Gay shame
Encyclopedia
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 commercial
ized with corporate sponsors and "safer" agendas to avoid offending supporters and sponsors. The Gay Shame movement has grown to embrace radical expression
, counter-culture ideologies
and avant-garde
arts and artists.
Gay shame was created as a protest of (and named in opposition to) the overcommercialization of the "gay pride
" events. Members attack "queer assimilation" in what they perceive as oppressive and conservative societal structures—as such its members disagree with the legalization of same-sex marriage
. Gay Shame began in 1998 as an annual event in Brooklyn
, New York. Held for a number of years at DUMBA
, an artists' run collective center, bands such as Three Dollar Bill
and Kiki and Herb
and speakers such as Eileen Myles
, Mattilda aka Matt Bernstein Sycamore and Penny Arcade
appeared at the first event, and the evening was documented by Scott Berry and released as the film Gay Shame 98. Swallow Your Pride was a zine
published by the people involved in planning Gay Shame in New York. Three issues were released. The movement later spread to San Francisco, Toronto
, and Sweden
. The San Francisco Gay Shame became a non-hierarchical direct-action
group that continues to this day.
An academic conference at the University of Michigan
Ann Arbor occurred in March, 2003 http://www.umich.edu/~lgqri/gayshame.html. During that weekend, there was friction between the activists and the academics, growing out of different strategies, and the activists' claim that the academics didn't do enough to acknowledge their power and class privilege, and to share more of that with the activists.
There have also been annual themed events titled "Gay Shame and Lesbian Weakness" in London, England associated with the club night Duckie
run by Amy Lame
. Although documentation about when the first event happened is hard to come by, the event was occurring annually by 1998, if not earlier. The 2004 event was billed as "Now in its 9th great year." The event includes performance art and queer-bash make-overs and is also referred to as 'The Annual Festival of Homosexual Misery'. The 2009 event has been announced as the last.
Duckie Gay Shame Themes
2004 Homosexual Misery. It's a nightclub. It's a theatre event. It's a rip-off.
2005 Homosexual Misery. London’s inverted underbelly prove that Gay ain’t nothing to be proud of.
2006 Euroshame for EuroPride, the booths and shows themed as different European counties.
2007 Cancelled due to Arts Council England
funding diverted to the Olympics.
2008 Masculinity, betting, boxing, trucker fun.
2009 Femininity.
From 2001 to 2004, there were Shame events in Stockholm, Sweden.
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...
and 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 ...
communities described as a radical
Radicalization
Radicalization is the process in which an individual changes from passiveness or activism to become more revolutionary, militant or extremist. Radicalization is often associated with youth, adversity, alienation, social exclusion, poverty, or the perception of injustice to self or others.-...
alternative to gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
mainstreaming
Mainstreaming
Pilot or policy Mainstreaming is the act of broadening the application of a change or innovation from a small-scale pilot to the whole of a programme or policy domain. It involves recognising that the results of an experiment are positive and the learning deserves to be applied more widely...
and directly posits an alternative view of traditional "gay pride
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
" events and activities which have become increasingly commercial
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
ized with corporate sponsors and "safer" agendas to avoid offending supporters and sponsors. The Gay Shame movement has grown to embrace radical expression
Expression
Expression may refer to:Symbolic expression* Expression , a thought communicated by language* Expression , a finite combination of symbols that are well-formed according to applicable rules...
, counter-culture ideologies
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
and avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
arts and artists.
Gay shame was created as a protest of (and named in opposition to) the overcommercialization of the "gay pride
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
" events. Members attack "queer assimilation" in what they perceive as oppressive and conservative societal structures—as such its members disagree with the legalization 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....
. Gay Shame began in 1998 as an annual event in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York. Held for a number of years at DUMBA
Dumba
DUMBA was a collective living space and anarchist, queer, all-ages community center and venue in Brooklyn, New York.DUMBA became a radical cultural nexus point around which the Queercore movement flourished and an independent film scene developed...
