Massachusetts has 2nd highest share of population that identifies as LGBTQ

Late last month a new report entitled, Equality and Equity Advancing the LGBT Community in Massachusetts, was released by The Boston Foundation. The report shines a bright light on the size of and the challenges faced by the LGBT community in Massachusetts.

A jaw-dropping 16% of 18- to 24-year olds in Massachusetts identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or something else, according to researchers from Boston Indicators, part of the Boston Foundation and the Fenway Institute, part of  Fenway Health. The LGBT community composes roughly 5% of the state’s population overall, making the commonwealth the “second gayest” state in the country behind Vermont, according to the report.

Source: Gallup Daily Tracking Survey. The Williams Institute. UCLA.

Despite being a leader in gay rights for more than four decades, LGBTQ youth still face some daunting hurdles. The report points out that nearly half of lesbian, gay or bisexual youth in our state have considered suicide as compared to 11% of their non-LGB peers. The report delves into much more detail about the strides we’ve made and the challenges that remain. Read the full report here, Equality and Equity Advancing the LGBT Community in Massachusetts.

Scruffy Sunday

handsome guy in bed, hunk, man with facial hair

How lovely would it be to wake up to this handsome face in bed with you?

Previous Scruffy Sunday Posts

Saturday morning coffee

handsome guy, sexy guy, hairy guy, guy drinking coffeeEnjoy your morning cup of joe (or whatever you might like to call him).

Saturday morning comics

gay cartoon, gay comic, James Asal Jr.

ADAM & ANDY is set in the fictional New England town of Woodfield, CT. You can learn more about this strip by visiting, adamandandy.com.

Click on this week’s comic to enlargejames asal, gay comic, gay cartoon

Last week’s Comic Strip

MFA Summer Party next weekend, June 9th

museum of fine arts boston

Source: MFA Boston

The MFA Boston will be hosting their annual Summer Party next Saturday (June 9th). For those of you who may like to show your pride while wearing a tuxedo, this event provides you with the unique opportunity to go from enjoying a Pride Brunch in the morning, to dancing shirtless at the Block Party following the annual Pride Parade to cleaning up and putting on your tuxedo for the annual Summer Party in the Shapiro Family Courtyard on Saturday evening.

MFA Summer Party Saturday, June 9th from 9 PM to Midnight

museum of fine arts boston

Click here for more information & to purchase tickets to the MFA Summer Party

Tickets to the party are $225 ($175 for Museum Council and Patron members). Proceeds from the Summer Party go to support the Museum’s exhibitions, community programs, and conservation initiatives.

Furry Friday

handsome guy, hairy guy, handsome latino, blue speedoFinely trimmed in time for beach season may not be everyone’s idea of a Furry Friday but he wears that blue Speedo and hat like a champ.

Past Furry Friday Posts 

BosGuy brain teaser

riddle, exercise for your brainEach Friday morning I post a riddle to get you to think outside the box and exercise your brain. If you are stumped, share it with a friend or colleague and see if you can figure out the answer together.

I’ll confirm answers in the afternoon so don’t worry if you don’t see your comment posted right away. I want to give everyone a chance to guess.

This week’s brain teaser:  

I go in hard, come out soft and some people love to blow me. What am I?

Like riddles? Check out past week’s brain teasers.

What to do this weekend

gay boston, men kissing, interracial gay coupleThis weekend, I want to start with a shout out for 1st Annual Provincetown Pride which runs through the weekend. If you’re staying in Boston this weekend be sure to check out one or more of the following: Super Guerrilla Queer Bar (GQB) Pride Edition on Friday,  the return of Kiki Beach Saturday afternoon, Boston Gay Men’s Chorus presents TOGETHER with shows on Saturday & Sunday and of course on Sunday the 33rd Annual AIDS Walk & Run Boston followed by the always fun Mass Bears and Cubs Annual Boston Harbor Cruise on Sunday evening.

ptown pride 2018

1st Annual Provincetown Pride as crazy as it might sound – Ptown is celebrating their first Pride festival this weekend

Queer Inclusive Climbing Klub (QuICK) Pizza night and climbing club at Brooklyn Boulders in Somerville

Absolut Takes Over Pride with Free Slider Bar Absolut presents “Take a Bite Out of Pride Weekend” with a complimentary slider bar at the Shipwreck Lounge Friday and Saturday in Provincetown

You Can’t Take It With You (Closing Weekend) is at the Provincetown Theater with the final show on Saturday, June 2 in Ptown

Dina Martina (Opening Weekend) summer performance, “Crème de la Dregs”, is at the Crown & Anchor in Provincetown

