HRC Building Vandalized

Mark Kraft

October 13, 2009 at 2:48 am

The idea that anyone can feel proud about defacing a sign that says “Human Rights Campaign” says a lot about how angry and irrational they are, and how self-destructive their “grassroots activism” is when turned against our own community, our friends, and those who would help us achieve equality.

This, frankly, is every bit as unacceptable as, say, a group of anti-Zionist Jews defacing the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

It’s simply indefensible, because the Human Rights Campaign was built by our community, by our money and our volunteers, and that organization cannot be summed up by the words of one person. It’s a community that tries their very best to protect our people… people who have been beaten, and raped, and tortured, who have been systematically ignored by the government, even when faced with fatal infectious diseases… and who have repeatedly been left to die alone and in pain.

When you attack the Human Rights Campaign, you attack the heart of our community. Your grassroots efforts mean NOTHING when you attack the people trying to help you, rather than concentrate on alienating or winning over those who are verifiably your enemies.

We are supposed to believe that the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT organization in the United States for working through the political system to change minds and get results, is betraying us by working through the political system to change minds and get results. The proof of this “betrayal” is transparently clear, as minds are changing, and results are starting to come in at a regular pace.

We get it… you hate the system. The system is unfair. Working within the system means having to accept that progress isn’t always as fast as you would like.

But are we supposed to believe that the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT organization in the United States for working through the political system to change minds and get results, is betraying us by working through the political system to change minds and get results?! That’s what they’re *SUPPOSED* to do, because we cannot expect to achieve full equality AND protection from hate crimes through the courts alone… especially when politicians can pass laws undermining the equality that is due to us under the law.

The proof of HRC’s “betrayal” is transparently clear, as minds are changing, and results are starting to come in at a regular pace. I have heard their critics accuse them of concentrating on passing a “symbolic” ENDA now, rather than taking on DADT. Never mind that there is nothing symbolic about non-discrimination in the workplace… something which effects us far more directly than DADT. If there’s anything even remotely symbolic about ENDA, it’s that the HRC has *ALREADY* taken a leading role through their Corporate Equality Index, and their grassroots efforts, to get over 260 of the nation’s largest employers to support full employment non-discrimination policies and practices.

(Yes. They did that. Sorry, critics. Your claim that HRC is a “do -nothing” organization is a complete lie.)

After being ignored for decades, our President’s administration is sticking up for one of their top gay political appointees who is being viciously smeared by the right wing. They haven’t buckled. The President can’t seem to attend a public events with the GLBT community or personally honor events like Stonewall or the march on Washington without another government policy change or piece of legislation that helps our community.

… and we’re supposed to believe *he’s* the enemy, as opposed to Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats?! He said back in March that addressing DADT “will take some time to complete (partly because it needs Congressional action).”

President Obama could’ve blown smoke up your ass and told you DADT would be an easy thing to get rid of… but he didn’t.

For people like neocon warhawk-turned-”liberal conservative” Andrew Sullivan or John Aravosis, a former Republican adviisor for corrupt Republican Senator Ted Stevens, to smear, and falsely misrepresent Joe Solmonese as saying that waiting until the last day of the Obama administration for any action is okay with him… well, that’s transparently dishonest.. especially when HRC has unprecedented access to the President’s staff, is personally involved in strategy discussions on how to get LGBT legislation passed without a fillibuster, and knows that there’s a *LOT* in the pipeline.

Bloggers like Andrew Sullivan and John Aravosis are not the community… especially when they viciously distort and smear our President, our leaders, and our organizations, and hurt our community. Our community isn’t one of us, a few of us, or even all of us… because you can have a lot of people hiding in the dark, and not have a community.

The community is what we all choose to share, what we choose to build together, the space that we create together for ourselves, our friends and loved ones, and it is something some of us choose to defend. It’s certainly a lot bigger than a few hotheaded individuals who use ugly words and ugly deeds in an effort to build themselves up, as they try to tear their community down.

These vandals don’t own our community, have no right to hold it hostage to their naive cynicism, and are not defending our community by attacking it in such a senseless manner. How dare they attack those who are trying to defend us?

frank nowarcyck

October 13, 2009 at 8:34 am

that’s the point, mark, wrapped up right there in your end paragraph. the hrc is looking to defend you. you who has complete faith in the very same system that is holding us queers back. when you say equal rights it means something comepetely different than when a poor tranny of color has to fight for their rights. you are looking to renew you middle class priveledge whereas some of us have to fight like our lives depend on it. feel free to continue supporting the hrc, it is your organization, but you chosen sides and it’s against those of us that the hrc ignores. good luck on your movement.

Storm

October 13, 2009 at 2:19 am

There’s always a place for radical action in any movement. But if you’ve got a brain, you direct that radical action at your oppressors, at the people who really have their foot on your neck. If vandalism is your radical thing, then strike at churches and tabernacles. “Glitterize” the headquarters of the Family Research Council or the Traditional Values Coalition. If you’re going to get radical – get radical. ACT-UP never attacked a hospital or a clinic. We attacked city halls and government offices and the homes of politicians like Jesse Helms. You don’t attack your own people, and HRC, with a million members none of whom were cooerced to join, is still “our” people even when they’re asleep. at the wheel.. To call a little spray paint in the dark of night a “radical act” is laughable.

frank nowarcyck

October 13, 2009 at 8:18 am

the folks that wrote the communique never refered to the action as radical. they said that they were radical queers. as to your other point, radical queers have been and will continue to target overt enemies ( just check out bash back news, which although is not neccessarily associate with qaa has similar motives). this actionis more of an inter-movement house cleaning, trying to throw out the old baggage that’s weighing us down.

addy

October 13, 2009 at 12:31 am

They got people talking to each other, at least here. Which is more than the HRC does by talking for queers. I didn’t have time to read over every comment but it really seems worth questioning whether anything that falls outside of the realm of traditional civil disobedience is actually violence. Calling pink paint balls/property destruction “violence” when no people were targeted is the same slippery rhetoric underlying discourses on “terror.” Tactics that fall outside of a margin of acceptable, “civil” forms of expressing dissent as citizens (I’m not knocking civil disobedience here either) are increasingly framed as “violent” or forms of “terror” when no one is harmed. This narrows possibilities for movement work on just about every level. Check out the recent Democracy Now interview detailing how a FBI/NYPD “Joint Terrorism Task Force” raided the Queens residence of the people running the twitter feeds for the recent G20 protests in Pittsburgh calling it a “terror raid.” A discussion of the glam/vandal tactics here is useful, but no one on any side of the arguments being repped here is served by framing the vandalism as “violence.”

