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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyAugust 27th, 2009
Early Tuesday morning Maurice Schwenkler and another accomplice took hammers and broke eleven windows in the Denver Democratic Party headquarters.
What followed was the usual round of speculation and political nonsense in which first Democratic Party representatives accused the right of stirring up hate and then a Republican legislator accused the left of manufacturing a victim status for sympathy. It seems neither explanation fits. (Denver Post)
Schwenkler, who also goes by Ariel Attack, is a anarchist activist and is affiliated with Bash Back! (the group behind the disruption of morning services at a church in Lansing, Michigan, in May) and other anarchy groups.
Bash Back! is calling Schwenkler “transgendered”, though I do not know if Schwenkler has specifically identified as female and is seeking to live accordingly. It appears to me that perhaps Schwenkler has adopted a gender-queer identity which denies the binary nature of gender recognition. Such identity may have less to do with internal association with a female gender and have more to do with a political ideology that seeks the destruction of conventional norms.
But whether Schwenkler is gay or transgender or both or neither is not relevant. The action s/he took is indefensible. It is reprehensible. And we strongly condemn it.
Ultimately, taking action of this sort is not “revolutionary”. It is not based in a real sense of seeking justice for indignity. It is not the brave work of those seeking a better world. Rather it is the immature acting out of an individual that sees the world through the prism of their own self-assigned martyr status and who selfishly tries to destroy anything they cannot own or control.
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KZ
August 27th, 2009
So there appears to be some speculation that this Schwenkler might be transgendered. Great. Now LaBarbera(or any other anti-gay activist) can make another baseless claim.
“It’s the fault of the LGBT Community. Sexual deviants really are trying to destroy our moral society!”
gonovelgo
August 27th, 2009
I’ve never understood people who think that vandalism is an acceptable or even effective form of protest. Smashing windows does nothing but inconvenience people – most likely people who have absolutely nothing to do with running of whatever movement has roused your ire.
A.E.
August 27th, 2009
Trans Fail. Bash Back! isn’t calling anyone anything. The Colorado Independent article called Ariel Attack “transgendered”. The source article (from anarchistnews.org, which says it’s nonsectarian) for the CI article unambiguously genders Ariel female. So why use her legal name over her chosen name? Why on earth do you feel the need to speculate about and invalidate her gender? And “s/he”?! When in (legitimate) doubt, use gender-neutral pronouns. But if Ariel’s gender is as irrelevant to this story as you say it is, why is that paragraph even in this post? Though given that she’s a trans person in jail and the history of police transphobia, I don’t think her gender is irrelevant at all. What you said about her gender is irrelevant.
Evan
August 27th, 2009
I really don’t understand why the hell this group exists. Honestly.
In the year 2009, the collective left has no use for these sorts of malcontented children.
If nothing else, though, I suppose this makes for a teaching moment. I know of no one on the mainstream left, or in the mainstream gay community, who would support the activities of this group. Meanwhile, the Republican party continues to give their crazies every platform they can.
Thaniel
August 27th, 2009
Stupid pointless stunt. What was the idea here, kids? Were the Colorado Democratic Party’s windows oppressing you in some way? Vandalism is *not* a rvolutionary act, idiots. You hate the State? Fine. We get that. But do the work: build something better. (But that would be hard & take a long time, wouldn’t it?) This reminds me of a girl I knew in high school who clogged all the school’s toilets; when they asked her why, she said, “To protest the Vietnam War.”
I live in Denver. I’m trans. And I say, go help someone else, far away from here.
Mattilda Sycamore
August 28th, 2009
Hmmm, I didn’t realize anyone had confessed to this particular act of property destruction — what exactly is the point of this condemnation, and why is it directed at a particular person?
CLS
August 28th, 2009
While these morons call themselves “anarchsits” they are not. They are nihilists and that is not the same thing. But I’ve found that very few of the so-called “anarchists” today actually have any idea as to what anarchism, in its various strains, taught. It isn’t running around trying to destroy everything — that is nihilism. I’m no anarchist myself but I have enough respect for the actual tradition of anarchism to see these thugs as besmirching anarchism, not promoting it.
John Edwards
August 29th, 2009
Wow. Was it really necessary to go all “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” on her?
She allegedly broke a few windows at the Democratic HQ in Denver. The Democrats…you know, the same party that recently escalated the slaughter in Afghanistan, with the President who is chuckling that LGBT people actually bought his “big tent of hope and change” routine.
“WE CONDEMN ARIEL ATTACK (for breaking a few windows)!”
How brave of you to take such a stand!
Are you so desperate to be accepted by the hetero world that you felt the need to do Rush Limbaugh’s job for him?
What a good little gay you are! Yes you are!!! Maybe the heteros will let you join them at the adult’s table now.
Pathetic.
Burr
August 29th, 2009
No. It’s about having a consistent message (no violence) and beating the asshats to the punch before letting them claim we’re all for this. On the other side, their silence and reluctance to condemn violence against us speaks volumes.
Timothy Kincaid
August 29th, 2009
Oh, would that I had Jonathan Edwards’ gift of linguistics.
Then perhaps I would have said “The God that holds Ariel Attack over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors her, and is dreadfully provoked.”
Ah, yes, that’s better.
Ephilei
August 29th, 2009
A person can identify as both genderqueer and transgender. I do. I’d wager most people who use “genderqueer” for themselves also use “transgender.” But at that point, it becomes more about the semantics of “transgender” than about the person’s actual gender.
JJQR
August 30th, 2009
John Edwards, the reason they’re condemning the alleged window-smasher is because it was Dem H.Q. that was vandalized. If it was a Repub. HQ they’d be praising it.
Priya Lynn
August 30th, 2009
Now JJQR, don’t be silly.
Burr
August 30th, 2009
Yeah because there was plenty of praise for those lesbians attacking those anti-equality sign holders..
GROUND SUPPORT
September 17th, 2009
I went to high school with “HER”…. and I am cracking up right now. I guess a lot has changed since we graduated. I am sure it will all be worth it to go to jail for 6 years for breaking windows which will have little affect on the democratic party. Way to think things through….haha.
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