10 Keep it Queer!

10. What can people reading this interview do to spread the message?

1. To find out more about the ideas which underpin Gay Shame, read Robert Halpern's excellent 2010 book GAY SHAME: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo5877479.html

2. Follow, share + help promote my Gay Shame blog.

3. Visit, like + help promote the NEW Gay Shame facebook page. 

4. Organise + promote your own Gay Shame activities + events.

5. Refuse to support or participate in Gay Pride Inc. / plc events.

6. Proudly tell people why you won't support or attend corporate Gay Pride.

7. Follow on twitter: +swallowourpride @Fagburn @ashfool @CCarbone7 @NedFountain @PeterTatchel @burkelyh and anyone else who dares to challenge orthodoxy, heteronormativity, the mainstream + Gay (Pride) Inc.

8. Refuse to hand your money over to commercial gay venue operators who warn us that "if we don't support us, you will only have yourselves to blame for not having a decent venue..." (Personally, I'd much rather have an indecent venue.)

9. Keep fighting for equality of opportunity for all and...

10. Keep it Queer!

9 On the Occupy Movement and GS/QM

9. Some of the people that have retweeted my article about the corporatization of gay pride, have been involved with the Occupy Movement. Do you think that this social movement will bring new life to Gay Shame and other radical efforts?

Absolutely. As an international protest movement which campaigns against social + economic inequality and in favour of less hierarchical political + economic relations, the Occupy Movement shares common ground with Gay Shame / Queer Mutiny.

Both the Occupy movement and GS/QM object to the corporatisation of Gay Pride / Gay Inc. and the way in which it disproportionately benefits a minority and undermines freedom of speech + self-expression.

8 On equality of opportunity, discrimination + challenging orthodoxy

8. On twitter, someone told me that radical queer activists are anti-equality and part of an 'identity movement.' Others criticize radicals for saying marriage is oppression, as they argue that gay marriage is a form of liberation. What is your response to these criticisms?

I encourage constructive criticism of marriage, as I do of all forms of partnership agreement. However, any such criticism is best done from a level playing field. For as long as spousal relationships between lesbians or gay men remained outside the law, the focus of the debate around marriage rested on discrimination + inequality of opportunity. Now that they do not, the debate around the negatives + positives of state sanctioned, legally recognised partnership agreements can, I hope, flourish. As I commented in an earlier post, I am not in favour of marriage equality because I wish to get married: I oppose marriage inequality because I disapprove of discrimination on the grounds of sexual preference, orientation or identity. The question of whether or not marriage -as an institution- is liberation or oppression is, for me, part of an entirely separate debate. As indeed is the issue of whether monogamy as the guiding principle of any relationship is realistic, achievable or (from the viewpoint of emotional wellbeing + fulfilment) desirable.

Supporting equality of opportunity, opposing discrimination and challenging normative behaviour + orthodoxy, are not incompatible.

7 Gay Shame is the transformational engine of Queer Mutiny

7. Gay Shame, a movement that proposed a radical alternative to the commercialization of "gay pride" and mainstream gay culture which spread to numerous cities across the world starting in Brooklyn, New York in 1998, had its last chapter close in San Francisco in 2012. Your blogspot says that “Gay Shame is about recognising that the socialisation of LGBT people and the assimilation of queer culture into the mainstream has a price. It is also a recognition that "gay pride" as we now know it is more about the pink pound, spending power and consumer unity than it is about queer mutiny and fighting for those who are marginalised by society.”

Do you see your blog as a continuation of the ideas of SF Gay Shame and ideas of other chapters? Can you elaborate about the on what you mean by the “assimilation of queer culture into the mainstream” and by “queer mutiny”?

David Halperin - in his book 'Gay Shame' [University of Chicago Press 2010] - suggests that "cross-gender queer identification and cross-gender queer sex may provide particularly points of entry to an understanding of the dynamics of shame" and quotes the publicity for the first annual Gay Shame Awards in 2002: "GAY SHAME is the radical alternative to consumerist 'pride' crap. We are committed to fighting the rabid assimilationist monster of corporate gay 'pride' with a devastating mobilization of queer brilliance."

