Queer anarchism

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The early gay liberation movement shared many theoretical foundations and philosophies with anarchist movements in the mid twentieth century.{{Sfn|Shepard|2010|p=512}} Chants such as "2-4-6-8, smash the church, smash the state!" were popular around the time of the Stonewall riots, setting the tone for a queer rights movement grounded in anarchist thought.{{Sfn|Shepard|2010|pp=512-513}} The two campaigns both focus on rejecting normative thinking and the state in favor of personal liberty and pleasure.{{Sfn|Shepard|2010|pp=515-518}}

Anarchism and queer theory both reject paternalistic state structures that depend on capitalism and the nuclear family.{{Cite journal |last=Windpassinger |first=Gwendolyn |date=September 2010 |title=Queering anarchism in post-2001 Buenos Aires |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363460710370657 |journal=Sexualities |language=en |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=495–509 |doi=10.1177/1363460710370657 |s2cid=146449179 |issn=1363-4607 |via= |access-date=February 3, 2021 |archive-date=February 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214032638/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363460710370657 |url-status=live}} Instead, both favor forms of self-determination and the reordering of society.{{Sfn|Shepard|2010|pp=515-518}} An example of anarchism and queerness intersecting can be found in those who engage in non-monogamous relationships, these are inherently anarchical, as they are rejecting traditional power structures that shape the nuclear family. This concept has been coined Relationship Anarchism.{{Cite journal |last=De las Heras Gómez |first=Roma |date=December 2018 |title=Thinking Relationship Anarchy from a Queer Feminist Approach |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1360780418811965 |journal=Sociological Research Online |language=en |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=644–660 |doi=10.1177/1360780418811965 |s2cid=220124663 |issn=1360-7804 |via= |access-date=February 3, 2021 |archive-date=September 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918063858/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1360780418811965 |url-status=live}}

File:Queer Anarchist CSD Berlin 2020 Gamma Fixed.jpg parade, Berlin, 2020]]

Queer anarchists have been active in protesting and activism, using direct action against what is seen as homonormative consumerism and pink capitalism. Queer anarchists have set up squats and autonomous zones as well as urban communities for the queer and LGBT community. Rural communities often rely on social media to grow anarchist movements and networks, due to these communities being geographically isolated from urban centers.{{Cite journal |last=Malenfant |first=Jayne |date=2018 |title=Anarchist Youth in Rural Canada: Technology, Resistance, and the Navigation of Space |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jeu.2018.0020 |journal=Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=126–151 |doi=10.1353/jeu.2018.0020 |s2cid=158367022 |issn=1920-261X}} Social networking sites facilitate knowledge transmission that provides alternative ideals to people in rural populations that were previously only available to urban dwellers.

Many queer anarchists embrace the notion of radical individualism, influenced by individual philosophers like Max Stirner. Organizations like ACT-Up a punk anti-racist, anti-fascist organization and supported and composed of queer anarchists organization that has supported queer radicals and direct action.{{Cite journal |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1363460710370652 |doi=10.1177/1363460710370652 |title=Queer anarchist autonomous zones and publics: Direct action vomiting against homonormative consumerism |year=2010 |last1=Jeppesen |first1=Sandra |journal=Sexualities |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=463–478 |s2cid=144734107 |access-date=December 4, 2020 |archive-date=September 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922140848/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1363460710370652 |url-status=live}} Later during the WTO protests queer anarchists played a vital role in organizing the mass protests, the protests would lead to the explosion of the anti-globalization movement.{{Cite book |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1-85984-653-7 |last1=Highleyman |first1=Liz |last2=Shepard |first2=Benjamin |last3=Hayduk |first3=Ronald |title=From Act Up to the Wto: Urban Protest and Community Building in the Era of Globalization |chapter=Radical queers or queer radicals? Queer activism and the global justice movement |location=London |date=2002}}

