Armenians march at New York Gay Pride

*pictures - via Queering Yerevan

...there is also short video.

[here is a picture from last year NYC Pride]

History in the making: New York legalises gay marriage

It's a place that gave birth to the modern gay rights movement. Stonewall. It's therefore a bit surprising it took so long for marriage equality to become a reality in New York. It seemed so natural and routine for the soul of New York that this should have been the case for ages. Still, with delays, it's truly a history in the making. It's impossible to underestimate the importance and influence of New York worldwide. It's not simply a victory for local activists. It's a victory for all of us, for anyone who cares about human rights. Well done, New York !! Mon amour.

Yes, was so f*cking amazing to wake up with the news that New York finally legalised gay marriage.

This picture of the Empire State building in New York covered in rainbow went viral today.

It has always been cool to be a New Yorker. It's now even double-triple cool...

Cheers!

Google celebrates Gay Pride 2009

It's not the first time Google is voicing its support for LGBT rights and equality. My respects to Google!

*The Official Google Blog

Celebrating Gay Pride 2009

All around Google, we're proud of our work, our culture and, most importantly, our people. In the spirit of celebration, this spring and summer Googlers have participated in Pride celebrations in Tel Aviv, New York, Zürich, San Francisco and many other cities around the world. Pride is a time for the LGBT* community along with families, friends and supporters to stand up for equality, and to honor those who paved the way for us to express sexual orientation and gender identity openly.

In the U.S., this year's celebration is historically important: it's the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, a response to what was then routine police harassment of LGBT people. Some 75 Googlers, family members and friends marched with several hundred members of New York's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center. Hundreds of Googlers also joined other U.S. celebrations in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Earlier this month, around 50 Googlers and friends gathered to celebrate at Europride, Europe's best-known Gay Pride celebration. This year it was in Zürich, Switzerland. After weeks of sunshine, on the morning of the parade it began to storm, but that didn't deter our intrepid Googlers from being out at 6:30am turning a 28-ton truck into a rainbow-colored nightclub on wheels. Hundreds of nuts, bolts and gallons of helium later, the truck was transformed, the sun came out and we were ready to march through the city streets, cheered on by a crowd of 50,000.

Google is a company that supports its LGBT employees, taking a public stand stand on issues that are important to our community. This is not the first year that Google has supported Pride, and it will certainly not be the last. We hope you enjoy this photo album of our global celebrations.

Proud Armenians march at New York Gay Pride

As Tweeted by president of the Armenian gay rights group in New York - AGLA NY (below, with related thread):

Marching in NYC's Pride Parade with proud Armenians!
http://twitter.com/veken/status/2373398019

!! RT @veken Marching in NYC's Pride Parade with proud Armenians! #armenia #diaspora #gay
http://twitter.com/unzippedblog/status/2373585379

Soon in Erevan ? RT @unzippedblog: !! RT @veken Marching in NYC's Pride Parade with proud Armenians! #armenia #diaspora #gay
http://twitter.com/w2YDAvid/status/2373853096

@w2YDAvid I wish! But... Let's hope and work towards that ;)
http://twitter.com/unzippedblog/status/2375643792

*picture - via AGLA NY

Queer Pride Armenian Reading, New York

Via Queering Yerevan, Gartal and the Armenian Gay and Lesbian Association of New York (AGLA NY) present "An Evening of Literary Pride" on 20 June 2009, at the LGBT Community Services Center in New York.

Gartal and AGLA NY have asked writers and poets to read selections related to the issue of pride, a loaded term for Armenians and queers alike. Hosted by Arthur Nersesian, famed East Village novelist of such books as The Fuckup, Chinese Takeout, Manhattan Loverboy and his most recent, The Sacrificial Circumcision of The Bronx. Introduced by Nancy Agabian, author of the new memoir Me as her again: True Stories of an Armenian Daughter. Reception to follow.

