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@vstrscenter

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A new shop, a gallery, a soft serve window for and by queers in Fire Island Pines.
📍Next to the pizza place

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• 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙿𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂 • 𝑆𝐸𝐴𝑆𝑂𝑁 𝐹𝐼𝑁𝐴𝐿𝐸 🕊️ #𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘴 !

#𝙸𝚜𝙼𝚢𝙿𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝙸𝚜𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛𝙿𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜 ..𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝙋𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 ❤️‍🔥

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Our friends over at the Fire Island Visitors Center has the newest fall flavor you’d never expect! #fireisland #fireislandpines #nyceats

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𝑆𝐸𝐴𝑆𝑂𝑁 𝐹𝐼𝑁𝐴𝐿𝐸 🕊️ #𝑷̲̅𝒊̲̅𝒏̲̅𝒆̲̅𝒔̲̅2̲̅6̲̅
@vstrscenter 🌷

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One of my last available works from a series I did inspired by Fire Island Pines. This one is titled ‘In the Pines, III’ and measures 40x50. Please DM if interested. This piece is currently represented by my good friends at the @vstrscenter.

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𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙸𝚂 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙿𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂 𝚃𝙴𝙰 𝙾’𝙲𝙻𝙾𝙲𝙺 🫖 @fireislandtea

𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚕 𝙱𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚛𝚘 𝚊𝚝 𝙷𝚀 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜.

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portraits from the end of summer at the Pines Party for @vstrscenter

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Glimpses of my sixth summer on Fire Island. I’m so thankful for this beautiful place and the people I get to experience it with. I’m sad to see the sun set on another summer, but I’m so grateful for the memories we made… and some I’ll be glad to forget. 😂🫣

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🌾 09.26 🌾

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𝙸 𝙻𝙾𝚂𝚃 𝙼𝚈 𝙼𝙸𝙽𝙳 𝙸𝙽 𝙵𝙸𝚁𝙴 𝙸𝚂𝙻𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙿𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂

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Four years ago, I visited South Mountains State Park with a close friend of mine, she is a Black attorney, hoping to share a peaceful day of hiking and nature. It was her first time there, and I was especially eager to show her the visitor center before we started our hike.

We walked in, and three employees looked directly at us, then returned to their work. No greeting. No smile. No acknowledgment.

Moments later, another couple walked in the door.

“Hi! Welcome! How are you doing today?”

My friend and I just looked at each other in disbelief. She wanted to address it but we came to the park for peace. So we tried to redirect this experience and focus on the trail.

We couldn’t help but wonder: if we had an emergency on the trail, would we receive the same level of care?

That experience kept me away for four years.

Today, I decided to give the park another chance. I walked into the visitor center with my phone recording discretely. I was hoping things had changed since my last visit.

They hadn’t.

The same employee looked at me, then back at her computer. I spent six minutes inside the visitor center without a single greeting or offer to assist me.

The park is absolutely beautiful, and I still enjoyed my hike. But everyone deserves to feel welcomed in our public spaces.

Watch the video and decide for yourself….

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We’re in it August baby… ❤️🌈💕
1. My bbz
2. Check out art by @matthewsandager @vstrscenter in the Pines.
3.- 4. The one & only @mslaurynhill in East Hampton. 10/10. No notes.
5. Hitting the streets… if the streets were made of sand and boards with nails sticking out.
6.-7. hamptons life with my love. ❤️
8. hanging with my fav babes beachside ❤️❤️
9. Merch still on presale through midnight tonight! On GAPFF.com
10. - 15. Soaking in the best parts out being out east. Fresh foods, friends and salt.
16. My team is amazing. Who doesn’t love ice cream on set?
17. - 20. Cherry Grove summer camp 2026 ❤️

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Being gay can be difficult, being different can be harder—in fact, it’s exhausting. You’re picked on and bullied from the time you’re a kid. Some of the people closest to you reject you for who you are, without you ever having harmed them. You grow up insecure about every decision, because you don’t know who you’re supposed to ask.

When puberty comes, hiding becomes the way to survive at least that was my case. My mom only knew the word “Marico” (more commonly spelled maricón, or marico in Venezuelan and Caribbean Spanish) is a slur for a gay man—roughly equivalent to “faggot” in English. It’s derogatory and offensive in that usage, and trans, and that you’d probably die of HIV. I don’t blame her, she just copied others, and was to busy raising two kids as a single mom for now to do research about her first son being gay.

You grow up alone, trying to figure out not just your sexuality but your entire life, hiding from yourself and from others because now you’re afraid of losing that new friend you just met at a random party in college, or you keep it secret because you don’t want your friend Brigitte to uninvite you from her wedding that’s two months away. You build layers of scars and traumas that somehow harden into a heavy shield you carry on your back.

Surviving bullying becomes the norm, until you become the bully doing the same thing to others who never did you any harm. But it isn’t your fault; you’re copying what you saw all around you. Drugs become a way to let out the words no one allowed you to say as a kid, and sometimes they take away the urge to puke when you touch another man because they tell you are sick. I love you is the biggest lie you’ll ever hear because you never learned to love yourself.

It took me 34 years to do this research on my own. I didn’t know how much I could camouflage myself in a predatory society that would try to eat me alive the minute I left my naive nest.

There is more. I am still healing.

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