Queer Nation NY: Our History

Queer Nation is an LGBT activist organization founded in New York City in March 1990 by AIDS activists from ACT UP/NY (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). The four founders — Tom Blewitt, Alan Klein, Michelangelo Signorile and Karl Soehnlein — were outraged by the escalation of violence against LGBT people in the streets of New York, and the continued existence of anti-gay discrimination in the culture at large. Our mission throughout our history has been to eliminate homophobia and increase LGBT visibility.

In the early 1990s, the group developed chapters in cities nationwide, including Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Portland, and San Francisco.

A chant used by the group during demonstrations, “We’re here! We’re Queer! Get used to it!” became a popular rallying cry.

Timeline of our original meeting and actions in New York:
(Updated 8/25/2016)

March 20, 1990:

Outraged at the escalation of anti-gay and -lesbian violence on the streets and prejudice in the arts and media, 60 queers gather at the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center (now called The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center) in the West Village to create a direct-action organization. The goal of the un-named organization is the elimination of homophobia, and the increase of gay and lesbian visibility through a variety of tactics.

April 4, 1990:

First official meeting of the still-unnamed group that was to become Queer Nation. Ideas presented at this meeting included building community through public and sex positive direct actions that would create safe spaces for lesbians and gay men. The group agreed to stage visibility actions – everywhere – that would “mystify, terrify and enchant.”

April 13, 1990:

Our inaugural action takes place at Flutie’s Bar, a straight hangout at South Street Seaport.  The goal: to make clear to patrons that queers will not be restricted to gay bars for socializing and for public displays of affection. This action becomes known as “Nights Out.”

April 20, 1990:

Queer Nation shows up at Macy’s Herald Square Department Store, where Olympic gold medalist Greg Louganis is promoting a new swimsuit line. Queers arrive with Wheaties cereal boxes with the swimmer’s picture  pasted on front, to recall the time the cereal maker rejected Louganis as a spokesperson, ostensibly because he is queer.

April 26, 1990:

Responding to the 120% increase in violence against queers in New York City, Queer Nation climbs to the roof of Badlands, a West Village bar, and hangs a 40-foot banner that reads “Dykes and Fags Bash Back!”

April 28, 1990:

A pipe bomb explodes in Uncle Charlie’s, a Greenwich Village gay bar, injuring three.  In protest, Queer Nation mobilizes 1,000 queers in a matter of hours.  Angry marchers fill the streets, carrying a banner that read “Dykes and Fags Bash Back.”

May 12, 1990:

The inauguration of  “Queer Shopping Network.”  Queer Nation travels to the Newport Mall in Jersey City, NJ with leaflets offering information about queers, safe sex tips, and a list of famous queers throughout history.  The leaflets are titled “We’re here, we’re queer and we’d like to say hello!”

May 12, 1990:

Queer Nation visits McSorley’s Irish Pub, a famed East Village bar, on our second Nights Out.

May 17, 1990:

Although the name Queer Nation has been used casually since the group’s inception, it is officially approved at our general meeting.

June 2, 1990:

After the White Horse Tavern’s management refuses to come to the aid of a queer being bashed in front the bar, Queer Nation targets the West Village drinking establishment for a Nights Out.

June 6, 1990:

Queer Nation calls for a “Youth Visibility Day” at Martin Luther King High School and La Guardia High School in Manhattan.  Queer Nation member Henry Diaz, a 17-year old LaGuardia student, for authors a pamphlet on gay youth.  After hearing Henry’s story, several students come out.

June 16, 1990:

Queer Nation calls for a massive demonstration targeting anti-queer violence. The event attracts 1,500 participants. Marchers cross the city from the West to East Villages, demanding police and government action to stop the increase in bias-motivated attacks. The four-hour march turns violent when marchers are pelted with eggs and insults by bystanders. Several skirmishes result.  As the march ends, three youths from Brooklyn’s Borough Park attack a group of marchers, assaulting them with a golf club, a knife, and a baseball bat, but are stopped by police and are arrested. Another man attempts to run marchers over with his car.

June 23, 1990:

The day before the Annual Gay Pride Parade, 500 Queer Nation and ACT UP members illegally march from Central Park to Union Square.  The action protests the New York City Parks Department’s refusal to allow the annual gay and lesbian rally to be held in Central Park. 

June 24, 1990:

Hundreds of Queer Nation members march in the Annual Gay Pride Parade behind a banner proclaiming, “Queer Nation… Get Used To It!”

July 12, 1990:

For a Nights Out event, Queer Nation invades Dorrian’s Red Hand, a popular straight hangout.

July 14, 1990:

Queer Nation holds a Nights Out event at Alcatraz, an East Village bar and hangout of suspected queer bashers.  The group proceeds to King Tut’s Wah-Wah Hut, another straight hangout, where Queer Nation members are threatened by management and patrons.

July 15, 1990:

Queer Nation marches through Brooklyn’s Borough Park, a multi-racial neighborhood and home of the three gay bashers arrested during the June 16th march.  Queer Nation rallies outside the homes of two bashers to alert the neighborhood that “your neighbors are bigots.”

July 19, 1990:

Queer Nation’s Youth Visibility Working Group meets with Dr. Marjorie Hill, Mayor Dinkins’ liaison to the gay and lesbian community, and with the New York City Teachers Union. The group discusses the lack of queer input in the city’s existing school curriculum examining cultural diversity.

July 22, 1990:

Members of Queer Nation and ACT UP/Long Island march through the exclusive Village of Muttontown, in the Town of Oyster Bay Long Island, to protest at the home of New York State Senator Ralph Marino.  The Senate Majority Leader was responsible for the defeat of New York’s “Hate Crimes” bill. 

July 28, 1990:

Queer Nation begins a series of visits to Life Ministries, a group that holds weekly prayer meetings to help queers “become straight.” Queer Nation continues to attend to provide confused gays and lesbians with positive role models.

July 28, 1990:

In response to two lesbian bashings in Park Slope, the Brooklyn Lesbians and Gays Against Hate Crimes organizes a march through the area. Queer Nation attends the event, which draws more than 600 people.

August 3, 1990:

Queer Nation marches on the Quebec Government House in Manhattan to protest flagrant brutality of queers by Montreal police during a July celebration.  Queer Nation receives a letter of concern from a government delegate, although Canadian demands for redress continue to be ignored.

August 14, 1990:

Queer Nation travels to Flushing Park, Queens, to confront the Baysiders, a fanatical religious sect, led by self-professed visionary Veronica Leuken. For many years, the Baysiders have demonstrated at Gay Pride events. 

August 18, 1990:

After the violent bashing murder of Jackson Heights, Queens, resident Julio Rivera, police refuse to classify the incident as a bias crime. Queer Nation joins with the Julio Rivera Anti-Violence Coalition of Queens in a march through this quiet neighborhood.  Protesters place candles at the murder site in a local schoolyard.

September 5, 1990:

Queer Nation invades Sports Bar, an Upper West Side bar, on a Nights Out.