Readings by:
David Ciminello
Amy Ouzoonian
Aaron Poochigian
Margarita Shalina
Hrag Vartanian

David Ciminello’s fiction has appeared in the literary journal Lumina. His short story "PD XOX" appears in the forthcoming anthology Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City. His poetry has appeared in Poetry Northwest. His original screenplay Bruno (a finalist in the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting) was produced and occasionally appears on DVD as something vaguely resembling the original story. David has received his MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College. He currently lives in New York City where he works as a writer and teaching artist.

Amy Ouzoonian is a writer, performance artist and editor. She is the author of Your Pill (Poems, Foothills Publishing), Editor of In the Arms of Words: Poems for Disaster Relief (Poems, Sherman Asher Press). She is currently a graduate student at The New School and is working on a series of performance pieces that incorporates her work with music and dance called "Waiting Journey." She lives and creates in Queens, NY.

Aaron Poochigian attended Moorhead State University from where he studied under the poets Dave Mason, Alan Sullivan, and Tim Murphy. After traveling and doing research in Greece on fellowship, he earned his Phd in Classics from the University of Minnesota. Forthcoming translations include Sappho’s poems and fragments for Penguin Classics; Aeschylus, Aratus and Apollonius of Rhodes in the Norton Anthology of Greek Literature in Translation; and his edition of Aratus’ astronomical poem, The Phaenomena, from Johns Hopkins University Press. His original poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Arion, The Dark Horse, Poetry Magazine and Smartish Pace. He now lives and writes in Brooklyn, NY.

Margarita Shalina was born in Leningrad and raised on New York’s Lower East Side. Her poetry has appeared in Poems for the Retired Nihilist V. 2 (Fortune Teller Press, UK, 2007), EvergreenReview.com, New York Nights, and as a broadside for Poetry Motel. She has written essays for ZEEK Magazine and Three Percent, the website that accompanies Open Letter Press. She was a contributing translator to Contemporary Russian Poetry (Dalkey Archive Press, 2007) and is the Independent Press Buyer for St. Marks Bookshop. She lives in New York.

Hrag Vartanian is an Armenian-Canadian writer, critic and cultural worker. He lives in New York and his work has appeared in the Art21 blog, AGBU News, the Brooklyn Rail, NYFA's Current, Huffington Post, Modern Painters and contributes a street art column, "Re:Public", to ArtCat Zine. He serves on the board of the Ararat Quarterly and the Triangle Arts Association. He also blogs daily at hragvartanian.com. He is gayly married and hopes that one day his marriage will be legally recognized across America and around the world.

Brutality of Homophobia in Armenia (presentation by Lala Aslikyan)

Lala Aslikyan, Huys NGO (Armenia), made this presentation on 16 January 2009, at the meeting with New York based Armenian gay rights group- AGLA NY. It's a damning account on brutal face of homophobia in Armenian society, including in the Armenian army. (more about the latter - in my further posts)



Documented case of rape in the Armenian army



(About Lala Aslikyan) Lala Aslikyan is a psychologist and a political scientist, human rights advocate. She is a member of “Huys” (”Hope”) NGO in Armenia, dealing with human rights protection and advocacy. Since 2004 she has initiated and organized several public forums, demonstrations, public actions aimed at the protection of human rights, free media and implementation of basic democratic principles in Armenia. Particularly, she was involved in the successful advocacy campaign related to a large number of murders in the Armenian army. She was actively engaged in the protests on March 1 and in following events, which put her in dangerous position while dealing with police and army forces used against people and journalists in Yerevan.

She works as Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist in the community project, financed by USAID, Armenia.

Prior to her visit to NY Lala had several meetings in Armenia to prepare a brief presentation on LGBT rights violations in Armenia for the LGBT community in NY. During her 10 minute talk she will give a picture of the LGBT situation in Armenia, highlighting specific problems and the character of violence and harassment based on homophobia in Armenia.

*videos - via AGLA NY

Muslim artist Sarah Maple gets death threats in London

I first came across Sarah Maple's work at the recent gallery exhibition in NY on best emerging British artists. (see photos of some of her works below) Someone said back then that she is one of the most promising new artists in the UK.

