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?
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?
No comments:
Post a Comment