Gay Shame
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2008-07-06T11:51:30Z
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'''Gay Shame''' is a movement from within the [[LGBT]] and [[queer]] communities described as a [[Radicalization|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]] [[ideology|ideologies]] and [[avant-garde]] arts and artists.
Gay shame was created, named in opposition to, and as a protest of, 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 (performer)|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|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.{{Fact|date=June 2008}}
There have also been 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<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/uk.gay-lesbian-bi/browse_thread/thread/a6266f0e098b758b/64e4e5a23ffe306e]</ref>. 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'<ref>[http://www.duckie.co.uk/generic.asp?id=34 Hello dUCKiE!<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>.
DuckieGay Shame Themes<br />
2004 Homosexual Misery. It's a nightclub. It's a theatre event. It's a rip-off.<br />
2005 Homosexual Misery. London’s inverted underbelly prove that Gay ain’t nothing to be proud of.<br />
2006 Euroshame for EuroPride, the booths and shows themed as different European counties. <br />
2007 Cancelled due to [[Arts Council England]] funding diverted to the Olympics.<br />
2008 Masculinity, betting, boxing, trucker fun. <br />
2009 Femininity<br />
From 2001 to 2004, there were Shame events in [[Stockholm, Sweden]]<ref>[http://www.shame.nu/ SHAME<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>.
== See also ==
* [[Queercore]]
==References==
<references/>
== External links ==
*[http://www.gayshamesf.org/ Gay Shame San Francisco]
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[[Category:LGBT culture]]
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