3/17: Irish cops should GET immigrant rights. Protest NYPD criminalization of immigrants.

Friday March 17, 1-2:30pm

50th St/West Side Highway, at Pier 90
Protest outside NYPD Emerald Society's St. Patrick’s Day party. 

This St. Patrick's Day, tell the NYPD to celebrate ALL of New York's immigrants.

Stop targeting communities of color.

Stop helping ICE deport New Yorkers.

Please RSVP if possible, thanks!
https://www.facebook.com/events/681203075395042


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The NYPD officers’ union says they’re eager to help ICE deport immigrant New Yorkers.

NYPD officers celebrating Irish heritage on March 17 should recall that their Irish grandparents fled violence and hunger, and were persecuted because they weren’t considered white in the US. But NYPD union boss Ed Mullins says these cops want to help ICE deport Latinx & Muslim immigrants for Trump.

Broken Windows policies allow the NYPD to deliver New York's immigrants into ICE's hands. Aggressive policing of low-level offenses needlessly arrests hundreds of black and brown people every week, including immigrants. Arrests make people extremely vulnerable to deportation, regardless of whether they committed a crime. Mayor DeBlasio refuses to rein in these NYPD tactics.

White people -- including white immigrants -- are mostly left out of Broken Windows arrests, at the NYPD's discretion.

It's racist, anti-immigrant, and dangerous.

For immigrants' safety, and for our communities: Stop Broken Windows policing.

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Join Irish Queers, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Community Voices Heard, SURJ NYC and others (list in formation.)Protest discriminatory policing that helps ICE deport New Yorkers.

For more information, 917-517-3627

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Resolutions 2016: Refusing white supremacy

Some of us may be wizened old queers with crusted-over hearts, but even we can find promise in the New Year. 2015 has been a tough year for hope. But -- mercifully -- white privilege has been made so stark that it has completely undone the idea of bystanders. We're all in the soup, and it's how we swim around in it that makes the difference.

Here are some ideas for pledges to white people to avoid supporting white supremacy, where we have the power to do it. Also some links that are related, but that definitely don't contain all the answers. It's just a starting point for thinking about how 2016 can be different because we make it so.

I WILL NOT...

• patronize restaurants or other venues where the front staff are all white, and the kitchen/rear staff are all people of color.
  Ethical eating app (ROC NYC)

• call or involve police as a substitute for attempting to resolve problems with strangers or take care of another person.
  ChiCopWatch

• send my kids to a segregated school or a school where tracking (like Gifted & Talented programs) effectively separates kids by income or race.
  Gentrification doesn't fix schools (Nikole Hanna-Jones/Grist)

• rent an apartment from which another person has been evicted -- and I will ask why an apartment is vacant before renting it.
  Rent Responsibly App

• move into a neighborhood or space where people of color are being displaced.
  Before It's Gone//Take It Back

• profit from black (or indigenous, or other subjugated people's) culture, whether financially or socially.
  Black Art Is Not A Free-For-All (Nadijah Robinson/Black Girl Dangerous)

I WILL...

• choose local/small vendors over chains, particularly small businesses owned by people of color -- even if it means buying something different (a drip coffee instead of a latte?) from what I might have planned.
  A Year of Shopping Only At Black Businesses (Mother Jones) 
  5 Way To Support Black-Owned Businesses (Mashable)

• seek out local and non-mainstream cultural performance by people of color and indigenous people.
  We Want the Airwaves 
  Nuyorican Poets Cafe

• make a practice of greeting the people I see regularly on the street in my neighborhood, as a way of refusing the separation that supports racism, fear, and predatory policing (and also other violence.)
  Safe Outside the System (SOS) 
  To Reduce Gun Violence, Know Thy Neighbor (Andrew Giambrone/The Atlantic)

• cop-watch as a matter of habit: I will openly observe police on the street when they are questioning or arresting someone, and ask the person under police control if they are okay or need help.
  Color Of Change on CopwatchNYC

• participate in at least two public protests or actions each year that have been organized by people of color contesting white supremacy -- in person, not online.
  NYC Shut It Down

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Letter & Card writing to prisoners -- second Sundays of the month

Please join Irish Queers' second Sunday of the month letter and card writing to prisoners, and pass along info to others. (Featuring tea and snacks, obv!)

3-5 pm, Sunday:  January 11, February 8, and March 8

Call or email for address!

irishqueers@gmail.com

t. 212.289.1101.

(The apartment has an old codger of a dog for those that might have a dog allergy.) 

