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HRC spokesperson Brad Luna said the vandalism was minimal, with no broken windows and nothing disturbed inside the building. Images posted to the internet indicate the graffiti consisted of messages like "Quit Leaving Queers Out," along with other paint splotches.
The vandalism took place on the same weekend that HRC hosted a dinner with President Barack Obama, and Washington hosted the National Equality March.
A web site called Bash Back News published a message from a group who claims responsibility for the vandalism. The group says they are against HRC because "it is not a democratic or inclusive institution" and is "run by a few wealthy elites who are in bed with corporate sponsors who proliferate militarism, heteronormativity, and capitalist exploitation."
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Will someone please define heteronormativity for me? And here I thought I was well versed in the lingo...
Sounds like the usual idiot lefty protesters who crawl out from under their rocks whenever there's an event like this.
I don't see how acting like rejects for InternationalANSWER is going to help their cause.
I don't approve of these kinds of "actions", but I do think that HRC is pretty worthless.
there isn't anything that causes an institution run by wealthy elites with major corporate ties to examine their political positions like a well placed slogan hastily applied to the outer wall of their headquarters with a can of spray paint.
Don't forget the glitter!
"Shit! Your subversive graffiti just blew my tiny little conservative mind apart!"
First, if your politics/philosophy/way of being is accepted and supported by a mainstream organization, then you can by definition no longer call yourself "radical." Sorry, you just can't have it both ways!
Second, I'm not 100% in love with what HRC does, but if you have a better way of getting sh!t done than HRC, step up to the plate! It's not cheap to compete at the level they do, and if corporations are sympathetic to the cause and can kick in cash, let them.
Third, No, HRC is not a duly elected and democratic organization to represent everyone else who isn't 100% straight, so if you don't like their methods, you're more than welcome to go it alone and build your own organization.
Geez, these whiny extreme nutjobs piss me off. It's so much easier to complain than to actually do the work themselves. Instead of whining and bitching about it, do something constructive, and that does not involve pink paint!
Gay rights proponents who dislike the HRC stopped being "radicals" and started being pretty damned reasonable around this time last year. HRC completely dropped the ball on the Prop 8 battle, allowing what had been a projected defeat for P8 turn into a loss. While the HRC fiddled other interests actually spent & campaigned and we all know what happened.
As far as who else can do what they do? Plenty of folks. Lambda Legal provides legal support and services for folks who are being persecuted and organizations like Freedom to Marry are actually putting some sweat and effort into the marriage equality fight.
I take issue with the suggestion that people with a problem with the HRC are whining and not doing the job themselves. This isn't a case of maligning the way some volunteer chooses to do the work. HRC does a significant amount of fundraising and those of us who have supported them in a past have every right to take issue with how they prioritize that money.
Understand a few details about my post. It was in response to what the nutjobs wrote in their statement. The group that vandalized the building are self-described "radicals" who were whining about the fact that the mainstream LGBT movement (which includes HRC, Lambda Legal, and a host of other orgs) did not represent them. Think about it... you can't be a "radical" if large mainstream orgs represent you.
And I agree, there are many other groups out there that are doing good work and some who are not. I don't always agree with HRC, nor do I always agree with Lambda Legal, NGLTF, ACLU, or a few others. But they all are out there working the streets advancing the cause. How many volunteers hours and hard work go into these causes? LOTS. The difference between these groups and our glitterbomb radical friends is that THEY ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE.
Fundamentally, my point was that if you don't like HRC, then fine. Don't like them. But don't vandalize their building. Find more constructive ways of getting the job done.
I'm with you on this... the HRC is stretched a little too thin and I don't think the GLBT concerns are met by their organization. I would prefer dedicated organizations take up the issues and let HRC do whatever it is they do. Sitting around and eating fancy $150 dinners and patting oneself on the back for throwing money at a cause doesn't make you an activist!
Can't we all just get along?
Wow, this takes me back to the mid-1990s drag-out brawls we had in college about whose approach to queer issues was more legitimate. It all seemed so important back then...
Don't interpret the vandalism as a cry for inclusion by people who are unwilling to take stuff into their own hands -- i'd guess that Queers Against Assimilation are probably perfectly happy to take action on their own agendas on their own schedule. Their point is very much that HRC is derisively known as the "Human Rights Champagne" for a reason -- it mostly talks to a segment of the community that has money, political access and is looking for a blending-in kind of life. I give them props for building a large organization in 10 years (NGLTF certainly didn't have the oomph to do it), but I'm not sure they've been very effective at political mobilization. Lambda Legal has accomplished much more in terms of marriage, for example, than HRC has. SLDN has accomplished much more in terms of DADT than HRC. HRC has supported the campaigns of LGBT candidates in local elections, and that's a good thing, but I've generally felt that they've been happy relying on email blasts. They certainly didn't seem to do much to fight against the horrible amendment in VA that made it impossible for same-sex couples to do anything at all in terms of contract.
Interestingly, I reread today a blog posting I wrote about the Millenium March 9 years ago, and it's sad that it's still so resonant.
I'm just relieved that the vandalism wasn't committed by a bunch of homophobes, as I originally suspected when I first saw that the building had been defaced.
So is this a hate crime?
Graffiti and damage of others' property is, of course, bad and illegal. However, as someone pointed out in an earlier comment, HRC is totally useless. I am not on the far left, and I certainly believe HRC is worthless in the fight for gay rights.
Lots of money and not record of results. Fat salaries and fancy buildings and no record of results. And isn't it great that our President decided to address them at a $4000 a plate dinner. That's citizen democracy if I've ever heard of it!
Poster #1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteronormativity
If you all read some of the blogs dealing with promotion of gay equality, you'll be able to get a bit of the context for queers being critical of HRC. Many feel that HRC promotes an assimilationist middle-to-upper middle class life/style agenda, failing to address other issues critical to queers, including issues related to poverty, racism, etc.