Queers Without Borders proudly asks YOU to contribute to the third issue of queer voices, a zine which provides a snapshot of the complex lives and political realities of the broad number of folks who live and love freely, in a world that pushes us in the opposite direction.

We are looking for any number of different forms of expression, including cartoons, poetry, essays, stories, personal narratives, prose, news stories, art (black and white) and most likely whatever else you can come up with.

As far as content, our very favorite stuff has political struggle and personal experience go hand-in-hand, connecting the dots between different (but related) struggles, and particularly when yours is a voice that is generally excluded in the LGBfakeT mainstream–people of color, immigrants, women, workers, homeless, youth, sex workers, trans people, BDSM perverts, fairies, boi dykes, drag kings and queens, polyamorous folks, and any number of the people that wage the fight to live and love freely.

Deadline is August 22nd 2010. Send submissions to QueersWithoutBorders@gmail.com.

I found this beautiful poem while searching for archival remnants of Sylvia and Marsha

For Marsha P. (Pay It No Mind!) Johnson
Qwo-Li Driskill

found floating in the Hudson River shortly after NYC Pride, 1992

“You are the one whose spirit is present in the dappled stars.”
– Joy Harjo, from “For Anna Mae Pictou Aquash…”

Each act of war
is whispered from
Queen to Queen
held like a lost child
then released into the water below.
Names float into rivers
gentle blooms of African Violets.

I will be the one that dangles
from the side but
does not let go.

The police insisted you leapt
into the Hudson
driftwood body
in sequin lace
rhinestone beads
that pull us to the bottom.
No serious investigation — just another
dead Queen.

[Read more →]

 From Wayne Besen Weekly Commentary

The latest anti-gay terrorism in Iraq — is gluing shut the anuses of homosexuals, while forcing the victims to ingest a form of Ex-Lax. The special glue can only be removed by surgery — thus often leading to a painful death.

It is challenging to know if such information is accurate. But, confirming the latest form of torture is beside the point, really. What we do know is that the news from overseas is rarely encouraging.

For example, in March “tens of thousands” of people from Burundi demonstrated to outlaw homosexuality [see related qwb piece on Burundi]. This destitute nation is the kind of place that you may have seen in late night infomercials where flies buzz around the lips of starving children. Eighty percent of Burundi’s population lives in poverty. Famines and food shortages have occurred and the World Food Program reports that 56.8-percent of children under age five suffer from chronic malnutrition. Yet, the good citizens of Burundi have time to chant and hold signs demanding the imprisonment of homosexuals. [Read more →]

A new theater piece written & performed by activist Peterson Toscano. Toscano unearths transgender Bible characters- those people who do not fit in the gender binary and who, in transgressing and transcending gender, find themselves at the center of some the Bible’s most important stories. Hilarious and moving. Download and freely distribute the flyer for this performance [Download pdf]

Event Info

Friday, September, 11 2009
7:30 PM
Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford, CT
Order your tickets TODAY by calling (860) 249-1207
Tickets: $20 general, $10 Charter Oak and Let*s Go Arts! Members, $5 students

For these are not just any teens, hanging out just anywhere. They are students at the Harvey Milk School, New York City’s alternative public high school for lesbian, gay, bi and trans youths. The school, the students’ sass and confidence, our banter-all of it was made possible by the last 40 years of struggle for LGBT rights and liberation. [Read more →]

MCC Hartford Celebrates Black History Month

Film and Conversation at MCC Hartford “Brother Outsider ~ The Bayard Rustin Story”

Sunday, February 15th at 5 PM, 155 Wyllys Street, Hartford, CT^*

[Read more →]

Gay is NOT the New Black

Rev. Irene Monroe
republished from the Windy City Times

If you are African-American and gay, and fighting alongside your white LGBTQ brothers and sisters for queer civil rights, the notion that “Gay is the new black” is not only absurdly arrogant, it is also dangerously divisive.In a presumably “post-racial” era with the country’s first African-American president-elect, it’s easy for some to assume that race doesn’t matter.But when critiquing the dominant white LGBTQ community’s ongoing efforts to gain marriage equality and its treatment of Blacks as their second-class allies in the struggle a reality check happens: Both straight and queer African-American communities bond together against their strategy for marriage equality. [Read more →]

For those who don’t know, I’ve begun volunteering my services to organize the library of the Metropolitan Community Church which serves the LGBT community. Previously I worked on the Luisa Capetillo Memorial Library; Capetillo was an important Puerto Rican feminist anarchist figure, which is why we picked her name for a library housed by an important cafe in the Puerto Rican community, La Paloma Sabanera. Unfortunately, she also carried some homophobic views, which I think would make it inappropriate to use her name for MCC’s library.

