Queer Liberaction
Encyclopedia
Queer Liberaction is a Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas
-based grassroots
organization advocating for lesbian
, gay
, bisexual, and transgender
(LGBT
) rights. The group was founded in November 2008 following the international attention surrounding California's Proposition 8
, which changed that state's Constitution
to deny marriage rights
to any LGBT
couples who are not defined as "a man and a woman", passed by a slight majority.
The organization is a proponent of same-sex marriage
rights for LGBT couples, considering civil union
s and domestic partnerships as less than full equality.
The organization's campaigns and actions utilize visible, confrontational styles and non-violent direct action
.
in U.S. history with each side spending in excess of $35 million. California had recently allowed same-sex marriage and within six months 18,000 couples had wed. After the election, non-heterosexual marriages were immediately halted, efforts to legally challenge the proposition started and nationwide protests against the proposition's passage took place. Polls showed that regular churchgoers sided in favor of the measure by a ratio of more than 4 to 1 and made up nearly one-quarter of the voters. In addition The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), was noted for protests for its strong support both financially and in volunteers for its participation.
Founders and members of the group are inspired and influenced by the Stonewall riot
s in the late 1960s, the activism and organizing work of San Francisco's Castro activist Harvey Milk
who was assassinated in 1978; the White Night riots
in the aftermath of the Milk's murderer trial; and the HIV/AIDS activism of the 1980s and early 1990s.
QL has been more willing to challenge anti-LGBT churches and religious organizations than more established LGBT rights groups have traditionally done. First Baptist Church in downtown Dallas and various LDS churches, all of which have been outspoken in their opposition to LGBT rights, have been directly focussed on by the group.
issues which typically do not require permitting. QL generally organizes online with Internet
services such as Facebook
, MySpace
, Twitter
, e-mail
, and other website
s.
The group's mission statement reads, in part, "Homophobia
is the foundation of queer inequality and oppression. In order to liberate ourselves from this oppression, we must directly, visbly, and publicly confront it along with organizations, institutions, groups or individuals who support or promote discrimination towards the Queer community. [...] We do not ask for equality. We demand it."
, the "Milk Box" is a modern soap box
placed on busy street corners for people to stand upon and voice their opinions whether in agreement or opposition to the views of QL. At first the box was placed in Oak Lawn
, the traditional gay strip
of Dallas, but has since been used throughout the city.
The group also stages same-sex kiss-ins in public, which is rarely seen outside the gay neighborhoods. At these events same gendered couples publicly kiss. QL staged a public same-sex marriages as part of National Freedom to Marry Day
to draw attention to the fact that these marriages are not legal according to Texas law. Texas also does not offer civil union
s or domestic partnership
s.
Like many equal marriage rights proponents QL held protests at the post office on April 15 (U.S. tax day
), to highlight the higher taxes LGBT couples incur due to their inability to legally marry.
(TABC) and the Fort Worth Police. Patrons of the bar were celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969
, generally considered the birth of the modern LGBT civil rights
movement. Several customers were arrested for public intoxication and one customer received a severe head and brain injury while in custody. The police also claimed the customers made sexual advances and contact with them, which was disputed by all witnesses. Other customers were detained and later released without arrest. QL organized a protest at the Fort Worth Court House by 7pm the same day. The protest was covered by all local TV news shows and all local newspapers, and was reported internationally. In response to the raid, QL organized a protest, a candelight vigil for the victim, a Milk Box event, and a later more formal protest.
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S. state of Texas. The area is divided into two metropolitan divisions: Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington. Residents of the area...
-based grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
organization advocating for lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual, and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
(LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) rights. The group was founded in November 2008 following the international attention surrounding California's Proposition 8
California Proposition 8 (2008)
Proposition 8 was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment passed in the November 2008 state elections...
, which changed that state's Constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
to deny marriage rights
Rights and responsibilities of marriages in the United States
According to the United States Government Accountability Office , there are 1,138 statutory provisions in which marital status is a factor in determining benefits, rights, and privileges...
to any LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
couples who are not defined as "a man and a woman", passed by a slight majority.
The organization is a proponent of same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
rights for LGBT couples, considering civil union
Civil union
A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...
s and domestic partnerships as less than full equality.
The organization's campaigns and actions utilize visible, confrontational styles and non-violent direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
.
Background
Proposition 8 was the most expensive initiativeInitiative
In political science, an initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote...
in U.S. history with each side spending in excess of $35 million. California had recently allowed same-sex marriage and within six months 18,000 couples had wed. After the election, non-heterosexual marriages were immediately halted, efforts to legally challenge the proposition started and nationwide protests against the proposition's passage took place. Polls showed that regular churchgoers sided in favor of the measure by a ratio of more than 4 to 1 and made up nearly one-quarter of the voters. In addition The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), was noted for protests for its strong support both financially and in volunteers for its participation.