Replica Christian Louboutin

October 12, 2009 at 8:56 pm

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Replica Christian Louboutin

October 12, 2009 at 8:56 pm

Hi from Queers Against Assimilation. We hate everyone who’s not us, hate everyone who doesn’t believe exactly as we do, hate everyone who doesn’t act exactly like we do, hate everyone who doesn’t share our approach to change, hate everyone who doesn’t hold our beliefs

Candis

October 12, 2009 at 6:57 pm

Historically, no matter the movement, assimilation organizations have been able to make progress as a direct result of the radicals’ outrageous acts. By refusing to tow the ‘acceptable’ line of activism, QAA has done a fair job of making HRC seem even more palatable. The same thing has occurred time and again in the women’s movement (think NOW vs Lavender Menace or Lesbian Avengers).

Bottom line: HRC has a lot to answer for. QAA has maybe gotten at least a point across, who imagined it could be done with glitter grenades?

Mark Kraft

October 13, 2009 at 7:59 am

To suggest that organizations that work through the system are “assimilation organizations” is pretty ignorant and dismissive.

Just because Tom Amiano or Barney Frank are gay politicians, that doesn’t mean they’re “assimilation politicians”. That means they’re gay politicians — gay people who feel they can accomplish something by working within the system.

Implying that “the radicals’ outrageous acts” are the primary cause of progress overlooks the fact that oftentimes progress would’ve happened, with or without them, as progress ratchets up over time within the system to redress injustices too.

It’s a bit like saying “Invading Iraq has made us safe, because we haven’t been attacked since 9/11… therefore, we should never leave.”

There’s simply no evidence in most cases to support such a tenuous link. There is, however, direct evidence that the “assimilation organizations” made a difference.

If we are going to take action to get our equality, shouldn’t we concentrate on what we *know* works, and concentrate our efforts against our enemies, rather than ourselves and others who want to help us?!
frank nowarcyck

October 13, 2009 at 8:11 am

how is it at all like the comparison you made? in every movement for equality and liberation it has been radicals who have often times dragged the mainstream organizations on the path towards freedom, moreover in retrospect, those radicals are equally as respected. lastly, we get it. enda enda enda blah blah blah. what does that do for those of us in the real world?

Shawn

October 12, 2009 at 6:41 pm

Hi from Queers Against Assimilation. We hate everyone who’s not us, hate everyone who doesn’t believe exactly as we do, hate everyone who doesn’t act exactly like we do, hate everyone who doesn’t share our approach to change, hate everyone who doesn’t hold our beliefs, hate everyone who doesn’t share our vision of the future. Hate, hate, hate. We love to hate.

Signed…
~~Love and Solidarity~~

frank nowarcyck

October 13, 2009 at 8:07 am

dude, good one. man, you shore got them. jeeze.

Banana Slug

October 12, 2009 at 3:34 pm

solidarity from UC Santa Cruz!

JustMeee

October 12, 2009 at 3:20 pm

Why does HRC continue to exist and rake in millions? They put on the best dinners and cocktail parties!!! Suck my ass!!

Mark Kraft

October 13, 2009 at 4:32 am

So, you’re upset with the fact that a group whose focus is largely one of lobbying politicians, running grassroots campaigns, and engaging in the political process raises money to do what they do?

How do you expect the LGBT community to increase its political influence, its outreach, and get legislation passed, without fundraising?

You act as if they’ve done nothing, when they’ve led the way on ENDA, which just passed in the House.. and even before ENDA, they led the way on grassroots efforts that have led over 260 of the nation’s largest employers to fully adopt non-discrimination policies in the workplace. They did this work largely during the Bush administration, in a generally hostile political environment for our community.

So don’t act like HRC does nothing, just because you’re ignorant of what they actually DO accomplish and ARE doing, and only notice the (very effective) fundraisers!

Ben

October 12, 2009 at 1:44 pm

I agree with every word of your message except the last sentence, which implies that marriage is nothing more than a state institution and has no place in our struggle. If you really want a democratic gay rights movement, you ought to recognize that marriage rights are a high priority to the rank and file of the gay community and get on board, instead of condemning everyone who disagrees with you about this as heteronormative. Marrying someone of the same sex is far from heteronormative, believe me. Liberation is about being free to fuck who you choose, and not who you think you’re supposed to fuck because of someone else’s sociopolitical agenda. Anyway, great job on opening up this much-needed discussion. It’s sickening to watch the HRC kiss Obama’s ass after he gets on stage and informs us that our relationships are “real” rather than “equal.”

Megan

October 12, 2009 at 12:12 pm

Well, I can’t totally agree with the tactic of vandalism, but it’s not like the HRC would listen to QAA’s message if they sent it through “acceptable” channels, either. At least this way, other people get to see (and hopefully think about) QAA’s message, rather than having it quietly filed away in the circular file…

Joe Mondo

October 12, 2009 at 7:27 pm

QAA’s actions have motivated me to contribute to HRC – something I thought I’d never do again.

Trix

October 12, 2009 at 11:34 am

Yeah, Todd, people were already talking about how much HRC sucked. Now we’re just also talking about how braindead QAA (or Bash Back or whatever they want to call themselves) is. Totally agree with the communique, but the vandalism is not a productive use of “radical” energy. There will always be heteronormative, assimilationist people in the gay community, and getting paintballed won’t convince them to stop throwing galas. They obviously enjoy their galas!

