Call To Action: #Occupy #Queer #Solidarity

In case you haven’t noticed by now there’s a lot of gay people involved in the Occupy movement and with good reason, we too are the 99%.

What started with 2,000 people rallying in Lower Manhattan a month ago yesterday has turned into a true movement with 1500 protests in 82 countries.  A large percentage of those fed up with seeing corporate greed and corrupt politics are queer.

In Oakland California, it was the queer community itself that organized a Occupy Oakland march which will be held later today. In Portland Oregon it was openly gay mayor Samuel Adams himself that is credited for the 6000 or so protesters that turned out for his city’s Occupy rally earlier this month.

Even  here in Idaho all a person has to do is take a look at their gay facebook friends statuses and shares to realize that Occupy isn’t only a great cause it’s also where all the girls and boys are hanging these days.

What gives?

Wash Blade reports that, “In New York, there is frustration among LGBT youth over cuts to programs like homeless youth shelters and HIV/AIDS care and prevention programs.”

San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality released a statement of support for the movement last week telling the San Diego reader that it sees parallels between recent police violence against protestors in New York City at Occupy Wall Street, ground zero of the Occupy movement, and police tactics used during the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969. “Disenfranchised people of Greenwich Village fought police harassment and violence and rioted night after night, weary of the abuse by the system,”

Patricia Gonzalez—a queer media maker who helps translate the print newspaper The Occupied Wall Street Journal—told the Advocate earlier this month that, “There’s a lot of visibility and there’s a lot of participation. The participation might not be directly as organizing around LGBT issues, but in the groups that I am collaborating with or the other groups that I know, there are queer people that are very much organizing those groups and are a part of it. LGBT people are making contributions.”

In the same interview, Justin Adkins, a transgender man from Massachusetts who traveled to New York the past two weekends elaborated. “I think the coolest thing right now is that queer people are being seen as just part of the fight. The majority of the time when I’m protesting, I’m either queer, or I’m for this. It’s not usually that I can be both. I’m a queer person fighting for economic justice. How awesome is that?”

The facebook group “Occupy Equality” writes, “Taking total responsibility for our own equality OccupyEquality takes back the LGBTQ equality revolution from the overpaid fractured Gay.Inc industry. OccupyEquality joins forces with the Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Together revolution because the corporate dictatorship needs to be stopped by us all.”

Jake Goodman of New York activist group Queer Rising tells the Blade “Queer economic justice can mean several things, on a very literal level, corporations — to my knowledge of which most have changed their employment policies to be favorable to at least gays and lesbian people — still donate a majority of their donations to candidates and to political parties that actively pursue policies that take away our rights or block us from our rights. So queer economic justice is to stop funding those people.”

“Also queer economic justice is to remember that gay people are not the only queer people — there are transgender people that need help with housing [and employment protections] and we need to remember our other brothers and sisters and ensure economic justice for them,” Goodman says.  “Economic justice for them is providing protection for [homeless queer youth] while they’re on the streets because families kick them out,” Goodman continued. “Queer Rising is advocating for additional $3 million per year in the budget every year, which would provide 100 additional beds per year until everybody has beds and protection.”

Tom Cunha with QueerPublicRadio.com wrote on his website that “Occupy is being promoted as a people’s movement. That is supposed to mean all people. So yes, the occupy movement is a gay movement. It’s gay, black, white, brown, disabled, asian, etc. It’s supposed to be a movement for the 99%.”

The pictures of  the boys protesting aren’t bad either.

Here in Idaho you can join in the revolution at Occupy Idaho’s facebook page,  Occupy Boise, Occupy Nampa, Occupy Sun Valley, Occupy Moscow, Occupy Rexburg, Occupy Sand Point, Occupy Idaho Falls, Occupy Pocatello, Occupy Coeur d’Alene, and you can also follow along with the month old Grand Daddy of them all Occupy Wall Street itself.