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Protest Eric Garner verdict - Thurs. 12/4 at 5:30pm

Many protests are planned for tonight and tomorrow in the wake of the failure to indict Eric Garner's killer.
Irish Queers are going together tomorrow (Thursday) at 5:30pm, Foley Square.
Please join us -- text 917-517-3627 to find us.

Others tonight include:
5pm Times Square
7pm Union Square
7pm Rockefeller Center/Christmas Tree lighting

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Protest TONIGHT -- against white supremacy & for Black lives.

Outrage, grief, solidarity, action.
5pm at Union Square today - Tuesday Nov. 25
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NOV. 25 -- EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROTEST TO THE FERGUSON GRAND JURY! INDICT Darren Wilson!

In NYC, gather at Union Square Park, 17th Street South Side 5pm on TUESDAY 11/25

https://www.facebook.com/events/367725876729641/

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Join IQ for prisoner letter writing, monthly.

Irish Queers is meeting monthly for political prisoner letter-writing! Please contact us to be added to the announcement list for letter-writing plus eats, drinks, and/or good company.

For October we'll be joining ABC's letter-writing/vegan dinner this coming Tuesday, Oct. 14 @ 7pm. After that, we'll be Irish Queers-ing it up with our own writing/meetings, in addition to supporting other folks' events.

Here's ABC's event description. Please come!

WHAT: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner
WHEN: 7pm (sharp), Tuesday, October 14th, 2014
WHERE: CAGE – 83A Hester Street (UPSTAIRS) New York, New York 10002 (directions below)
COST: Free

Have you ever been squarely punched in the nose? If so, you know how disorienting it is. Of course there’s the pain, but with the punch comes a lot of blood and a shockwave through your skull. Your head gets rocked back and the violence is all too palpable. The language and imagery of violence is again (still?) in vogue, popularized by folks who have likely never meted out or received much of it. It’s difficult for us in NYC ABC not to feel disgusted when we see this trend followed in radical communities, knowing the kind of violence our friends and comrades regularly endure. 

It is with violence and a radical defense against it in mind that we focus our next political prisoner letter-writing dinner on Luke O’Donovan. On New Year’s Eve of 2013, Luke was seen dancing with and kissing other men at a house party. Later in the night he was insulted with homophobic slurs, and attacked by several people. Luke unsuccessfully attempted to escape, at which point several witnesses reported watching between 5 and 12 men ganging-up on Luke and stomping on his head and body, evidently with the intent to kill him. Luke was called a faggot before and during the attack. Throughout the course of the attack, Luke and five others were stabbed. Luke was subsequently imprisoned and charged with five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as well as one count of attempted murder while none of the other individuals involved in the altercation were charged. 

Luke’s trial concluded on August 12, 2014, when he accepted a plea deal. While initially facing over 100 years in prison, the deal Luke accepted includes two years in prison and eight years on probation. At the time of sentencing, the judge added to the negotiated plea that Luke will bebanished from the state of Georgia for the eight years of his probation.
We’re lucky to have a guest speaker who was in Atlanta for Luke’s court proceedings and will have more information on Luke’s case and ways to help.
While we expect to see you on Tuesday, if you can’t make it, please take the time to write a letter to Luke: 

Luke Patrick O’Donovan #1001372271Washington State PrisonPost Office Box 206Davisboro, Georgia 31018 

The deal, as always, is that you come bringing only yourself (and your friends and comrades), and we provide you with a delicious vegan meal, information about the prisoners as well as all of the letter-writing materials and prisoner-letter-writing info you could ever want to use in one evening. In return, you write a thoughtful letter to a political prisoner or prisoner of war of your choosing or, better yet, keep up a long-term correspondence. We’ll also provide some briefupdates and pass around birthday cards for the PP/POWs whose birthdays fall in the next two weeks thanks to the PP/POW Birthday Calendar. 

DIRECTIONS:
Getting to CAGE is simple:
From the J/M/Z:
Essex Street Stop: Walk west on Delancey Street (toward Essex Street, away from Norfolk Street) and make a left on Essex Street. Walk three blocks and turn right onto Hester Street. We’re two and a half blocks down, on the right.
From the F:
East Broadway Stop: Walk north on Rutgers Street (toward East Broadway, away from Henry Street), that becomes Essex Street, and turn left on Hester Street. We’re two and a half blocks down, on the right.
From the B/D:
Grand Street Stop: Walk east on Grand Street (Toward Forsyth Street, away from Chrystie Street) and turn right on Orchard Street. Walk one block and turn right onto Hester Street. We’re a few storefronts down on the right.
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch. Otherwise, we’ll see you at supper.
This event is brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Anarchist Black Cross.
–
NYC ABC
Post Office Box 110034
Brooklyn, New York 11211
nycabc[at]riseup[dot]net
http://nycabc.wordpress.comhttp://www.facebook.com/nycabchttp://twitter.com/nycabchttp://instagram.com/nycabchttp://www.abcf.net/nycFree all Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War!
For the Abolition of State Repression and Domination!