, an artists' run collective center, bands such as Three Dollar Bill
Three Dollar Bill
Three Dollar Bill is a band founded by Jane Danger and Chris Piss, in Chicago, Illinois in 1998. The name comes from the expression "Queer as a three dollar bill". The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has never been authorized to print a $3 note. However, before the Civil War, banks operating...
and Kiki and Herb
Kiki and Herb
Kiki and Herb are an American drag cabaret duo. Bond portrays Kiki DuRane, an aging, alcoholic, female lounge singer...
and speakers such as Eileen Myles
Eileen Myles
Eileen Myles is an American poet who has also worked in fiction, non-fiction, and theater.She won a 2010 Shelley Memorial Award.-Early life and career:...
, Mattilda aka Matt Bernstein Sycamore and Penny Arcade
Penny Arcade (performer)
Susana Ventura , better known by her stage name Penny Arcade, is an American performance artist, actress, and playwright based in New York City.-Career:...
appeared at the first event, and the evening was documented by Scott Berry and released as the film Gay Shame 98. Swallow Your Pride was a zine
Zine
A zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier....
published by the people involved in planning Gay Shame in New York. Three issues were released. The movement later spread to San Francisco, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. The San Francisco Gay Shame became a non-hierarchical 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...
group that continues to this day.
An academic conference at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
Ann Arbor occurred in March, 2003 http://www.umich.edu/~lgqri/gayshame.html. During that weekend, there was friction between the activists and the academics, growing out of different strategies, and the activists' claim that the academics didn't do enough to acknowledge their power and class privilege, and to share more of that with the activists.
There have also been annual themed events titled "Gay Shame and Lesbian Weakness" in London, England associated with the club night Duckie
Duckie (group)
Duckie is a collective of performance artists that describes itself as “a post-gay independent arts outfit.” They produce a mix of so-called "cultural interventions", such as club nights, new-mode pop, burlesque and performance events, as well as anti-theatre experimentation...
run by Amy Lame
Amy Lamé
Amy Lamé is an American-born, British performer, writer, television and radio presenter and producer.-Biography:Lamé was born Amy Caddle and raised in Keyport, New Jersey. She attended Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland and moved to London in 1992...
. Although documentation about when the first event happened is hard to come by, the event was occurring annually by 1998, if not earlier. The 2004 event was billed as "Now in its 9th great year." The event includes performance art and queer-bash make-overs and is also referred to as 'The Annual Festival of Homosexual Misery'. The 2009 event has been announced as the last.
Duckie Gay Shame Themes
2004 Homosexual Misery. It's a nightclub. It's a theatre event. It's a rip-off.
2005 Homosexual Misery. London’s inverted underbelly prove that Gay ain’t nothing to be proud of.
2006 Euroshame for EuroPride, the booths and shows themed as different European counties.
2007 Cancelled due to Arts Council England
Arts Council England
Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...
funding diverted to the Olympics.
2008 Masculinity, betting, boxing, trucker fun.
2009 Femininity.
From 2001 to 2004, there were Shame events in Stockholm, Sweden.
See also
- QueeruptionQueeruptionQueeruption is an annual international Queercore festival and gathering where alternative/radical/disenfranchised queers can exchange information, network, organize, inspire and get inspired, self-represent, and challenge mainstream society with DIY ideas and ethics...
- QueercoreQueercoreQueercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. It is distinguished by being discontent with society in general and its rejection of the disapproval of the gay, bisexual, and lesbian communities and their "oppressive agenda"...
- Bash BackBash BackBash 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...
- Anarcho-queerAnarcho-queerAnarcho-queer is an Anarchist school of thought which advocates Anarchism and Social revolution as a means of Gay Liberation and abolition of homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia, heteronormativity, heterosexism, patriarchy and the gender binary...
- LGBT social movementsLGBT social movementsLesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...