R A I N B O W R E S I S TA N C E
Staring Down the
Barrel LGBTQ People Have Seen the Gun Lobby's Tactics Before By
Lou Markert
“Gays Against Guns?” he sneered. “What do gays have to do nearly 20 percent of hate crimes in the US are motivated by sexual with guns? What does being gay have to do with the Second Amend- orientation or gender identity bias. According to the Human Rights ment, huh? What’s one got to do with the other?” Campaign, a record 28 transgender women were murdered in 2017. This was the reaction I received from a young man who, accom- In a society with over 300,000,000 guns in circulation, the intersecpanied by his father, was leaving a gun show in the Pocono Moun- tion of hate crimes and gun violence is unavoidable. Furthermore, tains in the fall of 2017. I was there as part of a gun violence when the guns are assault rifles like a Sig Sauer MCX, and are prevention demonstration with Gays Against Guns (GAG), and was equipped with copious amounts of ammunition, the US is faced with attempting to share some literature we had prepared about the dan- events like the PULSE massacre. gers presented simply by having firearms in the home. After decades of fighting – for our lives during the AIDS crisis Both over six feet tall and broad-shouldered, the men were walk- and for our rights with marriage equality – LGBTQ people are not ing past us to enter the parking lot of the gun show venue, when I going to be mowed down in senseless gun violence facilitated by the made the effort to hand them our litpolicies of the very same people we’ve erature. The father affably reached out been battling for so long. for the pages, when the young man Moreover, the political tactics [O]ur ability to meld the outrastopped him, shouting, “No! Don’t take used against members of the gun viothat crap.” Snatching the literature out geous with the somber, and anger lence prevention movement, are similar of my hand before his father could acto those used against the LGBTQ with camp, in demonstrations is community throughout our fight for cept it, he reiterated, “What’s all this gay stuff got to do with my right to equality. In large measure, our ability to why LGBTQ people are uniquely meld the outrageous with the somber, bear arms?” He punctuated the “all this” with a sweeping gesture at the demonqualified to take on the issue of and anger with camp, in demonstrastration going on behind me. tions is why LGBTQ people are Gun violence is an LGBTQ issue, uniquely qualified to take on the issue gun violence prevention. because we are an at-risk population. of gun violence prevention. When all Despite increased acceptance in Amerelse has failed, we “take it to the street” ican society, LGBTQ people are still disproportionately impacted by like no one else. Since ACT UP’s heyday, performance art-cumdepression, and more likely than our non-LGBTQ peers to attempt demonstration has been a hallmark of queer protests. GAG demonsuicide. And any attempt to commit suicide with a firearm is virtually strations, a combination of traditional noisy protest, performance art, guaranteed to be successful. The presence of a firearm in the home and somber vigil, are hard to miss. They generally consist of two diswill almost certainly turn a transient moment of despair into a fatal tinct groups of activists. The “GAGgers” are rowdy, interactive pardecision. In fact, studies have shown that people with a firearm in the ticipants wearing pink-and-orange stenciled Gays Against Guns home were more than three times more likely to commit suicide, and t-shirts, which sparkle with copious amounts of glitter. They are ac17 times more likely to commit suicide with a firearm, as compared companied by the “Human Beings,” who are white-clad, veiled, silent to those without a firearm in the home. participants, each representing a specific victim of gun violence, carrying Further, after race and religion, sexual orientation and gender a placard with the victim’s photo and a short biography. identity are the most common reasons hate crimes are committed; From their first appearance at the 2016 NYC Pride March after
88 | Boston Pride 2018