So the reason I’m writing is to see if anybody has any ideas for a name. It can be historical, it can be conceptual, it can be comical, whatever. In any case it needs to be approved by MCC of course, so I’d like a few different ideas to present to them. I suppose it’s not terribly important, I just like to name stuff; plus it’s a good opportunity to introduce people to something new and place it in the popular consciousness, or it can help people identify with the thing.

Thanks to Kamora for submitting this wonderful article on Jay Blahnik, the House of Blahnik and Mr. Humes scholarship. Read on for lots of excellent political thought. What a wonderful brother and mentor to read about in our GLBT/Queer community. Please distribute this article widely as possible.

Damon L. Humes received an Honorary Doctorate degree on August 2, 2008 for the creation of a scholarship fund and his humanitarian efforts in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Humes, Executive Director of the Men of Color Health Awareness Project (MOCHA), is an HIV/AIDS activist, a highly sought after consultant and a Ph.D. candidate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Humes is also Jay Blahnik, a charismatic leader of the Ballroom scene— a Black and Latino GLBT subculture involving national fashion and performance arts competitions. He’s the father and founder of Ballroom collective House of Blahnik for which the scholarship is named. [Read more →]

One Opinion of Coming Out & Pride After Living “Straight”

by Kyle S. Smith ed: submitted to qwb for posting…

Coming out stories are regularly seasoned with tales of fear, joy, acceptance, pain, ups and downs, and so on. Mine is no different and I’m glad. I’m also glad that today there are finally more forums, like this one, for discussion and open dialogue about what it means to be a homosexual while still being thought of as more than just our sexuality.

As I look over at my right wrist, I see a rainbow colored rubber wrist band. The word “PRIDE” is in capital letters for anyone to see and notice. The only time I’ve removed in the past year-plus has been to shower. To me, that’s part of what Pride means: 24-7, period. So I’m out, proud, and participating in the gay rights movement. But, what does it mean to be proud? [Read more →]

Please re-post as widely as you wish!

Call For Papers: “Queering Anarchism”

Radical queer politics and anarchism have much in common. Queer theory argues against traditional identity politics, recognizing the social construction of “sexuality” and identity categories. Anarchism argues against any structured hierarchical arrangement of humanity that allows some members of society to systematically exploit and oppress others. Thus, both projects argue for a need to move beyond hierarchical and naturalized arrangements of socially constructed identities–though, at times, articulating those arguments in different ways. Nevertheless, despite these commonalities, little has been written about the deep connections between anarchism and radical queer politics. This edited volume is an attempt to fill that gap.

With this book, the authors wish to assemble writings that are useful to activists (i.e. not written in obscure academic jargon and relatable to social movement contexts) working in the intersections of queer and anarchist politics. Many anarchists use the term “queer” as shorthand for the LGBT community and have little understanding of what queer theory can provide for a contemporary radical praxis and how it differs from traditional LGBT politics—even some radical strands. Likewise, there are many among the queer community who know little to nothing about anarchism—relying mostly on the sensationalist news medias’ construction of anarchists as terrorists, anti-organizationalists, etc. This volume, then, will be split into three sections (theory, praxis, and personal experience) featuring writing that deals specifically with these intersections. [Read more →]

Stonewall Rebellion and the tasks ahead

We reprint this article from Workers World of June 27, 1975, as part of our archival series. In 1976, the writer, Bob McCubbin, published the first edition of his ground-breaking book, now titled “The Roots of Lesbian & Gay Oppression: A Marxist View” and available from LeftBooks.com.

[Read more →]

The Connecticut Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will present its 21st festival this year from May 30-June 7, 2008. All screenings will take place at Cinestudio, 300 Summit Street, Trinity College in Hartford. For festival info: 860-568-1136. Click here for full schedule, tickets, and all other details.

WE REMEMBER

NEVER AGAIN

Please see here.  So It began February 23, 1933.

For a first person story please see here.

For info on the Holocaust and Homosexuals in Germany click here.