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Sign petition to Commissioner Bratton!

The St. Patrick's Day parade is such a bastion of bias that the Mayor can't march, the City Council can't march, and sponsors are dropping out. So why on earth would the NYPD think it's okay to march? Commissioner Bratton refused to even acknowledge the issue until reporters prodded him. Then his only answer was "I have a gay sister." That doesn't cut it.

Please sign and SHARE this petition to Commissioner Bratton. He gets an email every time someone signs it, so step on up -- we can make 2014 the last year for NYPD homophobia on parade.

https://www.change.org/petitions/nypd-commissioner-bratton-the-nypd-doesn-t-have-a-free-speech-right-to-discriminate-pull-uniformed-nypd-contingents-out-of-the-religious-right-homophobic-st-patrick-s-day-parade

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Press release: LGBTQ & Policing Groups To Protest NYPD @ NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade

PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release

Contact: Emmaia Gelman (917) 517-3627

Date: March 14, 2014

LGBTQ Groups & Policing Groups Will Protest NYPD Contingents in Discriminatory St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Parade Committee claims “private, religious” exemption from NYC anti-discrimination ruling -- but City agencies don’t have “free speech right” to bypass anti-bias rules.

Pre-protest press conference: Monday 3/17, 10:30am (30 mins before parade). Between 56th & 57th Sts, west side of Fifth Ave.

New York – LGBTQ groups and allies plan to protest the large contingents of uniformed New York City police and firefighters marching in the antigay NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade this Monday, March 17. The parade’s unwavering homophobia has led Mayor de Blasio and the City Council to formally join the long-standing boycott this year.

Organizations will include Irish Queers, the Anti-Violence Project, Queer Nation, New Alternatives for LGBT Youth, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Brooklyn Lambda Independent Democrats, VOCAL-NY, JFREJ Campaign for Police Accountability, and others.

“The homophobic bigotry of this parade is reaffirmed each year by the organizers. The NYPD’s insistence on sending huge uniformed contingents every year, makes it clear that the rights of our communities don’t concern them. Commissioner Bratton hasn’t even acknowledged the community’s outrage. If the NYPD and the City refuses to uphold their own anti-bias rules, how can we trust police officers with our safety?” said JF Mulligan of Irish Queers.

The NYC Human Rights Commission found that the parade, as a public event, could not discriminate against LGBTQ people. However, a federal court granted parade organizers’ claim that the parade is not public, but actually a “private, religious procession.” Parade organizers say allowing gay Irish groups to march, or allowing individual marchers to identify themselves as LGBTQ, would contradict Catholic doctrine that opposes homosexuality.

The parade controversy has heated up this year with the Mayor’s announcement that he would boycott, with battles over draconian religious anti-gay legislation in Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi and Missouri.

“At a time when we are horrified by laws in Arizona and elsewhere that would deny public services to LGBTQ people, it’s particularly ironic that NYC would allow its police and firefighters to march in a parade that’s so notoriously homophobic,” said Alan Levine, attorney for Irish Queers.

“The parade organizers claim a right to discriminate, in private, in order to get around the Human Rights Commission’s anti-discrimination ruling. If the NYPD – a public agency – now claims its own ‘free speech right’ to join in that private, religious discrimination, we’re on a dangerous path that feels a lot like Arizona’s,” said Mulligan.

Irish ministers are also boycotting the Fifth Avenue parade, with the exception of the conservative Irish taoiseach (prime minister). The government has been bitterly split over his decision to attend. A coalition of Ireland’s top political parties, including the taoiseach’s own party, have published a video condemning the parade and refuting its connection to Irish culture. LGBTQ groups have published a letter calling on him to boycott. Web links follow.

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For more information: http://irishqueers.blogspot.com

“In St. Pat’s Dispute, Free Speech is Not the Issue” Gay City News, 3/5/14

http://gaycitynews.com/tag/st-patricks-day-parade/

“New York mayor out of step with St Patrick's Day march over anti-gay ban: Bill de Blasio is the first New York mayor for 21 years to boycott the St Patrick's Day parade over its ban on gay participants – but is he doing enough?” The Guardian, 3/8/14

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/08/new-york-mayor-de-blasio-st-patricks-parade-gay-ban

“Why the Taoiseach should not join the St Patrick’s Day parade

Opinion: Our Irishness is pluralist and non-sectarian”, Irish Times, 3/11/14

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/why-the-taoiseach-should-not-join-the-st-patrick-s-day-parade-1.1719160?page=2

“New York St. Patrick’s parade no place for my child” IrishCentral.com, 3/12/14

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/politics/New-York-St-Patricks-parade-no-place-for-my-child-.html

“Irish parliamentarians support St Pats for All” 2/28/14

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDqxq1YgOhg

“Dear Enda” - Irish LGBTQ groups call on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to boycott or break antigay parade rules.

