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Organising a Queer discussion weekend : nov 13 meeting
QueerNL - 06.11.2009 20:09
We are meeting on November 13th friday at 20.00 hrs at the Latijn Amerika Centrum (Nieuwe Herengracht 29, Amsterdam) to start planning a weekend of discussion and debate on Queer issues. We are currently planning to organise debates on the following themes:
1. Homonormativity, corporatisation of the Dutch gay scene, and
classism within the community,
2. Immigration, Islamophobia and the Dutch right wing and their links
to 'gay rights'
and racism within the community
3. Sexism and transphobia within the gay male community.
DRAFT PROPOSAL FOR A 'QUEER WEEKEND'
This is a preliminary summary for a proposal to organise a 'Queer Weekend', sometime in the beginning of 2010 for 2-3 days. The idea is to organise 2-3 workshops/discussion
sessions on topics (summarised below), along with a party and probably an action related
to one of the workshops. There have been quite a bit of enthusiasm for the idea, and we
need to start working now if we are see it happening.
We are having the first meeting to discuss the details of the discussion topics and to
start an organising team next week, so please do come along if you are interested in joining
in. If you cant make this next week, but are interested, email us !
When : November 13th, Friday, 20.00 hrs
Where : Latijn Amerika Centrum, Nieuwe Herengracht 29, upstairs
(there will be some other meeting downstairs)
And pass the word around.
Summary
-------
A more detailed version of what follows can be found at
 http://www.ojala.nl/index.php?n=Diversity.Diversity
The suggestions have been to focus on following topics :
1. Homonormativity, corporatisation of the Dutch gay scene, and classism within the community,
2. Immigration, Islamophobia and the Dutch right wing and their links to 'gay rights'
and racism within the community
3. Sexism and transphobia within the gay male community.
A format for each of the discussions is to start with panel of 3-4 people, speaking for
10 minutes each, who will introduce the various aspects of the issue, followed by an extensive
discussion among the audience.
Homonormativity, corporatisation of the Dutch gay scene and classism inside the community
=========================================================================================
A popular view among the LG community nowadays is that the only marker of difference with the
mainstream is the gender of the person one likes, and hence once that is accepted, there is
no issue anymore. A popular example of such a viewpoint is the oft-heard statement "We can
get married here, what more is there to fight for ?". However, `being just like everyone else`
was never the reason for the LGBT rights movement. Such 'mainstream acceptance' is, and has been,
at the expense of the people who cannot (or do not want to) conform - trans people,
cross dressers, polyamorous households, queers of colour, disabled LGBT people, LGBT immigrants
and undocumented workers. Should we not challenge and debate
the norms and assumptions of the mainstream instead of just acceding to them ?
We also need to question whether the existence of gay bars and clubs are the only
evidence necessary to proclaim Amsterdam to be a gay paradise. Gay Pride is a great event
to party, but isnt gay pride supposed to be more than just a party to make money ?
The only spaces open to LGBT people these days are commercial enterprises, lacking in any
political component. This ends up excluding, among others, the economically disadvantaged
LGBT people as well. Both these issues are linked to the increasing depoliticisation of the
gay community and we would like to discuss what we can do in this context.
Immigration, Islamophobia and the Dutch right wing and their links to 'gay rights'
==================================================================================
Recent years has seen a curious phenomenon in the Netherlands (and other european countries)
where the right wing has tried to portray themselves as the protectors of gay rights vis-a-vis
their policies against immigration from muslim-majority countries.
This is disingenuous and dangerous and we need to evolve a response to this from within the
LGBT community. Linked to this is the perception that a vast majority of gay bashings have
been perpetrated by muslim men. Interestingly, a recent study of homophobic violence in Amsterdam finds
an entirely different picture.
We would also like to debate the issue of racism within the LGBT community, the lack of
representation of LGBT people of colour in most gay spaces and related ethnicity-based
ghettoisation. Lastly we need to discuss how to work with the many groups in NL organising
among LGBT people of minority communities.
Sexism and transphobia within the gay male community
====================================================
There is very little interaction in NL, and even in amsterdam, between the gay men and lesbians.
Can lesbians be expected to be comfortable with
gay men who dont examine their own sexism just because of a shared sexuality ?
We would like to bring about a discussion between gay and lesbian activist on what we can do
about combating sexism and gender segregation in most LGBT spaces.
The alienation and segregation is much more pronounced in the case of transgendered people.
We would like to examine why this is so, especially since homo/lesbophobia arises largely
due to perceptions of gender and gender roles by the mainstream.
Party
=====
It would be good to end the day with a non-commercial party at the venue. Any ideas ?
Also, we would like to plan a public action based on one of the issues we discuss about.
 E-Mail: queernl@gmail.com  Website: http://www.ojala.nl/index.php?n=Diversity.Diversity
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| Read more about: Agenda anti-fascisme / racisme europa feminisme globalisering vrijheid, repressie & mensenrechten | | supplements | | some supplements were deleted from this article, see policy | | | no taboos, we hope | QueerNL - 08.11.2009 17:38
This is an interesting discussion on the proposed queer debate weekend, a bit similar to what was seen for the announcement of the anti-WCF protests.
No one is going to censor or create taboos around topics during the queer weekend, but that doesnt mean it should be hijacked by any one viewpoint either. The idea that 'islamofascism' is the single biggest threat to LGBT people is not exactly a censored thought -- one sees and hears about it pretty much everywhere in Europe these days. The perspective of QueerNL, broadly, is that this idea is very much misplaced and we would like to discuss why we think so, and formulate a coherent response.
To give an immediate (and less coherent) response, firstly, all religions and religious institutions have been and are homophobic, to varying degrees. Just as they are and have been sexist. Some sections from within each of these religions are trying to do something to change this as well, and these sections also exist in every religion (including islam and christianity). If someone is really bothered about homophobia within a particular religion, it may be worthwhile to work with these groups directly and support them.
Second, homo/lesbophobia and attendant violence isnt basically only relgion inspired, but is also cultural and social -- see the excellent report on the causes of homophobic violence in Amsterdam titled 'Als ze maar van me afblijven: een onderzoek naar antihomoseksueel geweld in Amsterdam' by L. Buijs, which we will certainly be discussing.
Third, it may be easy to brand an entire community as homo/lesbophobic, but apart from the big danger of playing into the hands of the right wing, what about the interests of LGBT people in those communities ? Failing to reach out to them and sacrificing their interests for the sake of a (presumably bigger) battle isnt very gay-friendly either.
Anyway, we hope to have a good discussion on the Queer Weekend, so whoever is interested in any of the themes - and please note that there are two OTHER themes as well :) - do come to the organising meeting on Nov 13th.
Love
QueerNL
E-Mail: queernl@gmail.com | |
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