World
CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Bash Back! -- a self-proclaimed activist group of "Radical Transfolk, Queers and Allies" that was profiled in the August issue of Details magazine -- has copped to defacing a billboard sponsored by the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center that depicted a soldier proclaiming "I'm gay and I protected your freedom."
Memphis community leaders quickly denounced the vandalism, which occurred in September, as a vicious act motivated by homophobia. In a Monday post on its website, however, Bash Back! lashed out at the center's decision to spend a reported $3,500 on the billboard advertising, "when Memphis has the highest trans-murder rate (11 trans women of color, 1 white transwoman and 1 transman of color), as well as one of the highest queer youth homeless rates in the nation."
"Sending gays to be military fodder is NOT pro-gay or conclusive whatsoever to gay liberation," the post reads. "State militarism only reinforces the dominant structures, and the racism/heterosexism they perpetuate, as well as reducing the number of gay people in the world."
Established gay organizations have been common targets of the group. Bash Back! has protested Human Rights Campaign dinner fund-raisers, including an HRC event in Minneapolis in September, where protesters held signs reading "What Would Sylvia Rivera Do?" referring to the New York transgender activist and Gay Liberation Front founding member who died in 2002.
Last month, on the eve of the National Equality March, a group affiliated with Bash Back! vandalized HRC headquarters in Washington, D.C., throwing pink and black paint and scrawling graffiti that read "Quit Leaving Queers Behind."
"Sending gays to be military fodder is NOT pro-gay or conclusive whatsoever to gay liberation," the post reads. "State militarism only reinforces the dominant structures, and the racism/heterosexism they perpetuate, as well as reducing the number of gay people in the world."
Established gay organizations have been common targets of the group. Bash Back! has protested Human Rights Campaign dinner fund-raisers, including an HRC event in Minneapolis in September, where protesters held signs reading "What Would Sylvia Rivera Do?" referring to the New York transgender activist and Gay Liberation Front founding member who died in 2002.
Last month, on the eve of the National Equality March, a group affiliated with Bash Back! vandalized HRC headquarters in Washington, D.C., throwing pink and black paint and scrawling graffiti that read "Quit Leaving Queers Behind."
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
18 of the most batsh*t things N.C. Republican governor candidate Mark Robinson has said
October 30 2024 11:06 AM
True
After 20 years, and after tonight, Obama will no longer be the Democrats' top star
August 20 2024 12:28 PM
Trump ally Laura Loomer goes after Lindsey Graham: ‘We all know you’re gay’
September 13 2024 2:28 PM
60 wild photos from Folsom Street East that prove New York City knows how to play
June 21 2024 12:25 PM
Melania Trump cashed six-figure check to speak to gay Republicans at Mar-a-Lago
August 16 2024 5:57 PM
If you think Project 2025 is scary, take a look at Donald Trump's Agenda 47
July 09 2024 2:35 PM
Latest Stories
President Biden, HHS Secretary Becerra mark Transgender Day of Remembrance
November 20 2024 6:39 PM
HBO says it stands by J.K. Rowling's 'right to express her personal views'
November 20 2024 6:05 PM
Sir Lady Java, drag artist and activist who performed alongside the famous, has died
November 20 2024 5:57 PM
KUST. unveils 'Thong 01' just in time to stuff for the holidays
November 20 2024 5:45 PM
Remembering queer lives lost to hate
November 20 2024 1:30 PM
Breaking newsletter: Mike Johnson bans trans people from U.S. House bathrooms
November 20 2024 1:21 PM