On Monday January 16th – Martin Luther King Jr. Day – QuEST will be performing its “Our Liberation: Using Interactive Theatre to Untangle Oppression” workshop at the 28th Annual MLK Day Celebration at Edwards Church in Northampton.  The event starts at 11 am, and the workshop will be held from 11:30 to 12:30.  QuEST,  which stands for QUeer Empowerment thru Solidarity and Truth, is an interracial multi-generational collaboration within Out Now that strives to educate each other and the broader community about the intersectionality of oppression and the various systems, like the prison industrial complex (PIC) that feed and maintain our collective chains.  In this workshop, we talk about racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, and sexism, among other issues.  But we don’t stop there – together with the audience, we create solutions to everyday instances of oppression.  This is not the type of theatre to which you’re probably accustomed.  In this workshop, the audience becomes actors too (we call everyone ‘spect-actors’).  The workshop becomes a sort of dress rehearsal for real life – where participants discover and then perform ways to interrupt and intervene in oppressive situations.  Sound interesting?  Come to our workshop on Monday January 16th at Edwards Church in downtown Northampton.  Event starts at 11 am; our workshop begins at 11:30 am.

“We’re gonna beat. Back. The bigot’s attack! We’re gonna beat beat back that bigot’s attack!” Dozens of us crowded around the Holy Grounds Coffeehouse, bellowing these words with a combination of joy and anger. We were already feeling empowered, having spent the last fifteen minutes performing a scripted People’s Mic about the dangerous man in front of us. The People’s Mic is a tool used by the burgeoning Occupy/Decolonize Movement that utilizes peoples’ collective voices to amplify a single person’s words.

The Holy Grounds Coffeehouse, located on 455 State Street in Springfield MA, is home to the ministries of Scott Lively, an outspoken leader of the anti-gay movement, both nationally and internationally. He is most well-known for his involvement in Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill, and has played a role in developing legislation that criminalizes and disenfranchises LGBTQ people in various places throughout the world. His presence in Springfield endangers our LGBTQ community.

Our March Against Hate on November 18th made it clear to Lively and his supporters that we will not let his hateful rhetoric and action go unchecked. There are more of us than them, and we will continue to work to increase our visibility and power while also ensuring that their influence continues to diminish. Organized by Occupy Springfield (and endorsed by Out Now and Stop the Hate and Homophobia Coalition), the march and rally is an important step forward for grassroots organizing in Springfield, as wider layers of local activists are stepping up to take on homophobia and transphobia in their own organizing work.

Thanks to Joe Oliverio, for making such an awesome video of the event! You can see more of Joe’s videos about various social justice campaigns here.

 
On November 20th, Out Now staff and youth went bowling and we really queered up the joint! We were loud and proud. In addition to the theatrics, we were also pretty damn good! It was a great way to let off some stress after a crazy busy week, with the Scott Lively protest on the 18th and then the Bank of America sit-in and rally on the 19th. If you wanna join us next time, make sure to let us know.

Mark it on your calendars! On November 11th, QuEST youth will be bringing their “Our Liberation! Theatre” workshop to the Mass Mutual Center for the 2011 Transcending Boundaries National Conference.

On Monday, October 17th, Springfield residents took to the streets to demand an end to systemic inequality in the U.S. Starting at 8:30 am (and going strong ’til 5:30 pm) several dozen people converged on Court Square in downtown Springfield. With signs such as “We are the 99%”“64 Million in Poverty,” “Hey Bank of America: Suck my Debt,” and “No More Displacement,” among others – students, toddlers, nurses, mothers and fathers, teachers, and community activists joined together to proclaim:

WE’VE HAD ENOUGH! NO MORE CORPORATE GREED! WE ARE TAKING OUR COUNTRY and OUR DEMOCRACY BACK!

At 5:30, we marched to the steps of the City Hall, joining forces with community organizations like Arise for Social Justice and No One Leaves.

Close to 200 people came out to rally to TAKE BACK SPRINGFIELD. There were a few issues on the table: 1) In response to a couple groundbreaking anti-foreclosure ordinances passed by the Springfield City Council in August, Bank of America and the Mass Bankers’ Association are trying to sue the city of Springfield! 2) City Councillor Amaad Rivera is introducing a proposal to enable the city of Springfield to DIVEST all of its assets from Bank of America; and 3) Palmer Renewable Energy is attempting to build an air-polluting bio-mass plant even though the city council revoked their permit in June!

Rallying all day Monday and into the night, Springfield community members made it clear: We will not stand for this disgusting display of corporate greed in our city! Access to housing is a right! Access to clean air is a right! We will not back down!

Please Join us again this Monday, October 24th from 3 pm to 6 pm at Court Square in Springfield to continue growing the movement for justice in this city.

This Saturday, October 15th, from 12:00-5 pm will be the 2nd Annual Northampton Trans Civil Rights March and Rally (what’s up with all these 2nd-annual-events?).  The march will start at 12 noon at Lampron Park, while the rally will begin in the main sanctuary at First Churches (Main Street) at 1 pm.  Trans rights are so frequently ignored in the mainstream gay rights movement - which is why events like these are so important to raise the issues, demands, and visibility of trans folks.    

Please consider joining our queer youth contingent at the rally this Saturday – getting in touch with us beforehand at outnow@comcast.net!