Queer DNC Call To Action - Plans to Make a Spectacle.

[Bill of Rights]

A queer group, angry at the Democratic party, is planning visibility stunts in Boston, during the convention. I am gay, and I am wondering how many queers will participate. Of course, it is about getting on the news. I really don't understand the psychology of it.

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=04/03/24/9295941

The Democrats are coming together for a meeting in Boston, July 26-July 29, 2004, to discuss their plan to rid the United States of the powers of Bush. The Democrats keep their power by appeasing the centrists and liberals who are not at all committed to destroying structures of domination and working for liberation. They launch their own attacks on poor people, people of color, women, people with disabilities, and queers, thinly veiled as liberalism and necessary concessions. The Democrats will not be coming together to discuss the need to end the systemic oppression that is rampant throughout US culture.

So we are putting this call out not because we want a bunch of queers in the street trying to shut down the convention, although people can definitely do that (and it would definitely be hot). We are doing this because we want radical / anarchist queers, trannies, dykes, fags, genderqueers, and anyone else who is committed to ending systems of oppression to come to Boston at the same time as the democratic demigods and figure out what *we* want to do next. There are so many ways to show dissent--makeout parties in the streets.....

[Jim Sagle]

1. I guess they're into S/M. Why else would they want 4 more years of w?

[Prodemsouth]

4. LOL- Why don't they go to the Republicans convention - because these

chicken shits would get their ass kicked. Sometimes we are too tolerant- not of rational gay people, but of these idiots. I call on thinking Gays to bust this before they ever start.

[corporatewhore]

10. they most likely are going to the RNC too

[kiahzero]

2. Narcissism

I really don't understand the psychology of it.

"If the focus isn't on me and my issue, then I'm gonna take my marbles and go home!"

[blm]

3. Sounds like they are being manipulated by GOP operatives working from

within. They've been doing it for decades in every election they feared losing.

[Old and In the Way]

6. Exactly, blm.

Odd that they choose the Democratic convention instead of the Party that's proposing a gay marriage ban.

Pure Republican dirty tricks at work.....wonder how many will fall for it?

[mitchtv]

7. aren't the MA dems working on their own Amendment

to outlaw gay marriage?

[Old and In the Way]

8. Don't know........

I'd find it strange that the Dems would be doing it, more likely Repoublicans. Still doesn't justify disrupting the Democratic covention when the RW Christian fundies who are making it an issue are in the Republican Party.

[sangh0]

28. No

.

[mitchtv]

31. then how come the amendment has passed its first hudle?

in a legislature that is over 90% dem. Seems to me like they can block any amendment witha minimum of votes, they passed one - Pink tutu MA Dems they are , and need a good kick in the ass.

[corporatewhore]

9. they are going to the RNC as well dont worry

[corporatewhore]

11. Just like the quakers who will have a counter convention as well

:eyes:

[Prodemsouth]

5. On second thought go ahead and do it - it will help persuade centrist

and working class voters that the Dem ticket is not way Out there. They will not be able to shut down the convention and if the more numerous moderate and working class voters see that they are unhappy- they may just vote Dem again. Get rid of these fickle "lefties" for a more loyal voting base.

[Berserker]

12. I am not a gay man

and I have spent a lot of time thinking about gay marriage I find it to be very different than what I believe in. I will say I do not understand it. But I also think that if you are gay I feel no reason why anyone should try to stop you from feeling the way you do about each other and no one should stop you from being happy and being married. As Bob Dylan said the times they are a changing.

[dsc]

13. We do have some very legitimate gripes

The simple fact is that after 8 years of Clinton we had nearly nothing to show for it. No ENDA, no anti hate crimes, not even permanent protection for federal employees. Kerry is on record endorsing a MA constitutional amendment which would ban marriage (though it would also mandate civil unions) and that amendment has passed its first vote. While I won't be out there protesting, I am hardly going to condemn those who are. This isn't about all gay all the time. But it would be nice to have some gay some of the time. That really isn't too much to ask for a group which supplies close to 10% of our parties votes and at least that much of its money.

