Anarchist Federation Pride bulletin... anyone willing to contribute?

Thrashing_chomsky
Posts: 146 Joined: 03-06-07 Location: Leeds
Submitted by Thrashing_chomsky on 8 May, 2008 - 13:23.

Greetings peeps.

AF are forming a one-off hand-out on how Class and state affect us as queers / LGBTs, to be distributed at Pride events.

If anyone's interested in contributing a small article (4-6 hundred words, maybe more)- it'd be feckin awsum.

thrashing_chomsky@hotmail.co.uk

Cheers
TC

Thrashing_chomsky
Posts: 146 Joined: 03-06-07 Location: Leeds
15 May, 2008 - 22:47

ummm, no then?

Incidentally, we're wanting short non-theoretical articles.

yoshomon "insignificant mortal"
Posts: 360 Joined: 19-06-07 Location: Kentucky
15 May, 2008 - 23:02

What does 'non-theoretical' mean?

Thrashing_chomsky
Posts: 146 Joined: 03-06-07 Location: Leeds
16 May, 2008 - 09:07

It's a point that has to be made in light of the fact that usually when i look for queer anarcho stuff I get identity politics, beard-stroking accademic wankery and hippy folk guitarists, and not much on news, events and class.

cantdocartwheels "in the aeroplane over the sea"
Posts: 1679 Joined: 15-03-04 Location: London then off to Brighton
16 May, 2008 - 09:14

In all seriousness in the UK how does being gay affect you in class terms though, i mean does it effect you in terms of a job? does it make gay couples less likely to get council housing? If i were a gay guy out for a piss up on pride weekend, what would anarchists have to offer me specifically?

guydebordisdead "The wind that shakes Nathan Barley"
Posts: 4598 Joined: 25-09-05 Location: Dublin
16 May, 2008 - 09:41

WSM did something like this. Its a great idea and I fully approve!

Here is the text of a flier distributed a few years back - http://ireland.indymedia.org/article/71272?save_prefs=true

guydebordisdead "The wind that shakes Nathan Barley"
Posts: 4598 Joined: 25-09-05 Location: Dublin
16 May, 2008 - 09:42
cantdocartwheels wrote:
If i were a gay guy out for a piss up on pride weekend, what would anarchists have to offer me specifically?

Specifically? Eh, a hand job at most.

Steven. "not online much for a while"
Posts: 1481 Joined: 27-06-06 Location: London
16 May, 2008 - 09:46
cantdocartwheels wrote:
In all seriousness in the UK how does being gay affect you in class terms though, i mean does it effect you in terms of a job? does it make gay couples less likely to get council housing? If i were a gay guy out for a piss up on pride weekend, what would anarchists have to offer me specifically?

Oh come one cantdo, it's easier for better-off people being gay. homophobia does still exist, a lot, particularly among certain groups and it affects more working class people more - particularly with respect to job security, bullying, etc, Also of course there exists stuff like the middle class "gay community" based on consumption choices, which a lot of people aren't part of. and a lot more.

ftony "crews are for boats"
Posts: 3563 Joined: 26-05-04 Location: East London
16 May, 2008 - 12:08

steven you just beat me to the exact points i was about to make. damn it.

guydebordisdead "The wind that shakes Nathan Barley"
Posts: 4598 Joined: 25-09-05 Location: Dublin
16 May, 2008 - 12:34

I've heard lesbians talk about the inequality in the gay community where men earn more and as such are the more dominant voices, any truth in this?

oisleep
Posts: 2668 Joined: 20-04-05
16 May, 2008 - 13:35

of course, why wouldn't it be, it's the same as anything else

guydebordisdead "The wind that shakes Nathan Barley"
Posts: 4598 Joined: 25-09-05 Location: Dublin
16 May, 2008 - 13:39

Might be worth writing about then.

madashell "KSW, LOL"
Posts: 2978 Joined: 19-06-06 Location: Merseyside
16 May, 2008 - 14:06
cantdocartwheels wrote:
does it effect you in terms of a job?

libcom in a nutshell roll eyes

Thrashing_chomsky
Posts: 146 Joined: 03-06-07 Location: Leeds
16 May, 2008 - 15:08

Right, i'll try rephrase it....

If you think you can put forward a news / event / etc article on Class, capitalism and the state's relationship with queer folk, and bear in mind london pride last year was sponsored by British Airways, please email me. Cheers.

cantdocartwheels "in the aeroplane over the sea"
Posts: 1679 Joined: 15-03-04 Location: London then off to Brighton
16 May, 2008 - 21:11
Steven. wrote:
cantdocartwheels wrote:
In all seriousness in the UK how does being gay affect you in class terms though, i mean does it effect you in terms of a job? does it make gay couples less likely to get council housing? If i were a gay guy out for a piss up on pride weekend, what would anarchists have to offer me specifically?

Oh come one cantdo, it's easier for better-off people being gay. homophobia does still exist, a lot, particularly among certain groups and it affects more working class people more - particularly with respect to job security, bullying, etc, Also of course there exists stuff like the middle class "gay community" based on consumption choices, which a lot of people aren't part of. and a lot more.

You think its harder to keep jobs if your gay? In all the jobs i've worked i'll always have had at least two gay or bi supervisors, and i dont just mean in brighton either before you say so. Homophobia exists like, and of course working class blokes feel excluded from some section of the ''gay community'' especially in london although whether they would want to be part of that community in the first place is questionable, but how are a handful of anarchists leafleting at pride going to change anything? At the ed of the day its the political equivalent of going to a festival and handing out leaflets telling people its too commercial because its sponsored by a beer brand or whatever, at the end of the day you kinda just come offf like a bunch of lefty killjoys. Sure i wish all the best of luck to people doing the bulletin and that but i can't help thinking its a little bit of waste of time, i mean i wandered through brighton pride last time and had a few drinks and the last thing i wanted to see was some morose lefties with a stall.

oisleep
Posts: 2668 Joined: 20-04-05
16 May, 2008 - 22:15

but you seem to be aproaching this from either viewing the gay 'community' as one big homogenous lump (i.e. 'you think its harder to keep jobs if your gay?') or talking about some problem of working class gay's unequal position in the 'gay community' - these seem to be two positions that only you have come up with, as i understand it the issue here is how being working class & gay affects your position in society as a whole, most working class gay's i know don't have any desire to establish themselves within a specific gay community, so the problem is not their relationship to that community, but of their relationship within, and problems that have to be confronted in, society in general and how they are likely to face problems as a working class gay person

OliverTwister "Tied directly to Bekken and the Philly camp"
Posts: 2001 Joined: 10-10-05 Location: San Francisco, USA
16 May, 2008 - 22:40

If ya'll do this, it would be cool if it wasn't teribly britain-specific.

oisleep
Posts: 2668 Joined: 20-04-05
16 May, 2008 - 22:49

i can't see how an anarchist group based within the british isles preparing a (non-theoretical) leaflet to be handed out at pride events within the british isles which are often sponsored by british airways could in anyway be in danger of being britain specific, do you?

Steven. "not online much for a while"
Posts: 1481 Joined: 27-06-06 Location: London
17 May, 2008 - 09:31
cantdocartwheels wrote:
You think its harder to keep jobs if your gay? In all the jobs i've worked i'll always have had at least two gay or bi supervisors, and i dont just mean in brighton either before you say so.

don't be so naive, gay people can suffer severe bullying at work and be forced out, regardless of your bi supervisors.