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"Be gay, do crime" is a slogan popular in contemporary Pride parades, LGBT-related protests, and graffiti. In 2018, it was popularised on Twitter by a meme created by Io Ascarium of the ABO Comix collective, which sells comics made by other abled LGBTQ+ prisoners.{{Cite news|last=Hudson|first=David|date=August 10, 2016|title=What Does 'Be Gay Do Crime' Mean?|work=Gay Star News|url=https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/what-does-be-gay-do-crime-mean/|access-date=June 30, 2021|archive-date=June 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605172230/https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/what-does-be-gay-do-crime-mean/|url-status=live}} Ascarium describes the phrase as coming "from the communal grab-bag of anti-assimilationist queer slogans. Like 'ACAB' or 'Stonewall was a Riot' it was pulled from the chaotic ether, originated nowhere and belongs to nobody," though Google Trends suggests interest has existed since at least 2011.{{Cite news |last=Hudson |first=David |date=August 10, 2018 |title=What does 'Be Gay, Do Crime' mean? |url=https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/what-does-be-gay-do-crime-mean/ |access-date=July 8, 2020 |work=Gay Star News |language=en-GB |archive-date=June 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612210912/https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/what-does-be-gay-do-crime-mean/ |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Peterson |first=Karla |date=September 12, 2020 |title=Queer life gets the comics treatment, courtesy of San Diego's IDW Publishing |language=en |website=The San Diego Union-Tribune |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/columnists/story/2020-09-12/queer-life-gets-the-comics-treatment-courtesy-of-san-diegos-idw-publishing |access-date=October 20, 2020 |archive-date=October 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021131750/https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/columnists/story/2020-09-12/queer-life-gets-the-comics-treatment-courtesy-of-san-diegos-idw-publishing |url-status=live}} The "memeification" of the "be gay do crime" slogan is an example of increased accessibility into anarchist schools of thought.

The slogan "Be gay, do crime" is an anti-capitalistic and anti-authoritarian statement, implying that crime and incivility may be necessary to earn equal rights given the criminalization of homosexuality around the world and that the Stonewall uprising was a riot. Within the anarchist space, the Mary Nardini Gang reflected on their manifesto Toward the Queerest Insurrection with the book Be Gay Do Crime,{{Cite web |title=Be Gay Do Crime |url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/mary-nardini-gang-be-gay-do-crime |access-date=November 12, 2020 |website=The Anarchist Library |language=en |archive-date=November 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111181450/https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/mary-nardini-gang-be-gay-do-crime |url-status=live}} where they affirm "the reality and the continuity of a culture and a history of experiencing outlawness, illegality, and lack of citizenship".{{cite book |last=Popovici |first=Veda |title=Solidarity in Illegality: How the Corrupt East Is Already a Queer East}} Mark Bieschke, a curator at the GLBT History Museum, claimed that the slogan is meant to stand against the "polished, corporate narrative of Pride".{{Cite web |last=Pockets |first=Our Back |title=What "Be Gay, Do Crimes!" means, and why it's important now. |url=https://ourbackpockets.com/blogs/main/be-gay-do-crimes |access-date=July 8, 2020 |website=Our Back Pockets |language=en |archive-date=July 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710200326/https://ourbackpockets.com/blogs/main/be-gay-do-crimes |url-status=live}}

American cartooning publication The Nib compiled Be Gay, Do Comics, an anthology of short comics "featuring queer history, memoir, and satire", launched on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in November 2019,{{cite web |last=Helwick |first=Kacy |date=November 23, 2019 |title=Kickstarter: The Nib Launches Campaign for Be Gay, Do Comics: a queer comics anthology |url=https://www.glbtrt.ala.org/reviews/kickstarter-the-nib-launches-campaign-for-be-gay-do-comics-a-queer-comics-anthology/ |access-date=October 20, 2020 |website=American Library Association's Rainbow Round Table |language=en |archive-date=October 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021073749/https://www.glbtrt.ala.org/reviews/kickstarter-the-nib-launches-campaign-for-be-gay-do-comics-a-queer-comics-anthology/ |url-status=live}} and later published for mainstream distribution in September 2020.{{cite magazine |last=Andersen |first=Brian |date=September 28, 2020 |title=New Anthology Be Gay, Do Comics Vividly Depicts the Queer Experience |language=en |magazine=The Advocate |url=https://www.advocate.com/books/2020/9/27/new-anthology-be-gay-do-comics-vividly-depicts-queer-experience |access-date=October 20, 2020 |archive-date=October 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023234732/https://www.advocate.com/books/2020/9/27/new-anthology-be-gay-do-comics-vividly-depicts-queer-experience |url-status=live}} In the book's foreword, Nib co-editor Mattie Lubchansky explained the title as an homage to Ascarium's meme, interpreting it as a reminder that "Queerness has always been transgressive, regardless of its legal status."

