Tag: pride

From Embers: Five Years After The Brawl At Hamilton Pride

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Originally published by From Embers LISTEN HERE Five summers ago on June 15th 2019, a group of homophobic “street preachers” and their white nationalist allies attempted to enter and disrupt the annual Hamilton Pride celebrations at Gage Park. Based on experience the previous year at Hamilton Pride and elsewhere in southern Ontario, anarchists and radical queers were expecting this and had organized to counter them. Wearing pink t-shirts over their faces and carrying a 30’ Read More …

Brockville: Drag Storytime Reportback

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From Gay Mafia Protection Racket Like the world’s worst game of whack-a-mole, we were out again yesterday, December 17, in Brockville, Ontario to protect a drag story hour at their local library. And once again, we outnumbered them from the start, successfully keeping them out of the event and away from LGBTQ+ kids. Library staff were happy to see us when we arrived ahead of time and set up our Read More …

The Toronto IWW GMB Stands in Support with the Hamilton Pride Defenders

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During the 2019 Pride Festival in Hamilton, Ontario, a group consisting of white supremacists, homophobes and Christian fundamentalists crashed the festival spewing hate and intolerance, even resorting to violence against Pride goers. However these attackers were met with resistance from the LGBTQ community and its allies. Following the attack, the Hamilton Police Department proceeded to prosecute the very people who defended the LGBTQ community. Read More …

Hamilton Pride Defender Update! Some charges withdrawn, others going to trial

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Update from the Pride Defender Solidarity Committee and a solidarity statement from CUPE 3906

It has been nearly two years since Hamilton Pride was attacked by white supremacists, homophobes and fundamentalist Christians. Nearly two years have also passed since a group of determined people stood their ground and drove the attackers out of the park. In the aftermath of that bloody event, the Hamilton Police showed their true colours by dedicating their efforts to tracking down and identifying Pride Defenders, while letting all but one of the attackers off the hook (despite having clear video evidence at their disposal). Of the six Pride Defenders initially charged, three of those people are still facing charges today.

Two of those three people have recently accepted a peace bond that will see their charges effectively withdrawn. The peace bonds will come with one year of probationary conditions, which is essentially the same punishment doled out to Chris Vandeweide who was caught on film committing multiple brutal assaults both at Pride, and again the following weekend in Toronto. Read More …

Where do you stand? Pride action in the class war of Toronto gay village

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This pride week, residents of Toronto’s Queer Village woke up to a question they can no longer avoid answering: WHERE DO YOU STAND?

On June 26 2020, an ad hoc affinity group of queer and trans Village dwellers peppered the historically queer Church and Wellesley neighbourhood and the blocks surrounding — our turf — with circular floor decals, a now familiar feature of the pandemic urban landscape. Read More …

Response from The Tower to the “Pride in Hamilton” Report: We Want a World Without Cops, Not Another Investigation

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The independent report into policing around the Pride Hamilton 2019 festival was released Monday. Entitled “Pride in Hamilton” and carried out by lawyer Scott Bergman, it comes almost a year after the far-right attack on Pride and in the middle of a wave of demonstrations against police across the continent. It’s common following situations of particularly awful police behaviour for there to be a push for an independent review, and this report is a great example of why any hopes placed in them are so often in vain. Its primary goal is to have the Hamilton police get better at community policing, meaning controlling from within, and counterinsurgency, meaning pacifying social movements. They don’t come right out and say this though, so our hope here is to tease out those threads. Read More …

Hamilton: Charges Dropped Against 2 Pride Defenders

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After months and months of utter nonsense, it is with great joy we announce today that two of the Pride Defenders have just had their charges DROPPED! While we may never know the reasons for this victory, we know that the public pressure campaign could only have helped so thank you, thank you for your continued support.

Let’s take a moment to celebrate!!!!

But while we’re putting our party hats on, let’s also take a moment to remember that THREE queer comrades are still facing charges. It is important to note that the people still in the courts are the three who are alleged to have defended Pride from the homophobic preachers, while the charges that have been dropped were related to crybaby Fred calling the cops on queers who allegedly delivered him some lawn signs. We are still being criminalized for defending ourselves. Read More …

Camp Chaos Gays Farewell Statement

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For 3 days last weekend the chaos queers held an encampment at city hall that was more inclusive, productive, and community-centred space than the last 3 years of bureaucratic work going on inside.

We are some of the same queers Mayor Fred has called fake and tried to label as agitators; some of the same ones police have tried criminalizing. We are rebel queers; still resisting. Still loud. Always political. Still seeking and creating alternatives to the status quo. Who see what happened at Pride as a symptom of an ongoing issue in this city (and beyond) and a flashpoint; not a one-off event. Our identity and consistency makes it easy for them to try and label us as agitators, but not easy to shut us down. Read More …

Camp Chaos Gays: Day 1 Report

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We’re settling down into our first night at Camp Chaos Gays on the doorsteps of City Hall. It’s been a frantic day and we never really got to introduce ourselves. Hello Hamilton! We are the Chaos Gays – a smattering of queers, trans people, fags, fairies and divas enraged by what’s happening in this city. People who don’t have any aspirations of being Mayor Eisenberger’s tame LGB. . .T. . .whatever (nice try merulla) gays willing to tolerate his endless buffoonery in exchange for a seat at his table. We identify much more closely with his chaotic, fake-gay strawman, the people who will take it upon ourselves to defend Pride when it’s under attack, the folks who will play flutes on the Mayor’s doorstep when he’s being a twit, the ones who aren’t interested in begging for scraps of his recognition, but prefer instead to organize our own townhall discussions and figure out our own solutions.
And now we have a camp. Camp Chaos Gays! Everyone’s invited.
Except the Cops. Cops are absolutely not welcome here.
And to the cops lurking on the margins: We fucking see you. Read More …