LGBT
New York City’s best guide to gay clubs, gay bars and LGBT events throughout NYC
The best LGBTQ Holiday events in NYC
There's plenty to do for Christmas in NYC this year, but for those looking to make the yuletide extra gay, we’ve got the best burlesque shows, comedy events and LGBTQ parties from your favorite NYC drag queens, performers and queer nightlife icons. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to Christmas in NYC
Great shows featuring trans and nonbinary performers in NYC
NYC would be a sadder place without the cultural contributions of its rich trans and nonbinary community. You can catch some of the city's most spectacular artists—who happen to be gender-nonconforming—at these comedy events, Broadway shows, cabaret performances, drag parties and beyond.
The best New York City drag shows and events
New York is, without question, the world capital of the drag arts. Gender-bending superstars from Bob the Drag Queen to Bianca Del Rio have honed their craft on NYC stages, and the scene shows no signs of slowing. These days, you can catch drag queens (often for free) every night of the week onstage at gay bars throughout the boroughs (and in Fire Island), and even on Broadway stages with shows like Kinky Boots serving fierce performances.
The Best queer POC (person of color) parties in NYC
Josephine Baker once said: “He was my cream, and I was his coffee, and when you poured us together, it was something.” The Queer POC community has always been a vital part of LGBT culture and at these nightlife events, you can party with the crème de la crème. Along with the best gay bars and lesbian bars in NYC, these queer POC parties make up the diverse LGBTQ rainbow.
Upcoming events
Los Nutcrackers: A Christmas Carajo
Now in its 15th year, Charles Rice-González's holiday play—which subverts The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol—imagines a...
Open Flame
Every Monday, Sam Campbell, Simone Leitner and Peter Valenti host a joyous queer open mic night at Mood Ring. But for their holiday blowout at...
The Day I Should Have: Been Proud
Storytelling phenom Danny Artese gathers an all-star lineup of queer performers to talk about coming out, evolving their identities and celebrating Pride...
Gay & Lesbian events in NYC: Critics’ picks
Head Over Heels
To enjoy Head Over Heels, which offers quite a lot to enjoy, it is probably best to kick up your heels and put your head on hold. That’s not to say that this saucy, boisterous musical doesn’t have a brainy side, starting with its ambitious crossbreeding of four time periods: It grafts a 2010s queer sensibility onto songs from the 1980s—by the all-girl pop-punk quintet the Go-Go’s (plus two hits from lead singer Belinda Carlisle’s solo career)—and fits them into a 16th-century story that is set in ancient Greece.
Justin Vivian Bond is Refrigerated
Supreme stage siren Justin Vivian Bond has developed a cult of fans who don't miss their annual holiday show—a classic cabaret blowout featuring songbook favorites, queer protest and meandering musings from the singular mind of JVB. Look sharp and look up: you're about to see the very best act in town.
A Gay Show for All People
Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp—the gay terrorists from Funny or Die’s Jared & Ivanka videos and The Opposition with Jordan Klepper—host their bananas variety show featuring an array of queer and honorarily gay performers. For their annual holiday spectacular—a staple of alt-comedy cheer—they blow out the Bell House with guests Jaboukie Young-White, Naomi Ekperigin, Nathan Lee Graham, Pat Regan, Amy Jo Jackson, Erin Markey and Sydnee Washington. Henry Koperski and His Straights provide musical accompaniment.
Torch Song
For gay history to stay alive, torches must be passed. So it is with Second Stage Theatre’s welcome and well-assembled revival of Harvey Fierstein’s plangently funny and touching play, which opened on Broadway in 1982 and ran there for three years. Then called Torch Song Trilogy, it was four hours long and covered a range of topics related to gay men in the window between Stonewall and AIDS: self-esteem, dating, violence, adoption, family tension. What it isn’t about is shame: Its central character, Jewish drag queen Arnold Beckoff, accepts his own queerness without fuss and with plenty of pithy quips.
Gay & Lesbian in pictures
Top stories
The cast and creator of Pose on bringing authentic trans POC stories to TV
“Live! Work! Pose!” cries Broadway mainstay Billy Porter in the opening-title sequence of Pose, evoking the magic words of the queer ballroom scene. For the cast of this FX show, which premieres on June 3, this three-word directive is a command—on and off camera—for an unprecedented assembly of gay men and trans women of color. They have been held back from opportunity in the entertainment industry for too long. Now, it’s their time to shine.
Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells and Matt Bomer hit Broadway
When The Boys in the Band opens on the Great White Way this month, it will be one hell of a celebration, marking the 50th anniversary of the Off Broadway debut with a hotly anticipated cast that comprises only openly gay actors.
Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears breaks out on Broadway’s Kinky Boots
For a generation of fiendish fans, the Scissor Sisters were perhaps the sole bastion of blissful expression in a straight-laced age of Nickelback and Jack Bauer. At the center of the technicolor explosion stood Jake Shears, a big-eyed, boyish soprano with a penchant for stripping down to his skivvies on stage—latent from his years as an East Village go-go dancer.
New York's best: LGBT
The best New York City drag shows and events
New York is, without question, the world capital of the drag arts. These days, you can catch drag queens every night of the week onstage at gay bars throughout the boroughs, and even on Broadway stages with shows like Kinky Boots serving fierce performances to midwestern tourists. We've rounded up the best performances to see. Go get your life!
The best New York City drag queens
You can't walk two feet in NYC without stepping on a drag queen. Whether you're down to see the experimental Bushwig scene in Bushwick, or to witness cabaret queens give Broadway songs their stamp downtown, you're bound to fall in love. Here are some of the queens who have defined NYC's drag scene, from hosting drag shows to winning RuPaul’s Drag Race.