Halperin builds on the ideas of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick in her 1993 essay, first published in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, in which she suggests shame has "a near-inexhaustible source of transformational energy" arguing that without an "intimate and never-forgotten relation to shame, gay pride turns into mere social conformity."

"Gay Power" as a rallying call for the gay rights movement, gave way to "Gay Pride" as the political force behind the quest for equality of opportunity. But, in the drive to transform homosexuality from a perversion to a proud social identity, Halperin asks, have we lost, forgotten or buried something fundamental in terms of our culture, history or identity? And have the political + social requirements of Gay Pride repressed discussion around the less comfortable or dignified aspects of homosexual behaviour?

Gay Shame, as a movement which challenges conventional modes of organisation + distribution (of wealth, of capital, of political power + influence) does not adhere to or require the same modes + structures which facilitate delivery of the commercial gay scene + corporate Gay Pride. GS is, by definition, unorganised, chaotic + shameful.

Gay Shame is a the transformational engine of Queer Mutiny - the anarco-queer movement which opposes  hierarchies, capitalism + assimilation, and which promotes actions + activities which do not solely revolve around consumption. In doing so, it challenges the limitations of consumerism + markets as the primary nodes for social behavior and discourse.

Gay Shame / Queer Mutiny share an understanding that, only by building intellectual capacities that exist + thrive outside the parameters of consumerism, can queer liberation be truly formulated + achieved.

Gay Shame, as a source of transformational energy which facilitates self-actualisation -by encouraging creative self-expression, the quest for spiritual enlightenment and the pursuit of self-knowledge - offers a revolutionary alternative to the juggernaut of corporate gay pride and the rabid assimilation of queer culture into the mainstream of contemporary popular culture.

GS/QM encourages discussion of the role of management + organisations within LGBTQ communities in terms of production, consumption, commercial enterprise and globalisation.

Combining theories of culture, media, gender anthropology,
literary criticism + semiology, Gay Shame thrives on a constant renewal of styles, forms + images to ensure the enduring continuum of "a devastating mobilization of queer brilliance".

Our LGBTQ communities of identity are unique + brilliant and we celebrate our diversity + individuality. Proud of our differences and of our sometimes shameful history + cultural heritage, we reject conformity + cultural assimilation in favour of liberation + self-actualisation.

6 Opposition to marriage equality as a 'radical' stance is privileged self-serving bullshit

6. Gay blogger and activist Glenn Greenwald wrote in March 2013, in a column for The Guardian that “allowing same-sex couples to marry doesn't undermine oligarchs, the National Security State, or the wildly unequal distribution of financial and political power” and the next month he added to this in another column noting that “it seems because the cause of gay equality poses no real threat to elite factions or to how political and economic power in the US are distributed. If anything, it bolsters those power structures.” Would you say this is in line with your criticism of 'gay pride' and mainstream gay culture? If so, what would you add to it?

Of course, Greenwald is right - marriage equality does not undermine oligarchs or redistribute financial / political power. Nor did equalising the age of consent, allowing queer couples to adopt children or allowing black people to use the same restrooms as whites. Does that mean we should oppose these reforms? Absolutely not. And while these measures are in themselves evolutionary rather than revolutionary, it does not follow that these measures reinforce existing power structures.

Do I support marriage equality because I want to get married? No. Nor did I support adoption equality because I wish to adopt children. However, neither do I believe it is right -or 'radical'- to deny other lesbian + gay people the right to choose to do the same things that heterosexual people are able to do by birthright, simply because they aren't 'straight'.

