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"Out Late" is Time Out's nightlife and party column by DJ, Whorechata founder, and Staff Writer Ian Kumamoto, which will publish every other Tuesday. Here's more about what to expect from the new column and the writer behind it.
To some locals, Le Bain has become a sort of Times Square of New York nightlife. It’s the first place out-of-towners are told to go to experience an “authentic” night out, which, if anyone ever tells you a club is authentic, that probably means its heyday has long been over. But to Le Bain’s credit, their curatorial team has always worked hard to pull parties into the space that have genuinely earned their underground stripes. That’s why for the first story of our Out Late column, there was no better party to feature than Deviant, a Black- and brown- centered queer kink party that happens at the space every last Thursday of the month.
Deviant was born from the mind of Micah Marquez, whose nightlife journey began at circuit parties in D.C. During college, those circuit parties were the first time that Marquez found himself among so many gay people, and he was so excited to be there that he was willing to overlook a major flaw in them: They were almost exclusively white.
But one day, Marquez, who is Black, told me he brought one of his queer POC friends to the space and the friend absolutely hated it. “He was like, ‘I don’t look like ya’ll,’” Marquez recalls his friend saying. Marquez admits that he was probably one of the ‘acceptable’ Black people that white circuit gays were into, considering he was cis, able-bodied and conventionally good-looking (the latter is my own assessment). “He said, ‘I didn’t feel seen, I didn’t feel celebrated, I didn’t feel like that space was for me.'” His friend’s perspective was so illuminating, Marquez tells me, that he felt that he needed to create a new, more radical space where all his friends would feel good.
If you’re there and aren’t wearing fetish attire, you’re going to feel uncomfortable and that’s my goal. For six hours, this is our world.
In 2019, Marquez wrote a Medium article after throwing his first party, and it went viral. In it, he opens with a story about his pastor father who finds Internet searches for gay porn on the family computer. “In many areas of my life, it was hiding and silence which saved me from violence. Now, it seems the universe is calling me to be a new thing: Deviant,” Marquez wrote in the Medium article. “A deviant is someone who is openly and actively defiant of social and sexual norms. A Deviant counters norms because they are like boxes which cage our minds, and keep us from thinking, living and loving freely.”
Deviant parties have since grown exponentially and now, they have signature flagship parties that take place in L.A., New York, D.C., and Atlanta but they’ve also traveled to London, Miami, and beyond. Another thing that makes the parties special is that they shift their sound and style based on the market they’re in. Their New York parties play a lot of Afrobeats and Caribbean music, whereas in L.A. they might play a lot of more hardcore circuit music.
When people go into the space, Marquez wants them to, first and foremost, feel like they are free. “Queer folks have always been told how we can’t dress, how we cannot present for the sake of our safety, and I would say for this night, which is once a month, this is the night that you wear the thing that has always been questionable or you’ve always been told is ‘too much.’ This is your night to be ‘too much’ or wear ‘too little.’”
This is the night that you wear the thing that has always been questionable or you’ve always been told is ‘too much.’ This is your night to be ‘too much’ or wear ‘too little.’”
Of course, I couldn’t help but wonder what happens when an underground kink party makes it to one of the most polished venues in the city. Every time I’d been to Le Bain in recent years, it’s been pretty straight. Marquez, of course, has thought long and hard about this, too. “Now we’re even being more intentional because Le Bain is such a popular venue that people go there regardless of what’s going on,” Marquez tells me. He admits that he was worried white men in business suits would be walking in and throwing the entire vibe off. “Now we’re going to lean in even more and add a fetish component—so if you’re there and aren’t wearing fetish attire, you’re going to feel uncomfortable and that’s my goal. For six hours, this is our world.”
An hour-by-hour account of a night at Deviant
11:30pm
Marquez told me to arrive before 11:30pm because the line tends to get much longer after midnight. I got there with a friend and while we wait, there is a white stretch limo waiting outside. My friend Croix and I wonder out loud if there is someone famous (this becomes relevant later). The door person, a woman, is very friendly and checks our IDs. Once inside, we walk down a hallway to check our coats. People behind us are beginning to take off their winterwear, and they’re transformed: They’re wearing harnesses, tank tops, sometimes just leather bras. We get in and go up the elevator 18 floors.
11:45pm
The first thing we do is take pictures with the iconic white Le Bain horse that some people claim inspired the horse in Beyonce’s Renaissance album. While there, I bump into three or four people from Brooklyn’s underground queer scene, including a friend and DJ, Bri, who goes by FunkyHouseRaggae, and another friend who is heavily in the kink scene. It’s rare to get the Brooklyn girls to a party at Le Bain, which is how I know that they're genuinely catering to the community, and not just tourists.