Blah blah shame on HRC. Whatever. Imposing these standards of ideological purity on the entire community is preposterous. People can’t take up every single progressive cause just because they take up one. I wish they could, but some people support gay rights and also really love wars for oil. Paintballing them because they don’t see the “big picture” the way you do does not make them reconsider their worldview. It makes people wonder–for about five seconds–what kind of jackass paintballs somebdy as a conversational strategy. ActUp made waves because they were creative, they were on-point, and they were serious. Occupying a federal building and throwing a political funeral–that’s a statement that makes people stop. This pink paint with glitter crap is pure gradeschool–perhaps a sign of how much we have assimilted already.

Mark Kraft

October 13, 2009 at 4:49 am

HRC focuses primarily on lobbying and influencing politicians, generally at the federal level, running grassroots campaigns, and engaging in the political process to the best of their ability.

The fact isn’t that HRC sucks… it’s that they’ve only been around about a decade, and have spent ALL of that time until this year with either a Republican-dominated Congress or a Republican President to block change at the Federal level.

The fact is, they’ve gotten Obama to extend benefits to partners of federal employees, and have led the way on ENDA, which just passed in the House. Even before ENDA, they led the way on efforts that have convinced over 260 of the nation’s largest employers to fully adopt non-discrimination policies in the workplace. They did this work largely during the Bush administration, during a hostile political environment for our community.

Their success in getting companies to support non-discrimination policies is a big part of the reason that the House was able to pass ENDA in a surprisingly bipartisan manner.

It would be a very bad idea for the community to abandon HRC’s political outreach efforts now, when there’s finally an environment where legislation can actually get passed at the Federal level.

Todd

October 12, 2009 at 10:14 am

When I first came out I got sucked into the HRC cult. It took some time before I realized how elitist and non inclusive they really are. The paint bombs were a success! People are finally talking about how much HRC sucks. Reality is always a good thing. Expose bigoted hypocrites where ever they might hide. Even if they are posing as gay activists! Thank god for real activists who care about everyone! Shame on HRC! You got what you deserved. Karma kicks @ss! Unite Now!

Mark Kraft

October 13, 2009 at 4:51 am

HRC focuses primarily on lobbying and influencing politicians, generally at the federal level, running grassroots campaigns, and engaging in the political process to the best of their ability.

The fact isn’t that HRC sucks… it’s that they’ve only been around about a decade, and have spent ALL of that time until this year with either a Republican-dominated Congress or a Republican President to block change at the Federal level.

The fact is, they’ve gotten Obama to extend benefits to partners of federal employees, and have led the way on ENDA, which just passed in the House. Even before ENDA, they led the way on efforts that have convinced over 260 of the nation’s largest employers to fully adopt non-discrimination policies in the workplace. They did this work largely during the Bush administration, during a hostile political environment for our community.

Their success in getting companies to support non-discrimination policies is a big part of the reason that the House was able to pass ENDA in a surprisingly bipartisan manner.

It would be a very bad idea for the community to abandon HRC’s political involvement efforts now, when there’s finally an environment where legislation can actually get passed at the Federal level.

Yvon Thivierge

October 12, 2009 at 9:55 am

We’ve had the same shift in Canada where the gay liberation movement of the 1970′s was subverted by the bourgeois homos into a gay rights group focused mainly on gay marriage.
Yet, not only was the latter legalised, but full equality was granted to GLBTs including service in the army, hate propaganda and protection against discrimination in every major field imaginable.
So why is it that capitalism and big government prevent all of this happening in the United States?

Mark Kraft

October 13, 2009 at 5:00 am

HRC isn’t bourgeois, and isn’t focused mainly on gay marriage. It is focused primarily on increasing political influence and involvement at the Federal level.

It’s not that capitalism and big government is preventing progress in the US. It’s that the Republicans have been blocking it for virtually all of the HRC’s existence, largely to keep their religious fundamentalist base happy.

If anything, the HRC has been tremendously successful in influencing “capitalism”. They got over 260 of the largest US companies to FULLY adopt non-discrimination policies in the work place. This is a big part of the reason that ENDA just passed in the House, with a surprisingly large bipartisan majority.

These US companies are more successful at influencing Republicans than even millions of us.
frank nowarcyck

October 13, 2009 at 8:02 am

“HRC isn’t bourgeois” it’s an interesting claim. care to back it up?

funguy

October 12, 2009 at 9:41 am

Joe Solmonese is a sell out, and so is HRC. I can’t believe that back in the day I actually supported them. I am all about non-violent struggle … but this somehow makes my vote of approval. Nothing else will get the attention of the self-absorbed HRC. They only care about rich white gay folks … their tag line should be “leaving the poor, trans, people of color behind since …” HRC does not speak for me, and they will never get my money or my time. I encourage people to support NGLTF.org or NCTE.org … God, I hate these HRC assholes!

Mark Kraft

October 13, 2009 at 7:11 am

HRC is focused primarily on increasing political influence and involvement at the Federal level.. but the way you describe it, their willingness to be involved in the political process is somehow “selling out”.

Want to know who is a sell out? How about neocon warhawk-turned-”liberal conservative” Andrew Sullivan or John Aravosis, a former Republican adviisor for corrupt, indicted Republican Senator Ted Stevens?

For instance, Aravosis said:
“…why is Obama’s own administration putting out the talking point that they can’t move ahead on gay rights until the wars are over, until health care is over..?”

The answer is simple. Aravosis over at Americablog *LIED*. Nobody in Obama’s administration ever said any such thing.

Since when is President Obama extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers, and the House passing the Employment Non-discrimination Act not moving ahead on gay rights?

The same goes with HRC, who has led the way with ENDA. Even before the Obama administration, during the worst days of Bush administration, they led the way in getting over 260 of the largest US companies to FULLY adopt non-discrimination policies in the work place. This is a big part of the reason that ENDA just passed in the House, with a surprisingly large bipartisan majority. Republicans don’t listen to gays and lesbians, but they do listen to large corporations.

As for Andrew Sullivan, for President Obama to firmly promise action on DADT, only for Andrew Sullivan to reply “STFU”… it’s childish, disrespectful, and immature.

Like Aravosis, Andrew Sullivan took Joe Solmonese *way* the hell out-of-context by saying he would “be happy to wait till 2017. . . to hold Obama accountable”. He called HRC, the largest LGBT group for bringing about political change “a racket”, and claimed that he wanted gays to “go to the back of the line”.He even claimed that HRC’s “real job is to get gay money to support healthcare reform.”

