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After Working the Streets, Bunk Beds and a Mass »

Posted by: Alexia 2 years, 7 months ago

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Every Sunday morning in a second-floor apartment in Astoria, Queens, the Rev. Louis Braxton Jr. rouses a half-dozen sleeping bodies from bunk beds in two cramped rooms littered with stiletto heels and skimpy dresses. The groggy young adults reach for their makeup kits and fight for the lone bathroom. Once their makeup, hair and clothes are just right, they trudge into the living room, holding handbags and teetering on high heels, and sit facing an altar set up by Father Braxton.

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Alexia

Documentary filmmaker, interactive mediaist, with a background in theatre and writing. Avid non-fiction reader.

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Comments: 25

Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
OnlyTheTruth
May 2, 2007, 5:51 p.m.
SAD.
Avg rating: (+1/-0 1)
MilesAway
May 2, 2007, 5:59 p.m.
If a Father Braxton is a "new wave pimp" then, both human and God's law are "broken".
Avg rating: (+9/-0 9)
marlenebomer
May 2, 2007, 6:22 p.m.
It's immoral that it took so long for a shelter for trans youth to be created!
Not only that, but trans homeless adults have for years been forced to sleep in the rooms opposite their gender identity, and many tranwomen have been raped and sexually assaulted by the men in the shelters.
Many "Christian" parents can't handle their child who refuses to become what they think their child should be, so they either force them to attend a "clinic" claiming to cure them of their "illness", or they toss them into the streets like yesterday's garbage... and they call themselves parents??
Because many of these kids have no education, they have to either hustle themselves on the streets or stral in order to survive.
If you think this is a recent phenomenon, the late Sylvia Revera back in 1970 founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries to find a safe place for the trans teens who were hustling on the streets of NYC.
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marlenebomer
May 2, 2007, 9:30 p.m.
I totally agree, Alexia! It's nice to see the city honor her by naming her favorite corner in the Village after her, which is more than appropriate...
Avg rating: (+0/-3 -3)
evelyna
May 3, 2007, 8:49 a.m.
I think a lot of the trans I saw in the pics look better than a lot of women. If people spent time to maintain themselves they could look good too no matter what.
Avg rating: (+8/-1 7)
nateweb
May 3, 2007, 10:45 a.m.
Ah, a perfect example of "hate the sin, not the sinner"!
Father Braxton strongly disapproves of the men's behavior, but he also offers a helping hand. This is how Jesus would've behaved, and that's what I strive to do as a Christian.
Do I think their lifestyle is disgusting? Absolutely. But they're human, and deserve to be reached out to and offered unconditional love.
Condemnation and rejection doesn't bring people to Christ and reformation. Love, care and understanding does. Religious right, take notice! Honey attracts more flies than vinegar.
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tlbva
May 3, 2007, 12:19 p.m.
sjm234 you are such an idiot.
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hamy
May 3, 2007, 12:51 p.m.
I have found that so few in the LGBT community know their own history. I have tried to make it my personal duty to learn who made it possible for me to be able to walk down the street holding hands. I think it should be every LGBT persons responsibility to learn who died so that they could live.
Avg rating: (+5/-0 5)
Poulenc
May 3, 2007, 5:24 p.m.
God, I hate the phrase, "hate the sin and love the sinner," as if what one did was somehow--at least while one is doing or being it--apart from what one IS.
Believing this makes it possible, often, to avoid confronting one's prejudices, one's--what shall we call it?--faith-based misconceptions.
Then there's the matter of "sin," a concept that rather loads the dice. "Father Braxton strongly disapproves of the prostitution, but he says kicking residents out for peddling their bodies would only make things worse..." is a rather different and more essentially realistic proposition, no?