Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
The 30th anniversary reunion and celebration of Meow Mix continued last night at the Parkside Lounge, drawing another packed crowd to honor the legacy of the iconic lesbian bar that once thrived on the Lower East Side.
There were some surprise guests at the outset.
Justin Vivian Bond kicked off the evening, introducing Cynthia Nixon, who in turn welcomed Zohran Mamdani, the mayoral hopeful running against Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat running as an independent.
Bond joked about being called a socialist, saying they'd once confused it with being a socialite.
Nixon drew big laughs with the line, "Andrew Cuomo is not in a dyke bar tonight."
Mamdani spoke about early voting, affordable housing and the future of the city, calling on New Yorkers to keep fighting and organizing. He name-checked ACT UP and said leadership means saying goodbye to Mayor Adams and Cuomo — and showing President Trump "a city that's ready to fight him."
Though he'd never been to Meow Mix, he said he was thrilled to be part of the reunion, calling it a "vision of what New York should be." He added that queer and trans New Yorkers should not only be protected, but also cherished and celebrated.
Mamdani accepted a Meow Mix reunion T-shirt (and joked about the ethics rules on gift values) before heading out to more applause.
Here are more scenes from last night...
The Meow Mix reunion continues tonight and tomorrow at the Parkside Lounge, 317 Houston at Attorney. Visit this link for event info.
Meow Mix opened on the corner of Houston and Suffolk in 1996 and closed in 2004 — but its spirit clearly lives on.
Having a younger candidate is really showing here. He's popping everywhere. I love it. Stomp for those votes, people!
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping Sliwa quits the race and throws his support behind Cuomo. Otherwise, we'll be stuck with an inexperienced, pie-in-the-sky mayor in a time of crisis. If fighting Trump is the task at hand, then Cuomo's the one. (Which is exactly why Sliwa won't be doing any such thing.) Cuomo was correct in saying Trump can't wait for Mamdani to be elected; it fits his evil plot perfectly. Not that I don't agree with Mamdani on some things but to me he seems completely full of hot air. When pressed, he's got no answers. It takes more than happy talk to run a major city.
ReplyDelete“Cuomo’s the one”?? Tell that to all of those Covid patients he sent into senior care facilities!! Or perhaps the 13 women he sexually harassed!! As a 60 year old registered independent, the one name I NEVER want to hear about in NY politics is Cuomo!!
DeleteSliwa won’t drop out but not because he wants to help trump, he hates trump but he despises Cuomo even more. Fighting trump shouldn’t be the top priority of the mayor, running and managing the city should be. Mamdani will win and quality of life will suffer. More homeless, more crime, lots of progressive talking points at the podium and stupid fights with the White House and accomplishing very little.
Delete@6:43 Note the similarities between the takedown of Sen. Al Franken (proven after the fact to have been a Roger Stone initiative) and the takedown of Cuomo which wasn't investigated in the same manner. The two official investigations that led directly to Cuomo's resignation didn't prove anything. Basically investigators said they thought the women were credible and they couldn't disprove the allegations--which btw is all they ever were in the absence of proof, allegations.
DeleteWhy does the "I hate Cuomo" contingent always fail to note that not a single one of the harassment accusations held up in court, that every case was tossed for lack of evidence? In typical style, bourgeois Dems piled onto the latest trend they thought would make them more popular. (But where is the party's vocal support for "Me Too" now? Now it's just a forgotten afterthought, a souvenir of five years ago. Sorry, but I question the Party's sincerity.)
Leading Democratic pols were lightning-quick to throw their most talented and accomplished competition under the bus, hoping it would improve their own personal standing with the voters. Dems are great at exiling their most talented members based on the woke trends of the moment, aren't they? Again, remember Al Franken! You'd think it would occur to them at some point, they're simply being manipulated, to an obscene degree, by their rivals.
As for the nursing home thing, Cuomo has been upfront about the decision-making process, why he did that, and he apologized for the outcome. Not sure what else you would want from a person in a position of leadership, other than to recognize failings, admit them and try to make it right. If the rest of the Dem party could do that then maybe we'd be able to get out of the ditch we're in and make real progress with a reformed D party more reflective of the country as a whole.
Also noted, the two reasons cited for disliking Cuomo are the exact ones put out by the GOP as talking points numbers 1 and 2 against him. Cuomo was perhaps the most talented politician the Dems had and they fell for the old rope-a-dope from the Republicans to get rid of one of their best and brightest--yet again. And are still falling for it. Commenters acting viscerally repulsed by the mere mention of Cuomo--it worked like a charm, obviously.