Trans-Feminist Grrl Blogger Natalie Reed (@nataliereed84) put it very well when she said, regarding 'radical' views of marriage: 

"A vast majority of the alleged radical views rely on completely false and unsupported assumptions about who modern marriage benefits. Hint: it is NOT the white middle-class, nor even necessarily men. In fact, given how marriage law relates to children, income, welfare, etc., marriage equality is an issue that is of disproportionate IMPORTANCE to groups like queer women of colour, or poor queers... that "marriage helps white cis middle men!" is a bullshit, self-serving, priviled myth."

5 From Gay Power to the power of the Pink Pound: Pride comes before a fall...

5. What part of queer identity and history in your view is being lost in 'gay pride'?

The Pride movement was born out of the Stonewall riots, which were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community, as a protest against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. At the time, New York had laws prohibiting homosexuality in public and private businesses + gay establishments were regularly raided and shut down. As word spread throughout the city, the customers of the Stonewall Inn were joined by other gay men + women who started throwing objects at the policemen, shouting "gay power."

Thus the queer liberation movement was born. According to Wikipedia, "The Stonewall Inn... catered to an assortment of patrons, but it was known to be popular with the poorest and most marginalized people in the gay community: drag queens, representatives of a newly self-aware transgender community, effeminate young men, male prostitutes, and homeless youth." One month after the Stonewall riots, 500 people gathered in New York for a “Gay Power” demonstration. And on June 28, 1970 -on the first anniversary of the riots- the first Gay Pride march took place in New York city. Over the weekend, marches also took place in Los Angeles + San Francisco. And so, Gay Pride was born. 

I attended my first Gay Pride march in 1984 at age 19. The age of consent for gay men at the time in the UK was 21 and the march  itself was no parade, carnival or Mardi Gras. The tone of the march was angry + the model one of civil disobedience + non-violent direct action. As a demonstration of anger at unfair treatment + protest against inequality of opportunity, it displayed strength through unity + solidarity.

It seems that, over the last 40 years, we have seen a fundamental change in emphasis in our movement, away from the original concept of Gay Power through queer solidarity, towards faith in the power of the Pink Pound + consumer unity. And at the same time, we have witnessed a transfer of power from marginalised, queer + questioning members of our communities, towards a financially powerful mainstream elite of key stakeholders who attempt to determine our direction of travel.

I wrote in an earlier blog post [see Question 3. Gay Inc.] that I believed that "the success of most Pride events is judged today by the amount of money spent hosting the event, the amount of money spent by participants at the event, and the overall number of consumers attending the event. And Pride is very much about consumption - a vanity competition where competing egos are encouraged to eat more, drink more + strike a pose more than the other players in this ostentatious carnival of consumerism."

I went on to say that "the socialisation of our lesbian + gay communities into the mainstream and of our acceptance + assimilation into 'normal' society, is very often measured by how strong the Pink Pound is and how influential we are as global consumers."

We have clearly gained a great deal in 40 years: the decriminalisation of sexual acts between consenting men, the equalisation of the age of consent, adoption rights for gay couples and marriage equality. However, we have at the same time lost a lot.

This loss is highlighted + represented by a shift away from a fundamental + passionate belief in the value of Truth + Freedom, towards an apparent recognition of the importance of Obedience + Consensus at any cost. This requires the avoidance of open criticism, direct confrontation, civil disobedience + controversy and an unwillingness to press personal opinion for fear of conflict with Gay Inc. / Gay Pride Inc. and the risk of ourselves becoming targets of this powerful lobby group / vested interest.

Bobby Harrow, in The Cycle of Socialization, wrote: "Some of us who are targets try to interrupt the cycle because the discomfort has gotten larger than the comfort. If we try this alone, or without organization, we may be kicked back down to our powerless positions. If we begin a new direction, or even work with our agent allies, we can create hope." 

It is time now, I believe, to create that hope.

4 Proud of what exactly?

4. You've said that 'gay pride' is about being proud of sexual intercourse and sexual acts between men. Would you say this is the same for women and those of other genders?

