Tag Archives: No Justice No Pride

Washington DC Gay Bar Takes Down Blue Lives Matter Flag After Complaints

Washington DC Gay Bar Takes Down Blue Lives Matter Flag After Complaints

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Nellie’s a gay bar in Washington, D.C., was forced to apologize Saturday for hanging up a “Blue Lives Matter” flag outside its establishment after a group of gay police officers held a meeting there. The blue flag angered some people who claimed it was offensive to the Black Lives Matter movement and represented “anti blackness.”

Representatives of police departments across the country and an organization that manufactures and distributes the flag have said repeatedly that the flag was never intended to be used as a symbol of discrimination or racial injustice.

“The thin blue line stands for the sacrifice law enforcement officers of this nation make each day,” USA Today quoted Thin Blue Line, an organization that distributes the flags “We reject in the strongest possible terms any association of our flag with racism, hatred, and bigotry,” the organization told USA Today. “To use it in this way tarnishes what it and our nation believe in.”

Drew Ambrogi an organizer of No Justice, No Pride one of the groups behind the gay pride protests of the past few years told the Washington Blade the group learned about the flag being displayed at Nellie’s when one of its members walked past the bar last Friday and saw it hanging from a flag pole.

“We saw it as an issue and we posted about it pretty quickly,” Ambrogi said

“We now understand that flying this flag — at this point in time, in particular — was at best tone deaf, and at worst offensive. We sincerely apologize to our customers and our neighbors for this egregious mistake, and want to assure you that this flag will never fly at Nellie’s again. What it represents to you is not what we want to represent, or what we want our bar to be,” the D.C. establishment said in a statement posted to Facebook  Nellie’s said it would be sending a donation to No Justice No Pride.

In 2008, state and local law enforcement agencies employed more than 1.1 million people on a full-time basis, including about 765,000 sworn personnel (defined as those with general arrest powers). Agencies also employed approximately 100,000 part-time employees, including 44,000 sworn officers.

Human Rights Campaign National Dinner Protested by SJW Zombies

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The Human Rights Campaign National Dinner was protested on Saturday night at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC  by a small group of social justice warrior zombies from the groups No Justice No Pride, GetEqual and the Trans Woman of Color Collective.

A statement released by No Justice No Pride stated the protesters dressed as zombies to “reflect the horror done by HRC partnering with a monster like Wells Fargo.”

In June, at the Pride Parade, we targeted Capital Pride’s willingness to sell our communities out to harmful corporations. Today, we’re targeting HRC’s willingness to do the same.

For decades, the LGBT movement has cast aside the most marginalized in pursuit of ‘equality’ for the most privileged members of our communities. Our hope is that No Justice No Pride’s actions begin to wake the LGBT establishment up to the fact that there is a new generation of trans and queer folks with bigger, broader and more radical dreams of liberation. Dreams inspired by the lives of our ancestors — like Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson and Audre Lorde — which are fundamentally incompatible with entities like Wells Fargo.

Said Lourdes Ashley Hunter, executive director of the Trans Woman of Color Collective

We have had enough of the juggernaut non-profits profiting off the lives of black bodies, brown bodies, indigenous bodies, undocumented bodies: Fuck HRC! Now more than ever it is important for our voices to be heard. We cannot continue to let these organizations represent us. They don’t represent us, number one, and we know that.

They represent their capitalist interests. They represent their white, cis gay pajama parties, they represent everything that liberation is not standing for. And so we’re here today to not only say ‘fuck HRC,’ ‘fuck Wells Fargo,’ well fuck everybody who paid $400 to come up in here and continue this shit.

As many of you know who have followed me the past 8 years, I have no love for the HRC but also I have no respect for No Justice No Pride, GetEqual  and their ilk.  Both sides are equally guilty of being self-centered and self-serving  on the  issues facing the LGBT community. Both sides are selfish and non-inclusive. And both sides have also lost sight of our original mission which is full civil rights under the law for all of us.

 

Source:  The Washington Blade
Photo by Michael Key

Alt-Pride QPOC Protests Expected At Sunday’s NYC Pride Parade

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Despite the fact that this year’s New York City Pride is more of a resistance march than a Pride Parade.  Alt-Pride groups that are connected with the groups that interrupted the Capital Pride Parade in Washington, D.C., June 10 are planning an action for the New York City Pride March, set for this Sunday.

