June 23, 2021
Proud, Resilient, and SAGEStrong
By: Diverse Elders

This article originally appeared on SAGE blog.

SAGE-Pride-SAGEStrong-logo

 

The past year has forced us all to be adaptable, tenacious, and compassionate. But this was not our elders’ first pandemic and it was not the first time they had to come together to support one another through hard times. This year especially, we are PROUD to be a part of such a strong and resilient community.

This Pride season, SAGE will be celebrating the collective strength of our LGBT pioneers and our community. Strength comes in many different forms – the strength of character, personal and professional talents, physical ability, and mental fortitude. As individuals, we all have different strengths, but when we come together, we are #SAGEStrong.

As a celebration of where we have come from, as a movement and a community, we will be highlighting stories of LGBT elders and allies from across the country all month long! We will conduct a series of virtual health and wellness programming, in addition to celebratory events, that will showcase our communities of strength and create a safe, festive space for elders, community members, and allies.

Community Resources:

Advocate Resources:
We enjoy the rights and protections we have today because our community pioneers refused to be invisible by raising their voices, taking to the streets, and demanding equality. Yet today, LGBT people in 28 states still lack legal protections against discrimination in housing, healthcare, and employment. Don’t just tell LGBT elders that you support them during Pride – show them that we’re still willing to raise our voices and fight for what’s right by calling your senators and telling them that you support the Equality Act.

> > > CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION < < < 

Press & Partner Resources:

Get Involved!
We invite you to join us in celebrating the strength of our elders, our community, and yourself!

  • Help us showcase the wealth of strength within the LGBT community by letting us know: What makes YOU SAGEStrong? 
  • Spread the love! Share what you’re proud of and what makes you or your community #SAGEStrong (don’t forget to tag @sageusa!). Need some inspiration? Check out our social media toolkit!
  • Meet others in the LGBT community and make connections through our virtual Pride programming! SAGE seeks to provide a positive space for LGBT elders and allies to both celebrate and honor our community’s history – both virtually and telephonically. The calendar below will be regularly updated with new events, so be sure to check back throughout the month of June. 

Calendar of Events:

– – – FEATURED EVENT – – –

CURED Documentary Talkback and Q&A
Tuesday, June 22 | 3:30 pm ET
Tune in to this virtual talkback featuring the director and subjects of the award-winning documentary, CURED. The film depicts the inner workings of the campaign that led to homosexuality being delisted from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973. A free screening of the event will be available with event registration.
REGISTER

– – – ALL EVENTS – – –

Can’t Cancel Pride
Friday, June 4 | 9 pm ET
iHeartRadio and P&G are excited to bring you Can’t Cancel Pride – a celebration to raise visibility and funds for the LGBTQ+ community. Elvis Duran and BeBe Rexha will host the biggest names in culture and entertainment for the ultimate Pride Party! Together, let’s show the LGBT+ community they are not alone and raise much-needed funds for the organizations that provide life-saving resources and services like GLAAD, SAGE, The Trevor Project, the National Black Justice Coalition, CenterLink, and OutRight Action International.
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

HIV Long Term Survivors Day Movie night
Friday, June 4 | 5 pm ET
Join us as we commemorate HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day and the 40th anniversary of the first official reporting of what would later be known as AIDS. We’ll be screening an episode of the current hit documentary series, Pride, which chronicles the 1980s and 1990s in New York City. The screening will be followed by a short group discussion led by SAGE staff member, Bill Gross. For the Zoom link to the event, please contact Bill Gross using the link below.
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

Fire Island Pines Celebration
Saturday, June 5 | 4 pm ET
Join co-hosts Doug Harris, Nicole LaFountaine, Ryan McNamara, Dr Ed Shulhafer & Crayton Robey for our 29th Annual Fire Island Pines Celebration, in-person at Lepage Pavilion of Whyte Hall. This year we will be honoring Faris Al-Shathir, Steven Alan Black, and Pines Essential Workers.
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

NYC Dyke March at SAGE 
Wednesday, June 9 | 6 pm ET
Join the founders and current organizers of the NYC Dyke March for a panel discussing this community event’s history, present, and future!
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