I argued in an earlier blog post that "the concept of 'Gay Pride' was  not simply about being proud to suck cock or fuck men - although we clearly shouldn't be ashamed of these activities- but that we should be proud of our queer cultural identity + history." [italics added]

This was in response to an email which was sent to the Gay Pride committee in York describing the MoQuo playlist -that is Music of Queer Origin- that I chose as co-resident DJ at OUTrageous, which was at the time York's only queer disco and a fundraiser for York Gay Pride, as "stereotypical gay anthems" and observing "straight couples walk in and shake their heads or openly mock what they saw".

They gave, as one example of an act or artist they considered to be 'stereotypically gay' - Queen, which was fronted by the Zanzibar born Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, who died from bronchial pneumonia after acquiring the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

My response to this was to say that 'straight couples' openly mocking us for celebrating queer history + culture by enjoying dancing to + listening to gay anthems, was no reason for us to deviate from the MoQuo component of our playlist. I was then asked to step down as co-resident DJ and subsequently decided to resign from the York Pride organising committee.

My belief was -and is- that, if LGBTQ Pride was not about celebrating + taking Pride in our unique culture history + identity, then by default it becomes simply about being proud to be men who have sex with men, women who have sex with woman, and -in the case of bisexuals- men or women who are proud to have sex with men or women. This clearly is nonsense. And, for members of the trans community, an irrelevance.

3 Bradley Manning

3. Is the rejection of support by Gay Inc. for gay whistleblower Bradley Manning who leaked thousands of documents to Wikileaks revealing war crimes and other dirty dealings relevant to discussion about Gay Shame and mainstream gay culture?

Bradley Manning -gay soldier and anti-war activist- faces multiple charges in relation to obtaining and distributing classified documents, including 'aiding the enemy' for which the penalty potentially is death.

When Manning stated that he believed he was exposing abuses and breaches of other nations' sovereignty, Presiding Judge Colonel Denise Lind stated that Manning’s motives for disclosure were irrelevant  and ruled that Manning cannot argue that he was acting in the public interest.

In response, Amnesty International's Anne FitzGerald stated: “It disturbing that he was not permitted to offer the ‘public interest’ defence as he has said he reasonably believed he was exposing human rights and humanitarian law violations. Allowing Manning to explain his motives only at the sentencing stage could have a chilling effect on others who believe that they are whistleblowing or acting in the public interest in disclosing information. Manning should have been allowed to explain how in his opinion, the public interest in being made aware of the information he disclosed outweighed the government’s interest in keeping it confidential.”

San Francisco Pride Board President Lisa L Williams described the announcement that Bradley Manning had been chosen a Grand Marshal for San Francisco Pride as as "an error" for which the person who made it has been "disciplined." She went on to say that "even a hint of support...(for Bradley Manning) will not be tolerated by the leadership of San Francisco Pride."

Glenn Greenwald, writing in the Guardian newspaper, described this as "a cowardly, imperious statement" postulating that the primary reason for making it is that SF Pride fears losing the support of its corporate sponsors, including AT+T and Venizon, who enabled the Bush administration's illegal eavesdropping on US citizens.

And Brian Mccaig from Glasgow, responding to the same statement on the San Francisco Pride facebook page said: "...we broke the law back in the Stonewall era. Pride is running scared of their big sponsors and Government Agencies, and I... and my friends won't be supporting Pride from now on."

In the Transadvocate, Katrina Williams blogs: "Williams’ response was so obnoxious... I really think that Williams’ arrogance is the bigger concern here, several people have e-mailed me privately arguing convincingly that SF Pride’s rejection of the Manning is indeed trans-related and would not have occurred but for the revelations that Manning might identify as trans. And that brand of disgusting Gay, Inc., obnoxiousness is worthy of protest, irrespective of what one’s opinion is of Manning."