This, frankly, is unsubstantiated, ignorant, bomb-throwing grade-A bullshit.

HRC has been included in White House strategy sessions on how they plan to advance our agenda, and although they would *like* things to move faster than they are, the White House has not only made clear to them what kind of time schedule they are looking at on passing legislation, but also how they plan on doing it, so that it will avoid fillibusters… such as the technique we have seen with ENDA being embedded into another bill.

Frankly, I have *NEVER* heard Andrew Sullivan attack Republicans who deny us our rights to please religious bigots with such overt hatred and lies as he attacks his own community.

Of course, Sullivan, with his longstanding background as an irrational conservative Catholic, always displays sensitivity and uses kids gloves when addressing such special, bigoted people, with their special little bigoted beliefs… the ones that should have no business in government.

Too bad that Andrew Sullivan only resorts to hate speech, lies, and calls for violence when he’s talking about killing the wrong Arabs, or attacking his own people and his own community.

a. mcewen

October 12, 2009 at 9:01 am

I dont care about the damned message because the way it was done was counterproductive. You aren’t bandits running around in some romantic Zorro-like fantasy. There is no excuse for this nonsense and NO ONE in the community should validate it in the least. If you disagree with HRC, then voice that disagreement in a way that doesn’t end up shooting the entire lgbt community in the behind!!

Bobby

October 12, 2009 at 10:24 am

Really how. Ever heard of ACTUp. They brought MUCH need attention to AIDS and they did it with very aggressive Zorro-like methods. it’s time for HRC to stop sucking the lobbyists cocks and start doing something with the money they collect other then tell us how good they are.
Oscar in Miami Beach

October 12, 2009 at 7:00 pm

I agree and disagree with you.I support the kind of action that was done on the HRC building.It bring the world to see us and notice us as strong and vital and not submisive to the Establishment and its timetables.I disagree on the AIDS thing.I’m old enough to have lost ALL my friends,I mean ALL, to AIDS because it was labeled “the gay disease”.Not until straight started dying did actual,significant research started in earnest.To me today when it comes to straight dying of AIDS I say “the more,the merrier”. And yes,the HRC is an elitist bunch of queers in bed with the Establishment and do not want the boat rocked in fear of losing their comfortable niches.

chillhouse

October 12, 2009 at 9:01 am

defacing the HRC was not cool. anything that easy (drive by paint bombs) is just a cop-out, a childish way to get attention, bad press, and little else. nothing positive could come from it; i think it was lame.

Oscar in Miami Beach

October 12, 2009 at 7:04 pm

The concept is “talk good,talk bad but talk about me, do not ignore me”.In that sense yes the act was succesful.As infantile and bothering it may be,it hit the mark.

RedMenace74

October 12, 2009 at 8:46 am

I just heard a great idea… Next time, don’t vandalize. OCCUPY the building. As far as we’re concerned, they built it with OUR money, it’s ours. Let’s take it over and use it for our needs instead of for fundraising and ass-kissing like the HRC does. Real activists and real fighters for lgbt equality don’t defend the HRC.

Bobby

October 12, 2009 at 10:21 am

Bring back Sit ins. Grand idea.
Joe Mondo

October 12, 2009 at 7:25 pm

I doubt they built it with your money.

Ricco Courtright

October 12, 2009 at 8:31 am

While vandalizing a building is not something I would do myself, and while I wonder what positive outcome can be won through acts of violence or vandalism, I appreciate the impulse, and on some level applaud it.

This group of radical queers ( is they refer to them selves) are no more radical than the violent heterosexual society, violent government, and the violent, unprofessional. anti-gay heterosexual military who only fight to protect the rights of the rich and the straight.

Everyday, as the GOP and others fight to keep laws that will protect the LGBT community from hate crimes, I read where some straight person has beaten or killed a gay person. Our community fights in their wars and for their freedom to violate our freedom. I would never wish to see someone being hurt simply for being straight, but I would applaud anyone who targets a a gay basher and shows them that not all queers are going to simply lie down and be the victim.

This is hard for me because I think violence begets violence, but I don’t think we should simply lie down. Clearly this country is unworthy of our gay soldiers service, and clearly this country is unworthy of its freedom. There is much talk and reverence (and rightfully so) of Dr. Martin Luther King, but I don’t think the strides black people made can be wholly attributed to him, and his peaceful efforts. I think the blacks, like the Black Panthers, and Malcom X had to raise a little hell to get through to a nation that clearly does not practice what it preaches.

Our forefathers (most of them hypocrites and moral degenerates) wrote the Declaration of Independence, and at first white straight men fought to keep women, blacks and gays from enjoying the same civil rights, then when white women won their civil rights, the fought to keep blacks and gay from getting their rights, and after winning their civil rights (though not entirely equal yet) many straight black people (How sad) oppose the civil rights of another minority.

Clearly, it seems to be human nature to oppose the civil rights of others so long as ones own civil rights are in place; and clearly this country, as a whole, has proven itself unworthy of its freedom.

Joe Solomonese(?) does not speak for me when he says that he is satisfied that Obama will keep his promises at the end of his second term. I had a lot of respect for the HRC and Joe, until he made that announcement. In a matter of days I also lost faith in the committee who hands out the Nobel peace prize to a sitting president of the United States who is presiding over two wars. They are obviously no longer qualified to discern a peaceful man from a war monger.

This is a toxic, mean spirited nation, an unworthy nation. It is not, nor ever has been a great nation, but it has been lucky enough to ever have a very small handful of great people (I wish I were a better man) that has given it a few glorious moments in its otherwise inglorious history.

Gordon

October 12, 2009 at 8:18 am

Alas, every commenter here railing that QAA ‘will accomplish nothing’ with suchlike tactics is not only dead wrong but dead stupid: the very fact that they saw fit to register their distaste in a comment here is already a QAA accomplishment: getting people talking about their cause. There really is no such thing as bad press. This action greatly increases the visibility of the disenfranchised for whom HRC has done nothing, is currently doing nothing, and fully intends to do nothing ad infinitum. All the scandalized good little quiggers here can, and duly will, go rot.

libran24

October 12, 2009 at 7:38 am

As someone who’s got a degree in public policy, I can attest to the length of time it takes to pass (or repeal) legislation.
I’m curious as to what this QAA actually wants, and if it understands that if it “glamdalizes” buildings with “glitter bombs” it will get NOTHING.

