The LGBT Committee has a new channel on iTunes where you can enjoy the Library’s programs from your home or iPod. The new channel gives you access to the wide range of LGBT programming at the Library—from intimate discussions with major LGBT writers like Edmund White to oral histories of ACT-UP alumn Ann Northrop to LGBT teen outreach. You can also access LGBT Committee events, like the Committee’s launch event this spring. Look forward to more online programs and video tours as we expand our LGBT online content this fall.

Illustration by Ivan Velez, Jr.

This year’s Anti-Prom, held on June 5th, was a tremendous success. Over 200 teens rocked the Library’s Astor Hall to the sounds of DJ Johnny Dynell who played everything from the saucy Reggaeton standard “Gasolina” to hardcore punk. Chi Chi Valenti and the Jackie Factory provided dancers costumed like characters from Japanese manga and  anime—space-age samurai and geisha—in line with this year’s theme: The CosProm. The guest of honor this year was Simon Doonan who gave uplifting fashion advice to the crowd from his new book Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You.  The event received beautiful coverage by Brett Berk, author of the Gay Uncle’s Guide to Parenting, in Vanity Fair,  as well as in Next Magazine. A video of the event is now available on iTunes.

The Anti-Prom provides an alternative, safe space for all teens who may not feel welcome at official school proms and dances because of their sexual orientation, the way they dress, or any other reason. The Anti-Prom has been recognized for excellence by the American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association. The event is organized by the Library’s Teen Central. In the fall, the Library will be expanding outreach to LGBT teens thanks to the support of Time Warner, Inc. which has provided initial funding for LGBT@NYPL.

Recently released on the Library’s Digital Gallery are photographs by Diana Davies. Davies’ photographs provide a unique, close-up view into LGBT activism in the late 60s and early 70s, with a sharp focus on lesbian activism. Her photographs cover a wide range of LGBT history, including early protests by the Gay Liberation Front, dances at the Gay Activists Alliance’s Firehouse, and iconic portraits of author/activists like Barbara Deming and Jill Johnston. Davies’ photojournalism was published in The New York Times, Life, Time, and The Village Voice, among many other publications. Pictured above is author (and LGBT Committee Honorary Co-Chair) Rita Mae Brown at the Lavender Menace Action at NOW’s Second Congress to Unite Women in 1970. Brown, along with other members of the Gay Liberation Front, had formed the Radicalesbians in order to more directly confront the specificity of lesbians’ oppression, including sexism and demonization of lesbians within feminist movements.  For the NOW protest, they took the name “Lavender Menace” from comments by Betty Friedan disparaging lesbians. Their ironic appropriation of the phrase and staged interruption marked a turning point in feminist politics. The manifesto they distributed, “The Woman-Identified-Woman,” eloquently critiqued the ways that homophobia is used to separate and subjugate women. The essay had far reaching effects in feminism, particularly  on the movement toward separatism as a political strategy in the 70s and 80s. Check out the photographs—they are smart, funny, and beautiful. The Diana Davies collection is in the Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division.