Incidentally, Lisa L Williams is also the Chair of the Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition. Scott Long in his “Paper Bird” blog highlights the irony that a person who chairs a coalition that is supposed to celebrate Rustin is fueling the vilification of Manning. Rustin was a pacifist, a war resister, an icon of civil disobedience and the key organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. During the Second World War, Rustin spent three years in Lewisburg Penitentiary as a conscientious objector. He was also a gay man.

In 2002, a citizen of West Chester who objected to naming a school after Bayard Rustin,.is quoted as saying:  “I am against naming it after Bayard Rustin, as he was a traitor to the... United States of America.”

Manning was an advocate for gay rights. While serving in the military, he says that he experienced harassment and physical assaults on account of his perceived sexuality.  He marched against Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the Washington DC Pride Parade, where he spoke to reporters about his position and attended a fundraiser with Gavin Newsom and the Stonewall Democrats to discuss the issue of homophobia in the military.

If ever our LGBTQ communities required evidence that corporate Pride, and the commercial gay scene which funds and supports it, does not and cannot represent our communities, our interests or our queer sensibilities, surely this is a prima facie case.

2 Gay Inc.

2. What is your opinion of the mainstream LGBT (Gay Inc.)?

Gay Shame is in part a critique of wealthy white gay male privilege and a timely reminder that our social relationships are "infused by the norms of the global marketplace".* The broad acceptance that the Pink Pound is one of our greatest assets -when negotiating our position in social hierarchy- and the overreaching predominance + influence of gay male DINKies (Double Income No Kids) in the gay commercial scene, Gay Pride + in the role of 'representatives of the gay community', has helped create an ethos, politics + culture that is as "totalizing and tyrannical"* as the very orthodoxy + heteronomy we have arguably been challenging and opposing.

The success of most Pride events is judged today by the amount of money spent hosting the event, the amount of money spent by participants at the event, and the overall number of consumers attending the event. And Pride is very much about consumption - a vanity competition where competing egos are encouraged to eat more, drink more + strike a pose more than the other players in this ostentatious  carnival of consumerism.

And the socialisation of our lesbian + gay communities into the mainstream and of our acceptance + assimilation into 'normal' society, is very often measured by how strong the Pink Pound is and how influential we are as global consumers.

In short, Gay Inc. is a global brand to which we appear happy to subscribe and a badge of identity which we are encouraged to wear with pride.

[* Barry Adams - as quoted by David M Halperin + Valerie Traub in 'Beyond Gay Pride' - University of Chicago Press 2009]

1 Queercore, MoQuo + the role of the gay anthem

1. I've read a bit about Queercore, and LGBT hip-hop, part of the radical queer underground music scene and subculture. As a DJ, where do you see yourself in this ?

As a musical genre, Queercore in part distinguishes itself through lyrics which explore themes of prejudice, sexual + gender identity and, more generally, offer a critique of society, often expressed in a light-hearted way.

My own interest in this -as a queer DJ- is primarily in the concept of the gay anthem, as described by Simon Gage, Lisa Edwards + Howard Wilmot in the 2002 publication 'Queer - The ULTIMATE user's guide' in which the criteria + themes of the gay anthem are explored. In the book, the following ten main themes are listed:

(1) Big-voiced divas with powerful, uncompromising voices, singing songs about: (2) Overcoming hardship in love often with a narrative of a wronged lover who comes back stronger than before; (3) Solidarity in the form of songs about coming together; (4) Overcoming adversity by throwing care + caution to the wind; (5) Hard-won self esteem where the theme is fighting through oppression, darkness or fear to gain freedom or self esteem; (6) Celebrating unashamed sexuality through transcending cultural shame to celebrate one's sexual nature; (7) Searching for acceptance by envisaging a promised land where the dream of acceptance, belonging + hope lives; (8) A torch song for the world weary where the narrative is about being used, abused and surviving to tell the tale of lament; (9) The unashamed pledge tinged with tragedy with tales of not giving up despite seemingly insurmountable odds; and (10) Uncompromising self affirmation + an absolute refusal to apologise: "I am what I am and what I am needs no excuses..."

