Corey Johnson (1) celebrates Gay Games gold

Corey Johnson, the former high school football player who famously came out of the closet in 1999, has opened a campaign committee to explore a run for New York City Council in 2013. He seeks to replace current City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who faces term limits next year (assuming she doesn’t suspend term limits for herself as she previously did for Mayor Michael Bloomberg).

Johnson has been politically active since he came out, heavily involved in Democratic Party politics and working on various local and statewide campaigns in New York. He is currently a Community Board Chairman; Community Boards hold a lot of power in Manhattan, where real estate is limited and expensive.

Corey told me:

I’m excited for a potential campaign. My whole adult life has been focused on service both in the LGBT movement and for the West Side of Manhattan where I live.

I played football with Corey in the New York Gay Football League for several years, where some of us called him “The future Mayor of New York.” He has a strong political background and has a personal “je ne sais quoi” that makes him very easy to cheer for. Oh, and he’s darn good at Scramble With Friends – so beware!

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GLAAD has been working with MLB since late last spring when the league asked them to send messaging hints to all MLB teams potentially interested in participating in the It Gets Better project. The show in New York City will feature a presentation of the organization’s work in sports in the last year.

PHOTO: Tampa Bay, FL, USA; New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (2) at bat during the bottom of the first inning of a spring training game against the Philadelphia Phillies at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

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The local Community Board 4, chaired by openly gay former football player Corey Johnson, overrode its own licensing subcommittee last November and denied the bar a license. The State Liquor Authority is taking up the matter this week.

One of the neighbors has complained that the bar might have a pants check-in so men can walk around in their boxer shorts. POI: It is legal for anyone to wear boxer shorts without pants on the streets, let alone in a bar. Besides, having been to the Chelsea-based Boxers bar many times, I’ve never seen this (though the bartenders only wear boxer shorts).

Others complain that there might be smokers outside the bar, or that the bar might be seen from the school? After all, some of the students in the school are asthmatic!!! POI: The bar owners have said they would not open during school hours.

Boxers owner Bob Fluet told Steve Weinstein, “They wouldn’t be opposing an Applebee’s.”

Actually, they might be. These Manhattan elites don’t want anyone disturbing their precious neighborhoods. Despite the fact that they’ve chosen to live in the most over-populated, congested city in the country, they want to tell other people what they can and cannot do with their business and their property (many residents even decide who can and cannot live in their apartment building). There is no doubt some homophobia is going on here (did I mention it’s a Catholic school?), but there’s also a lot of desire to simply tell other people what to do.

Welcome to New York.

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USA Triathlon awarded trans triathlete Chris Mosier an honorable mention for the USA Triathlon 2011 Spirit of Multisport Award, part of the annual Multisport Awards. Chris was one of five athletes named for the award, which recognizes individuals who illustrate the principles of the positive spirit of the sport as displayed through acts of sportsmanship and leadership in multisport. Chris was honored for his work in promoting trans visibility and LGBT inclusion in multisport and his commitment to advocating for all people to have the opportunity to feel safe, compete, and thrive in sports. USA Triathlon is the national governing body for the sport of triathlon and duathlon and has over 135,000 members.

The full list of award winners is here.

Chris has also been named 2012 ambassador for the Empire Triathlon Club in NYC and is currently working with LGBT sports leagues to improve transgender inclusion.

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“It’s disgusting,” fumed Iyanth Davis, 53, a law librarian. “That’s absolutely too close to these two schools . . . And the issue is not that it’s a gay bar — it’s a bar . . . That’s the issue.”

Disgusting? It’s highly doubtful that word would be used if it were a straight bar. According to the Post, the bar owners want to subdivide the building so the bar complies with city law and will sit just over 200 feet away from the school. Again, if it weren’t a gay bar with all of those evil gay pedophiles running around, it wouldn’t be an issue for many.

School gets out in the early afternoon. Bars open in the late afternoon and on the weekends. And even if they were open at the same time, a) the bar wouldn’t allow 12-year-olds into the bar and b) patrons wouldn’t be outside trying to lure kids away with bottles of Coors Lite.

I enjoy Boxers every time I go, and I hope the city doesn’t stop them from opening up where they want to open. In an overcrowded city where you’re always 200 feet from a teenager, you can’t legislate everything. Heck, the first Boxers is next door to an old church (that now houses a bar)…and Manhattan hasn’t sunk into the ocean yet!

Hat tip to Towleroad.

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Renee and The Devotion Project: More Than Ever (screening together)
Saturday, July 23, 5:00 PM at Cinema Village
Monday, July 25, 5:30 PM at Cinema Village

Renee Richards ranks among the most controversial professional tennis players of all time, up there with John McEnroe. Richards’ controversy does not, however, stem from her on-court demeanor. Instead, Richards was being asked to take a test to prove that she was genetically a woman, instigating a women-born-women policy for the US Open. Richards was born Richard Raskind, a womanizing opthamologist specializing in correcting eye misalignment. The film follows Richards closely through her daily life and features interviews with Billie Jean King and McEnroe.

The Devotion Project: More Than Ever is the first in a series of short films celebrating the love and devotion shared by same-sex couples.

The Film Guide is available on-line and tickets can be purchased at NewFest’s Web site.

This year, the festival will open and close at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and will be headquartered throughout the week at Chelsea’s SVA Theater and Cinema Village. Special satellite screenings will be held at The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side, and Harlem Stage.

You can also purchase tickets in person from now until July 20th from 2pm – 6pmat the LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011

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Special congratulations go out to the Jacksonville Surge, who won their first tournament game ever this weekend. In fact, they also got their second tournament win!

While gay flag football has long been dominated on the national scene by the uber-intense Gay Bowl, it’s great to see other tournaments like this in Chicago, Palm Springs and Ft. Lauderdale pop up. I already can’t wait for next year!

You can find full results here.

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New York becomes the sixth and by far the largest state to endorse gay marriage. It’s a great night for equality, though the odious Defense of Marriage Act is still federal law. Would love to hear everyone’s comments.

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Hat tip to Towleroad.

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Hi, I’m Steve Nash. I spend my summers in New York, and I love playing at the Garden. A growing number of professional athletes are speaking out in support of gay and lesbian couples getting married. I’m proud to be one of them. Join me and the super majority of New Yorkers who support marriage equality.

Last week Nash voiced his support of his team president, Rick Welts, coming out of the closet.

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