Queer Nation NY

Shot this on 57th Street as the roughly 500 people who turned out for Stop the Hate, Stop the Guns made their way from Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue to Columbus Circle.

To read our media release, please click on the link.

And a very special thanks to Kelly Savage for drawing the Trump hair on some of our posters!

More info to come!

STOP THE HATE. STOP THE GUNS. END THIS BLOODY NIGHTMARE.

And, of course, Gilbert Baker supplied the vibrant banners reading "Gays Against Guns" and "Republican Hate Kills."

RSVP: https://actionnetwork.org/events/qn-town-hall

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To Be Continued...

We owe thanks to Alan Klein, Andrew Miller, Gilbert Baker, Alexis Danzig, Jamie Bauer, Andy Humm, Bill Bahlman, and Brian Worth for their help in organizing. And thanks to John Aravosis and Joe Jervis for the pictures

That's Panzi driving her stiletto heels into inflatable dolls labeled Ian R. and Mati W., for Mati Weiderpass, Ian's business partner.

New York, NY (June 30, 2015) – Responding to comments by former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley in The Hill saying he supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), Queer Nation demanded that O’Malley endorse comprehensive federal legislation that extends the rights and anti-discrimination protections given to all other Americans to members of the LGBT community.     “Martin O’Malley wants our votes, but he doesn’t know what LGBT people want and what we need,” said Duncan Osborne, a member of Queer Nation. “The LGBT community has rejected ENDA. We are pursuing comprehensive federal legislation that makes us fully equal under the law.” First introduced in Congress in 1994, ENDA had a 2007 passing vote in the House after protections for transgender people were stripped out and a 2013 passing vote in the Senate after a sweeping religious exemption was added to the bill. In 2014, Queer Nation launched a campaign that yielded tens of thousands of online and in-person contacts pointing out ENDA’s flaws and history of odious compromises and demanding comprehensive federal legislation. LGBT groups that were already expressing “grave concerns” about ENDA quickly rejected the legislation and embraced comprehensive federal legislation. Many other LGBT groups also now support comprehensive legislation. “ENDA has not been introduced in the current Congress and no one in the LGBT community is asking that ENDA be introduced in the current Congress,” Osborne said. “On the contrary, we are anticipating the introduction of comprehensive legislation by Rep. David Cicilline and Sen. Jeff Merkley that will make LGBT Americans fully equal under the law. And now we’re waiting for Martin O’Malley to catch up and get onboard.” Queer Nation continues to call for state and federal comprehensive civil rights laws that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, education, credit, public accommodations, and federally funded programs with the limited religious exemption that is found in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Marriage is great, but only a comprehensive federal civil rights law will give us the protections we need.

The Queer Nation banner flies over the beach at Cherry Grove: “Boycott Hi/Lo Tea! Fight for Full LGBT Rights!”

Stalwart Queer Nationals tack flyers urging a boycott of Ian Reisner’s Fire Island Pines businesses in response to his meeting with—and contribution to—Ted Cruz. The flyers also explain what’s next in our ongoing struggle for comprehensive federal civil rights legislation.

The Queer Nation plane flies the banner “Boycott Hi/Lo Tea! Fight for Full LGBT Rights!” over the beach at Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove while beachgoers watch. The venues for High Tea and Low Tea in the Pines are owned by Ian Reisner, a gay man who recently met with—and gave money to—Ted Cruz.

LGBT Activists Fly Banner Over Fire Island Calling for Boycott of Gay-Owned Businesses There Airplane Fly-Over Exhorted Beachgoers to Fight for LGBT Civil Rights Fire Island Pines, NY (June 7, 2015) -- A plane trailing a banner reading “Boycott Hi/Lo Tea! Fight For Full LGBT Rights!” flew above the beach at Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines on Sunday, June 7. The action was orchestrated by the gay rights group Queer Nation. While nearly 1,000 people on the beach watched, the plane circled the two communities for 40 minutes, from 2:10 pm to 2:40 pm, first flying east along the beach, then circling back and flying west along the bay. The action was meant to underscore the LGBT community’s outrage over the April 20 meeting between Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and gay businessmen Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass. Reisner subsequently donated money to the Cruz campaign. The two gay men also held an April 14 fundraiser at their Manhattan penthouse for Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), another anti-LGBT politician. Reisner owns most of the businesses in the Pines—including the Blue Whale, Sip-N-Twirl, and the Pavilion, where the “High Tea” and “Low Tea” cocktail hours are held—as well as the gay-oriented Out Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Having seen some of several hundred flyers that Queer Nation members had left at houses, tacked to utility poles, and handed out prior to the fly-over, many beachgoers were clearly awaiting the plane’s arrival. Others, however, were surprised. Many snapped pictures and took video as the plane made its 7 passes. The flyers informed those sunning on the beach that even if the U.S. Supreme Court grants all LGBT Americans win the right to marry, they will still face discrimination in employment, public accommodations, housing, federal programs, credit, education, and parental rights. They prompted some lively conversation on the beach, both for and against the action. “We can get married on Sunday and then evicted or fired on Monday in many states in this country,” said Queer Nation member Ken Kidd. “Yet two gay business owners are making money off of the LGBT community at a world-famous gay vacation spot and then giving that money to outspoken anti-LGBT politicians who would keep us from winning those rights.” As a result, in part, of Queer Nation’s ongoing campaign for comprehensive civil rights legislation, a bill that would give all the rights and protections currently extended to all Americans to LGBT people will be introduced in the current Congress. “Is doing without a cocktail at Tea such a sacrifice to make in our struggle for true equality?” Kidd asked. “We will not be dragged down by those who fund anti-LGBT politicians at a moment when the sky is the limit for LGBT rights. And we’ll let them know how we feel by boycotting their businesses, from Fire Island, New York, to Fairbanks, Alaska.”