“Voices of Pride” Dignity in Aging
Thursday, June 10 | 3 pm ET
Join the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus briefing featuring an intro from Congressmember Ted Deutch, SAGE’s CEO Michael Adams, Barbara Satin from The Task Force, Dr. Imani Woody, President and CEO of Mary’s House in DC, and Jay Toole, an amazing Stonewall vet.
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

CHIC
Thursday, June 10 | 6 pm ET
To honor Pride month, we will come together to illuminate and celebrate the history of lesbian spaces through the lens of New York City nightlife, the lesbian/female-identifying social scene, and SAGE’s own women’s dance. Guest speakers will share their personal stories of the clubs in the 60s and 70s through the popular emerging  LGBT parties of today.
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

JULIA SCOTTI: FUNNY THAT WAY Talkback and Q&A
Tuesday, June 15 | 3 pm ET
Decades ago, Julia Scotti performed as Rick Scotti and appeared on bills with Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. Now, the trans comedian returns to the stage as “the crazy old lady of comedy,” in this tender, funny, and triumphant comeback story. Join a virtual discussion about the creation of the film and Julia’s incredible story. Erin Mitchell, AARP New York Director of Engagement to provide opening remarks.
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

Living for Trans Liberation
Wednesday, June 16 | 3 pm ET
Join SAGE and Transgender Equity Consulting for a wonderful afternoon with trans and nonbinary advocates, teachers, and artists speaking on their experiences coming out in the ’80s, coming to a non-binary identity later in life, and building trans community throughout the decades. We welcome you for storytelling, performance, and a panel discussion that will expand your understanding of what trans liberation has meant through the years and how to be a part of building it today.
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Virtual Event 
Thursday, June 17 | 7 pm ET
Tune in to chat with the musicians of the New Jersey Symphony and hear them play!
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED

Who’s That lady: A SAGE Bronx Special Edition
Monday, June 21 | 6 pm ET
In honor of Juneteenth and Pride Month, SAGE Center Bronx is proud to present our own Frederick Schjang and Grammy Award-winning vocalist, Catherine Russell, for a very special edition of the ever-popular Who’s That Lady. Please join us in welcoming back Catherine Russell to Who’s That Lady.
REGISTER

Take Pride in Elder Justice
Monday, June 21 | 2 pm ET
Join SAGE and National Center on Elder Abuse for an informative webinar on elder justice and how you can get involved.
REGISTER

Trans 101 Workshop
Monday, June 21 |  7  to 8 pm
Join us for workshops about creating and strengthening transgender inclusion, wherever you are, an introduction to the basics of gender, trans identity, and trans experience, with opportunities for a deeper dive into trans-inclusive policies and actions, and practical skill-building for acting in solidarity with transgender communities.
REGISTER

Intrepid Virtual Book Club: Coming Out Under Fire
June 22 | 5 pm ET
This book club will be honoring Pride by reading the groundbreaking classic, Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II by Alan Bérubé. Bérubé tells the complex story of the gay and lesbian service members who fought for their country in war and for their right to do so. The book club will be joined by Michael Stevens and Johnathan Milard of Intrepid Museum and Ashton Stewart, Navy veteran and SAGEvets program manager, who have been collecting and teaching LGBTQ+ service members’ stories. The Intrepid Book Club is free to attend for all current and former service members and their families, spouses, and partners, with advanced registration. For more information, please contact access@intrepidmuseum.org.  Copies of the book are available for free on a first-come, first-served basis.
REGISTER

Edie Windsor Day Celebration
Wednesday, June 23 | 6 pm ET
Celebrate Edie Windsor Day with a screening of Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement followed by a talkback with Edie’s good friend and SAGE board member Barbara Rosen.
REGISTER

Ballerina Boys watch party and Q&A
Wednesday, June 23 | 5 pm ET
Join us for a special virtual watch party of the new documentary, “Ballerina Boys” celebrating Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. As home to some of the world’s most beautiful dancers for 45 years, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo featured male ballerinas who have taken great risks to practice their dazzling version of ballet parody. A film full of beauty and fun, it seduces viewers into facing issues of gender, inclusion, and social justice. Q&A discussion to follow the viewing party with Roy Fialkow, former Trock and SAGE workshop leader.
REGISTER

