I’ve been planning to attend Queeruption, an international gathering of alternative/radical/disenfranchised queers, which is in nearby Vancouver, BC this year. I’m not positive that will happen as I got in a bike vs. car accident yesterday. Clearly, the car always wins and I’m a bit battered. But before I launch into telling you why you should go to Queeruption, or at least support it, I just want to thank the many people that helped me out on the corner of Broadway and Hoyt yesterday morning when I was too dizzy to figure out who I should call or even really where I was. I was also probably too out of it to make proper thank yous, so in the off chance they catch this blog thank you to the guy who got me water and kept taking the cap from me when I didn’t know what to do with it, whoever called the police, and everyone for just sticking around and being witnesses. I love you bike Portland!
But back to Queeruption. It actually starts today. Let me give you the website’s mission statement:
We want to make an internationally relevant Website where alternative/radical/disenfranchised queers can exchange information, network, organise, inspire and be inspired, self represent, challenge ourselves and each other, and learn about DIY ideas and ethics. We hope this site will convey the diversity of queer life, identity, and politics; provide visibility for a definition of queer that confounds and contradicts the limited representation of the “normal”/consumerist model; and be an active tool for building community that recognises the differences in queerness globally.
The festival brings together this community of rebels from around the world to hold workshops, entertain each other, and make change. It really sounds like the best time a queerdo can have (with or without pants on) while making a difference.
Some workshops that look particularly enticing to me are:
• Romance for rebels
• Gender F***ing Workshop
• mental health in radical communities
• Queer haircutting
• copwatch
• artist trading cards
• monsterous femininity
• queers in gentrificaiton
• bike mechanics for pansies
You see, I’ve been needing a haircut for some time now…
Portland has a lot of queer entertainment and activism and I’m proud to participate in that but this is particularly exciting event because it brings people from so far. The resources are also amazing. Food is free and childcare is included. The website is available in multiple languages and there is even a mailing list for communication, rideshare etc. For information on all this and more visit the Q10 website.
