, asexual, and more. The terms are ed to scribe a person’s sexual orientatn or genr inty. * gay fir *
Everard Baths was not jt any gay bathhoe; the wrer Michael Rumaker, his acunt of gog to the baths (A Day and a Night at the Baths) for the first time the wter of 1977, lled Everard "the most venerable, loathed, and affectnately teemed baths all of New York Cy. " Everard (or "Ever-hard, " as was nicknamed) had opened as a Turkish bath 1888, but by the 1920s had bee a known, and culturally signifint, gatherg place for gay men. Author Gore Vidal met his longtime partner, Howard Aten, at Everard 1950; over the years Everard was reportedly vised by the wrer Tman Capote, theater director Aled Lunt, the ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, and gay rights activist and wrer Larry his memoir Cy Boy: My Life New York Durg the 1960s and 1970s, Edmund Whe remembers the Everard as "filthy...
If anythg, he looked aaid of gettg beaten up, or murred — not unmon fears the backs of the mds of most gay mal. "Ined, was an important and, s when much of gay life was lived secret, necsary space for gay men to associate wh each other — and, particularly for closeted men, a safe place to meet and have sex wh other men. Bathho are private and exclive; whereas anyone generally has accs to other gay male spac, like bars and clubs, bathho were, and ntue to be, exclively for gay men — and th play a unique and signifint role gay life.
WW GAY
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They generally existed on the g of lawfulns; the Everard, along wh other gay bathho New York Cy, were perdilly raid by police, wh a few people beg rted off to jail for lewd behavr now and then, but generally left alone — the ultimate "don't ask, don't tell. And th the fire shone a not-totally-wele light not jt on New York gay life, but also on the cy's negligence makg sure the buildg was up to .
The tragedy galvanized the gay muny New York an unprecented and public way, and was nsired a ser tragedy a cy mired fisl crisis. And the gay muny was quick to claim the tragedy: The pastor of the New York branch of the Metropolan Communy Church — the gay church found Los Angel 1968 that had held servic at the UpStairs Lounge jt prr to the fire — tablished a fund to help those jured the fire, as well as pay for the burials of the men who were aftermath was also vered the media.
"Homosexuals Mobilize to Aid Fire Victims" was the headle a New York Tim article on May 26 that explaed that gay men "led up to donate blood" — which today, post-AIDS, they are still banned om dog, meang gay men uldn’t donate to their iends and loved on hospalized after Orlando — and "helped intify bodi and promised to raise money on behalf of the jured, " and that "telephone appeals for help volved a work of 15 homosexual relig anizatns as well as activist homosexual polil groups. " In this way, the Everard fire serv as a kd of pre-AIDS era timtamp: Gay men uld still donate blood, bee AIDS hadn't happened yet; gay polil groups were actively advotg for gay rights a way that was startg to be supported by the mastream media. They had been a uple for six years— teachers their mid-30s, jt returned om jobs the Middle East" — and prience, wrg the same article that the Everard Baths were "a kd of 'Marlboro Country' among homosexuals' gatherg plac...
THE FIRE PARTMENT CLOSET: BEG GAY BUNKER GEAR
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" Bce Voeller, a -executive director of the Natnal Gay Task Force who would go on to be a leadg AIDS rearcher and activist (and die of AIDS 1994), told the Tim that "you uld often meet an off-duty p or fireman at the Everard.
BT GAY DATG APPS FOR HOOKUPS, RELATNSHIPS, AND EVERYTHG BETWEEN
Maxen is the first known openly gay male ach U.S. profsnal sports. * gay fir *
It was impossible to avert your ey to the fact that this was a gay bathhoe, wh gay men si of .
GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
Like the UpStairs Lounge fire of 1973, which 30 gay men were killed a spected arson, there was no attempt or sire on the part of policians or the media to claim as anythg but a gay tragedy.
Today, the sh to claim the Orlando tragedy as "human, " as opposed to a specific attack on queer Latx people, the real danger that people of lor and queer people still face this untry n get lost — the first versn of the Tim' story about the Orlando shootg didn't mentn that Pulse was a gay club; the #AllLivMatter movement elis the fact that vlence by police agast black people is an tractable problem.
