What is an ally?

Please read my note on Facebook about this question. If you would like to comment, feel free to do so here or on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=398409545770&comments

Thanks for reading.

Alan L. Bounville

Orlando Health Discrimination Shared at National Conference

The discrimination happening at Orlando Health continues to be shared. This past Friday a group of New York University students presented at a conference at the University of Massachusetts Amherst discussing the multiple layers of oppression Orlando Health leaders are hurling upon their employees, patients and the public in general.

It was great to continue to spread this message - and to share here that letting more and more people know about the multiple ills this large hospital system is inflicting upon people - WILL NOT DIE!

Next month, the play CHAINED TO FREEDOM will be presented at the the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival. In it, great detail is taken to unpack the multiple oppressions at Orlando Health and show how they tie into a much bigger picture of oppression for queer and non queer people alike. Stay tuned (especially the Orlando Health spies and legal entities that follow this blog's every move).

CHAINED TO FREEDOM - UPLOADED ON ORLANDO FRINGE PAGE

Here is the link for my new show premiering at the Orlando International Fringe Festival, CHAINED TO FREEDOM that exposes the discrimination happening at Orlando Health among other oppressions.

A portion of the proceeds from the show will benefit direct actions for LGBTQI equality in Central Florida.

http://orlandofringe.org/node/768

IT. IS. TIME.

There is a wave coming – no – if we want it – a new ocean in the progressive movement – an ocean of real change. Not change we are promised from afar – change that I viscerally cried out for and celebrated over in November 2008 that turned into the same old goddamn fucking NOTHING bullshit. But a real change made by real people with a real yearning, desire and need to be free. And this change challenges every fiber of our current culturally, economically and politically siloed existence.

As a middle class, white gay male shackled to this failed American Dream – drowning under hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt due to this lie I have been force fed since birth – I count myself lucky. I count myself thus because I am oppressed as a gay man only. And if I, the white gay man am in this vulnerable place – imagine what it is like for our sisters and brothers with multiple intersecting oppressive forces bearing down on their shoulders. It is time we break open the silos and let the grains of humanity pile up together and create a mountain that overshadows the system that built the silos in the first place.

As of today, no more do I feel any sense of comfort or security in the crippling invisibility cloak I can wear as a queer person to cover up my queerness. I no longer see my ability to ‘pass’ as anything but a massive hindrance to what needs to happen from here. Now, I only find safety in numbers – numbers on the right side of history who are going to stand with me in solidarity making the rainbow of us queer folk a constant image that our oppressors cannot ignore.

And finally – I am committed to do more than scratch the surface of various festering soars of segregation – FINALLY I am finding spaces where I am among others who feel just as I do. And to knock it in to where ‘it’s at’ – FINALLY this week I have intersected with the same patchwork of humanity that enveloped me at a rally a little over a year ago. At that rally I was promised by then candidate Obama that the plurality present that night was what was going to be the realized vision for America at all levels of government and industry. I was promised that he would bring the country together – that black and white, straight and bi, gay and lesbian, trans and two spirit, yellow and red and brown, female and male and every other intersection present in this ‘great’ land was going to FINALLY be afforded equal, high quality opportunities to press forward into this century.

But, ‘the change’ was a lie. The magical intersections that I crossed that night at that rally were not manifestations of real change – I was sold a big bag of false – hope.

So, what changed my thinking forever? This week I got together with a bunch of crazy mother fucking queers and allies in the hills of Tennessee - at an historic place that has been a major organizing hub since 1932 for people who want to come together from different viewpoints and different cultures – cultures that were legally not allowed to intersect in this sacred space just a half century ago – and change the world around them. I was lifted by the spirits of all those who have done critical work there – people who we all know by name, who have immensely shaped this nation and the world – people who have been part of movements of all sizes who were ready to clash and FORCE themselves to cut through the tension and get. shit. done.