[dsc]

14. kick

[xchrom]

16. i'll kick this

because i find the above reply's so interesting -- morbidly so.

[gator_in_Ontario]

15. There go those darn gays

making a spectacle of themselves. If they'd just stay in the closet where they belong...</sarcasm>

[theHandpuppet]

17. I'm not sure how I feel about this...

... and I'm a gay person.

The news blurb I read from the link you provided reads like one long attack against the Democratic Party. I saw no equivalent attack on the Republican Party nor any mention of a similar demonstration to be held at the GOP convention. Something about this whole thing smells fishy to me. Using the power of our community to publicly embarrass the Democratic Party is so counterproductive it sounds like little more than a plot by GOP moles.

Count me out. I can see nothing positive coming from an attack on the very party which is fighting the GOP's campaign to destroy our community and rewrite the Consitution.

I suggest that if radical queers (their word, not mine) wish to protest hypocrisy and oppression, demonstrating at the annual convention of the Log Cabin Republicans in Palm Springs (naturally) this April (see: http://www.logcabin.org/logcabin/events.html ) is a good place to start, then move on to the GOP convention in NYC.

[xchrom]

18. you know gay folk have legitimate arguments with

both parties -- but why argue with repukes, it's a waste of time.
and in case you haven't noticed -- we gay folk have our own way of protesting, that includes folks like tranny's and leather folk, and far out motor cycle dykes and indy persona's of all types -- that is part of our movement.
now if you are embarrassed by the membership that's another issue. your's and your's alone.

[theHandpuppet]

19. There ya go....

That's right, if I don't support this particular protest I'm not gay enough for the movement? I've probably been demonstrating for/fighting for gay rights longer than you've been alive and taken my share of frightful experiences for it.

I'm not embarrassed by the queer community, thank you very much. I'm embarrassed that we would use our considerable resources to attack the very party that is fighting like hell against the very real RW threat of the GOP. Sorry, but count me out. All I read was one long diatribe against the Democratic Party, and your post only proves to me just how counterproductive this could be. I am NOT the enemy.

[xchrom]

24. i'm pretty old

so more power to you if you've been protesting longer than me.
you don't address at all the fact that gay folk have legitimate arguments with democrats and we have had to push them like hell to get them to be on our side at all.
it certainly didn't happen by magic -- it happened by protest.
our movement has always, always included people that the rest of society is uncomfortable with and often shuns -- and yes, your rhetoric sounds like you are embarrassed by our make up. not to mention our matching shoes and hand bag.

[theHandpuppet]

25. Some of your arguments may be legitimate...

... but I do not agree with this protest for I think it is counterproductive, as is the wholesale slamming of the Democratic Party. I am a gay democrat and right now I know who my real enemies are. You're not going to pull me in with an invitation that completely trashes democrats with the kind of diatribe I read at that site. Just who is attacking who, here?

If you want to indulge in some self-persecution, point your finger in another direction. I wouldn't care if you showed up at my doorstep in a Vera Wang. I will not, however, participate in any effort to shut down the DNC. Let me know if you plan to protest at the RNC or the LCR convention and I'll give that serious consideration.

What is the history of the group/movement calling for protest? Was it created specifically to disrupt the DNC? Who are its leaders? What is the mission statement/goal of the group? With what other gay organizations is it affiliated? Has the HRC or PFLAG endorsed said protest? Is there a website for QueerDNC where I can find said information? How about addressing some of those questions?

Of course, if these concerns are too mainsteam for this yet-to-be-identified movement, they can always marginalize me. That's something I'm quite used to, and the irony is almost amusing.

[Brian_Expat]

26. I have to take exception to this notion. . .

'm embarrassed that we would use our considerable resources to attack the very party that is fighting like hell against the very real RW threat of the GOP.

Democrats' support in general is NOT "fighting like hell" for gay people. It's mostly belated with just a few bright stars who carry most of the load.

A "fighting like hell" Democratic party wouldn't have a nominee who endorses anti-gay state amendments, for instance. In addition, two of the three major anti-gay crusaders in MA state government during the gay marriage debate are Democrats.