Consequently, when we see straight couples walk into our queer clubs, shake their heads + openly mock what they see or hear, we should not -from a queer activism viewpoint- apologise to the heterosexual majority, replace the DJ, dilute the music policy and replace it with a "more popular" selection of "contemporary pop and r'n'b.

January 2012 (2)

This is my response to Paul's email [see January 2012 (1)] + letter of resignation from the York Pride committee:

"Hi All

After giving the matter very serious and thoughtful consideration over the last few days, I have decided to stand down from my position on the York Pride organising committee.

I've been involved in gay politics and the Pride movement for almost 30 years - becoming a member of the Management Committee of the London Gay Teenage Group & joining the Working Group of the Lesbian & Gay Youth Movement in 1984, when I was 19. The following year, I became Co-Editor of the Lesbian & Gay Youth Magazine and Resident DJ at the Creche Club - a fundraiser for the Lesbian & Gay Youth Movement - in the London Lesbian & Gay Centre.

As you know, in more recent years, I've become a member of the York LGBT Forum and have contributed towards 3 Pride events, as well as Resident DJ at both Poppycock & OUTrageous.

I've always been a vocal champion of queer history and popular culture and will continue to be so. However, I no longer feel that York Pride is the appropriate forum for me to do so.

I'm no stranger to being openly mocked by straight couples and have never accepted that the (generally heterosexual) majority should dictate to the LGBT minority how should express our sexuality - whether in bed, in the street or on the dancefloor. Nor that we should become so socialised into accepting their viewpoints & opinions that we ourselves deny the provenance of our own history and risk diluting the unique qualities of our queer culture.

I believe that if I were to continue to attend, and to express my views openly & frankly, it would inevitably lead to disagreement & altercation and upset the harmony & consensus of the group.

As such, I've decided not to attend any further Pride officer meetings or events.

For the time being, I intend to continue in my role as Vice-Chair of the wider LGBT Forum.

I'd like to thank you all for the support and friendship you have shown me over the last few years. I've had some great times and my decision to step down should not be seen as having any reflection on any of you individually.

I'd like to make some space on my laptop for other projects I'm working on, so if any of you would like any particular Pride logos or designs, please let me know a.s.a.p.

I wish you all the best for the future

Stereo-typically yours


Bootsy x"

January 2012 (1)

Here is the original email from January 2012 which resulted in my removal as co-resident DJ @OUTrageous in York + which ultimately led to my decision to resign from York Pride:

"Hi guys,

Thank you for accepting my friend request. I wanted to join the group as I fully support what you're doing for York however I have a problem I wanted to discuss. I went on Friday to Outrageous at Vanity and I'm sorry to say was very disappointed with the djing. I don't want to sound harsh but I went with a group of friends, some gay and some straight and within a couple of hours all had left because of the appalling music selection. I know it's a LGBT event but constantly playing Steps, S Club, Queen and all the stereotypical gay anthems is a disservice to the diverse group who turned out on the night. I went over several times and tried to make friends with the guys in the box and made suggestions of more up-to-date stuff: Beyonce, Rihanna, Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Kelly Rowland etc but once one track had been played - and the dancefloor noticeably livened up - it was back to the same old cliches. Not only that but tracks skipped, several times the sound was dropped mid-song, and tracks were repeated. More than once I glanced towards the entrance to see straight couples walk in and shake their heads or openly mock what they saw and I couldn't blame them. Now there were a very vocal minority who clearly wanted gay anthems all night but many many more (some of whom I spoke to)were not being catered for.

I don't want to sound like I've got an axe to grind or I know best (I've only dj'd at my sisters wedding but I do go out in York, Leeds and Manchester a lot) in fact I support what you guys are doing and think that Outrageous has the potential to be really great, and there was certainly enough of a crowd to keep it going, but I think the music needs to be revamped.. When I think back to the jukebox selections at Little John these gay anthems were far less popular than current pop and r'n'b.

