Category — Words of Wisdom

We are Here

By Robin Passariello Mc Haelen

A person’s a person

No matter how queer

The world better listen

We are here, we are here.

Gay, Bi or Straight-ish

Boi Dyke or Bear

Trans Guys and T -Girls

We are here, we are here.

Drag Queens and Leathermen,

Butch, fly or femme

We are all of us Family

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QWB brings you two music vids to kick off Trans/Queer Pride Month

Holly Near sings

I am willing.

and our favorite anarchist queer folk singer adhamh roland singing (what else but)

peace, justice and anarchy

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. [Read more →]

***OOOOOOH a MUST LISTEN*** 

The Ballad of The Skeletons

performed by Allen Ginsburg and Paul McCartney

Sunday June 15, 2008

6:00-8:00 pm

Charter Oak Cultural Center

21 Charter Oak Ave. Hartford Ct.

Ken Keyser is an activist from the nascent anarchist movement in Norway-the “social democratic paradise” in Northern Europe. In the start of June he’ll be touring the North-Eastern US with an illustrated presentation called, “The Prefigurative Organization”. The presentation will try to answer the question, “How can we best try to reflect the future that we want, in our present work.” It will touch upon subjects such as direct democracy, direct action, workers councils, anarchist organizing and involvement in social movements.

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I am Claude Holcomb from ADAPT of Connecticut. I am here on the steps of City Hall because a friend of people with disabilities, Reverend Wade Blank, taught me that if you believe your rights are being compromised, you need to speak up. The library has denied access to people with all types of disabilities, not just people with severe disabilities, or people who use wheelchairs. Not having a power door at the main entrance of the library affects anyone who uses an assisted devices, such as a can, walker, crutches or scooter. It also affects people who have service animals and people who are elderly. [Read more →]

Note: The following remarks are by Jerimarie Liesegang.  Jerimarie is the Director of Ct. TransAdvocacy Coalition and a founding member of Queers Without Borders, Hartford Ct. When the city announced that it was going to correct the problem Jerimarie chose not to give her speech. I publish it here as it is a damn good speech and shows our willingness to correct this situation. Thanks Jerimarie for your leadership on issues affecting our people and many others.

It’s a Travesty.

As one enters New York Harbor the Statue of Liberty proudly proclaims, “Give us your poor, tired, your huddled masses longing to be free.” As one approaches the front doors of the Hartford Public Library in a wheelchair you see the proclamation: “Give us your poor, your tired, your homeless, your sexual predators..and those in wheelchairs GO AROUND BACK for your are NOT Welcomed through these front doors!”

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Note: These remarks were presented by African American Lesbian Activist Regina Dyton at the May 30th Press Conference at City Hall Hartford. 

The City of Hartford Commission on LGBT Issues is proud to stand with ADAPT, all members of the disability rights community, Queers Without Borders and all other allies to protest the lack of equitable access to the Hartford Public Library.

The ramp at the front of the library invites all who need to use it to enter with dignity, on par with all people wishing to use the library. The inoperable door at the end of the ramp sends a message of inequality, not to mention the work it take for many pepole to get to the end of that ramp, only to find no access. those who need the ramp include not only those using wheelchairs, but those who have difficulty walking up stairs and those who use walkers. All of us who find a dead-end at the end of the ramp are instructed to use the accessible entrance at the back of the library, next to the parking lot. As an African American woman in her 50s, using the back door sounds all too familiar. If it ain’t right for me, how can it be right for someone else? That entrance is commonly used by people who drive to the library (as it is next to the parking lot) or others who choose to use it. It is unfair to provide choices for some and none for others. [Read more →]

Join us for a U. Utah Phillips Song

Stand hand in hand

There is power in the union.

 by Joe Hill

Everyone should click on over to AlterNet and read Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s recent posting published May 28, 2008. Mattilda certainly has a good perspective on this.  Click here for the full article. To read more of Mattilda’s work go to our side bar and click on her name. Check into linking to AlterNet if you are not all ready signed on.

Note: 

We at QWB since our start have been speaking out about “ gay” (damn I hate calling it that when lesbians are involved also(more blending in?)) marriage since early in our postings. What troubles me as a old activist is the fact that so much of our energy, resources, and time is being spent on this one issue. It has up to this date been hard to convince those in the marriage movement that there is a whole world out there that is struggling also and that GLBT people should as they always did in history past join in these struggles. I should think that by now these very same activists would understand that groups who stand alone are picked off rather quickly. It must be a awful line to walk being so caught up in the straight establishment accepting you and wanting so bad to be legitimized by them that their eyes are blinded to all other struggles. There are countless other wars going on out side your windows and doors. As I have said so many times before if we are indeed here, there and everywhere then these struggles are our struggles. When the shit hits the fan baby, all the blenders blending in won’t be saved. For the straights know you and know who you are. And there you will stand in your wedding gowns and tuxedo a blank look of why oh why on your face when they come to get those who tried to pale their genes but failed. At sixty I am realizing that I have less in common with the gay and lesbian movement, their wants and needs and more in common with others that struggle.

For other QWB postings on marriage click  here, here.

“Israel was built over the debris of 400 destroyed villages and sorrows of 750,00 people, both Christians and Muslims, expelled from their land.” To read Bessy’s entire article click here. This article appeared in the Hartford Courant, Friday May 16, 2008.

Seeking Justice is never out of date.

One of our links is AngryBrownButch. The site is run by Jack and always contains some real good stuff. Click on over there and read Jack’s article, The honeymoon is officially over, about the Obama/Rev. Wright controversy. Check out Jack more often from our sidebar.

The Internationale

by Billy Bragg

Billy Bragg complained to Pete Seeger that the traditional lyrics to the Internationale were somewhat dated. Pete Seeger said: “why don’t you write new ones?” So Billy Bragg did. For May Day 2008 Queers Without Borders sends out to all of you this wonderful version of the Internationale. The original Internationale was first written and sung after the brutal suppression of the Paris Commune in 1871. This rallying cry sings out loud and clear for all exploited and oppressed people of the world to rise up and overthrow their masters.

The Workers Rose On May Day or Postscript To Karl Marx

Audre Lorde

Down Wall Street

the students marched for peace

Above, construction workers looking on remembered

how it was for them in the old days

before their closed shop white security

and daddy pays the bill

so they climbed down the girders

and taught their sons a lesson

called Marx, is a victim of the generation gap

called Marx, I grew up the hard way so will you

called the limits of a sentimental vision.

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