Michael Basillas an organizer with Hoods4Justice and also identified as a member of No Justice No Pride, which blocked the Capital Pride Parade and forced its rerouting said “We will put our foot down to the ground, rooted to the ground and have clear visibility,” to USA Today. “Before it became a parade, it became a movement. And it still is a movement.”

Other groups rumored to be involved is QPOC group GetEqual and Black Lives Matters

The demands being put forth in New York are much the same as those made in Washington: putting transgender and indigenous people in decision-making positions, plus increasing the role of other historically marginalized populations; ending the practice of having a police contingent in the march; and ending sponsorship by companies that have a negative impact on LGBT and other marginalized people.

No Justice No Pride communications coordinator Drew Ambrogi denies any astroturfing by the group.. “We’ve supported Hoods4Justice’s actions by providing our logos and some help crafting demands, but have limited involvement beyond that.” Other groups are organizing similar actions in cities around the country, Ambroglia said. No Justice No Pride clarified the relationship in a Facebook post.  Ambrogi  also works as Digital Communications Strategist  at The Advancement Project next generation, multiracial civil rights organization

 

4 QPOC Protesters Arrested At Columbus PRIDE After Altercation With Police – [Videos]

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Four people were arrested and one could face aggravated robbery charges after a PRIDE protest that left a Columbus police officer injured and with one protester arrested for attempting to disarm one of the officers. 

According to a post published on the International Socialist Organization Columbus Facebook page, “a group of Black queer activists interrupted Columbus’ corporate pride parade to bring attention to the not guilty verdict for the officer who murdered Philando Castile, as well as other POC [people of color], particularly trans POC, who have been murdered by police.”

The group with messages on their shirts like “pride is political” and black tape on their mouths. were trying to draw attention to racism at pride and in LGBT community.

The official Stonewall Columbus Pride Festival and Parade Facebook page posted the following update about the incident later in the afternoon:

“We are aware that several people were arrested at the Pride Parade today. We have contacted the highest county and city officials in order to guarantee their safety. We have sent legal representation from Stonewall to assist those that have been arrested. This situation is ongoing, and we will comment further when we have more facts and can be sure those in custody are safe.”

The Columbus Division of Police reports:.

The suspects wouldn’t obey officers orders to leave the roadway at the parade this morning,” stated the CPD via social media. “Charges range from, Resisting Arrest-Causing Harm to a Police Officer, Fail to Comply with a Police Officers Order or Signal to Disorderly Conduct-Hindering Movement.

Another protester attempted to disarm an officer who was arresting the other two. He was arrested and charged with aggravated robbery.

Police say someone tipped officers off about a group of protesters blocking off the parade route.and once they arrived on their bikes to move the protesters some began to resist.

The QPOC protesters are suspected to be part of Black Lives Matters and No Justice, No Pride movement

 

 

Deacon Maccubbin Activist, Founder of Lambda Rising Bookstore, and DC Pride Responds To “Misguided” Attacks On Pride

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The group “No Justice No Pride” seems to have chosen the right name, as they appear to have neither. More importantly, they lack both historical context and forward-looking vision.

In 1971, police in D.C. and elsewhere were notoriously anti-LGBT (actually more anti-gay, since they largely ignored the other members of our community to concentrate on gay men). The fledgling Gay Activists Alliance (now the GLAA) had tried for nearly two years to schedule a meeting with the D.C. police chief to talk about the harassment, arrests, abuse and even blackmail being practiced by “D.C.’s Finest” but the chief refused to meet with LGBT people.

So a group of about a dozen staged a sit-in in the police chief’s office and, after occupying the office for about five hours, a smaller group of three — Bill Bricker, Cade Ware and myself — agreed that we would be arrested, the first arrests for LGBT civil disobedience in Washington.

When we went to trial some weeks later, we pled nolo contendere, since we knew we were guilty, but it gave us an opportunity to explain to the judge how long we had tried to get a meeting with the police, how we had been stymied in that, and why we had decided that civil disobedience was our only option. After deliberation, the judge returned and said, “Because you pled nolo contendere, I have no choice but to find you guilty. But if I had been in your position, I’d probably have done the same thing. No fine. No jail time. You are free to go.” Two weeks later, the police chief agreed to meet with us.

