Bash Back
Encyclopedia
Bash Back! is a network of radical, anarchist
queer
projects within the United States. Formed in Chicago
in 2007 to facilitate a convergence of radical trans and gay activists from around the country, Bash Back! seeks to critique the ideology of the mainstream LGBT
movement, which the group sees as assimilation
into the dominant institutions of a heteronormative society. Bash Back! is noticeably influenced by the anarchist movement and radical queer groups, such as ACT UP and Gay Shame
, and takes inspiration from the Stonewall
and San Francisco's White Night riots
.
Since 2007, other chapters have formed and have carried out various direct action
s across the US.
, Denver, Lansing, and upstate New York
sprung up as new chapters.
Together, members of the newly formed Bash Back! groups took to the streets of Chicago's Boystown
neighborhood in protest of assimilationist politics, trans-exclusion in the gay community, and recent police assaults on trans and queer people. The unpermitted march was eventually dispersed when a mob surrounded the Chicago Police's Addison/Halsted headquarters, reading aloud statistics of trans and queer people killed by police brutality.
In June 2008, the neo-Nazi organization the National Socialist Movement, released a statement that announced its intention to demonstrate at Milwaukee's annual Pridefest
as a statement that the Nazis do not support "the promotion of homosexuality in [their] community". In response, Bash Back! Milwaukee planned a confrontation of the hate group. A group of more than twenty confronted members of the NSM, carrying a banner proclaiming "These Faggots Kill Fascists." The action prompted Pridefest organizers to criticize Bash Back!. Members of Bash Back! Milwaukee in turn denounced the organizers as betraying the queer community, stating "They would rather see well protected neo-nazis than a well-defended queer and trans community. Nobody will protect us if not ourselves."
in Chicago's Pilsen
neighborhood. Bash Back!'s contingent in the march focused on resistance to gentrification
in the Pilsen community, with a large lead banner stating "Bash Back Against Gentrification!"
In addition, members of Bash Back! also took part in Chicago's larger Pride Parade. Bash Back! Chicago wheeled a cage through the parade containing a member dressed as Chicago's Mayor Daley, whom the group believes is responsible for cutting AIDS funding, turning a blind eye to police torture and brutality, and supporting gentrification. Simultaneously, members of Bash Back! also distributed barf bags with slogans written on them such as "Corporate Pride Makes Me Sick," a statement about the commercial and assimilative intentions of mainstream gay culture.
railroad trestle, several BB! members dropped a banner reading "Queer Liberation, not Queer Consumerism".
, Bash Back! Denver organized a protest of a fundraiser for the Human Rights Campaign
, a gay rights lobby group. Bash Back! Denver criticized the HRC for its policies of trans exclusion in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
, as well as the HRC's support for corporate interests and the Iraq War. The action ended in the detention of four activists at the scene and the arrest of one.
Bash Back! also organized a "trans and queer bloc" as part of the larger black bloc
of the Anti-Capitalista Day of Action. The event ended in the detention of most participants, and several bystanders.
The following day, Bash Back! continued to counter-protest, especially against conservatives holding signs reading things like "homo-sex is a sin" by having a queer kiss-in.
, members of various Bash Back! groups from around the country participated in a road blockade as a part of Unconventional Action
's direct action strategy to disrupt the convention. BB seized an intersection in downtown St. Paul and blocked cars and delegate buses from passing by having a festive dance party. The blockade was eventually met with force by mounted police and the activists were forced to disperse. Soon afterwards, members of Bash Back! also confronted the Westboro Baptist Church
when they appeared at the intersection where Bash Back! conducted its action.
in Lansing, MI. During the late morning service the group dropped a rainbow banner bearing the slogan "It's Okay to Be Gay! Bash Back!" from the sanctuary balcony and showered a thousand fliers exhorting sexually confused teenagers who might be in the congregation to "embrace and explore" their new feelings and assuring them there are many organizations supportive of gays that "enable you to be who you truly are."
According to Bash Back! News, Mount Hope Church was targeted for its fundamentalist
belief that homosexuality is a sin, for its production of "hell house
s" that demonize gays, and for its hosting of conferences of "ex-gays".