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2014/03/13/dear-enda-2/

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"Dear Enda": Irish LGBTQ groups call on the Taoiseach to break bigoted rules.

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2014/03/13/dear-enda-2/

Dear Enda

Admin at 10:02 am March 13, 2014

[Enda Kenny at the New York St Patrick's Day parade, and a LGBT pin]

We the undersigned wish to express our strong concerns regarding your proposed participation in the St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City. By singling out openly LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) groups for exclusion from the parade, the organisers are sending out a message of discrimination and intolerance towards a section of the community and diaspora who deserve to have their contribution to the global Irish family celebrated and recognised on the same basis as everyone else.

It has been claimed, disingenuously, that because no group is allowed to display overtly political banners, the prohibition on LGBT people depicting any sign or symbol that would identify them as openly lesbian or gay is not discriminatory.

This is a claim that our identities are inherently political, which is false. Our organisations are first and foremost about community and visibility, not any political beliefs. The many other groups who make up the Irish-American community are all allowed to march under banners identifying who they are so we are clearly being subjected to a discriminatory double standard.

You gave a very welcome personal vow last November to actively campaign for what you describe as the ‘equality issue of gay marriage’ in next year’s referendum. You are also on record as stating that you are “proud to stand here as a public representative, a Taoiseach who happens to be a Catholic but not a Catholic Taoiseach. A Taoiseach for all of the people, that’s my job”. These were crucially important statements about the kind of Ireland you envision. You have an opportunity to serve as an ambassador for these same modern and inclusive values, ones which are shared by the vast majority of Irish people, at home and abroad.

Therefore, we strongly urge you to decline to march in the St Patrick’s Day Parade in New York next week – an honourable stance adopted by the city’s Mayor, Bill De Blasio, and the New York City Council. The exclusionary policies of the organisers are completely at odds with the statements you have made around these issues.  If, however, withdrawal at this stage is problematic, we ask that you wear the rainbow-flag lapel-pin [above] as a sign of solidarity with the Irish and Irish-American LGBT communities.

Where we are banned from marching and representing ourselves, our organisations and our community, you can act as our representative, our “Taoiseach for all of the people”, and show New York, Ireland and the world the values of our proud, inclusive and modern Ireland, that draws strength from our traditions but has dispensed with the damaging prejudices of the past.

LGBT Noise
National LGBT Federation (NXF)
Marriage Equality
Gay Switchboard Ireland
INTO LGBT Teachers Group
Atheist Ireland
Dundalk Outcomers
Union Of Students In Ireland (USI)
SIPTU LGBTQ
BeLonG To Youth Services
ShoutOut
LGBT Lawyers Association of Ireland
Trans Student Network Alliance
Action For Russia
Senator Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan
Senator David Norris
Senator Averil Power
Panti Bliss – Rory O’Neill
John Halligan TD
Clare Daly TD
Ailbhe Smyth, Feminist campaigner

Add yours below if you wish.

FIGHT!

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Solidarity with Nigerian LGBTs/human rights... plus, new email scam.

In solidarity with the global protest today against Nigeria's anti-gay law…This wave of legislation is such a postcolonial mess. Let's take our cues from activists across Africa directly. Here's one such source with connections to more.
http://www.genderjustice.org.za/
http://www.genderjustice.org.za/updates/highlights/2001514-african-groups-call-for-the-african-union-to-urgently-respond-to-gender-and-sexuality-rights-violations-in-africa-and-particularly-to-anti-gay-laws-recently-passed-in-uganda-and-nigeria.html

On that note, a seemingly scam fundraising letter is already going around, so a reminder to do your due diligence when supporting causes so that your $ goes to people really doing the work of justice.

Fresh new email scam...
>From: African Center for Gay & Lesbian Human RIghts
>Re: Request to raise funds for a noble cause
>Dear Sir,
>It is our mission to promote Gay/Lesbianism globally...Without the assistance of community minded individuals just like you,we wouldn't be able to serve and promote our activities. We ask that you make a commitment to support our forth-coming programe and publication of our magazine appeal by making a cash donation.

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