Resysting Assimilation at Pride 05 : Pittsburgh Indymedia

Resysting Assimilation at Pride 05
by one hot queer Sunday, Jun. 19, 2005 at 9:53 AM

On June 18, members and supporters of RESYST, a radical queer project of the Thomas Merton Center, descended on the LGBT Pride Parade to insert a more radical queer presence. Members felt that the Pride Parade has become the epitome of the corporatization and maintstreaming of gayness.

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This year’s Pride theme, “Equal Rights: No More No Less” was no different. At the heart of the assimilationist political and social agenda lies a narrow conception of justice––the principle of equal consideration. If heterosexuals have access to X, then, the story goes, LGBTQ people ought to have access to X as well. But what if X is morally objectionable? By ignoring other progressive values, the equality-only mindset casts aside questions regarding health care, the death penalty, the military, hate-crimes legislation, and the institution of marriage. RESYST’s theme this year was, “To hell with equality…Liberation! Much more, no less.”

Sixty people clad in pink and black assembled downtown on Ross Avenue that morning and marched with the parade to the North Side. The Pittsburgh radical marching band and a bucket drum brigade provided beats, a color guard flag twirler, people on bikes, radical cheerleaders and a big Santorum puppet added to the general hotness of the contingent.

The police got out of line at one point, attempting to arrest a participant of the parade who was using his bike to direct traffic. When the RESYST pink and black got to the site of the commotion, members began to document the situation, questioning the police “authority” and offering to support the individual. The police backed down but gave the person a citation.

At the end of the parade, the Santorum puppet was set afire. Members of the pink and black contingent, as well as the general parade, cheered, danced and celebrated around the flaming effigy.

It was a good day.

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by one hot queer Sunday, Jun. 19, 2005 at 9:53 AM