Zachary

October 12, 2009 at 8:02 am

I agree with the message but not the method. This march was about coming together. By defacing the building they do the same thing they accuse the HRC of doing – alienating our community. Only with actions more immature- proving they’re no better and creating more tension and derision within our own movement. Who needs the conservative right when we do a fine job tearing ourselves apart from within?
RedMenace74

October 12, 2009 at 8:47 am

I’m not alienated in the least. You’re not getting the point: the HRC is not on our side. They fight against equality by making excuses for politicians they give donations to. I’m inspired by this action to fight back even harder and to continue organizing. Kudos to real lgbt/queer activists! Down with the HRC!
Bobby

October 12, 2009 at 10:20 am

How quick many are to forget history. People rallied against ACTUp in the beginning too. They enabled many other groups to move forward. Groups with less funding, shadowed by large well funded groups were able to make a difference because of ACTUp’s very aggressive actions. I am amazed at the conversations simple, yes simple paint was able to create. My building gets tagged every couple of months. It’s a $5.99 can of graffiti remover and it’s gone. I too am tired of HRC and I am happy someone has brought life to the growing lack of actions, other then fund raise, they do.
militant kweer

October 12, 2009 at 12:10 pm

your comparison of ACT UP and HRC is laughable, ignorant and ahistorical. Read Virtual Equality. HRC is an assimilationist organization. They gamble away the real prize of liberation for a sham, crumbs of commercialism and materialism. Privileged members of the LGBT community set the agenda, (Gay G8 anyone?) overlooking issues that are killing economically marginalized queer people, lgbt people of color, teens, trans ppl, queers with disability, etc.

ACT UP was about direct action to save people’s lives. HRC is about lesbians and gay men of privelege accessing what they consider their birthright.

Timothy

October 12, 2009 at 7:38 am

I did things like this when I didn’t get my way. When I was 5.

I should think in a world with enough violence and division there are far better ways to communicate our grievances than defacing property and behaving like childish idiots or shadowy figures who paint swastikas or racial slurs on synagogues or African-American churches in the dark of night.

I understand the frustration and don’t disagree with the message but disapprove of the method of delivery. Does anyone think this will improve communication?

James

October 12, 2009 at 8:31 am

Agreed. A much better use of time and energy would be forming their own non-profit dedicated to helping and fighting for the “working class queer folks” they claim to support.
RedMenace74

October 12, 2009 at 8:49 am

This is improving communication. You’re talking about it. Step the fuck back and don’t condemn REAL fighters for lgbt equality. If you’re not happy with the tactics, CHALLENGE THE HRC TO BE MORE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE COMMUNITY.
MuttonChop

October 12, 2009 at 9:14 am

RdMenace74, I want to talk more about your ironic inability to be inclusive in dialogue. Timothy posed a pretty widely asked question (paraphrased), “Will these tactics help or hurt us?” And you responded out of anger to your own brethren. I’m taking your advice and “stepping the fuck back,” and what I’m seeing, based on your actions, is more communication and more division. Your hatred toward Timothy makes my heart sad and shows me you have much to learn. HRC might not be the answer, but neither are you. Fortunately, unlike our political system, there are more than two options.
RedMenace74

October 12, 2009 at 8:52 am

There are always a few conservative, right wing, self-loathing queers who cower in fear when people do begin to take a stand and take their liberation into their own hands. Even at Stonewall, the right wing gays tried to stop the movement:

“A clash between the old guard organizers and newly rising militants was apparent from the Sunday of the riots, when Mattachine activists who’d met with the mayor’s office and police posted this sign on the front of the Stonewall: “We homosexuals plead with our people to please help maintain peaceful and quiet conduct on the streets of the Village—Mattachine.” Their pleas were ignored. Each night thereafter through Wednesday, more and more gays and straight leftists, from socialists and Black Panthers to the Yippies and Puerto Rican Young Lords, arrived on the scene to participate in the latest confrontation with police.”

http://www.isreview.org/issues/63/feat-stonewall.shtml
Susie

October 12, 2009 at 10:03 am

Are you fucking kidding me? You’re calling the Mattachine Society “right wing”? Do you have any idea what you’re talking about? People on the Left have always differed about what the best means of communicating our message is. Demonizing anyone who doesn’t toe your line down to the millimeter isn’t productive. I agree with the message from QAA posted above, but have mixed feelings about the vandalism. That doesn’t make me right wing, it makes me someone who’s willing to deal with the complexity of the issues we’re confronting, rather than just yelling and throwing poo.
drumstick

October 12, 2009 at 2:01 pm

Agreed. RedMenace74 is clueless of history. This is kind of sad that kids who don’t understand history are twisting it for their own purposes…

Brian

October 12, 2009 at 7:21 am

Well, that little incident is about as useful as an HRC dinner: completely self-absorbed and accomplishing absolutely nothing but bad press.

Chris D

October 12, 2009 at 11:03 am

Here-here.

Whatever faults the HRC has inherent in it’s infrastructure (and I don’t doubt what the QAA says),
to those apathetic or – worse – *against* the LGBT movement, this is just seen as in-fighting. If you truly want solidarity, there has to be SOME sort of start of diplomacy that spans the gap between moderate and radical.

chillhouse

October 12, 2009 at 7:08 am

i seriously doubt militant dykes would have blasted pink paint and glitter! uh … hel-lo!!!!!

Chris P

October 12, 2009 at 6:16 am

Militant dykes or whomever defacing our own building in DC are not helping OUR cause. Spray paint all you want – but you are NOT helping us make any progress in this battle by doing this. Shame on you.