My immediate thought is that it’s really great to see people in fetish gear in such a high-end venue—Usually these parties are relegated to smelly dungeons or basements, especially if they’re POC-centered. Here, you can see all of Lower Manhattan, Jersey City, and beyond.
Midnight
I know they were doing something right when Croix meets a straight French tourist inside who seems pretty uncomfortable. “My friend recommended me to go to this place but this wasn’t what I expected,” he says. He tells Croix that he is leaving.
There are go-go dancers scattered throughout the space, and I have to watch my head as one dances above when I try to order a drink.
12:40am
I talk to a 31-year-old attendee, Steven from the Bronx, who is wearing a leather harness. He tells me he found the event on Instagram. “I wanted to see what the guys are looking like,” he tells me. “I’ve been to other leather clubs, but I want to see more beautiful Black men who are wearing leather. I’m looking to meet guys, take Instagrams, get numbers.”
Next I spoke to Jordan from Denver and Bryce from L.A. When I asked Jordan how he knew about this event he looks at me like I’m a little crazy. “I am a part of the Black queer circle and I’m from the House of Garçons,” he says, referring to the ballroom house. “This place is liberating, it is free, it is so much fun.”
I ask Bryce to describe what he is wearing. “Vintage thrift store special, Chelsea, Bushwick realness via L.A.,” he says, before I realize he’s just throwing out a random string of words. He’s also wearing a Dollskill necklace.
12:45am
I bump into Kyree, who is the New York ambassador for Deviant. He says we should probably talk now before he starts drinking. I ask him what his hopes are for the night. “I want everyone to feel sexy and comfortable,” he tells me. “Come in, have a good time, do whatever you want to do.”
1am
The venue starts to fill up. The dance floor is really crowded now, although if you need to take a breather, the rest of the club still has plenty of space. I run into an Internet friend, Gabrielle, who runs a Brooklyn collective for queer Black women called Raw Honey. She looks a little stressed and she tells me that there’s more cis men than she thought, and she’s right. Tonight there are predominantly male-presenting people, most of them with pretty chiseled bodies.
1:45am
We are dancing and the time passes by pretty fast—the music is very good and Croix and I are having a great time. Unlike other parties, Deviant doesn’t seem to put all the focus of the party on their DJs, not even on their flyers, so I’m not really sure who’s playing, but they’ve got a good pulse on the crowd. A Jersey Club remix of Sexxy Red’s “Looking for the Hoes” comes on and the crowd loses their mind. People are starting to find strangers to dance with and the energy is high. I’ve never been to a Le Bain party like this.
2:30am
We lose track of time and decide we should leave soon. I go to the bathroom but the line is really long. I end up waiting about 15 minutes and as people walk in and out of the bathroom, there’s a cruise-y vibe, with men looking each other up and down. You can’t do anything in the bathroom because there’s an attendant, and I’m too tired and get out of the line without peeing. When we leave, there’s still plenty of people on the dance floor.
3am
The white limo we saw when we’d first gone in is still outside and Croix asks the chauffeur who he’s waiting for. He says he’s not waiting for anyone and that we can actually get in if we want. We contemplate it but he wants to charge us $150 to go to Bushwick. We offer him $100 and he meets us at $125. We decide that although going home in a limo would be iconic, it would also be reckless. We call regular Ubers home instead.
Overall, this was a great party for queer men of color, although I would say the crowd was predominantly male. What I loved most about the space is that its organizers genuinely care about what they’re doing and Marquez seems to have the best interest of the community in mind. When I was at the party, I kept thinking back on his mission to reclaim spaces, and he did exactly that at one of the most exclusive nightclubs in New York—and that’s no easy feat.
“Deviant is us responding the structural and systemic violence of gentrification that robs us of these safe havens,” Marquez tells me. “New York City, Los Angeles, D.C., Atlanta, are specifically places that Black and brown people have gone for refuge.” It was clear to me that some of the people there did see Deviant as a refuge and much-needed space.
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How to catch Deviant's next party
Where: Le Bain (848 Washington Street, Meatpacking District)
When: Last Thursday of every month, 10pm-4am
Cost: Free
How to get in: RSVP whenever they drop a link. Keep an eye on their Instagram.
The vibe: Fetish and sexy.
What to wear: Whatever you want, as long as it's showing some skin.