Super Guerrilla Queer Bar (GQB) Pride Edition starting at 9PM at the Hong Kong in Cambridge

Dueling Drag Divas are back this year performing every Friday and Saturday at 8PM at Mainestreet in Ogunquit

DJ Stevie Psyclone, Club Cafe, gay boston

XO Fridays kick off the weekend with resident DJ Stevie Psyclone – No Cover before 11PM at Club Cafe in Boston

La Boum // Queer Dance Party // First Fridays is at the Milky Way Lounge in JP

Casual Fridays is a weekly dance party with no cover featuring DJ Begbick at the Alley Bar in DTX

High Heel Dash for Charity takes place Saturday morning at 9AM af Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston

Return of Kiki Beach for a 3rd season, taking over part of M Street Beach on Saturday starting around 11ish – look for Speedos and listen for the music

Big Gay Dance Party takes place on Saturday from 5:30 – 8:30PM in Union Square Somerville

Jodi Kantor and Andrew Sullivan in Conversation: After Weinstein – Sold Out! starts at 7PM in the Hawthorne Barn in Provincetown

boston gay men's chorus

Boston Gay Men’s Chorus presents TOGETHER Celebrate pride with music from Broadway to the movies; from folk & spirituals to pop – shows are at 8PM on Saturday and 3PM on Sunday at Jordan Hall in Boston

Grunt – Underbear Edition is a weekly dance party with no cover for burly men and their admirers, starting at 10PM at the Alley Bar in DTX

H E R O E S Saturday (New Venue) Retro dance party hosted the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month from 10PM-2AM at Sonia (formerly TT The Bear’s Place) in Central Square

Video Night Tracks every Saturday night join VJ Ryan Grow at Cathedral Station starting at 9:30PM

The Donkey Show is the ultimate disco experience is a story inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream each Saturday at Club Oberon in Cambridge.

Grunt is a weekly dance party with no cover for burly men and their admirers, starting at 10PM at the Alley Bar in DTX

UNITE Saturdays is a weekly dance party at Club Cafe with DJ Susan Esthera (no cover before 11PM) in Boston

gay boston, Paradise

Saga Saturdays Boston’s biggest gay dance party at Paradise in Cambridge

33rd Annual AIDS Walk & Run Boston takes place on Sunday at the Boston Common in Boston

Gay Beer Club runs the AIDS Walk & Run 5k join Boston’s always sociable Gay Beer Club as the group raises money for AIDS Action and joins the annual 5k run on Sunday morning

SoWa Open Market SoWa Open Market is now open every Sunday from 10AM – 4PM through the end of October in Boston

Back to the 90s Brunch is at Trophy Room starting at 11AM in Boston

Brunch of Queens at The Bell in Hand Pride Edition is Sunday from 11AM – 2PM, you can purchase tickets for brunch and the drag show or just the drag show at The Bell & Hand in Boston

Mass Bears and Cubs Annual Boston Harbor Cruise is from 5:30 – 9PM on Sunday, leaving from Bay State Cruise Company in the Seaport

Sunday Tea Dance never has a cover and always has great music from 70s 80s & 90s, starting at 6PM no cover every Sunday at Club Cafe in Boston

Pajama Party is a weekly dance party hosted every Sunday starting at 10PM at Machine in Boston

Hot Mess Sundays at Candibar in the Theater District is every Sunday starting at 10PM in Boston

Send me information about your upcoming programs and events in my blog’s comment section or message me the details on Facebook.

Boston’s 33rd Annual AIDS Walk & Run is Sunday

gay boston

AIDS Walk & Run is Sunday, June 3rd on the Boston Common

On Sunday, June 3, thousands will come together to take action in the 33rd annual AIDS Walk & Run Boston, New England’s largest HIV/AIDS fundraising awareness event.

This year in particular, AIDS Action is asking you to take to the streets to continue raising money for the life-saving work the agency does as well as to support AAC and all members of the statewide Getting to Zero Coalition in their pledge to end HIV by 2020. The AIDS Walk is starting on The Boston Common and registration opens at 7:30 AM.

Click here for more information about the AIDS Walk & Run

Vintage gay

gay history, gay sailors, gay sailors kissingI dedicate this weekly post, featuring vintage gay photographs, to the men and women who lived in a more critical time where being true to yourself and loving who you want wasn’t always an option and came at a great price. Do you have a photo you would like to share? Email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

Previous Vintage Gay Photos

Boston Gay Men’s Chorus Boston Pride show, TOGETHER

BGMC

Source: Boston Gay Men’s Chorus
Photo Credit: Izzy Berdan Photography

The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus (BGMC) proudly presents Together, a concert to celebrate Boston Pride and BGMC’s upcoming South Africa Tour with a moving blend of Broadway classics, Hollywood hits, spirituals and pop culture crowd pleasers. Performances will take place Saturday, June 2 at 8pm and Sunday, June 3 at 3pm at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall in Boston.

