that's the spirit!

Calpernia Addams tells us some things not to ask tansfolk:

"Cleveland Pride's 20th is a blast" (or something)

From the Gay People's Chronicle, June 27 2008:

"Parade units included three giant flags. The rainbow pride colors were presented by Pilgrim United Church of Christ. New Age in Leather carried the leather pride banner. The Human Rights Campaign carried its giant logo, followed by the Radical Queers carrying signs protesting HRC taking money from oil companies Chevron and Shell.

The two firms operate in Nigeria where oil money props up the political activity of Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola, who is fiercely anti-LGBT and uses his position to oppress gays and lesbians."

Self Defense workshop July 19!

So, the commercialized "Pride" festival is over. We went with "Queers Bash Back" and "Pride for $ale" signs (as well as my sign about HRC's dirty corporate money). We handed out fliers for the self defense workshop (200!) and got the radical perspective noticed. When we passed by the right-wing christians with their bullshit signs, we shouted "Queers bash back!" and flippt 'em the bird.

One thing that really made me realize why Pride needs to be less festive and more serious was that, one of us noticed as we passed the justice center, some of the male cops at the top of the stairs mockingly pretended to fuck eachother from behind. There were also cops all along the parade route and on the festival grounds keeping us dykes, faggots, trannies and queers under control.

So, We're learning to defend ourselves with a QUEER SELF DEFENSE WORKSHOP! No homophobic cops teaching this one! It's put on by the Buckeye Region Anti Violence Organization (BRAVO, a queer community-based Ohio group) at the LGBT Community Center of Cleveland on July 19th at 1PM.

Hate crimes are still not recognized against queer Ohioans, and if they were, would the cops really protect us?

Please contact Maureen Havelka at the LGBTQ Center (216.651.LGBT ext 17) to reserve a spot. There is a suggested donation of $5 to help th instructor pay for gas (BRAVO's based in Columbus, and they're comng up for this.)

I also think that a "Blood Clot" at an American Red Cross blood drive would be cool. As you may know, the red cross and federal government are homophobic, and reject blood donation from men who have had sex with men since 1977. You get a lifetime deferral for being a queer man. The way it works: a bunch of men who have had sex with men since 1977 go to the blood drive. The blood donation process takes a LONG time, so a deferral is wasted time for them, and lost blood. A whole string of deferrals would essentially "clot" the thing for a while, perhaps shut it down. I think what it shows the most is how much healthy queer blood they are rejecting because of their homophobic assumptions. I am completely willing to give it if they will take it, but they won't.

If you have any ideas for more workshops or actions you want to see, I say we do it! Get in touch and we'll plan. If the Blood Clot sounds good to you, we could figure that out as well.

Radical Queer Pink/Black Bloc @ capitalist Gay Pride

Where/When:

Gather (meeting up early to plan)

-10:30 am Assembly on West 3rd Street at Rockwell Avenue
-12:00 noon Step-Off to Voinovich Bicentennial Park
-1:00 pm Rally entertainment and speeches
Walk

Cleveland Pride's parade route goes north on West 3rd Street, east on West Lakeside Avenue, then north on E. 9th to Voinovich Bicentennial Park (North Coast Harbor, behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum).

Individual marchers need not register. We'll use that space.

WHAT to do:
Wear pink and black, carry radical signs, and express yourself!
Some sign ideas:
-Stonewall was a riot! Remember don't deny it!
-P®IDE FO® $ALE!
-Queer Liberation will NOT be sponsored!
-Radical Queers Resist!
-STOP POLICE BRUTALITY!
-Queers Bash Back!
-Free NJ4! (New Jersey 4)
-Smash homophobia!
-HRC: Hindering Real Change
-Human Rights Campaign. Brought to you by: Blood-Oil (Shell, Chevron); and Sweatshops (Nike)
or anything else you come up with!

The Queer/Gay Assimilationist Split: The Suits vs. the Sluts

by Benjamin H. Shepard, May 2001

"I'll say it loud; I'll say it proud: I love drug companies," HIV-positive Andrew Sullivan recently boasted in The New York Times Magazine. As one of the most visible gay journalists in the nation, the statement spoke to a core dilemma within a gay and lesbian movement split between gay assimilationists, such as Sullivan, and social justice minded queers. The question was, how had this free- market loving Tory Thatcherite become a spokesman for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) movement? Sullivan's cavalier boast neglected the point that ACT UP, the pro-queer AIDS direct action group, had not only spent almost fifteen years fighting to get expedited approval for life saving medications, but had put their bodies on the line to get drug companies to lower prices so people could actually afford them. If ever there was a beneficiary of ACT UP's work, it was Sullivan, yet on more than one occasion in the mainstream press this gay, HIV-positive man has flaunted his contempt for their legacy. Sullivan explained that his medications cost his insurance company some $15,600 a year. And he seemed to be saying now that "I've got mine," the ongoing AIDS epidemic-now predominantly affecting poor people, drug users, minority women, and those in the developing world who cannot afford the life saving drugs-no longer mattered. The problem was that Sullivan was not alone.

Read on:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1132/is_1_53/ai_74826974

Why Self-Defense?

Politicians can debate hate-crimes legislation for years, but queers will continue to face violence in our daily lives. Even with this necessary legislation, we will still be targeted. Rather than rely on the state for unreliable protection, we can take matters into our own hands: educate the queer community in self-defense. Not only do we prepare ourselves for the worst manifestations of heterosexism in society, but we send a message to potential attackers: We are prepared, we will fight back if need be.

Mimi Plastique, a trans womyn, encountered the bullshit of some homophobe on the train while she was filming her youtube show:

Organizing/Strategizing meeting: May 16

Come organize a radical queer alternative "pride" event for the end of June! Bring your ideas for workshops/actions/events you would like to see and we'll brainstorm on how to get it going. If you don't show up to organize, alternative queer pride will not happen!

We'll meet Friday, May 16 at 6:00 at the C-Space community center (map) on Cleveland's west side (4323 Clark Avenue)

Contact me (Pat) if you have questions or can't make it, but want to be involved. (alt.queer.cleveland@gmail.com)

In solidarity,
Pat

Queer Nation Manifesto

QUEERS READ THIS! (downoad pdf version)
If you're not angry, you should be.

Pittsburgh RESYST

Check it out:
http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org/RESYST/

Film/discussion topic ideas

PBS: Flag Wars
A a documentary about wealthy white gay folks taking over a predominantly black neighborhood in Columbus and pushing the inhabitants out.
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2003/flagwars/

Dangerous Living: Out in the Developing World
Topics: queer human rights, international queer solidarity, gay liberation and traditional culture

info

Hmmm:
http://www.tao.ca/~limpfist/
http://www.queeruption.org/

organizing

Not so drawn to Cleveland's annual corporate-sponsored, generic, and apolitical "Pride" celebrations?

Yeah, can't blame you.

So why not do our own? I'm interested in doing a non-capitalist, feminist, community-based, anti-racist, activist alternative to the established Cleveland Pride this year. Ideas include workshops, movie-screening and such, and i'm thinking of doing it around the same time. I'm looking for people, resources and ideas to make this happen. Montréal has PerversCité and the Pink Panthers, New York's got Radical Homosexual Agenda and Ottawa has TriangleTrash. What will Cleveland come up with?

Lefty-queers unite to make alternative "pride" happen in Cleveland! Email alt.queer.cleveland@gmail.com.

In solidarity,
-Pat


PS: So, I had a few ideas, but unfortunately no resources:

-"Queers Bash Back" self-defense workshop
-Maybe some vegan cooking or other DIY skills workshops "homo-made"
-It would be interesting to screen: "Homotopia"