Radical Maneuvers: The Radical Homosexual Agenda

On Tuesdays, Charlie Vazquez writes Gotham After Dark, a peek into what goes on in Manhattan’s queer nightlife, with club and event reports and profiles of fascinating New Yorkers.The Radical Homosexual Agenda-I loved the name as soon as I heard it and loved them even more when they gave the corporate presence at the Pride parade a good, old-fashioned NYC “fuck you”. It seems lifetimes ago that queer activism took to the streets to create the sexual revolution that pushed to create radical female sexuality and transgendered visibility-as well as demanding homosexual “equality”. The short-lived Chicago-based Society for Human Rights and the 1950s LA-based Mattachine Society were springboards for more militant groups such as ACT-UP and Queer Nation, but what do radical queers have now?

It’s virtually unheard of for queer groups to protest anything anymore-but the Radical Homosexual Agenda (RHA) has plenty to groan about. And refreshingly, it’s in the spirit of its radical predecessors. For even the much-trampled Stonewall riots were an act of civil disobedience, right? A group of NYC-based activists, artists and students, the RHA challenges the corporate presence (and the acceptance of it) at NYC’s Pride parade and-according to their website-they believe that assimilating gays “would rather feed queer soldiers to Bush’s war than fight the military-industrial complex. They forget that, even more than marriage, the majority of queers also need affordable housing and health care.”

The RHA has also challenged NYC’s “anti-assembly” rules that threaten police intervention for any gathering of 50 or more persons-essentially making protests and political gatherings illegal. As larger “LGBTQI” rights groups roll toward assimilation, a smart, fresh crop of activism must take their place if we expect new changes to occur. The radical queer outlaws that have continually pushed the thresholds of art and culture (i.e. DaVinci, Genet and Burroughs) are forced-as expected-to “beat their own drums”. Change doesn’t occur via complacency, but by upheaval. And “tolerant” corporations with spotty political histories deserve to be singled out-because as queers-our dignity requires more than “tolerance” and “fair” legislation. Applause, applause.

Charlie Vazquez is a Brooklyn-based writer, part-time fetish clown and the assistant to Diamanda Galás–but really, he’s nice.