Today BBC reports that after opening an exhibition at one of London galleries Sarah Maple started receiving death threats. Moreover, staff at the gallery received abusive phone calls, and someone smashed the glass front of the gallery. Apparently, some in the Muslim community find her works insulting. Watch the interview with another female Muslim artist in London who effectively tries justifying these attacks simply because she thinks that Sarah's works do not constitute 'work of art' according to her taste. Sickening...

In solidarity with Sarah!

SJP for Obama

Sarah Jessica Parker of my favourite TV show Sex and The City joined volunteers at the Obama NY HQ to make calls to undecided voters, reports The Huffington Post (photo).

Veken Gueyikian – new head of New York based Armenian gay rights group

It was confirmed today that Veken Gueyikian was elected as the new president of the Armenian Gay & Lesbian Association of New York (AGLA NY). For the past year he was serving as the vice-president of the Association. Congrats, Veken!

In his letter announcing Veken Gueyikian’s appointment, now former AGLA NY president Christopher Atamian calls for volunteers to contact AGLA NY and be part of the team. He also reaffirmed previously announced but postponed plans to host a spring conference next year on LGBT rights in the Caucasus. Details of the conference are yet to be announced.

Dear AGLA NY Members and friends,

It is my pleasure to welcome Veken Gueyikian as the new President of AGLANY. Veken is an intelligent, energetic and dedicated professional who served as Vice President for the past year, and without whom we could not have accomplished all that we did. We are looking for a few interested and energetic individuals to work with Veken in the coming year as a member of our organization. Please email Veken through this form if you are interested in volunteering.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their support and help over the past two years that I have had the honor of serving as AGLA NY President. [...]

In the coming year, we have many fun and novel events planned, including a winter benefit to raise funds for the organization and a spring conference on LGBT rights in the Caucasus.[...]

As to the present plans of Chris, who will remain a member of the Board of Directors of AGLA NY, he just set up a website with his former classmate Anita Itty - http://www.ecognoscente.com. It's a free daily e-mail – “literally a Daily Candy meets The New Yorker”, as they describe it, with the writings on art, architecture, literature, design, film, fashion, music, theatre and food.

It’s good to know that there are Armenian organisations where former president congratulates newly elected one. It is also reassuring that unlike (sadly!) closed down AGLA France, there are people within our NY group willing to take over the job so that the organisation will function and move forward.

I personally know Veken, met him few months ago. Very nice guy, friendly, dedicated, and I am confident he will be a good head of our NY based Armenian gay rights group. His partner Hrag Vartanian, one of my favourite Armenian bloggers, writes extensively about modern/contemporary and street art and current issues at http://hragvartanian.com. Veken keeps a personal blog too at http://veken.org, along with managing AGLA NY blog. Btw, as I noticed, AGLA NY website and their blog on 'wordpress' are now merged into single domain http://aglany.org.

Again, my congratulations to Veken!

An afternoon of Armenian thought-provoking films at the LGBT centre in NY

Christopher Atamian, head of AGLA NY, New York based Armenian gay and lesbian advocacy group, reports for Yevrobatsi about recent cultural event co-sponsored by AGLA and Nor Alik, a leading Armenian cultural organisation.

I would particularly note these thought-provoking works by Melissa Boyajian, a fine arts student from Boston.

"On June 22nd at the LGBT Center in New York City, Nor Alik presented an innovative and diverse afternoon of Armenian culture. First Melissa Boyajian, a student at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts presented three short films, including “Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon” and “Conversational Armenian,” as well as a third film in development. Melissa noted that the last two films were meant as installation video pieces, so that viewing them as films on a screen distorted the intended effects. Still, everyone present was happy to have watched them in either form.

In “Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon,” a unseen hand wraps different material tubing (copper, string etc) around a close-up of a tongue inside an open mouth. The viewer sees the different wires being tied around the tongue over and over again until the mouth is overstuffed with wiring. The film is meant as a statement on the traditional Armenian tradition in which a woman had to keep silent for a year after getting married [Unzipped: Gay Armenia – I must admit I never heard or came across with this “traditional Armenian tradition”], but also on the general silencing of women in society, particularly in more conservative (and Armenian) societies. In “Conversational Armenian” Boyajian plays both a man and a woman on a split screen, both repeating remarkably sexist sentences reproduced verbatim from a conversational Armenian tape published a few years back in Beirut. Each lesson is interrupted by a clever riff on Armenian culture, until the last frames when the viewer is in for a little surprise..."