Together includes “Make Them Hear You” from the musical “Ragtime;” American folk hymns like “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “How Can I Keep From Singing;” “A Love That Will Never Grow Old” from the film “Brokeback Mountain;” “Baba Yetu,” a setting of the Lord’s Prayer sung in Swahili; “ Tshotsholoza,” a traditional South African protest song sung in the Zulu and Ndebel languages; and selections by pop stars Janet Jackson and Katy Perry, among other music.

boston gay men's chorusPerformance dates and times – All shows at Jordan Hall
Saturday, June 2 at 8PM
Sunday, June 3 at 3PM

Click here for more information and for tickets

This week on Instagram: kikibeachboston

kiki beach boston, gay boston, boston's gay beachesBelieve it or not, the 2018 summer season officially started last weekend and with warmer days ahead of us that can only mean it won’t be long before the Kiki Beach Instagram feed is full of photos from M Street Beach in Southie.

For the past few years, this guerrilla account (I say that because I have no clue who manages the account) has been promoting “take overs” of a part of M Street Beach and while the numbers can vary dramatically from week-to-week, there is always a loud and proud contingency of men in speedos listening to great music and having fun.

Sergio and I will certainly be heading to M Street for Kiki Beach later this summer, and I hope you’ll join us. Til then, start following Kiki Beach on Instagram and enjoy the cheeky posts.

Follow him on Instagram here, instagram.com/kikibeachboston.

Do you like this weekly post? Check out previously featured IG accounts here.

Caption this photo

sports humor, gay sports, funny, football humorHopefully the caption I’ve shared below inspires you to offer up a caption or two of your own. Leave a witty or funny caption as a comment for this post, and I’ll approve it for readers to enjoy.

No wonder football is so popular

Helping gay men meet and connect in Boston

Starting this January, each Tuesday I have featured a different gay group, team or club that regularly meets in the Boston area. I want to show people that there are ways to meet people if you are willing to put yourself out there. Unfortunately, Boston will never win any congeniality awards so I’m mindful of how hard it can be (especially for a newcomer to Boston) to meet people.

With the summer season officially starting this past Memorial Day Weekend, I’m temporarily pausing this weekly post. Below I have listed the groups, teams, clubs that I featured this spring. If one or more of these sound interesting, check them out and see if you can get involved.

America’s Finest Kickball League: Boston Chapter

Beantown Softball League

Boston Gay Dodgeball League

Boston Gay Men’s Book Club

Boston Gay Men’s Chorus 

Boston Ironsides Gay Rugby Team

FLAG flag football

Frontrunners Boston

Gay for Good Boston

Gays for Patsy Boston Chapter

HBS LGBT Student Association

LANES Boston’s LGBTQ Swim Club

Mass Bears and Cubs

OUTryders – Gay Ski Club 

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence: Boston Covenant

Stonewall Billiards and Dodgeball Leagues

Toys for Joys

Yankee Cruising Club

The Welcoming Committee

In the fall I will once again feature LGBTQ groups and organizations that help people connect and enrich Boston’s gay life. If you’d like to have your club / team featured, please email me at bosguymail@gmail.com.

Provincetown’s 1st Pride Festival June 1-3

ptown pride 2018Provincetown is a favorite destination for LGBTQ travelers so it may come as a surprise to learn that June 1-3, 2018, Ptown will host its first Pride Festival. The Festival starts with “Official Pride Ferries” from Bay State Cruise Company leaving from Boston on Friday, June 1st and includes an assortment of events including (partial listing) of the following.

Friday, June 1 at 8:00 PM: Global Rainbow is an ongoing public piece of
art by artist Yvette Mattern commissioned by Provincetown Business Guild. Colored rays of laser light will be projected toward the sky, simulating a natural rainbow arc and expected to be visible for up to 20 miles.

Saturday, June 2 at 4ish: 1st PRIDE Sashay to the Boatslip Tea. What would be more appropriate than making the walk down Commercial Street to the Boatslip Tea dance part of Ptown’s first Pride?

Sunday, June 3  Underwear PRIDE Closing Party at Purgatory is the perfect way to close out the weekend celebration. 

There are obviously more events scheduled and you can read more about Provincetown’s first Pride festival by visiting ptown.org/pride.