Under the PINK Carpet is a television entertainment/news magazine series that highlights gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) arts, nightlife and culture in New York City and is broadcast on NYC Life/NYC Media WNYE-TV, [1] and on WYBE MiND TV in Philadelphia, [2] The goal of the series is to entertain and educate about the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Transgender) Community, give exposure to Out artists and to show how Gay citizens contribute to the cultural fabric of New York City and the world. The show first started in Philadelphia before the production moved to New York City.
The show is created, produced and directed by Tony Sawicki, who also serves as the primary correspondent. Also featured are Drag Diva personality Lady Clover Honey, actor and filmmaker Fred Anguera, comedian Marianne Schaberg, performance artist Robin Cloud, attorney and self-described "Fag-Hag" Stephanie Butler and comic Michele Balan who went on to achieve network fame as a top contestant on NBC's "Last Comic Standing".
In 2004, Under the PINK Carpet was distributed by NETA (National Educational Telecommunications Association)a national distributor of PBS television programs to PBS stations in Washington DC, San Francisco and Austin. The series was also broadcast in Canada on the OUTtv cable network.
In May 2010, Tony Sawicki received a Passion Fruit Award for his outstanding dedication and contributions to the NYC, LGBT and Arts Communities for his work on Under the PINK Carpet from the Fresh Fruit Festival, the largest annual LGBT Arts Festival in New York City.
The LGBTQ community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBTQ activists and sociologists see LGBTQ community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBTQ community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBTQ community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBTQ community.
LGBTQ culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture, while the term gay culture may be used to mean either "LGBT culture" or homosexual culture specifically.
LGBT tourism is a form of tourism marketed to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people. People might be open about their sexual orientation and gender identity at times, but less so in areas known for violence against LGBT people.
WPPT is a PBS member television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned by Lehigh Valley Public Media alongside Allentown-licensed fellow PBS member WLVT-TV. As WYBE, the station's transmitter was located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia; in 2018, it entered into a channel sharing agreement with Allentown-based independent station WFMZ-TV and began operating from WFMZ's transmitter on South Mountain near Allentown.
LGBT stereotypes are stereotypes about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) people based on their sexual orientations, gender identities, or gender expressions. Stereotypical perceptions may be acquired through interactions with parents, teachers, peers and mass media, or, more generally, through a lack of firsthand familiarity, resulting in an increased reliance on generalizations.
Sheela Lambert (1956-2024), a native and lifelong resident of New York City, was an American bisexual activist and writer.
The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ community in New York City. The largest pride parade and the largest pride event in the world, the NYC Pride March attracts tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators each June, and carries spiritual and historical significance for the worldwide LGBTQIA+ community and its advocates. Entertainer Madonna stated in 2024, "Aside from my birthday, New York Pride is the most important day of the year." The route through Lower Manhattan traverses south on Fifth Avenue, through Greenwich Village, passing the Stonewall National Monument, site of the June 1969 riots that launched the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights.
Transparent is a 2005 documentary film written, directed, and produced by Jules Rosskam. Its title is a play on the words “trans” and “parent” implying the invisibility of transgender parenting in society today. The documentary follows 19 transgender men from 14 different states who have given birth to, and in most cases, gone on to raise, their biological children and the challenges they face while transitioning.
Wolfgang Busch is a multiple-award-winning documentary filmmaker, director, producer, cinematographer and editor. He was inducted into the Queens Business Hall of Fame for his company Art From The Heart Films for "Best LGBT Business" and into the LGBT Music Hall of Fame. For his social and artistic activism for the Black and Hispanic LGBT Ballroom community, aka Harlem Drag Ball community, Wolfgang received a Humanitarian award for his documentary How Do I Look, and the "Keep The Dream Alive" Martin Luther King Humanitarian award from the straight Black community.
The New York Blade was a free weekly newspaper focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) issues in New York City, New York. The Blade was a member of the National Gay Newspaper Guild, and contained news, entertainment, classified ads, and free personals for men and women.
The GLAAD Media Awards were created in 1990 by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to "recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their deads."
Lady Clover Honey is an American drag queen, comedian and television correspondent who lives in Jersey City, NJ and works in the New York City area. Born Kevin Clover Welsh in Totowa, New Jersey, he moved across the Hudson River to Manhattan in 1998 and then to Jersey City, New Jersey in 2011. Lady Clover Honey was an Entertainment News Reporter on the television program Under the Pink Carpet, a show that highlights Nightlife and Culture in New York City and was broadcast on NYC Life/NYC Media WNYE-TV, and on WYBE MiND TV in Philadelphia, making her the first recurring Drag personality to be regularly seen in a series on an official NYC media broadcast.
New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ+ populations. Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rise buildings, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". LGBT advocate and entertainer Madonna stated metaphorically, "Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer."
Flawless Sabrina, also known as Mother Flawless Sabrina, was an American LGBT activist, drag queen, performer, and actress, based in New York City. Flawless Sabrina was a pioneer for transgender people and drag queens not only in the mainstream, heterosexual society, but within the gay society as well, where transgender people remained heavily stigmatized. Sabrina lived in New York near Central Park from the 1960s until her death.
LGBT culture in Baltimore, Maryland is an important part of the culture of Baltimore, as well as being a focal point for the wider LGBT community in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Mount Vernon, known as Baltimore's gay village, is the central hub of the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.