Picture of the Day

Two pairs

Zoe Leonard. “Two Pairs” from Analogue, 1998-2007

The current photography show at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City, features—among others—the work of two major contemporary LGBT artists: Zoe Leonard and Glenn Ligon.

*source: The New York Public Library

AGLA NY started blogging

In a welcome move and in line with previously announced expansion of organisational activities, Armenian Gay & Lesbian Association of New York (AGLA NY) launched its blog, with the focus on life of LGBT Armenians in NY, US, as well as organisational news.

Here are some headlines from recent posts.

“Member spotlight” presents NY fashion designer Loris Diran and metalware designer Michael Aram

Nancy Agabian reports on a lecture by Vigen Guroian, Prof. of Theology at Loyola College (MD), entitled, “Homosexuality & Same-Sex Union” at the Armenian Prelacy (16 November 2007). “The main point of Professor Guroian’s talk was that same sex union goes against one of the Armenian Apostolic church’s sacraments, that of a marriage between a man and a woman, as stated in the bible.” However, as Nancy concluded, “The event wasn’t openly hostile towards gays and lesbians; rather, people seemed interested to listen and talk to teach other about the issue. This represents real progress, especially for those who remember when the word gay wouldn’t have even been understood within an Armenian religious context. Our queer Armenian voices were heard in connection with the church, and on the issue of gay marriage, which affects many of us.”

There is also announcement on a special Gartal event in NY on 17 February 2008 which featured reading of the new book (An)daratsutian Mej or In the (Un)space (Women’s Resource Center, Yerevan, 2007) in English, French and Armenian with authors Nancy Agabian, Lara Aharonian and Shushan Avagyan. “In writing about such topics as the domestic violence of upstairs neighbors, an absurd gynecological visit, and furtive reading in a grandmother’s library, the tri-authors create the “(un)space”, where each Armenian woman must interpret herself and translate others in order to find a place to more fully exist.” Hrag Vartanian has more details.

I will keep an eye on AGLA NY blog and will update here on new developments from NY LGBT Armenian community. You may access their blog at http://aglany.wordpress.com

AGLA NY: Armenian gay rights organisation in New York expands

It was sad to announce the closure of AGLA France a month ago, but it's pretty symbolic that with this interview, there will be an announcement of the re-launch of the website of another prominent Armenian LGBT organisation – Armenian Gay & Lesbian Association of New York (AGLA NY), with exciting and broad agenda.

Today Unzipped: Gay Armenia is speaking to Christopher Atamian, President of AGLA NY, to discuss the changes in the organisation, gay rights and life in Armenia and Diaspora, and a groundbreaking conference on LGBT rights in the Caucasus, which is being organised by AGLA NY. He has been President of AGLA NY for a little over one year (15 months) now.

Before going to the questions, I asked Christopher Atamian to introduce himself, provide with a brief biography. I am glad that Chris agreed. It amazes me how many talented people we have in our community and how little we know about them (if know at all).

Biography
I was born in New York City. I attended Harvard University, USC Film School and Columbia Business School. I am a former Fulbright, Gulbenkian and Bronfman Scholar. After working ten years in corporate media, where I was last CMO of BKL Media, I started True Faux Productions two years ago: we produced Trouble in Paradise which won a 2007 Obie (!) and are planning to move it to Off-Broadway and eventually Broadway. I have made three short films that have screened from LA to Armenia and I write for leading publications including The New York Times (This past weekend I had a feature in Arts and Leisure) and The New York Press where I was the Dance Critic for two years. I was recently included in “Forgotten Bread: First Generation Armenian American Authors” and translated Nigoghos Sarafian’s “Vinceni Andaruh” from Western Armenian into English. I have just completed a first novel and I am working on a book called “Deconstructing Ararat: Aesthetization, Diaspora and Identity in Armenian Film” I also started Nor Alik, a leading cultural organization which produces Making an Armenian Difference, a Film, Performance and Lecture series. I am single and live in NYC.