Rafiki Movie Screening
Thursday, June 24 | 4:30 pm ET
Kena and Ziki live very different lives in Nairobi. Kena works in her father’s shop and awaits the start of nursing school, while Ziki passes the days hanging out with her friends and making up dance routines. Their paths cross when their fathers run against each other for seats in the County Assembly, and they find themselves drawn to each other. Soon their interest grows to affection and the girls find ways to love each other despite the ever-watching gaze of the neighborhood.
REGISTER

Stonewall – “the Birth of a Movement”
Thursday, June 24 | 1:30 pm ET
The Stonewall Inn Riots sparked the beginning of the gay rights movement in America. Learn how members of the LGBT community came together to protest exploitation and police harassment.
REGISTER

Transgender PRIDE Social ‘Speed Friending Special’
Thursday, June 24 | 6:30 pm ET
This event is open to all TGNCNB identified people. Participants will be separated into 3 breakout rooms and will change rooms every 20 minutes.
REGISTER

Pride Burlesque Spectacular with World Famous *BOB* & Matt Knife
Thursday, June 24 | 7 pm ET
Join burlesque royalty World Famous *BOB* & Matt Knife for an evening of burlesque from some of NYC’s most talented performers!
REGISTER

Oh-snap! PRIDE Bingo with Haus of Labeija
Friday, June 25 | 5 pm ET
Join Victoria from Haus of Labeija on Zoom for two very fun games of PRIDE Bingo followed by a SAGEr snap/vogue off. Join for a virtual party so great you’ll forget that you are home. 
REGISTER

PrideFest 2021 Transportation Parade and Picnic
Saturday, June 26 | 11 am ET
Parade for people with vehicles decorated for Pride and picnic presented by the Pride Center of Staten Island and Makerspace. Limited to the first 100 paid participants, $15 donation each (covers entry to the parade and exclusive rainbow swag bag). Please contact Marcy Carr and Steve Wakeman at the Pride Center of Staten Island for more details: mcarr@pridecentersi.org and swakeman@pridecentersi.org.
Registration coming soon!

Queer Liberation March
Sunday, June 27
The Reclaim Pride Coalition (RPC) will take to the streets for the third annual Queer Liberation March! As in 2019 and 2020, this is a People’s March with no regimented contingents, no corporate sponsors, and no NYPD control over decision making or uniformed police marching. The Queer Liberation March revives the goals and spirit of the original Christopher Street Liberation Day March in 1970, born out of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising: social justice, freedom, and access for all!
LEARN MORE

CUMBE Café: Celebrating Pride with the POC Drag Collective
Monday, June 28 | 7 pm ET
Let’s celebrate Pride with the members of The POC Drag Art Collective, a fluid art group of queer, Black and Brown performers including drag queens, singers, dancers and more! We will gather around the virtual kitchen table with these talented superstars to discuss what motivates them to get on and stage and shine and why Pride is important to them.
REGISTER

‘Who’s That Diva?’ with Frederick Schjang
Wednesday, June 30 | 4 pm ET
Join Frederick Schjang and special guest hosts for a special LGBT+ version of the popular “Who’s That Lady?” gameshow program, an online listening party featuring the recordings and no-holds-barred biographies of LGBT singers.
REGISTER

Jimmy’s Virtual Piano Bar: Loud And Proud!
Thursday, July 1
Get ready for this spectacular Pride sing-along with the NYC Gay Men’s Chorus! Join Jimmy Horan and the guys from the NYCGMC for a PRIDE MONTH SAGE celebration of the Piano Bar, an NYC institution that has given the LGBT+ community a crucial voice from Stonewall to today. Let’s kick back, relax, and raise a glass or two as we belt out the “best of fare” from Broadway to Pop. There will be time for your “on the spot” requests and expect drags, drinks, and drama….and some video guest appearances too!
Registration coming soon! 

 

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Diverse Elders Coalition.