Founders and members of the group are inspired and influenced by the Stonewall riot
Stonewall riot
Stonewall Riot may refer to:* The Stonewall riots, a series of historic riots by gay and transgendered people in New York City in 1969* Stonewall & Riot: The Ultimate Orgasm, a 2006 gay X Rated animated film by Joe Phillips....
s in the late 1960s, the activism and organizing work of San Francisco's Castro activist Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
who was assassinated in 1978; the White Night riots
White Night Riots
The White Night riots were a series of violent events sparked by an announcement of the lenient sentencing of Dan White, for the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. The events took place on the night of May 21, 1979 in San Francisco...
in the aftermath of the Milk's murderer trial; and the HIV/AIDS activism of the 1980s and early 1990s.
QL has been more willing to challenge anti-LGBT churches and religious organizations than more established LGBT rights groups have traditionally done. First Baptist Church in downtown Dallas and various LDS churches, all of which have been outspoken in their opposition to LGBT rights, have been directly focussed on by the group.
Organization and mission
Volunteers run the organization and the events, unlike most modern LGBT events such as pride parades, avoid heavy involvement with corporate sponsors and commercial opportunities. The group keeps most events sparse and focussed on First Amendment Free SpeechFreedom of speech in the United States
Freedom of speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and by many state constitutions and state and federal laws, with the exception of obscenity, defamation, incitement to riot, and fighting words, as well as harassment, privileged...
issues which typically do not require permitting. QL generally organizes online with Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
services such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, and other website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
s.
The group's mission statement reads, in part, "Homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
is the foundation of queer inequality and oppression. In order to liberate ourselves from this oppression, we must directly, visbly, and publicly confront it along with organizations, institutions, groups or individuals who support or promote discrimination towards the Queer community. [...] We do not ask for equality. We demand it."
Campaigns/actions
Named for pioneering LGBT activist and community organizer Harvey MilkHarvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
, the "Milk Box" is a modern soap box
Soapbox
A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment of soap or other dry goods from a manufacturer to a...
placed on busy street corners for people to stand upon and voice their opinions whether in agreement or opposition to the views of QL. At first the box was placed in Oak Lawn
Oak Lawn
-United States:**Oak Lawn, Illinois, a suburb southwest of Chicago, Illinois**Oak Lawn , listed on the NRHP in Maryland** Oak Lawn , listed on the NRHP in North Carolina...
, the traditional gay strip
Gay village
A gay village is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people live or frequent...
of Dallas, but has since been used throughout the city.
The group also stages same-sex kiss-ins in public, which is rarely seen outside the gay neighborhoods. At these events same gendered couples publicly kiss. QL staged a public same-sex marriages as part of National Freedom to Marry Day
National Freedom to Marry Day
National Freedom to Marry Day is a non-official United States holiday held annually on February 12 to promote same-sex marriage. The holiday was founded in 1999 by Lambda Legal, a gay rights advocacy law firm based out of Washington, DC....
to draw attention to the fact that these marriages are not legal according to Texas law. Texas also does not offer civil union
Civil union
A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...
s or domestic partnership
Domestic partnership
A domestic partnership is a legal or personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union...
s.
Like many equal marriage rights proponents QL held protests at the post office on April 15 (U.S. tax day
Tax Day
In the United States, Tax Day is a colloquial term for the day on which individual income tax returns are due to the federal government. The term may also refer to the same day for states, even where the tax return due date is a different day....
), to highlight the higher taxes LGBT couples incur due to their inability to legally marry.
Rainbow Lounge police raid
Just past midnight, in the early morning hours of June 28, 2009, a newly opened gay bar, the Rainbow Lounge, in Fort Worth, Texas was raided by members of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage CommissionTexas Alcoholic Beverage Commission
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission was created in 1935. The TABC has the task of inspecting, supervising and regulating every phase of business related to alcoholic beverages...
(TABC) and the Fort Worth Police. Patrons of the bar were celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969
Stonewall riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
, generally considered the birth of the modern LGBT civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
movement. Several customers were arrested for public intoxication and one customer received a severe head and brain injury while in custody. The police also claimed the customers made sexual advances and contact with them, which was disputed by all witnesses. Other customers were detained and later released without arrest. QL organized a protest at the Fort Worth Court House by 7pm the same day. The protest was covered by all local TV news shows and all local newspapers, and was reported internationally. In response to the raid, QL organized a protest, a candelight vigil for the victim, a Milk Box event, and a later more formal protest.
See also
- Gay LiberationGay LiberationGay liberation is the name used to describe the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s in North America, Western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand...
- LGBT rights in the United States
- LGBT rights in TexasLGBT rights in TexasFew rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents exist in Texas at the state level. LGBT persons in Texas face legal challenges and discrimination not experienced by non-LGBT residents.-Laws regarding same-sex sexual activity:...
- Freedom of speech in the United StatesFreedom of speech in the United StatesFreedom of speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and by many state constitutions and state and federal laws, with the exception of obscenity, defamation, incitement to riot, and fighting words, as well as harassment, privileged...