Christopher Atamian: "We need to tell bigots and people who would pretend we don't exist that it’s not all right to ignore us. "

Artmika: This Thursday (15 November) sees the launch of AGLA NY new website. However, my take is that it is not just a revamp of the website, say, making it more functional or changing colours/design, but rather a re-launch of the Association per se with a broader agenda.

Christopher Atamian: That is partly true. We’re lucky to have had five past presidents who kept the flame alive, so to speak. But up until now, we’ve remained mainly a social organization. And although that is one very important function for a gay and lesbian association, it seemed to me that we could do a lot more. So in a short period for time with the help of a committed group of core members, we’ve started a Coming Out Committee; an enhanced web site; a newsletter and all sorts of fun, interesting, upcoming events. I’m most proud of the Conference that we are organizing in 2008 on LGBT Rights in the Caucasus, which will be the first of its kind in the world.

A: AGLA NY has recently changed its status to "non-profit". Could you tell a bit more about it and what would it mean to your members and broader LGBT Armenian community?

C: It simply means that we will be able to raise money and that the moneys raised will be tax-deductible. Hopefully that means that we will be able to build a healthy endowment for the organization and increase the breadth and depth of our programs.

A: Who can become a member of AGLA NY? I noticed you have two membership levels – "friends of AGLA NY" which is free, and "AGLA NY member" for a small fee. What is the difference between these two levels of membership?

C: Like any organization, there are costs for events, meeting spaces, websites and other activities. We wish that weren't the case but it’s a reality for any non-profit organization. As a result, we request that members pay a membership dues to join. But we also recognize that not everyone can afford that nominal fee, so we also offer another level of association with our group. However, only dues paying members may join the executive or vote.

A: What about plans for scholarships for deserving Armenian students which you announced on your website? Who will be eligible for it?

C: We are taking our cue from GALAS LA, though this is something that I have wanted to do from the beginning. We may or may not name the scholarships after one or more gay and lesbian Armenians who have unfortunately passed away. As of now, the plan is just to eventually establish these scholarships. We have to first raise the money and then endow the scholarships. That being said, anyone reading this interview who would like to endow a scholarship should feel free to contact me at catamian@aol.com.

We assume that any member of our community - gay or otherwise - will be able to apply. I am a firm believer in education and can’t stress how important I think it is for Armenians to increase their presence in our nation’s leading educational establishments.

A: For the fifth year now you participated in Gay Pride parade in NY this summer, and you plan to have your own float next year, for the first time. How important is it for you to participate in Pride events in NY? Could you picture similar event in Yerevan, say, in a year, 10 years…?

C: It’s very important. Our presence, no matter how small, sends a message to the general public and to the Armenian community as well. This year we plan to have a float and over 25 people participate. It ‘s going to be quite fabulous.

Yerevan has a long way to go. There are so many problems in Armenia, from poverty to lack of democracy to a looming renewal of conflict with Azerbaijan. But people continue to live and gay people deserve to live open, free lives as well. In this respect - and in others - the Armenian government says one thing and does another.

Like its neighbor the Republic of Turkey - I'm sad to say - it pays lip service to Council of Europe/EU laws, in this case civil rights legislation which guarantees LGBT people equal rights under the constitution. In reality gay people are persecuted there, although a small somewhat "out" group exists. I can’t say that much progress has been made, though to be honest I have not been back to Armenia in 3 years. But reports are not overly positive. We in the Diaspora can put some pressure - not much perhaps - on the government there to respect the laws they are sworn to uphold. And as a persecuted people, it behooves us as Armenians to be models of tolerance.

A: For me, the most important project AGLA NY put forward for the coming year is organization of a conference on LGBT rights in Caucasus. If successful, it would be one of the most significant events for gay rights movement in Armenia and the region. Could you provide more details? Also, is there any date set up for the conference?

C: Yes, we hope it will be a groundbreaking event. We plan to have sponsors and to hold it in a University setting. The Conference will be guided by a committee that is yet to be decided and will include an array of members from the New York-area Armenian and non-Armenian communities. That’s all I can say for now. Details to follow.