And that began a process. It started with communication, spread into the adoption of new training for police recruits (training that members of the LGBT community helped conduct), then spread to better screening of new recruits, to more inclusive direction by subsequent police chiefs, to the establishment of a Civilian Complaint Review Board and, eventually, to the creation of the LGBT Liaison Unit. LGBT victims of crime are now assisted by openly LGBT and LGBT-supportive police officers.

Are there still some officers who fail to live up to the standards we and their chief expect? Of course there are; in any group of thousands, there will always be a few bad officers. But the overwhelming majority of D.C.’s police force do their job without prejudice. By all means, keep up the oversight, continue to push for removal of those few bad officers, but at the same time, welcome those LGBT officers and those supportive officers to march with us, to celebrate with us, to continue to make progress in respecting all LGBT people in Washington.

There is merit in Pride looking closer at which corporate sponsorships are appropriate, but the executive board of Pride has already agreed to do that. As the founder of D.C.’s annual Pride Day event in 1975 and the sole sponsor of the event for the first five years, I have always been in favor of melding both political and social aspects in the celebration. It’s a time to celebrate our victories as well as to push for continued progress. For every commercial booth that lines Pennsylvania Avenue (and provides the bulk of the funding for the event), there are non-profit and activist booths offering Pride attendees ways to get involved. “No Justice No Pride” would be wise to participate there, too.

As for the call to remove members of Capital Pride’s executive board, that’s an insult to those who have dedicated so much time and effort to the community. If you look at their bios, you’ll see that they cross most gender and racial lines and they have long histories of work in LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations. Likewise, the Pride staff demonstrates that ALL are welcome to the effort.

Staging the parade, the block party, the entertainment, the parties, the workshops and all the other activities surrounding Pride is a huge undertaking. If you’ve read this far, consider volunteering to make it all even better. Just don’t tear it down in the process.

*Deacon Maccubbin, was the owner of the LGBT bookstore Lambda Rising, and longtime activist who organized the city’s first annual gay pride event in Washington, DC.

Reprinted from The Washington Blade

Unable To Get Police Removed From D.C. Pride QPOC Activist Attack Headliner Miley Cyrus

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Seething with frustration at not being able to get police removed from Washington DC’s Pride festival and march in June, QPOC (Queer People of Color) activists groups No Justice No Pride DC and the  Black Youth Project 100,  are now setting their sites on  Miley Cyrus will headline DC’s Pride festival concert calling her choice an ‘extension of white gay obliviousness”

This new attack on DC pride and Cyrus supposedly stems from a Billboard interview, Cyrus discussed her musical evolution away from hip-hop and toward country sounds, saying she liked Kendrick Lamar‘s song “Humble”: “I love that because it’s not ‘Come sit on my dick, suck on my cock,’” she told John Norris. “I can’t listen to that anymore. That’s what pushed me out of the hip-hop scene a little. It was too much ‘Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock’ — I am so not that.”

Preston Mitchum, writer and member of Black Youth Project 100 states:  Cyrus “decided to call out the misogyny of black artists, but didn’t call out any other forms of artistry or genres that are also misogynistic,”

 Drew Ambrogi, spokesperson at local LGBT activist group No Justice No Pride DC went as far to say that Cyrus is “someone who’s ripped off black culture and profited from it, then in a recent interview has tried to diminish it,”

This is just the latest attack from QPOC activists who feel that PRIDE has become commodified and compromised by sponsorships from certain entities including Wells Fargo. Activists are frustrated with what they describe as a lack of people of color, trans, and other more marginalized individuals in visible and decision-making roles.

“Miley Cyrus headlining Capital Pride is both a manifestation and an extension of white gay obliviousness,” says Samantha Master, another member of Black Youth Project 100. “I just really wish DC Pride and Prides across the country really took into account the needs and experiences of all LGBT people,” says Mitchum, “the LGBT people who are experiencing homelessness, the ones who are impoverished, the ones who are unemployed or underemployed, the ones who experience hate crimes, the ones who don’t get enough attention on TV.”

Cyrus, a longtime LGBT rights supporter Miley Cyrus founded the Happy Hippy Foundation whose mission statement which is “to rally young people to fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable populations”

Miley Cyrus will be joining Capital Pride as part of a diverse group of entertainment that includes Tinashe, The Pointer Sisters, and VASSY,” a Pride spokesperson told the Washingtonian in an email. “DC has a homeless youth crisis on our hands, with almost half of all homeless youth identifying as being LGBTQ. Miley and others have actively worked to reduce youth homelessness, particularly among our community.”