Far be it from me to complain and not suggest a solution. If you'd let me have a go as guest dj I guarantee I could improve the experience on the night. I have no wish to hijack Outrageous or promote my ego, I don't want paid, I don't want to do it and say 'I told you so.' I do want to have fun and get the room on their feet. Give me a chance to work with you and help out, I promise to do my best and if you don't like my ideas and song choices, well, it's your dj equipment I'll just step down.

I hope you'll consider what I'm saying in the spirit that I mean to say it. Once again I do appreciate the effort that something like this must take to organise I just think it's important and the music should enhance the experience not be a joke that reflects poorly on our community. I look forward to talking to you.

All the best,

Paul"

10 questions from Burkely Herman (@burkelyh)

10 questions about #gayshame from Burkely Herman. I will answer each question in turn within a separate blog post. You can follow Burkely on twitter @burkelyh

1. I've read a bit about Queercore, and LGBT hip-hop, part of the radical queer underground music scene and subculture. As a DJ, where do you see yourself in this music scene?

2. What is your opinion of the mainstream LGBT movement (Gay Inc.)?

3 Is the rejection of support by Gay Inc. for gay whistleblower Bradley Manning who leaked thousands of documents to Wikileaks revealing war crimes and other dirty dealings relevant to discussion about Gay Shame and mainstream gay culture?

4. You've said that 'gay pride' is about being proud of sexual intercourse and sexual acts between men. Would you say this is the same for women and those of other genders?

5. What part of queer identity and history in your view is being lost in 'gay pride'?

6. Gay blogger and activist Glenn Greenwald wrote in March 2013, in a column for The Guardian that “allowing same-sex couples to marry doesn't undermine oligarchs, the National Security State, or the wildly unequal distribution of financial and political power” and the next month he added to this in another column noting that “it seems because the cause of gay equality poses no real threat to elite factions or to how political and economic power in the US are distributed. If anything, it bolsters those power structures.” Would you say this is in line with your criticism of 'gay pride' and mainstream gay culture? If so, what would you add to it?

7. Gay Shame, a movement that proposed a radical alternative to the commercialization of "gay pride" and mainstream gay culture which spread to numerous cities across the world starting in Brooklyn, New York in 1998, had its last chapter close in San Francisco in 2012. Your blogspot says that “Gay Shame is about recognising that the socialisation of LGBT people and the assimilation of queer culture into the mainstream has a price. It is also a recognition that "gay pride" as we now know it is more about the pink pound, spending power and consumer unity than it is about queer mutiny and fighting for those who are marginalised by society.” Do you see your blog as a continuation of the ideas of SF Gay Shame and ideas of other chapters? Can you elaborate about the on what you mean by the “assimilation of queer culture into the mainstream” and by “queer mutiny”?

8. On twitter, someone told me that radical queer activists are anti-equality and part of an 'identity movement.' Others criticize radicals for saying marriage is oppression, as they argue that gay marriage is a form of liberation. What is your response to these criticisms?

9. Some of the people that have retweeted my article about the corporatization of gay pride, have been involved with the Occupy Movement. Do you think that this social movement will bring new life to Gay Shame and other radical efforts?

10. What can people reading this interview do to spread the message?

Where it began...

I first came across the concept of Gay Shame around the time that I made the decision to resign from York Gay Pride following ideological disagreements.

Essentially, I was asked to stand down as co-resident DJ from a Pride fundraising night following observations that the music I was playing was too loud, too camp + too stereotypically gay.

Apparently, my selection of music (which I call  MoQuo - or music of queer origin - that is music written, performed, produced, championed + celebrated by queer people) was at risk of alienating heterosexual couples -who appeared to have scant regard for queer identity, a lack of respect for queer cultural history and little understanding of queer popular culture- along with a cohort of younger gay men who are regarded as the 'cash queers' of the Pride movement.

