Instagram Post – YouTube Censorship (social issue)

Erin Armstrong’s video about her recently deceased grandmother was marked as restricted by YouTube because in it she talked about her trans identity.

Last year, some videos from LGBTQ+ YouTubers were marked as restricted. Usually videos are restricted for containing explicit content, but the marked videos didn’t contain explicit content. The restriction meant that minors could not view the videos, which are used by many as a source of information and consolation. Furthermore, restricted videos cannot run ads, and some creators rely significantly on ad revenue for income. Eventually, YouTube uncensored the videos, but only under extreme pressure.

Sources: http://www.newnownext.com/youtube-censorship-lgbt-monetize/05/2017/, https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/19/youtube-updates-its-policies-after-lgbtq-videos-were-blocked-in-restricted-mode/

Instagram Post 5: Cassils (Art)

Cassils, a trans performing artist, displayed 200 gallons of their own urine in New York City in 2017. This performance piece, part of the exhibit entitled “#PISSED,” was intended to protest the Trump administration’s rollback of federal  guidelines instructing schools that transgender students are to be allowed to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.  This rollback makes it even more difficult for trans students to use the bathroom that they identify with. Cassils collected their urine every day since February of 2017 for approximately 200 days to show the burden that this rollback would inflict on trans students.

Image Received From:

https://www.out.com/art-books/2017/9/27/queer-artist-collected-200-gallons-urine-protest-federal-trans-bathroom-guidelines

Instagram 4 – AIDS Die In Protests (social issue)

The AIDS epidemic hit the LGBTQ+ community hard in the 1990s. Despite it’s large impact on multiple communities, the AIDS epidemic was largely ignored by the political administration. Pat Buchanan infamously said, “The poor homosexuals. They have declared war on nature and now nature is exacting an awful retribution” (Rimmerman). Die ins, like the one shown above, were used as a form of protest and a way to gain awareness for the issues faced. Organizations like ACT UP called for political action and funding of AIDS research.

 

Photo by Chuck Stallard June 1990

Image Received From: ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll4/id/375/rec/54

Additional Citation:

Craig Rimmerman, “The Conflict Over HIV/AIDS Policy,” in The Lesbian and Gay Movements. Assimilation or Liberation? (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2015), 33-74.

Instagram 3 – Major! Documentary (film)

The documentary Major! consists of a series of interviews with Miss Major, a trans woman of color and activist who seeks reform the criminal justice system. Throughout the film Miss Major identify’s a number of obstacles trans women face on a  daily basis. Whether it is coming out and not being accepted, homelessness, sex work, or the prison system, Miss Major seeks criminal reform for the safety of her “children” and “grandchildren.” Miss Major explains how many times sex work is one of the only forms of work that trans women can get. This often leads to their arrest where they face increased rates of physical and sexual violence as well as unjust solitary confinement within the prison system. Miss Major hopes to use her activism to reform the prison system and protect trans women.

Image Received From: http://archive.transgenderuniverse.com/2016/03/10/people-profile-miss-major/

Instagram post – Rainbow Pride Flag (art)

Colors of the original pride flag. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a photograph of either of the first two pride flags.

The original pride flag, designed by Gilbert Baker, was first displayed at the 1979 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Thirty volunteers dyed and stitched the first two flags. Each color held a meaning. From top to bottom, the colors signify sex, life, healing, sunlight, nature, magic/art, serenity, and spirit. The significance of this original piece is clear, as a slightly modified version with fewer colors is still used globally as a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride.

Photo credit: By Gilbert Baker (Vector graphics by Fibonacci) – SVG based on this image, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=685391

Instagram post – Harvey Milk (person)

Harvey Milk less than a year before being assasinated

Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to office in California. Milk ran for office in San Francisco and was elected to the Board of Supervisors. He passed a significant piece of gay rights legislation, but after less than eleven months in office, Dan White, a disgruntled former city supervisor, assassinated Milk. Because of his vision of a future where all people were treated equally, Milk is an unsung hero in the gay rights movement.

 

Photograph by Ted Sahl, Kat Fitzgerald, Patrick Phonsakwa, Lawrence McCrorey, Darryl Pelletier – http://digitalcollections.sjlibrary.org, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53876020

Instagram Post – Marsha P. Johnson and NYU Protests (Event)

This picture is from an event the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA) hosted to protest the prohibition by the school of two dances for LGBTQ+ folk. On the left is Marsha P. Johnson, handing out flyers in support of queer students at NYU. She and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) focused specifically on trans students because they knew the GAA wouldn’t. This picture is especially powerful to me because it recognizes and legitimizes the place trans women played in the gay rights movement. (STAR First Pamphlet, 1970)

Instagram Post 2

Gus Kentowrthy, Adam Rippon, and Brittany Bowe are making history by being the first out queer athletes to represent the United States at the Winter Olympics. All three athletes are providing role models for other LGBTQ+ athletes at every level of athletics. Something to consider, however, is how few out athletes they are and  how only recently these athletes have felt comfortable enough to share parts of their identities with the world. It begs the question as to why gay athletes might not feel comfortable being themselves. How can the USOC  use Kentworthy, Rippon, and Bowe to show that all athletes are welcome to participate in the Olympics?

Gus Kenworthy stars in Head & Shoulders advert [Digital image]. (2108, January 22). Retrieved February 12, 2018, from https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/gus-kenworthy-celebrates-place-us-olympics-team-starring-gay-ad/#gs.NpDJD2M

Instagram post – Compton’s Cafeteria (landmark)

#LGBTQexperiencesUSA #Riot #LGBTQ #SanFrancisco
Building with the sign “Gene Comptons.”

The 1966 riot at Compton’s, a cafeteria frequented by queer people in San Francisco in the 1960’s, holds a forgotten place in LGBTQ+ history. Like many LGBTQ+ meeting places at the time, Comton’s was frequently raided by police. One night, a transgender patron threw her coffee at an officer, inciting a riot, one of the handful of pre-Stonewall instances of resistance to police violence against queer people. The event demonstrates that important happenings are often forgotten to history when influential people are not involved.

Source: http://hoodline.com/2015/06/tenderloin-pride-remembering-the-compton-s-cafeteria-riot

Instagram Post 1: Sylvia Rivera

Sylvia Rivera was an important part of the LGBTQ movement. From being credited to the first person to throw a beer starting the Stonewall Riots to reaching out to her community through her cofounded STAR organization that aimed to help gay and homeless youth it’s hard to deny that she played a central role in history. And not just the LGBTQ movement and history as well know it today. Rather, she represents the fight for equality for gay trans people of color.

Photo credit to Angelica Becerra http://angelicabecerra.bigcartel.com/product/palabra-series-sylvia-rivera