Gay & Lesbian Youth New York: Years Later

I was having coffee with a friend today in the village and on my way out I ran into an old acquaintance, Mark, who was a member of GLYNY, Gay & Lesbian Youth New York, which was the successor organization to Gay Youth New York, the latter of which I was a member (and eventually chair) of from 1970 to 1973 when I aged out at 21 (yes, now you know how old I am!).

Mark was in fact with a whole host of former GLYNY members who were getting together for the first time in many years to hang out, "glamorize the old days, to stumble through a song or two, and to lie about ourselves a little." [Couldn't resist the Sondheim reference, sorry]

I didn't know any of these good folks, since they had all been in the group from the mid-to-late 80s, when I was living in Japan. And I wouldn't have known them in any case, since as an elder I was no longer connected to anyone in the group. Just like a school, the entire membership turns over in a couple of years. Though in GYNY/GLYNY there were no teachers. It was youth led, and a great opportunity for young people to learn social skills and leadership in a queer safe space that was mixed gender, race, class, everything. I still have a few friends from my time in Gay Youth, including Mark Segal, one of our community's heroes, who is the publisher of Philadelphia Gay News. But there aren't many folks from my time left in NYC or on the planet for that matter, sad to say. So it was a pleasure to meet the next generation.

In short order I was introduced to all, and we ended up doing what members of the group did from the time I joined GYNY to the time the group that became GLYNY was subsumed by the social workers at the Center into Youth Enrichment Services (a worthy organization that does important work, but however does not provide the empowerment that grows organically out of a youth run and led organization)  which is to say that we all wandered off to the Morton Street Pier and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. And here they are, taking in the sun. Back when I first went to the pier with GYNY, there was a ship docked there used by the students from the Food and Maritime Trades High School on 13th Street. The ship is long gone. And the school building is now the home of the LGBT Community Center.

Of the many things this group of alumni talked about, high on the list was how we might be able to provide good role models for queer young folk today. This will most likely be taken up on the GLYNY online bulletin board. And it's a subject that I will follow with great interest. So if you were a member of Gay & Lesbian Youth in NYC in any of its various incarnations, get in touch.
 

Comments

[Mike Doyle]

Seeing these familiar faces on the pier is the biggest reason I wish I could immediatelty end my self-imposed exile in Chicago and return to New York now (instead of awaiting the job offer that will allow me to come back home in a wiser manner).

I was a GLYNY member from 1986 through 1990, and a member of the steering committee as well during those years. At the age of 37, those remain the most fertile, tenderly remembered years of my life.

And the fact that we have come back together so many years later, and that so many dear long-lost friends are now again, simply, dear friends, is nothing short of miraculous (a word I use with every sense of reverence it can carry).

Your tenure in the group predated mine, Mark, and I did not know you. But welcome back to the fold! Welcome home.

[Mark H]

Mike,

Thanks for your sweet comments. It is always a pleasure to encounter a man who has the ability to recognize the miraculous in what seems like the everyday, and then show reverence for it. Hope to meet you if you ever wander back from Chicago.