D.C.’s Capital Pride Refuses Demands To Ban Police Officers From Pride Parade and Events

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Yesterday Lou Chibbaro Jr. reported for the Washington Blade that organizers of D.C.’s annual Capital Pride Parade and Festival  had demanded and received the resignation of Bryan Pruitt a volunteer event producer because of comments he made about transgender people in a May 2016 article in the conservative blog RedState.

But the real story buried in the article is that the group No Justice, No Pride is making demands of the Capital Pride Alliance including the ban  police officers from marching and participating in this years festivities

Drew Ambrogi, a spokesperson for No Justice No Pride said that Pruitt’s dismissal is just the beginning of a wave of change that will soon sweep Capital Pride. The community is paying attention and recognizing that for too long, Capital Pride has colluded with the very forces that oppress queer and trans individuals. Their willingness to ignore transphobia, accept money from corporations that profit from the incarceration of queer and trans people — predominantly queer and trans people of color — and celebrate the Metropolitan Police Department, indicate a fundamental disregard for large swaths of our community.”

Ambrogi said the coalition, among other things, is calling on Capital Pride to dis-invite D.C. police, including the police LGBT Liaison Unit, from participating in the D.C. Pride parade and festival. He said the coalition also wants Capital Pride to no longer allow corporate sponsors or corporations in general to participate in the festival and parade and wants Capital Pride to remove its funds from a Wells Fargo Bank and remove from the Capital Pride board one of its members who is a Wells Fargo employee.

Bernie Delia, Capital Pride’s president, said that although Capital Pride’s board agreed it was necessary to seek Pruitt’s resignation it would “absolutely not” agree to additional demands by the No Justice No Pride coalition that it ban D.C. police from participating in this year’s Pride parade and festival and that it ban corporate sponsors, including Wells Fargo Bank, from participating in all Pride events.

“It has been with the support and resources of our diverse sponsors and corporate partners that Capital Pride has been able to grow and thrive,” said Delia, who added that corporate supporters have strong records of support for the LGBT community and LGBT rights.

Angela Peoples who now runs the former LGBT Equality group GetEQUAL stated that her group fully supports the efforts and positions taken by No Justice No Pride.

“I have been working with Drew and other folks that are organizing this effort,” Peoples said. “So the effort and the demands of the No Justice No Pride effort is very much aligned with the work Get Equal has been doing and is continuing to do,” she said.

Peoples who changed GetEqual from an  LGBT civil rights group to a QPOC (Queer People of Color) action group is responsible for the  planning and carrying out of transgender activists Jennicet Gutiérrez’s heckling of President Obama at the  LGBT Pride Month Reception at the White House in 2015 and other protests such as disruptions at Netroots Nation and who’s members also were involved in a near-violent protest shut down a planned reception for LGBT Israeli group A Wider Bridge.

According to a posting on the No Justice, No Pride Facebook page the group pans to attend the May 8th Capital Pride Alliance Board Meeting and voice its demands as a group.

Folks involved in No Justice, No Pride have many reasons for being involved in this, and some easy demands backed by these reasons are but not exclusive to the following:
1. Removing Corporate Sponsorship (and other entities that hurt members of our community such as military defense contractors and others involved in the military industrial complex, the border injustice complex, and the criminal injustice complex. This means no FBI and Border Control recruiters)
2. Removing Policing Presence/Entities
3. Returning Pride as Protest
4. Remove problematic people from leadership and replace them with known leaders from historically marginalized communities.

We will make these demands known and follow up with “since our community is so large and vast that we also stand behind any demands others may have.”

We won’t accept promises for concessions in future years and will make our case loud and clear that things need to change this year or we will demonstrate.

Let’s show up to this meeting in full support of one another. When you hear something you like make some noise! Snap, clap, cheer – let’s show them we’re riled up and we’ve got each other’s backs. And then they try to silence us, dismiss our claims or make half-assed concessions, let’s be loud too.

Because of these demands and Angela Peoples involvement expect some real drama at this years 

As many SJW activist like to say “The first Pride was a riot.”

Yes it was.  But it was against our true enemies not our own people.