KEV MAXEN, JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH, OUT AS FIRST OPENLY GAY MALE ACH NFL BY STT THOMPSON PUBLISHED JULY 21, 2023 NFL FOX NEWS SHARE COPY LK EMAIL FACEBOOK TWTER LKEDIN REDD HISTORY OF THE NFL AND HOW BEME THE WORLD'S RICHT SPORTS LEAGUE THE NFL WAS FORMED 1920 WHEN 10 FOOTBALL TEAMS ME TOGETHER CANTON, OH, AND STARTED THE AMERIN PROFSNAL FOOTBALL ASSOCIATN (APFA), NOW KNOWN AS THE NFL. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH KEV MAXEN ME OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY THURSDAY, MAKG HIM THE FIRST KNOWN OPENLY GAY MALE ACH THE NFL AND MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS THE UNED STAT. THERE ARE REASONS MAXEN CID TO E OUT PUBLICLY NOW, ONE OF WHICH IS BEG ABLE TO LEAD AN OPEN LIFE WH HIS BOYIEND, NICK, WHO HE HAS BEEN DATG TWO YEARS. "I DON’T WANT TO FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO THK ABOUT ANYMORE," MAXEN, WHO JOED THE JAGUARS’ STAFF LAST SEASON, EXPLAED TO OUTSPORTS. "I DON’T WANT TO FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO LIE ABOUT WHO I AM SEEG OR WHY I AM LIVG WH SOMEONE ELSE. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS FENSIVE TACKLE JAY TUFELE (97) TALKS WH ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN DURG THE JAGUARS' ROOKIE MIMP AT TIAA BANK FIELD JACKSONVILLE, FLA., JUNE 14, 2022. (GETTY IMAG) "I WANT TO BE VOL SUPPORT OF PEOPLE LIVG HOW THEY WANT TO LIVE, BUT I ALSO JT WANT TO LIVE AND NOT FEEL FEAR ABOUT HOW PEOPLE WILL REACT." MAXEN ADD THAT HIS SUPPORT SYSTEM, WHICH CLUS FAY, IENDS AND LLEAGU, SHOWED SUPPORT, ALLOWG HIM TO MAKE THE CISN TO E OUT PUBLICLY. RAIDERS' CARL NASSIB ON COMING OUT GAY: ‘I DIDN’T KNOW IF IT WOULD RUIN MY CAREER' "IT WASN’T UNTIL RECENTLY — AND WH THE IMMENSE LOVE AND SUPPORT OF MY FAY, MY IENDS, LLEAGU AND PEERS, AND THE URAGE AND SACRIFICE OM MY PARTNER — THAT I REALIZED I HAVE THE RIGHT AND RPONSIBILY TO LOVE AND BE LOVED, AND THAT MAYBE SHARG THIS WILL HOPEFULLY GIVE SOMEONE ELSE THE STRENGTH TO ACCEPT THEIR OWN LIFE AND TAKE NTROL OF THEIR OWN STORY," MAXEN EXPLAED. MAXEN SAID HE IS "HOPEFUL" HIS JAGUARS LLEAGU ACCEPT HIS TTH. "I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR," HE SAID. "SO, A LOT OF THE GUYS I N JOKE WH AND NOT TAKE ANYTHG PERSONALLY." THE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS VIO BOARD AFTER AN AFC WILD-RD PLAYOFF GAME AGAST THE LOS ANGEL CHARGERS AT TIAA BANK FIELD JAN. 14, 2023, JACKSONVILLE, FLA. THE JAGUARS FEATED THE CHARGERS 31-30. (DON JUAN MOORE/GETTY IMAG) "IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT IS DIVERSIFYG, IS A PRIVILEGE TO WORK ALONGSI KEV WHO IS HARDWORKG, DITED AND THRIVG AS A STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH FOR THE JAGUARS," JACKSONVILLE’S DIRECT OF PLAYER VELOPMENT, MARC POLLARD, TOLD OUTSPORTS. FORMER JAGUARS CENTER BRANDON LR ALSO SAID MAXEN WAS ALWAYS SOMEONE HE ULD LEAN ON. SUPER BOWL LIV WILL FEATURE 49ERS COACH KATIE SOWERS' HISTORIC APPEARANCE "KEV WAS A BIG PART HELPG ME PREPARE EVERY SUNDAY DURG MY LAST YEAR THE NFL" LR SAID. "HE WOULD WRE WORKOUTS FOR ME WH EXERCIS THAT WOULD HELP WH MY FICIENCI, WHICH HELPED ME BE THE BT VERSN OF MYSELF ON THAT FIELD. OUR IENDSHIP GREW WH THE TIME SPENT WORKG TOGETHER AND SHARG A LOT OF