BUT
(and not queer buttz)
As is the case in most cities I've been to, the LGBTQ scene is dominated by LGB folks and is increasingly corporate. The scene almost always takes place in bars, i.e. youth-free zones dedicated primarily to mating and alcohol. Pride Parades the world over are being sponsors by corporations responsible for the nasty capitalism that leaves so many queers and tradespeople in the streets. Has Pride lost its radical roots?
Nahuh. Cause the radical queers are coming! As a part of Queer Lil Rhody's month 'o' fun, an insurgent (non-permit-paying) queer faction joined the festivities at pride. This culminated in a crazy fun youth-organized, corporate-music-less by-donation partay. I don't feel like the insurgency was aggressive as much as it was instructive. Many folks seemed overwhelmingly pumped to see us, cause after all, marriage licenses aside, this shit is revolutionary.
Parade Prep Party!
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Parade Time!
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| Find out more about CeCe Mcdonald, the target of racist transphobic attacks being incarnated for self-defense http://supportcece.wordpress.com/ |
Oh dang, these folks made me cry. Youth Pride Rhode Island was fierce beyond reason!
Here's the poster from the Queer Dance Party that rocked the end of the night!
and had very nice cake!
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| poster by Meg Powers |
Great amazingness everyone!
I really don't even know much more than that it was crazy fun, and having fun is half the battle.
I agree wholeheartedly! At Chicago pride, I was annoyed with politicians single-issue focus on same-sex marriage. When looking for some sort of AIDS awareness, I could only find it on the Bank of America float next to the six-pack abs.
ReplyDeleteThe first gay pride was a riot
http://griid.org/2012/06/13/the-stonewall-uprising-and-the-transformation-of-pride-celebrations/
It's amazing how marriage and military have risen to the top of the priorities, some of the most oppressive forces to women and queers. Thanks for sharing that article, can't wait to read it and get to ya. I feel like this shows how incredibly sneaky and powerful capitalism is: if anything can be corporatized, it will. Corporations hated gays until they realized they could make money from them. Not to mention the crazy body-negativity at most of these things!
ReplyDeletedon't worry, we'll put the riot back in stone wall :)