This is a very unusual posting for me. Usually I only show my own photos and my own words. Today, I'm moved to post, with their permission, a collaboration between the artist Kaen Neuman and the poet Ron Kolm. It's called "Death is a Soldier."
The poem and the painting play off each other, magnifying the words, intensifying the experience of the image.
https://kayester.blogspot.com/2022/07/ron-kolm-and-karen-neuman-death-is.html
Before setting off on the march, the protesters and allies gathered in Foley Square.
I wandered around with my camera.
This is the first batch of candid photos taken of the gathering of the people.
Permalink
https://kayester.blogspot.com/2022/07/nyc-queer-liberation-march-6262022.html
This will be the last posting with portraits. The next posts will be from within the march itself.
With these we've set off and are marching. The route took us from Foley Square to Chambers Street to Church Street and uptown on Sixth Avenue.
This photos were taken in Foley Square and along the march route.
There was a strong sense of solidarity among the marchers and as old and as straight as I am, I wasn't the oldest and I wasn't the only straight as allies are coming out to join the movement. We need to let our flags fly and if we are freaks, then the freak flags are waving because we've taken as much as we can take and we aren't taking any more.
We shouldn't have to wait for Clarence Thomas to have a fatal heart attack nor for Samuel Alito to choke on his own bile. The Supreme Court has shown itself to be the heart of injustice and more partisan than ever. If we can't take it back in the Senate, we'll have to take it back at the polls, and if that fails because the majority's been gerrymandered into a permanent electoral minority, then we will have to take the streets and fight every way we can.
Here are some people I'm proud to stand with!
Here's more pictures from the Queer Liberation March last Sunday.
There is a difference between a parade and a march. I think a parade is what you have after a victory - ticker tape parades for returning astronauts, parades for victorious teams and most notably, parades for returning soldiers.
A march what you do when you are setting out to do something - win a war, whether military, social or economic but you haven't gotten there yet.
The Pride Parade celebrates the victories for homosexual rights in the United States and elsewhere. The Queer Liberation March is there to show strength and determination to continue the process, because it sure as hell ain't over yet here in the USA and in much of the world. LGBTQIA2S+ can't rest on its victories any more than we can stop showing pride for what we've achieved to date.
Keep on marching!
https://kayester.blogspot.com/2022/07/portraits-from-nyc-queer-liberation_01924372547.html
Here is the first group of pictures from the Queer Liberation March.
These were taken at Foley Square in downtown Manhattan, where the people gathered in preparation for the peaceful, uncommercial, moderate and radical march to Washington Square. They began to arrive around 1PM for the 2PM start. There were several thousand there when I arrived a few minutes after 1PM.
I wandered through the crowd, chatting with some of the people and taking photos. I asked a number of people if it was okay for me to take a photo for this blog and all of these agreed to gently strike their own pose for me.
Everyone I spoke with, everyone with a sign was there either as part of or to support as ally the community of LGBTQIA2S+ and other people under assault for otherness whether gender, race, ethnicity or immigration status. They also stood firmly for keep reproductive rights available for all.
I'll post more portraits and later, photos from the gathering and the march.
Permalink
https://kayester.blogspot.com/2022/07/portraits-from-nyc-queer-liberation.html