SIARI ON OUR VIEWS OF LIFE, BEG SOMEONE THAT JT GETS . "KEV, I’M PROUD TO LL YOU A IEND AND EXCED TO SEE WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR YOU, KEV. I KNOW YOUR STORY N HELP SO MANY PEOPLE. YOU THE MAN, ALL SHALL BE WELL." A JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS HELMET DURG AN OFFSEASON WORKOUT MAY 30, 2023, AT TIAA BANK FIELD JACKSONVILLE, FLA. (JAM GILBERT/GETTY IMAG) MAXEN WAS HIRED JACKSONVILLE AFTER SPENDG TIME WH THE BAYLOR BEARS' AND VANRBILT COMMODOR' FOOTBALL TEAMS AS A STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH. JOG THE JAGUARS LED MAXEN TO WORK PRIMARILY WH THE LEMEN, BOTH ON OFFENSE AND FENSE. HE VELOPED THEIR WORKOUT REGIMEN WHILE KEEPG TRACK OF EVERYONE’S PROGRS. IN THE NFL, TAMPA BAY BUCNEERS FENSIVE LEMAN CARL NASSIB BEME THE LEAGUE’S FIRST OPENLY GAY ACTIVE PLAYER WHEN HE MA HIS ANNOUNCEMENT 2021 WHILE PLAYG FOR THE LAS VEGAS RAIRS. SAN FRANCIS 49ERS ASSISTANT KATIE SOWERS WAS THE FIRST WOMAN AND OPENLY GAY ACH A SUPER BOWL 2020. LINK: GET UPDAT AND MORE ON THIS STORY AT BREAKING NEWS
Five months later, October, another article was headled "Homosexuals New York Fd New Pri" and opened wh Yom Kippur servic at a gay synagogue the Wt Village. "The cy's homosexual populatn, which only a few years ago began to 'e out of the closet' and to the street, has veloped markedly recent months to a hive, open and anized force. " The pot of the article seemed to be to reassure the Tim' rears that the gay populatn was not jt "terr rators, Fire Island and bars wh a leather motif" — although "this world do ed exist and flourish some neighborhoods.
" No, now the gay populatn of New York was now "very much one of lawyers, physicians, teachers, policians, clergymen, and other upper-class profsnal men and women. "Of urse, this scriptn nveniently leav out the thoands of gay men and women who were not upper-class and not whe; race is not mentned at all, jt that "there are ser divisns wh the homosexual populatn New York... " The article also highlights the ternal polil nflict wh the gay rights movement between "ant" groups and "morat": "Milant groups like the Gay Activist Alliance ntue to stage monstratns — more than a dozen the last month — which some morat feel are unterproductive.
THE GAY-FRIENDLY CI HAVE LOTS TO OFFER LGBTQ BUYERS—INCLUDG AFFORDABLE HOM
" The AIDS crisis, which would start htg the cy's gay muny 1981 and by 1983 bee a full-fledged crisis, would put some of the polics on the back burner. The Tim' first story on the crisis, July 1981, was famoly headled "Rare Cancer Seen Homosexuals" and was buried on page Everard was rebuilt after the 1977 fire and was soon back bs.
JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
Only a few bathho survived Mayor Koch's purge, cludg Manhattan's East Si Club, opened 1976 — "New York's Premier Social Relaxatn Club for Gay and Bisexual Men, " acrdg to s webse — and s newer siblg, the Wt Si Club, which opened 1977, the fire at the Everard Baths was a remr that there was no such thg as real safety — which felt all too faiar last weekend. We are the premier se to nnect you wh hot gay men who want to meet hoeboys and boys who want to meet their man. Hoeboy is n by a team of gay wrers, signers and programmers om around the world.