To say the party shouldn't be called to account for this is just plain wrong. To say the party is "fighting like hell" against the right wing is unrealistic.

The people who fight like hell are the gay grass roots, not career politicians in the Democratic party.

[xchrom]

27. you can't convince people who are party loyalists

it doesn't matter that gay folk have protested, signed petitions and any thing else you can think of aimed directly at the democratic party to get them to support gay related issues.
we back that up with our votes, for the most part, for the democratic party.
i.e. they fight like hell for us when we fight them like hell.
what i object to here is a kind of cringing at the make up of some of the folk who make up some of the queer activists.
we have always been a motley crew and i rather think it's something to be proud of.

[theHandpuppet]

30. Let me know...

... the next time you get visited by the KKK in the middle of the night and then tell me who you think qualifies as a gay activist in your book. You really have no idea and if you want to think folks are sticking their noses up at you then perhaps you've been gazing in the mirror because you're only seeing what you want to see. Sorry someone like me doesn't qualify as a real queer in your book.

I'm a queer Democrat and proud of it.

[theHandpuppet]

29. Good point....

... but I did not say the Democratic Party was "fighting like hell" for gay people." What I said was the Dem Party is "fighting like hell against the very real RW threat of the GOP". That RW threat is being fought on many fronts, and that includes the RW attacks on the poor, the disabled, unions, minorites, women (including a woman's right to choose), gays, et al.

This war of the RW, led by the GOP and supported by warmongers, evangelicals and the just plain greedy, is the most vicious, well-funded and organized front against civil rights that I have seen since the sixties. We are on the verge of seeing a rollback of all the gains we have made in the last 40 years, and I for one am seeking those allies within the Dem Party who have fought with us in those battles and the ones to come.

Has the Dem Party been perfect? Hell, no. And I have NOT said our party shouldn't be held to account for failures. But I know that we are at a crossroads in this democracy. I know which party has supported/fought for a woman's right to choose, affirmative action, affordable health care, rights for the disabled, support of organized labor et al. Support of gay equality has been slower and yes, some have been dragged into it kicking and screaming. But there is support there and it is growing. Some of that can be attributed to the tireless efforts of groups such as the Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG, the ACLU and NOW, as well as grass roots organizations.

It is because there is so much at stake that I WILL NOT participate in any effort to shut down the DNC in Boston. How the hell can that possibly benefit the "gay grass roots"? What is the gay grass roots if it doesn't include gays like me? If Dems are to be so villified with the broad brush and aren't listening to gay concerns, then why bother? You might as well shut down the RNC in NY and get a taste of the real enemy.

[EV1Ltimm]

20. "Cutting off your nose to spite your face"

...this is what it sounds like to me.

I don't particularly remember attacking poor people, people of color, women, the disabled ... or homosexuals for that matter.

And how old is this "Joker"? 18? "and it would definitely be hot" should not be used to describe a protest. joker just wants to throw a big giant makeout party and get his/her jollies off. If he/she were really convicted, they'd do it out in front of the republican convention. but then, the democrats are easier going and the protestors would likely not be shot.

joker just wants to shoot the gay rights movement in the foot, i believe.

[Iceburg]

21. You are not gay .. you are just plain WIERD & a Bushitter

You would be very hard pressed to find a single gay in any state let alone Mass. that is NOT voting for Kerry. Kerry can safely count on at least 5 million votes from the gay population.

[xultar]

22. Absolutely, it would make no sense to protest the Dem party

by making a scene when Kerry is WAY WAY better than BushCo on Gay and Lesbian issues.

[robbedvoter]

23. I quit NO RNC because they kept putting NO DNC BS on

NO RNC was the coalition planning the protest in NYC when BFEE comes to dance over the dead at ground Zero.
Somehow they insisted in allowing messages like the original one (not necessarily that group - there are more). I insisted in focusing on the common goal - NO RNC - but the organizers were imature enough to insist - so all democrats left.
Some people thrive on being marginal. Fine by me.