The Twin Cities Avengers are not called lesbian avengers because our group, while recognizing history, is open to any queer identified person-- not exclusive to lesbians.
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| Avengers History | |||||||||||||||||
| The Lesbian Avengers was founded in 1992 by ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) activist and author, Sarah Schulman to raise lesbian visibility. Through direct action, the Lesbian Avengers turn political ideals into "concrete confrontation". They conduct letter writing campaigns, visibility actions, and guerrilla publicity campaigns "all the while flaunting their lesbionic outrageousness" (Lesbian Avengers Chicago 2001). The Boston Lesbian Avengers describe their politics as "feminist, transfeminist, radical, and sex positive" (Montgomery 2001). | |||||||||||||||||
| When founded in 1992, the original six Lesbian Avengers had a vision for grass-roots lesbian activism that would start as a visibility project and would eventually become a larger social lesbian movement. On Gay Pride Day that year, these women handed out 8,000 fluorescent green cards that said, "Lesbians! Dykes! Gay Women! We want revenge and we want it now". Fifty lesbians came to the first meeting in New York. That year, in collaboration with ACT-UP and other Washington D.C. area groups, the first Dyke March was held, it drew 20,000 women. As a point of principle, no permit was obtained. According to Sarah Schulman, it was "the largest lesbian event in the history of the world" (Retter 1999). At the White House on their way to the Washington Monument, the marching Avengers stopped and demonstrated their aptitude as fire-eaters. This activity has become a trademark of the Avengers. | |||||||||||||||||
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| A year before the Lesbian Avengers were founded, Oregon skinheads killed a lesbian and a gay man by throwing a Molotov Cocktail into their home. This was done in retaliation for their working against the passage of an amendment to Oregon's constitution that would have labeled homosexuality "perverse". When the Lesbian Avengers eat fire, they take that very element that was used against them and consume it in a symbolic act while non-firing eating Avengers chant, "The fire will not consume us - we take it and make it our own" (DC Lesbian Avengers 2000). Lesbian Avengers eat fire to show that they can conquer their fears, and that they will not be intimidated. Not all Avengers eat fire, just the ones who want to (Boston Avenger Interview 2001). It is important for the Avengers to explain this background when asked why they need to "show off" by eating fire for an audience. Of course, "This isn't to say that we don't get off from the act, it's a major rush" (D.C. Avengers 2000). | |||||||||||||||||
| The purpose of the Lesbian Avengers is to identify and promote lesbian issues and perspectives while empowering lesbians to become experienced organizers who can participate in political rebellion. Founding members of the Lesbian Avengers feared that lesbians and lesbian issues were lost in the gay movement that tends to focus upon gay men and their struggles with HIV and gay bashing. The Twin Cities Avengers are not called lesbian avengers because our group, while recognizing history, is open to any queer identified person-- not exclusive to lesbians. |
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