Artful Roger

October 12, 2009 at 5:47 am

Kudos! It’s good to see that someone out there has a pulse. Quick kids: run call Madonna to see what to do

Queer Action of RI

October 12, 2009 at 4:53 am

What has QAA done FOR our movement? Having us fight each other rather than our opponents is exactly what they want. I’m not a big HRC fan but this action seems so useless in terms of moving us forward. If we want changes in HRC we should be talking to them. It’s like we’re gay bashing ourselves. Divided we fall…

Ben

October 12, 2009 at 7:48 am

I’d like someone to comment on this question. I agree that HRC has some dirty laundry, but it also seems that, by trying to be inclusive of most of the LGBT movement, they’re doing good for many people. What has QAA accomplished by choosing to affect change “from without,” rather than “from within” as HRC operates?
drumstick

October 12, 2009 at 1:57 pm

I couldn’t agree more. This is a bunch of angry idiots who don’t even understand the meaning of “bourgeoisie”.
frank nowarcyck

October 13, 2009 at 7:49 am

qaa is by this action getting out of the movement that hrc spearheads, and what they have done for the gay liberation movement is attempt to bring it back to it’s roots. when people took to the streets after the raid on stonewall they did not beg for equality, they demanded it. they did not go to homophobes and ask for their rights, they showed that they had rights that they would defend. we need to stop asking for equality as if it is something that can be handed out and start fighting back when we see people attepting to take it away. the hrc serves only the status quo and reinforces the idea that queers are currently enferior. they go on to tell us that if we just stay civil, one day people will be nice enough to treat us equally. as such the hrc is the enemy of gay rights whether they come from a place of benevelence or not.

Mebiker104

October 11, 2009 at 11:29 pm

Best news I heard all week! I stand in solidarity with the QAA

RedMenace74

October 11, 2009 at 8:40 pm

You know, I’m a queer socialist and I gotta say, GREAT FUCKING JOB! HRC and its defenders just don’t get it. If you’ve got a fucking BUILDING when kids are hanging themselves because they’re called faggot, you’re not on my side.

Esteban

October 12, 2009 at 1:49 pm

Well said.
Dan Kaufman

October 12, 2009 at 2:01 pm

Huh? Would you have them work out of cardboard boxes? Do you even KNOW what HRC does? Have you ever met and talked with staffers and volunteers and donors and members? Or are you too busy in your own high tower to understand who you’re attacking? Good god, you’re just as bad as the Yes On 8 folks. Oh, and I’m a socialist, too. BFD. It doesn’t mean I need to vandalize a building or support the thugs who did.
Joe Mondo

October 12, 2009 at 7:23 pm

Kids aren’t killing themselves because of HRC.

What a lame case of misdirected, impotent childish acting out.
frank nowarcyck

October 12, 2009 at 9:06 pm

i think he means that hrc and their ilk are wasting their time and money by kissing the collective asses of democrats and corporations that seek not acceptance, but to change queers and make them the same as straight people. this should not be the goal if we are to save the lives of young and/or poor queers that do not even have the option of assimilation (not that it is even a good thing).
Dan Kaufman

October 13, 2009 at 2:29 am

Even if one iota of what you’re saying is true (and, by the way, you’re full of shit), it doesn’t give them the right to cause harm. Just being ignorant of the facts doesn’t make your actions automatically okay.
frank nowarcyck

October 13, 2009 at 7:40 am

umm, feel free to refute what i said. otherwise you really aren’t contributing to conversation. my question is, what do marriage rights have to do with a poor queer getting bashed on the streets or a kid so tormented in school that they get suicidal? how will the lobbiests from hrc fix these problems? when don’t ask don’t tell gets repealed will it change police discrimination against the trannies in the world? what is the hrc doing for folks that aren’t like straight people aside from being queer and never want to be like that? and please feel free to bring up these facts i am ignorant of.
Dan Kaufman

October 13, 2009 at 9:10 am

Frank: You said the Democrats and corporations want to “change queers and make them the same as straight people.” What does that mean, and what evidence do you have that that’s their goal? And why does what HRC does vs what you want them to do have to be an either/or proposition? What I hear you saying is that, if they’re not putting every dollar they spend on the two populations you’ve identified as important to you, then everything else they do is worthless. Am I hearing you correctly?
frank nowarcyck

October 13, 2009 at 9:19 am

dan: wow, this is getting hard to read, if you want my email is mkeanarchy@gmail.com we could continue this that way or maybe start a new reply at the bottom so we don’t have to read one word per line?

bill seattle

October 11, 2009 at 8:35 pm

Good for QAA. Left unfettered and alone, the likes of HRC and their elitist friends will turn our community into mealy-mouthed fags who seek nothing but “tolerance” by the larger society. I salute these young people in their struggles against all forms of enslavement.

bill

October 11, 2009 at 8:33 pm

I fully support the actions of this action by QAA. Even as a older person, I see the value and necessity in their rebellion against the status quo, whether in the form of old white straight guys or middle-aged, upper middle-class gays. These young gay voices need to be heard. Good for QAA!!!

drumstick

October 12, 2009 at 1:55 pm

As I assume you hated the HRC when Elizabeth Birch ran it?
Dan Kaufman

October 12, 2009 at 8:04 pm

If they really want to be heard, then they should take off their masks, own up to their crime, apologize, and pay for the damage they caused. At this point, hiding behind anonymous internet posts and early-morning drive-bys, they’re little more than vandals and pseudo terrorists with a penchant for glitter. And no, I’m not going to apologize for being white or Jewish or Gay or socialist or a dinner attendee or a marcher or anything else. The sooner we stop stereotyping ourselves, the better.

Robert

October 11, 2009 at 7:29 pm

I support you in your struggle to get our movement back from the same corrupt corporations that paid for Obamas campaign.

Joe Mondo

October 11, 2009 at 6:44 pm

This just sickens me.

I’m often frustrated by HRC, and as a result choose not to donate to them. But there is no good excuse to vandalize or harass HRC. They’re not the bad guys.

(And the complaint that HRC is not democratic is particularly stupid, and made by a group that is itself not democratic.)

