(Pictured above: scene from Rise Bar; also pictured below – the bar’s shirtless bartenders.)
On February 28, 2017, the LGBT Ministry at St. Francis of Assisi Church in the Archdiocese of New York hosted a Mardi Gras party at the Rise “gay” bar. In 2015, the Rise Bar was featured in a New York Times article:
“On a commercial street lined with midprice restaurants and a dance studio, Rise Bar is a few blocks north of the cluster of gay bars like Industry and Flaming Saddles Saloon. A sleek white bar and cozy black tables create a Lewis Carroll-style checkerboard effect. The feeling is surprisingly airy for a smallish space. A solitary glitter ball twinkles over the proceedings. A large video screen looms behind the stage, where the lineup promises drag competitions and Broadway nights.”
Those confirmed to be attending are Meredith Augustin, the Director of LGBT Ministry at St. Francis of Assisi and Joseph Nuzzi, Director of Evangelization.
In his book “Homosexuality and the Catholic Church,” Fr. John Harvey, the founder of Courage, wrote:
“A person with same-sex attraction must avoid gay bars, magazines, and Internet websites, just as a heterosexual person should not go to movies and night clubs which hold chastity in contempt.”
Further reading:
https://josephsciambra.com/pride-priest-offers-retreat-for-lgbt-catholics-in-nyc
Joseph,
Bless You and thank you for the past excellent blogs! I have really noticed there is a WHOLE lot of publicity right now concerning the upcoming 8 part television mini-series called Feud, about Joan Crawford and Bette Davis and the film they made together. It’s created by the openly gay Ryan Murphy who is responsible for the American Horror Story shows.
You have touched on the gay culture’s facination & celebration of Davis/ Crawford several times and here again we see the gay culture and media in total awe of this regurgitated topic. There’s no doubt Davis and Crawford were two of the greatest actress of all time but the gay culture’s focus on this feud and film “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane” is just mind boggling. There is a real need, desire & drive for gay men to identify, mimic, recreate and celebrate this terrible battle between two deceased actresses! It’s almost like a gay coming of age for a gay man to discover Bette Davis & Joan Crawford! Heterosexual men have Clark Kent and John Wayne while gay men prefer Davis and Crawford?