In May 2009 Alliance Defense Fund
filed a federal lawsuit against Bash Back! on behalf of the church, under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act
.
day of remembrance, Bash Back! groups began staging actions in memory of Duanna Johnson, a transwoman who was brutally beaten by Memphis police officers and murdered while in the process of suing the police department. Many within the Memphis queer community are convinced that the police had a hand in her murder. Bash Back! Philly shut down downtown Philadelphia in a reclaim-the-streets
style action, Bash Back! Milwaukee dropped a banner on the UW-M campus reading "R.I.P. Duanna", and Bash Back! Memphis had a hearse and casket delivered to the house of Bridges McRae, one of Duanna's assailants.
, Washington chapter said: “The Mormon church ... needs to be confronted, attacked, subverted and destroyed.” According to the Chicago Tribune
, the acts of vandalism against the LDS Church appear to be in retaliation for support of Proposition 8
. The Anti-Defamation League
released a statement condemning the "defacement and destruction of property."
headquarters in Washington, DC was vandalized by radical queer activists who threw pink and black paint and glitter at the building and left graffiti reading "Quit Leaving Queers Behind". The vandalism came on the eve of the National Equality March
, the biggest national queer political mobilization since 2000 and hours after President Barack Obama
gave a speech at an HRC fundraiser. A group called Queers Against Assimilation posted a statement about the action on the website of radical queer network Bash Back!. The statement called the attack an act of "glamdalism."
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
projects within the United States. Formed in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 2007 to facilitate a convergence of radical trans and gay activists from around the country, Bash Back! seeks to critique the ideology of the mainstream 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...
movement, which the group sees as assimilation
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
into the dominant institutions of a heteronormative society. Bash Back! is noticeably influenced by the anarchist movement and radical queer groups, such as ACT UP and Gay Shame
Gay shame
Gay Shame is a movement from within the LGBT and queer communities described as a radical alternative to gay mainstreaming and directly posits an alternative view of traditional "gay pride" events and activities which have become increasingly commercialized with corporate sponsors and "safer"...
, and takes inspiration from the Stonewall
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...
and San Francisco's 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...
.
Since 2007, other chapters have formed and have carried out various 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...
s across the US.
"Points of unity"
According to their website, anyone can form a Bash Back! chapter as long as they adhere to the basic points of unity:- Fight for liberation. Nothing more, nothing less. State recognition in the form of oppressive institutions such as marriage and militarism are not steps toward liberation but rather towards heteronormative assimilation.
- A rejection of capitalismCapitalismCapitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, imperialismImperialismImperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
, and all forms of state power. - Actively oppose oppression both in and out of the "movement." No oppressive behavior is to be tolerated.
- Respect a diversity of tactics in the struggle for liberation. Also, do not solely condemn an action on the grounds that the state deems it to be illegal.
First collective action
The first Bash Back! Convergence was held in April 2008. The goal of the convergence was to form ideas for the then-upcoming protests at the DNC and the RNC, and discuss the formation of new Bash Back! chapters in other regions of the country. As a result, groups in Milwaukee, MemphisMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, Denver, Lansing, and upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
sprung up as new chapters.
Together, members of the newly formed Bash Back! groups took to the streets of Chicago's Boystown
Boystown, Chicago
Boystown is the popular name of a district within Chicago, Illinois. Situated within the neighborhood of Lakeview, it was the first officially recognized gay village in the United States, as well as the cultural center of one of the largest lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender communities in the nation...
neighborhood in protest of assimilationist politics, trans-exclusion in the gay community, and recent police assaults on trans and queer people. The unpermitted march was eventually dispersed when a mob surrounded the Chicago Police's Addison/Halsted headquarters, reading aloud statistics of trans and queer people killed by police brutality.
Antifascist action at 2008 Milwaukee Pridefest
PrideFest (Milwaukee)
PrideFest is an annual gay pride event held on the Henry Maier Festival Park grounds in Milwaukee on the second weekend of June. PrideFest celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2007, which was also a record-breaking attendance year with 27,467 tickets sold over three days.In 2010 Pridefest featured...
as a statement that the Nazis do not support "the promotion of homosexuality in [their] community". In response, Bash Back! Milwaukee planned a confrontation of the hate group. A group of more than twenty confronted members of the NSM, carrying a banner proclaiming "These Faggots Kill Fascists." The action prompted Pridefest organizers to criticize Bash Back!. Members of Bash Back! Milwaukee in turn denounced the organizers as betraying the queer community, stating "They would rather see well protected neo-nazis than a well-defended queer and trans community. Nobody will protect us if not ourselves."
