The Third Rail of LGBTQ Activism
Why we must directly criticize belief systems
Stop Killing Us!
As an HIV/Queer street activist in New York City in the 1990s, I did more than my fair share of marching and shouting. I joined with fellow Act Up and Queer Nation protesters in naming and shaming people and institutions that worked to oppress members of minorities.
We targeted politicians, business leaders, and most especially religious leaders. Act Up protests often featured a stirring chant. We’d raise our voices together, sometimes for hours, with a simple but chilling refrain: Stop killing us!
We were dying of AIDS in the face of seemingly intractable government apathy and overt hostility.
We demanded more research dollars and better access to treatment.
Our people were suffering from escalating violence — random street beatings that followed us even into our safe spaces like Christopher Street in Greenwich Village.
We demanded better policing and hate crime legislation. We formed our own street patrols called the Pink Panthers.
