Friday, March 10, 2017

M8 QUEER DANCE AGAINST DEPORTATION / AFTERPARTY FOR THE WOMEN'S STRIKE #DayWithoutAWoman #QDPmarch8




Queer Dance Party, a march, a rally, and a organizers arrested
The day without a woman meant most of the women I know were out in the streets. Building on the epic women's march in January, women around the country found themselves slaking up business as usual. At Trump Tower women blocked traffic, getting arrested.  Another group rallied in the Village. Walking through Washington Square Park, I greeted friends from the Professional Staff Congress, our college, my old buddy Jennifer Posner, and countless others.  David Harvey was there.  So was Sarah Hughes, one of the best organizers around. And most importantly a sea of women were there.  Todd Gitlin was anywhere to be seem, but still his snarky commentary about the event found its way into the New York Times.  How can a man who has not taken part in a social movement for decades still be a voice that the Times goes to for commentary?  The most important voices for me were those on hand to share ideas, art, signs, and ways of thinking about the crazy moment we are in today. My favorite sign was from the old Seinfeld episode, "If men could get pregnant, you could get an abortion at an ATM machine." 

Sadly, attacks on women are a central element of a republican agenda that includes the bills:

1. HR 861 Terminate the Environmental Protection Agency
2. HR 610 Vouchers for Public Education...
3. HR 899 Terminate the Department of Education
4. HJR 69 Repeal Rule Protecting Wildlife
5. HR 370 Repeal Affordable Care Act
6. HR 354 Defund Planned Parenthood
7. HR 785 National Right to Work (this one ends unions)
8. HR 83 Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Bill
9. HR 147 Criminalizing Abortion (“Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act”)
10. HR 808 Sanctions against Iran

Make no mistake this is an attack on women's upward mobility. Amongst the most powerful ways to oppress is by controlling people's bodies.

Still resistance is everywhere. 

People are organizing and clogging the streets to fight back, connecting causes.

After the rally and march, a group of us got together for the
M8 QUEER DANCE AGAINST DEPORTATION /
AFTERPARTY FOR THE WOMEN'S STRIKE.

The invitation:

Meet up: Outside Stonewall
Time: Wednesday, March 8 at 9:30pm sharp (march to location TBA)
DJ: Rebel Diaz

Bring: FM Radios tuned to 99.5 FM and noisemakers, pots/pans, comrades, lovers, confetti

Come party in the streets in solidarity with each other and all our people facing gender, state and economic violence

Fuck deportation! Long live the queer dance party! ...

(Can't dance with us? Listen to the party at 10 PM on 99.5 FM)

Meeting at the Stonewall, we coordinated radios and the Public Space Party sound system.  Thank you Judy Ross.  The Rude Mechanicals Orchestra was there jamming.  Live music filling the air as it does every year at the drag march.  We outta do this more often, I nodded to Jamies and Yanna.  A kid was jump roping. And people shaking.  Judy and I started djing, playing the anthems, Abba - Dancing Queen, Its Raining Men, and Beyoncé, Crazy for You.  I pulled out a sign someone had left with the words from the Beyoncé song: "Who run the world?"  A few of us posed for a picture.

By 1130 the dance party started winding down and we walked over to the Marie's Crisis, a piano where people sing along to old show tunes.

Everyone was singing Hamilton.  But come on, after the electoral college threw the election to the person who got less votes for the second time in 16 years, its pretty hard to think he was right. Still, most of the crowd sang along. The RMO was singing along.

I made my way to the piano, dropping a tip for What I Did for Love from Chorus Line and Home from the Wiz, continuing the queer dance party theme.

I was in the Wiz in the spring of 1985. Everyone was in the show, the punk kids, the football players, the queer kids. We loved it in 1985.  And we loved it on March 8th.

Everyone sang along to its finale, Home.

Living in this brand new world might be a fantasy,
but its taught me to love.
So its real to me.
And I've learned that we must look inside our hearts to find
A world full of love like yours and mine
Like home

Judy put in a tip for West Side Story.

The timeless words from the tragedy filled the dusty old bar, resonating

There's a place for us
Somewhere a place for us
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us somewhere
There's a time for us
Someday there'll be a time for us
Time together with time to spare
Time to learn
Time to care


I'm starting to think that time might be today.



This kid brought the best sign.






















































































New friends at the Stonewall.  Who Run the World?

Women's March‏Verified account @womensmarch 9 hours ago
How cool is this 12-year-old's drawing of co-chairs , and ? (Photo: @illyjanky on IG)
10 replies 89 retweets 577 likes


Women's March‏Verified account @womensmarch 23 hours ago
Thank you to all of you around the world who joined us in making 3/8, International Women's Day, a ! Photo:
49 replies 230 retweets 1,041 likes      
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