What we believe, where we have been, where we are going.

QUEERS WITHOUT BORDERS (QWB) 

Who we are. 

A small group of Queers activists who are active in the anti-war movement began meeting several years back to bring a queer presence to the many movements that we as individuals were involved in. Our name Queers Without Borders was taken from the slogan, “We are here, there and everywhere.”  It logically follows in our mind then that all issues are our issues. We stand with all who fight oppression. We work to build a new day of justice and a culture of peace. 

Over the years we have actively help to plan and to participate in all sorts of activities.  We firmly believe that for the lgbt community to not take a multi-issue stand is foolish and unwise and any single issue stand denies our true heritage. The following is just some of the events that we worked on. These are not listed in chronological order.  

Where we are and have been. 

We worked to form the Coalition for a Real Debate and held an educational event in front of the Bushnell when the Ct. Forum held a discussion entitled, “The Cultural Wars”. On the panel were Ralph Reed and other talking heads. There were no queer voices or representatives of the many voices affected by these so called wars. We worked with a broad base of peace, labor, anti-poverty, lgbt and independent media groups. After the educational street action we gathered at the church next door for a Real Debate and forum. 

We held Political PRIDE, a Speak Out at the Federal Building concerning issues that were not being addressed by the mainstream LGBT groups. This was followed by a film and discussion at Capital Community College in Hartford. 

QWB helped to organize rallies with a broad base of community groups in response to ICE raids in Hartford/New Haven/Waterbury on the Immigrant communities.  QWB always attends with the rainbow flag so any immigrant who is in the closet would know that there was support from our community. There are some very interesting postings on the QWB blog about this subject. 

QWB attends all demonstrations against the war in Iraq. We also take a firm stand against any war with Iran, North Korea, Cuba or Venezuela.  We stand against the Bush Administration and against its toying with and limiting our freedom and democracy.  

We joined to help organize and participated with the CLASH collective, People of Faith and other peace and left organizations in “Shut Down the Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey Dinner.” This protest was organized to confront the Democratic Party, to remind them of their obligations and demand that they hold up their end of the social contract with action. 

We join with the Workers World Party and a multinational, multilingual group of lgbt activists from organizations in the US and around the the world in a Rainbow Solidarity with the Cuban 5. 

Planned and participated in “An Evening of Solidarity” in support of Immigrant Workers Struggling for Justice and Dignity that was sponsored by the Hartford Area Students for A Democratic Society, Queers Without Borders, Socialist Party of CT., People of Faith and labor groups. This dinner and fundraiser was for the IWW Food and Allied Workers Union. See our blog for details. 

Joined with the Free Peoples Movement, People of Faith, and Hartford Area Students for a Democratic Society and students from area high schools to protest military recruiting in local high schools. This protest took place at Hartford’s Military Recruiting Station on Pearl Street.

We stand side by side, and work hand in hand with the Ct. TransAdvocacy Coalition. We protested the Human Rights Campaign when they held a public meeting at UCONN. There are a lot of good postings on our blog about HRC and why we don’t believe that they are our leaders or the legitimate heirs of our movement. 

QWB endorsed and one member was arrested at the Supreme Court on Jan 11 at the International Action to Shut Down Guantanamo.

Most recently celebrated a victory with ADAPT of Connecticut. Members of Queers Without Borders, other lgbt people and our Allies worked under ADAPT leadership to make the front doors of the new library accessible to all. The front doors do not have a power button for those who use assistive devices. A small band of dedicated activists fought city hall and won on Friday May 30^th, 2008 when it was announced by Mayor Eddie Perez that all of our demands had been met and the doors would be accessible by the end of August. This battle began 7 months ago by members of ADAPT. Check out our blog for a full report. 

QWB stands in solidarity with The Radical Homosexual Agenda of NYC and with Gay Shame of San Francisco. We stand with the Queer and Trans Caucus of Chicagoland Anarchist Network, an autonomous LGBT/queer working group within the larger Anarchist network.  We stand in solidarity with those in the gender identity and gender expression community. We stand up and out with all who seek to build a new world.    

We opened our blog in August 2007 and have readers from all over the world. There is a side bar with some good links. Our blog is an open registration blog and all are invited to post. Check us out and join us. 

We invite all to join our group, to participate in planning of actions and events and to raise your voice up and out and over the movement for assimilation and blending in. We are fully aware that our people have always been present in all movements for social justice, more times than not leading the charge and shaping and defining society. We continue in their spirit. QWB members are interested in more than a reformist agenda of a singular issue political agenda. We see our liberation in much border terms as a part of the transformation of all economic, social, and political ways. We see our liberation entwined with all who seek to be liberated. We join all in the fight.    

We’re here; We’re Queer and we have a lot of work to do. 

* 

How true this statement still rings today. This is from a section of The Radical Manifesto, written by the NACHO Youth Committee, on August 28, 1969. 

“We see the persecution of homosexuality as a part of a general attempt to oppress all minorities and keep them powerless. Our fate is linked with these minorities; if the detention camps are filled tomorrow with blacks, hippies, and other radicals, we will not escape that fate, all our attempts to dissociate ourselves from them notwithstanding. A common struggle, however, will bring common triumph.” 

Queers Without Borders, Hartford CT. June 2008. Leaflet for PRIDE.