2008 Chicago Pride Events
Bash Back! Chicago carried out a number of actions during their city's Pride Weekend in 2008. The first was participation in the annual Dyke MarchDyke March
Dyke March is a mostly lesbian-led and inclusive gathering and protest march much like the original gay pride parades and marches. They usually occur the Friday or Saturday before LGBT pride parades and larger metropolitan areas have related events both before and after the event to further...
in Chicago's Pilsen
Lower West Side, Chicago
Lower West Side located on the west side of Chicago, Illinois, is one of 77 well-defined Chicago community areas.-Government and infrastructure:The United States Postal Service operates the Pilsen Post Office at 1859 South Ashland Avenue....
neighborhood. Bash Back!'s contingent in the march focused on resistance to gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
in the Pilsen community, with a large lead banner stating "Bash Back Against Gentrification!"
In addition, members of Bash Back! also took part in Chicago's larger Pride Parade. Bash Back! Chicago wheeled a cage through the parade containing a member dressed as Chicago's Mayor Daley, whom the group believes is responsible for cutting AIDS funding, turning a blind eye to police torture and brutality, and supporting gentrification. Simultaneously, members of Bash Back! also distributed barf bags with slogans written on them such as "Corporate Pride Makes Me Sick," a statement about the commercial and assimilative intentions of mainstream gay culture.
2008 Memphis Pride Festival
In 2008, Mid-South Pride, organizers of the Memphis Pride Festival, announced that the 2008 festival would be co-anchored by Nike and called the move an "expansion opportunity for the GLBT citizens of the city". Outraged, Bash Back! Memphis wheatpasted fliers along Cooper Street the night before the march condemning Nike's sweatshop practices and mainstream gay culture. The following day, as the Memphis Pride march proceeded under the Cooper-YoungCooper-Young, Memphis
Cooper-Young is an eclectic neighborhood and historic district in the Midtown section of Memphis, Tennessee, named for the intersection of Cooper Street and Young Avenue. The entrance to the neighborhood is marked by the Cooper-Young Trestle, a long steel sculpture which depicts homes and...
railroad trestle, several BB! members dropped a banner reading "Queer Liberation, not Queer Consumerism".
2008 Democratic National Convention
At the 2008 Democratic National Convention2008 Democratic National Convention
The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...
, Bash Back! Denver organized a protest of a fundraiser for the Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
, a gay rights lobby group. Bash Back! Denver criticized the HRC for its policies of trans exclusion in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Employment Non-Discrimination Act
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees.ENDA has been introduced in every...
, as well as the HRC's support for corporate interests and the Iraq War. The action ended in the detention of four activists at the scene and the arrest of one.
Bash Back! also organized a "trans and queer bloc" as part of the larger black bloc
Black bloc
A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, scarves, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding, or other face-concealing items...
of the Anti-Capitalista Day of Action. The event ended in the detention of most participants, and several bystanders.
The following day, Bash Back! continued to counter-protest, especially against conservatives holding signs reading things like "homo-sex is a sin" by having a queer kiss-in.
2008 Republican National Convention
At the 2008 Republican National Convention2008 Republican National Convention
The United States 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008...
, members of various Bash Back! groups from around the country participated in a road blockade as a part of Unconventional Action
Unconventional Action
Unconventional Action is an anarchist and anti-authoritarian organization formed in the United States with the purposes of engaging in direct action in opposition to the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. It was structured as an emerging network...
's direct action strategy to disrupt the convention. BB seized an intersection in downtown St. Paul and blocked cars and delegate buses from passing by having a festive dance party. The blockade was eventually met with force by mounted police and the activists were forced to disperse. Soon afterwards, members of Bash Back! also confronted the Westboro Baptist Church
Westboro Baptist Church
The Westboro Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag. The church is widely described as a hate group and is monitored as such by the...
when they appeared at the intersection where Bash Back! conducted its action.
