One Celebration of Pride

Jubilation, White Party Cruise, Expo, and James Baldwin, too

By Sr. Correspondent, Antoine Craigwell

The battle of the Prides and celebrations -Jubilation and Pride in the City 2009 -began in earnest on Friday, Jul 31 with Jubilation, but James Saunders's and Laurence Pinckney's 7th Annual Moonlight White Party Cruise in New York's harbor, was one highlight of the city's Pride events.



 

Section of crowd at the White Party

On a pleasant summer night, close to 400 people, men and women, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and straight, all garbed in their best white attire, formed an orderly line along Pier 62, and a few minutes after 12:30am, boarded the Spirit Cruise yacht which slipped its moorings and gradually drifted into the darkness over the Hudson River like a ribbon between the two collections of light, the city and the riverain cities of New Jersey. 

The boat swung its bow and headed close to the New Jersey side of the river, passed Ellis Island, the Statute of Liberty, where it idled its engines for a few minutes, then to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, at which point it turned around, hugging the Brooklyn side of the estuary, up to the Manhattan Bridge, turned again and slowly inched its way back to its moorings at a few minutes after 4:00am.

 

White Party organizer James Saunders and DJ Baker, DoDaDirty Show

On board, there were three levels of merriment: up stairs, on an open deck where the VIP dined at white table cloth service, immediately below were others, and below more people. The second and lower levels each were fitted out with separate DJs with music, separate bars and separate buffets. 

On the second level, during the mixture of house, reggae, soca, and even some Anita Baker selections, Tammy Peay, a comedienne who is often featured on the October Nubian Dreams Cruise, emceed the show which included male and female dancers, singing performer Allison Williams, and other hip-hop singers. 

There was a best dressed contest, in which many men and women competed; some in simple outfits and others in more elaborate all white ensembles. A few men wore coat-tails, while others were elegantly dressed in simple cut white jackets, pants, hats, and shoes for a summer's evening.

 

Black Expo - (r) gender Illusionist Dred

Coming from Washington, D.C., Elias Fishburn IV, owner of Elias IV Hair and his partner, Kevin Britt, stole the show, winning the contest with their over-the-top sailor outfits.

"I was impressed by how organized this event was, and this is why I come to New York for this White Party," said Fishburn, who drew a comparison between this event and the recently concluded White Attire Affair - The Experience, hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based Al Sura organization, where he said, there was no clear distinction between those who had paid up to $1,000 and considered VIPs, and the general public.

When the cruise returned to Pier 62, it seemed as though that was the end; many were wondering if there was an after party, and not knowing of any, went to their homes.

In conversation at BlkGayExpo-L-r Donald Powell and Kevin McGruder, fmr exec dir., GMAD

As the Pride celebrations continued, the usual and expected beach option at Jacob Riis Beach in Queens, NY on Sunday quickly evaporated as blue skies were replaced with gray clouds, which opened to lightening, thunder, and a downpour.

In a brief respite, the sun reappeared in the afternoon, in time for the Black Gay Expo, part of the series of events for Jubilation at the Chelsea-area Helen Mills Theater. According to Lee Soulja, organizer of the Expo, it has been about 10 years since there was a Black gay Expo. 

 

BlkGayExpo-GMAD table
Along with the 11 booths which were manned by representatives of health agencies and social service organizations, including the Institute of Gay Men's Health Crisis, Gay Men of African Descent, the Rainbow Collective, SWERV magazine, Project Achieve, City Gym Boys, Life Beat, ShoptillUdrop.com and High Society, a clothing and T-shirt brand; and many vendors selling products especially designed for the Black population; downstairs Queer Black Cinema hosted a series of screenings in the theater.

And, as if by design, yet not quite, also on Sunday, the Black community and the Black gay community celebrated the 85th birth anniversary of author, playwright and civil-rights activist James Baldwin at the Faison Firehouse Theater in central Harlem.

Section ofJubilation BlkGayExpo
After speeches, readings from Baldwin's essays, and excerpts from his books, members of the Black community, including playwright and poet Amiri Baraka, poetess Sonia Sanchez, and Eleanor Traylor, English professor at Howard University, reminisced about their experience of him and his contribution to the Black social fabric and philosophical debate.

Following the Expo, in a highly unusual occurrence, Escualita, the gay night club, hosted a post Jubilation celebration without cover charge.