Jackson

October 11, 2009 at 8:19 pm

I’m not sure you understand what they meant by “democratic.”
Jeff

October 12, 2009 at 10:25 am

LOL. I”m not sure you understand that you mean by democratic.
Jeff

October 12, 2009 at 10:26 am

..what you mean…
Oscar in Miami Beach

October 12, 2009 at 6:34 pm

They are not democratic.They are an elitist group that want change at the establishment timetable.Timetable that tends towards the status quo.They are entrenched in their privileges and do not want to lose them.Sometimes a shock is needed to revive the body.The body politics is not different a body.The radical group is needed to keep the passive elite on their toes and learning that other voices,other people are also in the field and fighting for a faster and more equal solution.
Joe Mondo

October 12, 2009 at 7:22 pm

They’re not democratic because they’re not a government. They’re a group of volunteers.

Rachel

October 11, 2009 at 6:30 pm

AWESOME! Somebody needs to speak the truth, I stand with them.

Dan Kaufman

October 12, 2009 at 7:51 pm

You can speak your truth without attacking someone else’s truth. And “they” don’t want to be stood with; they’re anonymous cowards who work in the shadows. They’re no better than hood-wearing thugs.

Jase Watson

October 11, 2009 at 5:23 pm

Normally I wouldn’t say this, but it’s blatantly obvious in this case: AUDRE LORDE, YOU AND YOUR CREW ARE A WASTE OF OUR !#%&ING TIME! IT’S !#%&S LIKE YOU THAT GIVE OUR MOVEMENT A BAD REPUTATION! GET LOST IF YOUR NOT GOING TO DO SOMETHING POSSITIVE! YOU THINK IM HAPPY ABOUT HRC EXCLUDING CERTAIN GROUPS? HELL NO! BUT GOING AND VANDELIZING THEIR BUILDING DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, EXCEPT GIVE THE PEOPLE THAT HATE YOU ANOTHER THING TO ADD TO THEIR SH!#Y LIST. GET LOST, OR GET ON BOARD!

Gauge

October 12, 2009 at 7:51 am

You couldn’t be more wrong. Get on board? Are you serious? Do you think inaction is a better strategy? Spread your apathy elsewhere please. (Oh, and I don’t think typing in ALL CAPS makes your point any more valid. Not that is was anyway.)
Bobby

October 12, 2009 at 9:57 am

I am amazed at the ignorance of many today. HRC is a fine example why ACTUP started. Where is Larry Kramer when we need him or other like him. Ahh but they are coming out of the woodwork. Tired of the inaction of a very rich group-HRC. Not a fan of vandalizing buildings, but oh how HRC does have enough money to clean it up. More then enough. When volunteering in Maine I didn’t see HRC there. I saw their nice shirts I am sure that was used to raise more money for them, They were probably too busy in Wash DC having another fund raiser. Now they have an excuse to redecorate the entrance. How much will be spent washing off paint?
Tim

October 12, 2009 at 1:42 pm

Vandalism is wrong.
HRC is useless. Joe Solmonese needed the giant picture of himself while introducing the Pres. Saturday. I was glad to hear in his speach he is going to get rid of DADT. How many times has he gottin rid of DADT? Once within a week of being in the white house and at least 4 more times since. HRC needs to pull their head out of the Democrats A** and start working for us
Moo

October 12, 2009 at 9:01 pm

Oh honey, did you not figure out that Audre Lourde is a pseudonym here? LOL. Also, you left your caps lock on.
Moo

October 12, 2009 at 9:02 pm

I think it’s worth mentioning that the communique was first posted on the Bash Back! website, not on here. I suspect that the action is connected with people who do Bash Back! actions.

http://bashbacknews.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/radical-queers-bash-back-against-hrc-headquarters/

Abby

October 11, 2009 at 4:14 pm

You can expect a call from the D.C. police wanting ISP and other info to track down who left that comment. If they get a search warrant, you really have no choice but to comply. It might be useful to have an attorney review the warrant to be sure it’s valid before you provide the requested information, however.

Brian

October 11, 2009 at 4:09 pm

Sounds a lot like Queer Liberaction from Dallas. QueerLiberaction.com

DJ

October 12, 2009 at 3:28 pm

Trust me, there is nothing radical or queer about Dallas’ Queer Liberaction. Their focus is almost exclusively on DADT, DOMA and ENDA, much like the HRC – they just work toward these goals with direct action tactics.

Audre Lorde

October 11, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Communique from the Forgotton:

Human Rights Campaign HQ Glamdalized By Queers Against Assimilation

HRC headquarters was rocked by an act of glamdalism last night by a crew of radical queer and allied folks armed with pink and black paint and glitter grenades. Beside the front entrance and the inscribed mission statement now reads a tag, “Quit leaving queers behind.”

The HRC is not a democratic or inclusive institution, especially for the people who they claim to represent. Just like society today, the HRC is run by a few wealthy elites who are in bed with corporate sponsors who proliferate militarism, heteronormativity, and capitalist exploitation. The sweatshops (Nike), war crimes (Lockheed Martin), assaults on working class people (Bank of America, Deloitte, Chase Bank, Citi Group, Wachovia Bank) and patriarchy (American Apparel) caused by their sponsors is a hypocrisy for an organization with “human rights” in their name.

The queer liberation movement has been misrepresented and co-opted by the HRC. The HRC marginalizes us into a limited struggle for aspiring homosexual elites to regain the privilege that they’ve lost and climb the social ladder towards becoming bourgeoisie.

Last night, Obama spoke at the HRC fundraising gala and currently the HRC website declares, “President Obama underlines his unwavering support for LGBT Americans.” The vast amount of organizing resources the HRC wastes on their false alliance with the Democratic party leaves radical queers on the margins to fend for themselves. Our struggle has always had to resist the repression of conservative tendencies in government and society to gain liberation in our lives.

The gourmet affair was sponsored by 48 corporations including giants Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, and Wachovia Bank. At $250 dollars a plate the HRC served our movement a rich, white, heternormative atmosphere that purposefully excludes working class queer folks.

REMEMBER THE STONEWALL RIOTS! On the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, pigs raided a queer bar in Texas, arrested and beat our friends, and we looked towards politicians and lawyers to protect us. This mentality is what keeps the money flowing to the HRC and their pet Democrats, and keeps our fists in our pockets.