2008 Annual Human Rights Campaign Dinner
On October 4, 2008, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) held its annual dinner in Washington DC. Bash Back! DC confronted the organization once again for publicly not supporting a trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the House of Representatives in 2007. About 20 protestors gathered for a dance party at the front doors of the fundraiser with signs such as “HRC Is Not For Me” and “Stonewall Was a Riot”. Dandee Lyon, a member of Bash Back! DC, stated that the reason for the protest was that "assimilation will not save us, it will only end in the decimation of our community. Society must change to accommodate us, queers and transfolk must refuse assimilation and cultural erasure at the hands of the homonormative gay elite and build a world where we can liberate ourselves."2008 Disruption at Mt. Hope Church in Lansing, MI
While a contingent from Bash Back!'s Lansing chapter picketed outside Mount Hope Church on November 9, 2008, several Bash Back! members entered the building disguised in plain-clothes and interrupted a worship service at the megachurchMegachurch
A megachurch is a church having 2,000 or more in average weekend attendance. The Hartford Institute's database lists more than 1,300 such Protestant churches in the United States. According to that data, approximately 50 churches on the list have attendance ranging from 10,000 to 47,000...
in Lansing, MI. During the late morning service the group dropped a rainbow banner bearing the slogan "It's Okay to Be Gay! Bash Back!" from the sanctuary balcony and showered a thousand fliers exhorting sexually confused teenagers who might be in the congregation to "embrace and explore" their new feelings and assuring them there are many organizations supportive of gays that "enable you to be who you truly are."
According to Bash Back! News, Mount Hope Church was targeted for its fundamentalist
Fundamentalist Christianity
Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
belief that homosexuality is a sin, for its production of "hell house
Hell house
Hell houses are haunted attractions typically run by American, fundamentalist Christian churches or parachurch groups. These depict sin, the torments of the damned in Hell, and usually conclude with a depiction of heaven...
s" that demonize gays, and for its hosting of conferences of "ex-gays".
In May 2009 Alliance Defense Fund
Alliance Defense Fund
The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of "defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation." ADF was founded in 1994 by the late Bill Bright , the late Larry Burkett , James Dobson The...
filed a federal lawsuit against Bash Back! on behalf of the church, under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act
Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act is a United States law that was signed by President Bill Clinton in May of 1994, which prohibits the following three things: the use of physical force, threat of physical force, or physical obstruction to intentionally injure, intimidate, interfere...
.
2008 "Avenge Duanna" Campaign
In November 2008, to coincide with transgenderTransgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
day of remembrance, Bash Back! groups began staging actions in memory of Duanna Johnson, a transwoman who was brutally beaten by Memphis police officers and murdered while in the process of suing the police department. Many within the Memphis queer community are convinced that the police had a hand in her murder. Bash Back! Philly shut down downtown Philadelphia in a reclaim-the-streets
Reclaim the Streets
Reclaim The Streets is a collective with a shared ideal of community ownership of public spaces. Participants characterize the collective as a resistance movement opposed to the dominance of corporate forces in globalization, and to the car as the dominant mode of transport.-Protests:Reclaim The...
style action, Bash Back! Milwaukee dropped a banner on the UW-M campus reading "R.I.P. Duanna", and Bash Back! Memphis had a hearse and casket delivered to the house of Bridges McRae, one of Duanna's assailants.
2008 California Proposition 8
An affiliate group of Bash Back! claimed credit for pouring glue into the locks of an LDS (Mormon) church building and spray painting on its walls. An internet posting signed by Bash Back!’s OlympiaOlympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
, Washington chapter said: “The Mormon church ... needs to be confronted, attacked, subverted and destroyed.” According to the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, the acts of vandalism against the LDS Church appear to be in retaliation for support of Proposition 8
California Proposition 8 (2008)
Proposition 8 was a ballot proposition and constitutional amendment passed in the November 2008 state elections...
. The Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
released a statement condemning the "defacement and destruction of property."
2009 Vandalism of Human Rights Campaign headquarters
On October 11, 2009 the Human Rights CampaignHuman Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
headquarters in Washington, DC was vandalized by radical queer activists who threw pink and black paint and glitter at the building and left graffiti reading "Quit Leaving Queers Behind". The vandalism came on the eve of the National Equality March
National Equality March
The National Equality March was a national political rally that occurred October 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C.. It called for equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia...
, the biggest national queer political mobilization since 2000 and hours after President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
gave a speech at an HRC fundraiser. A group called Queers Against Assimilation posted a statement about the action on the website of radical queer network Bash Back!. The statement called the attack an act of "glamdalism."
Chapters
There are Bash Back! chapters in each of the following cities and areas:- Chicago, IL
- Denver, CO
- Lansing, MI
- Milwaukee, WI
- Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN
- Eugene, OR
- Memphis, TN
- Columbus, OH
- Olympia, WA
- Philadelphia, PA
- Upstate New York
- Washington, DC
- Seattle, WA