15 Die in Fire at India’s Transgender Gathering

15 more members of the global LGBT community have died by fire, though (thankfully?) burning someone to death doesn’t seem to be the motivation in this story ( which has been the case this last week in other transgender murders).

A fire broke out in the kitchen at India’s national transgender gathering, the Eunuch Gathering in East Delhi. Over 1000 of India’s estimated 700,000 transgender citizens were in attendance.

One witness, Angelie, said there was a loud short, then flames suddenly erupted and a gas cylinder exploded. Crowds of people ran to the exit from the fairground, the witness said.

 

Television reports cited fire officials as saying initial investigations suggested the fire had started in the venue’s kitchen.

“We were rescued and brought outside the community centre but we don’t know what has happened to some of our friends who we think are still inside,” one person present at the gathering told reporters.

“The police aren’t giving us the right information … They are taking the bodies out through the back door of the hall,” they said.

It’s worth noting that the term eunuch is not used in a derogatory manner in India.
Our condolences go out to those who lost loved ones in the blaze

New York Times: Talks about the Pavilion before the fire

 The New York Times took a sober look at the Pavilion, the legendary Fire Island Pines entertainment complex that burned down Monday night.

While it’s true the space has a history that pre-dates Stonewall and was, as writer Alex Williams writers,  “a site was a place where stigma and inhibitions were left at the coat check,” the Pavilion has been rebuilt and renovated before. And as anyone can tell you, its the people who make Fire Island what it is—not some wood planks and carpeting.
Williams got some notable homos to recount their memories of the Pavilion:

Joseph Altuzarra (designer): “The night before Hurricane Irene hit, when Fire Island hadn’t been evacuated yet, we went to the Pavilion for high tea. A hurricane was on its way, and most people were busy boarding their windows and closing up their houses, and yet people still came for a drink, to talk about the day, to dance and have some fun. Even an impending hurricane couldn’t keep us away.”

Aaron Hicklin (editor, Out magazine):  “I remember walking from Cherry Grove, through I guess what is called Meat Rack, with my boyfriend so we could dance in the Pavilion. Somewhere along the way, as we were leaving Cherry Grove, we were joined by a petty thief who was English and drunk, carrying a painting wrapped in a sheet that he brazenly announced had been stolen from a house minutes before. Somehow, this companion, who we never saw again, reinforced the idea of Fire Island Pines being a bit of a gay fable. Strange things happened there.”

DJ Robbie Leslie: “They had one of the most discriminating audiences in the world, and when a DJ was on his game, the dance floor knew it and showed their appreciation. If a DJ did poorly at the Pavilion, it could handicap or even destroy his career. That is how influential this little summer venue was.”