So, we queers and allies got together to purposefully clash our various culture lines in the queer movement and try to get to a deeper place of connectedness and cultural competence to do something that, up until now en masse we have all failed to do - to understand the intricacies of our intersectional oppressions and USE THAT knowledge as the fuel to propel queer people forward towards liberation. To use our often polarizing differences to force a wedge into our own complex and exhausting culture to come out on the other side aligned through the power of combined cultural knowledge and DEMAND LIBERATING EQUALITY THROUGH DIRECT ACTION AND CIVIL DISOBEDEICE that is integrated into winnable local and national campaigns.

And we learned it’s going to be hard as fuck! And it’s going to take lots of patience and persistence. And it’s going to be sharply criticized from all sides – and that’s all in line with what must happen for this radical inclusivity to work.

The work to shift the queer movement into this direction did not start with this week – it’s been a long time coming. But this week potentially galvanized this new direction. And it allowed about forty people to come together to start knitting us all into a mass network of boots on the ground activists, an online army and a massive support team.

The room was filled with people from all over the country, representing a dynamic blend of ethnicities, races, socio-economic classes, political inclinations, experience levels and ages. The group did not by any stretch encompass all cultural intersections and multiple identities that exist in our queer community, because that would take getting us all in a room together – but know – the room was radically diverse.

We as queer and allied people have one of the most complicated charges in history. And in that charge, we have one of the most humbling opportunities the world has ever seen. Queer people have always been there at the forefront of social change – change that has brought cultures together for centuries. And now, at this moment it is our turn to be the center of this new spiraling movement. And here’s where it REALLY GETS EXCITING - by taking this radically inclusive approach to queer liberation we do something far greater than liberate queer people. We will press forward the unfinished work of the Civil Rights Movement. And that is fucking huge!

And we take on this seemingly impossible task no more through asking nicely, no more through disconnected means – but DIRECTLY AND UNIFIED. And in this new direction we set in motion a trajectory where we strategically look at the local and national level to find where our oppressions are most clearly manifesting themselves. Then, together we hammer more fucking wedges, this time into these oppressive systems and blast open impossible situations for our oppressors so that the wedges crack the systems of oppression so deep they blasts through our intersectional oppressions as well to create the world we not only want - but need for the human race to thrive.

And we will persist. For each target – we will not give in to failed back room negotiations. We will not start something we don’t plan on finishing. We will take the exhausting road to freedom and the whole while, with powerful pride we will sing the good ole chant…

The people united can never be defeated.

We must commit NOW to persist and build into one mass culturally combined movement until ALL segregation is obliterated for all people!

And while we do this work we will remember every step of the way to make this experience the biggest fucking ongoing party of our lives! This shit needs to be so damn exciting the clubs turn into strategizing spots. The bathhouses become recruitment stations. Every social group in town turns into a think tank. And the only way to see that world is to make sure our movement stops being so goddamn stuffy and realizes that queer and allied people are party people too!

When we gather – we MUST create space for us to get loose and sexy. We must make sure we don’t misstep trying to assimilate into an oppressive equal status with straights, but help transform equality into a new space where a stripper at a straight man’s bachelor party in Rick Warren’s church and an assless chap wearing leather daddy marching down the streets of Birmingham, Alabama are not shocks to anyone’s consciousness but potentialities in this newly invented world.

So, don’t think for a second if we ignore the sexiness of people we will be truly successful. At the same time we are fighting for our trans sisters and brothers to be safe in the world and the workplace we need to be doing lap dance parties in the streets. We need to be comfortable intersecting ALL of us – knowing that sex and sexuality is a huge part of every human being – and is a huge part of the foundation of the queer movement that has gotten us this far.

No matter where you live – you are now immediately patched into this network if so you choose. All you have to do is stand up and ask who in your area was part of this week’s gathering. I will immediately get you connected so locally you can start getting shit done – and together, along with all the other people out there already doing this work, we will start turning this country on it’s head.

Alan L. Bounville - queerrising@gmail.com

First Civil Disobedience Action for LGBTQI Equality Here in New York

Dear Reader,

Here is the video link for the first civil disobedience action for LGBTQI equality here in New York City. We are tired of incrementalism. We need our civil rights NOW.

LINK TO VIDEO

This is only the beginning.

Thanks for reading.

Alan L. Bounville

If You Haven't Already...

