FROM MY CITY TO YOURS: INSIDE NEW YORK’S L GBTQ+ SCENE

Discover a different side of the Big Apple with tour guide Michael Ventriello, who offers insights into the city’s fun-loving, inclusive LGBTQ+ community. Interview: Charlotte Wigram-Evans

WHAT DOES NEW YORK CITY MEAN TO YOU?

It really is an incredible city and I feel very fortunate to be living here every day, even in the midst of a pandemic. Moving to New York as a queer man, I found a new lease of life. I was already out when I arrived, but I was able to find out what that truly meant for me when I moved to this city.

WHAT LGBTQ+ LANDMARKS SHOULD WE VISIT? There are a couple of underrated sites I’d really recommend. One is the New York Aids Memorial — a reminder of a dark time in history, but a really, really important one. The memorial is beautiful, and it’s set in a peaceful and serene little green space, which is quite rare in the city. The other is the LGBTQ Center on West 13th Street. It’s three stories tall and takes up half a block — it’s massive. There’s a cool cafe inside, too.

IN NORMAL TIMES, WHERE WOULD YOU USUALLY GO FOR A GREAT NIGHT OUT?

In Greenwich Village, standing at the Gay Liberation Monument in Christopher Park, you can do a 360-degree spin and see so many great gay bars. There’s Stonewall Inn, which in 1969, when there were riots across the city, was the only place that welcomed gay people, people of colour, gender-nonconforming folks, trans folks, drag queens, drag kings — everyone. Then you’ve got Duplex, as well as Marie’s Crisis and Monster, and a block away there’s Julius’, which is my favourite.

It’s this little queer piano bar, and they have a pianist every night performing everything from Broadway to Disney. Only about 20 people can fit in there at a time, it’s that tiny, and by the end of the night everyone’s belting out Broadway tunes and hugging each other.

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