Most of all we disagree that collective liberation will be granted by the state or its institutions like prisons, marriage, and the military. We need to escalate our struggle, or it will collapse.

~~Love and Solidarity~~

The Librarian

October 11, 2009 at 7:43 pm

How can I join Queers Against Assimilation? You guys don’t have a website. =(
Rick

October 12, 2009 at 9:57 am

At the end of the “Communique from the Forgotton” they say: “~~Love and Solidarity~~”

Is this a joke? Vandalism is NOT love! These guys are as hypocritical as the Mormons are. No rational thinking person can ever take them seriously.
Dan Kaufman

October 12, 2009 at 1:56 pm

With queers like you, who needs the Family Research Council, National Organization for Marriage, and the Christian Coalition? Justifying vandalism? Stereotyping the members and staff of HRC, and those who attended the dinner? You pathetic, sad little people. If your position is so weak that you need to resort to destroying property just to be heard, then you need to re-think your position. What a sad day this is, and how sad it is the people are cheering this on. If you don’t like what HRC does, do something else. But don’t just destroy. That’s what people do when it’s too much work to think. They did it to my car when I had gay stickers on the bumper. And now we’re doing it to ourselves.
Oscar in Miami Beach

October 12, 2009 at 6:26 pm

As per your mentality George Washington and the rest of the rebelious creators of this nation fall within your set of categories.In this world nothing today happens thru peaceful means.Only armed conflict releases the entrenched powers and creates change and new liberties.If the creators of this country would have sat to negotiate with K. George III there would not be a United States of America today.Neither there would be a France,an Israel and a lot of other countries that dot the democratic sphere.You yourself were borned with pain and the same is with countries and liberties.
Joe Mondo

October 12, 2009 at 7:20 pm

HRC isn’t a government with power over you. It’s a voluntary organization comprised of people who are already denied equa rights.
Dan Kaufman

October 12, 2009 at 7:47 pm

You’ve gone from supporting vandalism to supporting armed conflict. Lovely. Against whom, exactly? Terrorists blow up buildings and people because they want to try to force people to believe their ideas. The National Organization for Marriage and their followers try to make the argument that marriage equality actually has a negative impact on their lives. But you and your ilk have taken it one step further, and claim some kind of personal harm and injury because HRC isn’t queer enough for you. You see the world as black and white, either/or. How very hetero of you. I encourage you to join the rest of us who see the gray area, the “and” of life. As in, you can have HRC AND you can have Queers Against Assimilation. It doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition. We can–dare I say it?–co-exist. But if your entire reason for being is so that others can not be? No, I don’t want to be a part of your revolution.
frank nowarcyck

October 12, 2009 at 8:57 pm

that’s cool. nobody asked you to be part.
mark snyder

October 12, 2009 at 3:14 pm

QueerToday supports your actions. Please post your updates and information about HRC protests on QueerToday.com!
Mark Kraft

October 13, 2009 at 7:42 am

The idea that anyone can feel proud about defacing a sign that says “Human Rights Campaign” says a lot about how angry and irrational they are, and how self-destructive their “grassroots activism” is when turned against our own community, our friends, and those who would help us achieve equality.

This, frankly, is every bit as unacceptable as, say, a group of anti-Zionist Jews defacing the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

It’s simply indefensible, because the Human Rights Campaign was built by our community, by our money and our volunteers, and that organization cannot be summed up by the words of one person. It’s a community that tries their very best to protect our people… people who have been beaten, and raped, and tortured, who have been systematically ignored by the government, even when faced with fatal infectious diseases… and who have repeatedly been left to die alone and in pain.

When you attack the Human Rights Campaign, you attack the heart of our community. Your grassroots efforts mean NOTHING when you attack the people trying to help you, rather than concentrate on alienating or winning over those who are verifiably your enemies.

We are supposed to believe that the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT organization in the United States for working through the political system to change minds and get results, is betraying us by working through the political system to change minds and get results. The proof of this “betrayal” is transparently clear, as minds are changing, and results are starting to come in at a regular pace.

We get it… you hate the system. The system is unfair. Working within the system means having to accept that progress isn’t always as fast as you would like.

But are we supposed to undermine the largest LGBT organization in the United States for trying to work within the system to create change? That’s what they’re *SUPPOSED* to do! And it’s necessary, because we cannot expect to achieve full equality AND protection from hate crimes through the courts alone… especially when politicians can pass laws undermining the equality that is due to us under the law.

The fact of the matter is, the Obama administration has said repeatedly that DADT won’t be immediate, because it will require legislation: Even Hillary Clinton said it would probably require legislation for Constitutional reasons… and she said this during the election!

See http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/08/obama-dont-ask-dont-tell/
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08040805.html

The very month that Obama was elected, there was a meeting with GLBT organizations and the Obama administration, to discuss their plans and strategy to get legislation passed. During that meeting, it was made clear that DADT would have to wait a little while, because it will require a complete military review of how best to implement it.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/21/obama-to-delay-repeal-of-dont-ask-dont-tell/

That article pointed out a few important things:
“President-elect Barack Obama will not move for months, and perhaps not until 2010, to ask Congress to end the military’s decades-old ban…”
“”If it’s part of a larger package, (the repeal of DADT) it has a better chance of getting passed.” – Lawrence Korb, advisor to the Obama campaign

That, to me, suggests that the Obama administration would prefer to deal with the legislation by attaching it to a bill the Republicans can’t afford not to pass… and there are only a couple pieces of legislation like that a year.

So, if you’re waiting on DADT, it’s because he wants to blunt Republican criticism and scapegoating of homosexuals, while still getting the military to review the existing policies, and getting their help to come up with a detailed plan on how to implement the change. This will blunt Republican criticism that he is “endangering the military during a time of war”.

You may not care about these strategic issues, and may want change now… but *some* change pushed through now, done in a divisive way that helps Republicans take back the House and Senate is foolish and self-defeating, especially when we can wait a little longer — but not past the end of 2010 — in order to get the legislation passed in a less divisive manner, with several Republicans actually supporting it.

I’m sorry you didn’t know this before. It’s easy to be angry and irrational when you’re fundamentally ignorant of the issues involved, I’m sure…

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