The belief was that as these two demographic groups represented a sizeable proportion of the fundraising income stream, watering down the content of the night, so that it was no longer at risk of appearing too camp or too stereotypically gay, would increase trade + put more £ in the Pride coffers. The music became fixated upon contemporary r'n'b (or repetitive 'n' bland as I prefer to describe it), the queer identity of the night  became diluted + queer friends of mine of a similar age stopped attending.

After several months of running the night on this basis, the then resident DJ (for whom I have great respect + high regard) began camping it up (the music, that is) + asking potential punters for nominations for the new camper playlist.

At the time, I was running an alternative night called Poppycock (taglines 'Loud + Proud + stereotypically Gay since 2009' / "It's poppy. It's cocky. And a bit gay.") Some of the proceeds of this night went to the York LGBT Forum + North Yorkshire Aids Action.

My argument at the time was that the concept of 'Gay Pride' was not simply about being proud to suck cock or fuck men -although we clearly shouldn't be ashamed of these activities- but that we should be proud to exhibit, display and celebrate our queer cultural identity + history.

OUTrageous + Poppycock both closed  in July 2013.

Welcome to Gay Shame

What is Gay Shame?

Gay Shame is about recognising that the socialisation of LGBT people and the assimilation of queer culture into the mainstream has a price.  It is also a recognition that "gay pride" as we now know it is more about the pink pound, spending power and consumer unity than it is about queer mutiny and fighting for those who are marginalised by society. 

During the course of this blog I shall be talking about what we have lost socially and culturally in our quest for acceptance and respectability. 

Join me as I explore the dissonance between acceptability and unique cultural identity.

Along the way I hope to make you laugh, cry and shout out with anger.

I welcome feedback, and I can be contact via the contact me page of this blog.

Who Am I?

I am David Lewis -aka Deejay Bootsy- a 49 year old non-conforming queer man who openly challenges convention, orthodoxy + mainstream opinion.

I went on my first Gay Pride march in 1984 at age 19. The age of consent for gay men at the time was 21 and the march  itself was no parade, carnival or Mardi gras. The tone of the march was angry + the model one of civil disobedience + non-violent direct action. As a demonstration of anger at unfair treatment + protest against inequality of opportunity, it displayed strength through solidarity.

In the same year, I became a member of the management committee of the London Gay Teenage Group, a member of the working group of the Lesbian + Gay Youth Movement and co-editor of the Lesbian + Gay Youth Magazine.

Over the following years + decades, I saw the commercial gay scene -never shy of an opportunity to make money- gradually take over London Gay Pride and transform it from a march into a parade, and from a protest into a party. The inevitable imposition of an entrance fee marked the point at which I lost interest in these commercially sponsored corporate shindigs which have essentially become a celebration of the strength of the so-called Pink Pound.

On arriving in York in 2008, I joined the York LGBT Forum and discovered that York's LGBT communities -through the Forum- still organised a community focused event which was free and celebrated local talent, rather than the Z list celebrities + runners up from prime time TV talent(less) competitions.

It was the first of three York Pride events I helped organised, before resigning from the committee in early 2012.

I have been a queer deejay since 1985, when I helped launch the Creche Club in the London Lesbian + Gay Centre, as a fundraiser for the national Lesbian + Gay Youth Movement. In 1987, I won the Clash of the Titans DJ mixing competition ('a night of rivalry on the wheels of steel') at the Limelight club in London and secured a residency there at L'homme - a weekly gay club night run by queer club promoters Steve Swindells + Kevin Millens. I went on to take up residency at  Millionaires (aka Millies) in Edinburgh - the infamous Edinburgh late night speakeasy - and have played in some of the queerest bars + clubs in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and York.

I was vice chair of the York LGBT Forum 2010 -2012 and I am currently the Forum's fundraising + publicity officer  and a member of the LGBTQ Communities of  Identity + Wellbeing sub-group.

You can also follow me on twitter at: @swallowourpride.