29 Jun LGBT Radicals Stage “OccuPride”
The weekend’s Pride celebrations have forgotten what it means to be a radical queer activist, according to the organizers of “OccuPride,” a counter-demonstration to the corporate-sponsored celebrations of gay identity, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
So they’re putting the protest back into Pride.
“I think the corporatization, the commercialization of pride has really gotten out of hand,” longtime LGBT activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca told the newspaper. Avicolli-Mecca objects to the rampant corporate sponsorships, and believes companies like Bank of America and Wells Fargo may be engaging in “pink-washing,” using corporate cash to curry favor with a once-marginalized community.
“I think they’re really consciously trying to buy favor in the community,” he told the newspaper.
OccuPride won’t interfere with scheduled marches on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday — the Trans and Dyke marches and main Pride Parade, respectively. Instead, organizers will meet at 10 a.m. Sunday atMissionandMainstreets to “protest” undisclosed locations, the newspaper reported.
The actions are inspired by Occupy San Francisco and Occupy Wall Street, the newspaper reported. Organizers stressed that Pride celebrations will not be affected.
“We’re not attacking the Pride parade,” organizer Craig Rouskey told the newspaper. “We’re not attacking the committee that puts it together. We’re not attacking our family on the floats. Just the corporations.”