[from AGLA NY website (as of 14 November 2007): "AGLA NY is organizing the first-ever conference on LGBT rights. This is a crucial event and a first in the history of Armenia and the surrounding region. As you can imagine, given the persecution that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people face in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Abkhazia, this conference is of vital importance. We will be partnering with leading national and international organizations and bringing as much visibility as possible world-wide to issues of discrimination and human rights in the region. The conference will also draft an open letter to the Presidents of all four republics demanding that they apply EU laws regarding LGBT rights that they already have on the books, and publishing conference findings in the local and Armenian press. We need people to help organize the event, do PR for it and to (wo)man the event. It's a great learning opportunity as well, and as we are now a non-profit organization, we will offer college internship or community credit for our younger volunteers!"]

A: Maybe I am wrong, but my impression is that until now the main focus of AGLA NY was on local issues with LGBT Armenians. However, now you are shifting your attention to broader Armenian and outer community issues. What is behind this shift?

C: Again, up until now, AGLA NY was mainly a social organization and I think that this disappointed certain people. So we are doing all sorts of things now and enlarging both our social events (we’re holding a bang-up fundraiser in 2008) and other events, like the conference. Last year, under my impetus, we also participated with the Armenian Network, the ASA and the AGBU YP’s in the annual Armenian Thanksgiving Dance and donated over $1,000 raised to Fund for Armenian Relief’s efforts to help Armenians who suffered during the Israeli bombings of Lebanon. And why shouldn’t we? We are both Armenian after all and gay, so we should be active in both those aspects of our identities.

A: What was your reaction to the closure of AGLA France announced in this blog a month ago?

C: It’s very sad, but I am not surprised. Our communities are small, so keeping organizations alive is a Herculean task at times. (Also, we have to learn to be more politically active: we can be more active in every respect than we currently are, both in terms of the number of people who participate in Armenian cultural and fundraising activities and in terms of the amount of money we donate to support our organizations.) But I can’t speak specifically to Micha’s particular situation in France. I hope that AGLA France will re-open if possible.

A: I'd like to ask you the same question I asked Micha Meroujean of AGLA France. What are the most urgent and practical steps need to be done to develop gay rights movement in Armenia and Diaspora?

C: To speak out! To be present and in everyone’s faces. We’ve been taught to hide and that is wrong. We need to tell bigots and people who would pretend we don't exist that it’s not all right to ignore us. We have a right to be present, and to be married and to have families if we so choose. And if you look at Armenian cultural production, our people owe a great debt to LGBT people, from Tekeyan and Paradjanov on down to the current generation of writers and artists. In the recent book "Forgotten Bread: First Generation Armenian American Writers," for example, there were three contributors out of 15 who are members of our small AGLA NY Group. That's an amazing statistic, if you think about it.

A: NY is one of the most liberal cities in the world in terms of equality and visibility for gay people. I suppose, for gay Armenians in New York the main problem will come from their 'Armenian' part, rather than New Yorker. How easy is it to be gay Armenian in NY?

C: You know being gay is difficult, period. Everything from marriage laws, to health insurance issues, to the passing on of wealth is made difficult for us. Meeting people is more difficult. Gay people still are discriminated against and my generation - people roughly 35 to 45 - were taught that there was something wrong with them, that being gay was bad, so that there is a high rate of depression, addiction and self-hatred in our communities which makes things very difficult. I think younger people in their 20s have it slightly easier now. But I still think it’s not a cake walk. Look at Matthew Shepard. And you can still get attacked in NYC or called a faggot in the street: not pleasant things.

A: And back to the re-launch. On 15th November you will honor the contribution of past presidents of the Association. How many presidents has AGLA NY had, and are they still connected with the organization? What would be your message to them

C: My message to them is simple: thank you. There are 5 past presidents and myself and I think at least 4 will be present on November 15th, at last count. And yes, three of them still come to meetings on a regular basis. They and other members of the group have become like family to me.

A: Many thanks, Chris! And congratulations to you and to all of us for this new exciting agenda of AGLA NY.

see Unzipped