{{Portal|Anarchism|LGBTQ|Society}}

• Anarchism and issues related to love and sex
• Communism and LGBT rights
• DUMBA – a New York collective living space with Anarcha-queer tendencies
• Gay Shame – a movement self-described as a radical alternative to gay mainstreaming
• Rainbow capitalism
• ACT UP
• Queeruption – a queercore festival where anarchists are prominent
• Relationship anarchy
• Socialism and LGBT rights

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |editor1-last=Daring |editor1-first=C. B. |editor2-last=Rogue |editor2-first=J. |editor3-last=Shannon |editor3-first=Deric |editor4-last=Volcano |editor4-first=Abbey |year=2012 |title=Queering Anarchism: Addressing and Undressing Power and Desire |publisher=AK Press |ISBN=978-1-84935-120-1 |lccn=2012914347}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Heckerson |editor1-first=Jamie |editor2-last=Clemison |editor2-first=Richard |year=2011 |title=Anarchism & Sexuality: Ethics, Relationships and Power |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VO-rAgAAQBAJ |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-82844-1 |lccn=2010039814 |via=Google Books}}
• {{cite book |last1=Jeppesen |first1=Sandra |last2=Nazar |first2=Holly |year=2012 |chapter=Genders and Sexualities in Anarchist Movements |editor-first=Ruth |editor-last=Kinna |editor-link=Ruth Kinna |title=The Continuum Companion to Anarchism |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4411-4270-2 |pages=162–191}}
• {{cite book |last1=Jeppesen |first1=Sandra |last2=Nazar |first2=Holly |chapter=Anarchism and Sexuality |year=2017 |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |editor-first=Nathan |editor-last=Jun |title=Brill's Companion to Anarchism and Philosophy |isbn=978-90-04-35689-4 |pages=216–252 |doi=10.1163/9789004356894_010 |url=https://brill.com/view/title/35861}}
• {{cite book |last=Nicholas |first=Lucy |chapter=Gender and Sexuality |editor1-last=Adams |editor1-first=Matthew S. |editor2-last=Levy |editor2-first=Carl |year=2018 |title=The Palgrave Handbook of Anarchism |location=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3319756196 |pages=603–621 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-75620-2_34 |s2cid=242073896}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Shepard |first=Benjamin |date=August 2010 |title=Bridging the divide between queer theory sage and anarchism |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1363460710370656 |journal=Sexualities |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=511–527 |doi=10.1177/1363460710370656 |s2cid=146813842 |issn=1363-4607 |via= |access-date=February 3, 2021 |archive-date=September 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922140846/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363460710370656 |url-status=live}}

• Lena Eckert. [http://www.iiav.nl/ezines/web/Liminalis/2009/liminalis/Liminalis-2009-Eckert.pdf "Post-Anarchism as a Tool for Queer and Transgender Politics and/or Vice Versa?"]. 1993
• David Berry. [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-berry-for-a-dialectic-of-homosexuality-and-revolution For a dialectic of homosexuality and revolution]. 2003.
• Terence Kissack. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101125010747/http://akpress.org/2007/items/freecomradesakpress Free Comrades: Anarchism and Homosexuality in the United States]. AK Press. 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-904859-11-6}}
• Fray Baroque & Tegan Eanell (Eds). [https://libcom.org/files/Fray%20Baroque%20and%20Tegan%20Eanelli%20Queer%20Ultraviolence_%20Bashback!%20Anthology.pdf Queer Ultraviolence: BashBack! Anthology]. Ardent Press. 2011
• The Mary Nardini Gang. [https://contagionpress.com/pocketbooks/be-gay-do-crime/ Be Gay Do Crime]. Contagion Press. 2018
• Vikky Storm. [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/vikky-storm-the-gender-accelerationist-manifesto The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto]. 2019

• {{Commons category-inline}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120223202722/http://zinelibrary.info/english/queer-lgbti Archive of queer zines]

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