Dear Reader,

If you haven't already, please sign up to receive updates at www.ohdi.blogspot.com. That's the blog I manage for one of my main activist projects.

There you can see weekly video updates 'showing' the growing support of the online petition that supports this initiative.

Thanks for reading.

Alan L. Bounville

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE FOR LGBTQI EQUALITY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 3, 2009

Media Contact:

Alan L. Bounville

Activist and Graduate Student

New York University

407-484-6671

alanbounville@gmail.com

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE FOR LGBTQI EQUALITY

First Meeting in New York City to Set First Action

Several voices have emerged recently calling for the LGBTQI and supportive community to rise up and peacefully take the fight for their freedoms into their own hands. As we have seen this week alone, win some lose some tactics does not ensure all of us are treated equal under the law. The incrementalist approach to gaining full equality has lagged on long enough.

It is time for consistent, well-planned acts of Civil Disobedience for the whole of our nation to know we, those who believe in equality for all will no longer wait for judges, legislators and executives to dole out what is rightfully ours. And we will no longer accept the notion that anyone has the right to vote on civil liberties.

It is time we let those who want to continue working within the three branches of government to do that – and for the rest of us to join forces and do what every other civil rights fight has done to gain full equality – engage in Civil Disobedience.

The first of what will become a series of meetings until our full equality is achieved will be held on Sunday, December 20 from 6-8 pm. The meeting will take place at the LGBT Community Center at 208 W. 13^th Street, New York, NY 10011.

At this meeting we will brainstorm as a group all ideas group members have in regard to civil disobedient actions and again, as a group choose our first action.

For more information or to RSVP contact:

Alan L. Bounville

alanbounville@gmail.com

Alan L. Bounville is an organizational oppression and LGBTQI activist and graduate student at New York University in New York City. His current project, encouraging the fifth largest employer in his former city, Orlando, FL to provide domestic partner benefits, create a multicultural office and open the dialogue about diversity can be found at: www.ohdi.blogspot.com.

Andrew Conte, co-coordinator of this meeting was co-founder of Impact Florida, an activist group in the Tampa Bay area and has for years engaged in activism towards LGBTQI equality.

XXX

New Post - Giving Thanks

Dear Reader,

Here is the latest post for the Orlando Health Diversity Initiative.

LINK TO POST

Thanks for reading.

Alan L. Bounville

Gay Apartheid Protest this Sunday in New York City - Plan One in Your City Too!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 4, 2009

Media Contact:

Alan L. Bounville
Activist and Graduate Student
New York University
407-484-6671
alanbounville@gmail.com

www.tinyurl.com/gayapartheidprotest

REACTION TO GAY APARTHEID IN MAINE

New York City Residents Protest this Sunday, November 8, 2009 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Join supporters of equality outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral this Sunday to show those who oppose equality the faces of their discrimination. Stepping beyond the comfort zones of rallies and marches we take our message directly to the people and one of the organizations that have brought about gay apartheid in the United States.

Protesters should come with signs and their voices. This is a peaceful demonstration, but the anger against the members of the Catholic Church in New York City, who helped by their affiliation to the Catholic Church in Maine pass the hateful Question 1 in Maine yesterday need to know that no longer can we live as a nation that is separate and not equal.

Protest participants are also encouraged to call their U.S. elected officials at 202-224-3121 and tell them that supporting gay apartheid on all fronts is wrong. It is against the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Protest Details can be found below and at:
www.tinyurl.com/gayapartheidprotest

Gay Apartheid Protest Details:

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Outside St. Patrick's Cathedral
9 AM - 1 PM
460 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10022-6863
___________________________________________________

Alan L. Bounville is an organizational oppression and LGBTQI activist and graduate student at New York University in New York City. His current project, encouraging the fifth largest employer in his former city, Orlando, FL to provide domestic partner benefits, create a multicultural office and open the dialogue about diversity can be found at: www.ohdi.blogspot.com.

Why I Call Orlando Health Leaders Bigots - and New Information about MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dear Reader,

I have uploaded the weekly video for the Orlando Health Diversity Initiative project. You can view it here.

Thanks for reading.

Alan L. Bounville