About RESYST

It is our mission to work toward an acceptance of the multitude of queer identities and unite through the shared struggles that our differences create so that we can broaden our foundation to affect change. We intend to strengthen the queer liberation movement and inspire the abolition of heterosexism and homophobia in progressive groups through education, outreach, and direct action. We also aim to foster a radical queer community.

Getting in Touch

RESYST
c/o Thomas Merton Center
5125 Penn Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

ResystPittsburgh@yahoo.com
www.ThomasMertonCenter.org/RESYST

(412) 361-3022

RESYST History

RESYST started in 2002 as a small group of Thomas Merton Center members. Some of us had the experience of working with activists who considered themselves progressive but held very homophobic and heterosexist views. We also didn’t feel very comfortable in the company of a lot of mainstream LGBT folks/groups because of their tendency to work for equality with an assimilationist approach, not taking into account issues such as class and race, and leaving people behind – we wanted to work for liberation instead.

For the large January 2003 Regional Anti-War convergence, we organized a workshop called “Abolish Gender (roles), Abolish Patriarchy, Abolish War,” and we had a big Pink Bloc in the march and parade to insert an explicitly queer presence into that weekend. We also did some street theatre – a spin the missile game where participants had signs representing countries and people (such as Iran, Colombia, Syria, poor person of color living with AIDS, single mother on welfare) and then we played the traditional spin the bottle game for a while until a person masked up as George Bush took over and started purposefully aiming the missile at each person to intentionally destroy them.

That June we held the “Queer as Fuck” weekend of events in Pride Fest. The weekend included a workshop on privilege at the Gay Lesbian Community Center and a Pink and Black Bloc Bucket Drum Brigade in the actual march. We had RESYST speakers on the main stage talking about abolishing the military and ending war. We handed out a lot of literature with a more radical critique of the mainstream gay movement, and the following day we hosted some film screenings and discussions.

Later that month, we held an action at PA Sen. Rick Santorum’s office in response to the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling on sodomy law. We got in to speak with Rick’s aides about his rampant homophobia.

The following June (2004), we had another Pink Bloc/Drum Brigade in the annual march and a speaker on the main stage who made the connections between trans issues, homelessness, shelter discrimination and police brutality, from her own experience.

Since then, we’ve had a big pink/queer presence at other events, such as a Healthcare Not Warfare rally and march and other anti-war demonstrations. We’ve also tabled at non-queer specific activist events and at mainstream LGBT events.

This past June (2005) we again descended upon the annual Pride parade to oppose it’s corporatization and mainstreaming of queerness. The official theme, “Equal Rights, no more no less,” was again inadequate and offensive. Our theme was “To Hell with Equality…We want Liberation, much more, no less!” Sixty people clad in pink and black assembled downtown on Ross Avenue that morning and marched with the parade to the North Side. The Pittsburgh radical marching band and a bucket drum brigade provided beats, a color guard flag twirler, people on bikes, radical cheerleaders and a big Santorum puppet (that was later burned) added to the general hotness of the contingent.

See our Past Actions page for more info and copies of all our past calls.

Currently we’re hosting monthly dance parties to foster a radical community in Pittsburgh, one of our members is teaching a class on gender and sexuality and we’re working on a RESYST zine, in addition to other vital literature that needs to get out there.