Radicalizing Netroots Part 2.

This is the second in a two-part review of Ian Awesome's adventures at Netroots Nation. Click here to read part 1.


The next day started off with chuckles. Daniel introduced me to the most ridic spoof of Jem (remember? From the 80s?) on YouTube that could ever be made.

Warning: extremely offensive. Do not play around children. Do not play around elderly people. Do not play in the workplace. In fact, you probably just shouldn't click play.

This, in fact, turned out to be the highlight of my day. After spending all day going to panels and trying to find fellow revolutionaries (and Tweeting an insane amount of Tweets about the Radicals' Caucus the next day) I headed out to a couple receptions (one of which was about marriage equality. I, while welcome, definitely drew some curious looks. Why was I there again? Oh yeah. Free booze) and then joined Joe Jervis and co. for the Providence JoeMyGod meetup. Hilarity and more drunkenness ensued.

The next day was definitely far more action-packed. We started off with the LGBT caucus, which invited a politician (no, I don't remember who, politicians kind of bore me) to speak. Note: "He has a 100% equality rating with the HRC!!!" isn't exactly a shining endorsement. We also received official White House copies of Barack Obama's pride proclamation.

Zach Wahls and myself. Photo taken by Jamie McGonnigal.

Also, Zach Wahls, famed for his impassioned speech to the Iowa legislature on behalf of his two moms (and the most Tweeted about, swooned-over member of the LGBT caucus) called me a cutie pie.

We had our unofficial, unsponsored Radicals' Caucus, and I'm happy to report it went well. We started by identifying our key issues (police oppression, decolonization, anti-capitalist organizing) and then brainstormed how we would support each other in our blogging efforts. We agreed that we would push for more politically challenging content at the next Netroots conference, shook hands, exchanged information, and promised to keep in touch.

The highlight: I was not, surprisingly, the only out-and-proud anarchist at the conference. Neat.

After the Caucus I stepped out for a smoke and a chat with FarmerChuck of the Daily Kos. This was cut short, as a member of Occupy Providence ran up to me, breathless. Her comrades, she explained, had been marching through the nearby mall. Arrests were happening. I was needed. I took off at a run, ducking into the hotel and sprinting through the skyway bridge connecting the mall to the Westin.

As I hurtled through the doors, sweating, panting Occupiers were running the other way. "Don't go in!" they warned me. "Is shit going down?" I responded. "Yeah. They're arresting everyone."

So of course I went in.

The arrests, it appeared, had been completed, and all I had left to do was take pictures as Occupiers were being dragged into the mall security office. This wasn't appreciated by Providence Police Department. One large cop, who probably thought he was intimidating, immediately started shouting.

"Leave the area immediately."

"No sir, I don't think I will be."

"Leave the premises at once or you will be arrested."

"I have as much right to be here as you."

"You have been given two warnings. If you don't leave immediately, you will be spending the night in jail."

"Fuck off."

I left. It galled, but I had no intention of missing my evening's plans. Grrr.

Evidently taking this picture is a crime in Providence. I hate cops.

Turns out that the arrestees weren't actually arrested; they were merely banned from the mall for the year and then released. It pissed me off that the cop had succeeded in running me off. 

I relaxed after my near-miss with the Providence Police Department and took a walk to blow off some steam. Note: Waterfire is a great little festival that happens in Providence in which they put a bunch of bonfires in the middle of the river and eat a bunch of fried food. Neat. 

I went to the Daily Kos party that took place, danced my ass off, then retired to the hotel. The conference was done.

The next day I packed, swore over the debit card that I had drunkenly misplaced the night before, and scrambled down to wait out front for my ride to the airport. I looked across the front of the hotel, and who do I see?

Jesse LaGreca.

I stared at him for a moment, and thought, should I?

Of course.

"Jesse. JESSE! Anarchists rock! Stop talking shit!"

"Uh... well, you see... they..."

"THEY NOTHING. I rock! Stop talking shit!"

".... Okay."

Mission accomplished.

I got to the airport, got on my plane, and flew away. Goodbye, Providence.

Looking back over the week and the events that took place, I am for the most part, satisfied. Did I meet a lot of fellow revolutionaries? Hmmm. No. Did I reach out to my less radical friends? Did I get them talking about the issues I cared about? For sure. 

Over the next year, it will be interesting to see if the foundations laid by myself and my fellow radicals will give rise to something new. Will Netroots remain a primarily mainstream Democratic conference? Most likely. Will I and others continue to try and push a more radical agenda? Most likely, and I hope that our work impacts the blogosphere and the conference itself in more concrete ways. I'm not giving up on it anytime soon, and I know others who agree.

So, thank you Netroots. I'll see you next year in San Jose. Brace yourself.

Radicalizing Netroots

Netroots Nation.

This is my second year participating in the gigantic Netroots Nation conference, a big event billed as a "progressive" bloggers' conference put on by blogging giant Daily Kos. I was lucky this year, like last year, to get a full scholarship to go, with all expenses except for food paid for through the LGBT Netroots Connect program. 

Last year was an incredible experience in which I finally got to meet a lot of my blogging heroes and connect with other writers in my field of LGBT activism. I thought my head was going to explode; all of the writers I had been reading and admiring all under one roof, talking about the issues I cared about. I was there to learn, but to my surprise, other people there with reams more experience than I as writers were interested in learning what I had to teach them. As progressives, our sharing was intensely valuable and I went home having accomplished a lot of goals; namely, learning how to be a better blogger and networking with others in my field.

My goals this year were different. In the interceding months, my focus of writing and organizing had shifted. With the advent of Occupy, income inequality and issues beleaguering the working class had taken over my life. I now assist with the social media and press aspects of Occupy Seattle, as well as organizing on-the-ground actions. As that work went on, I suddenly found my politics and ideologies shifting even farther to the left. As I was presented with the endemic problems facing the working class, I began to question my faith in political process. I found myself loathing the concept of government. Capitalism, I had come to realize, was perhaps the worst and biggest enemy to Occupy's work globally.

In short, I had become an anarchist. 

This presented a few problems for me, internally, when I applied for this year's scholarship. This conference overwhelmingly is centered on the idea of reform. In every panel and workshop, we talk about how to accomplish our goals legislatively and how to elect the candidates we want. 

How, then, would I fit in? I don't believe in our legislature; I don't recognize the legitimacy of political candidates. Had I become too radical for this group of people that I loved so much?

I tried to come up with goals. One of my first, and this was merely a personal one, was to confront Jesse LaGreca. I know, this may seem petty, but LaGreca rocketed to fame at Occupy Wall Street with a now famous video denouncing Fox News and had become something of an Occupy superstar. As happens so frequently with internet stars LaGreca started to view himself as an authority in OWS, and since published diaries on Daily Kos denouncing "black bloc anarchists", in effect ordering them to leave the movement.

In my mind he had no such authority, and I would tell him so.

Other, more important, goals were simple: find fellow radicals and radicalize my peers. At a time when my LGBT comrades were celebrating recent victories and pushing hard for marriage, would I be able to find fellow revolutionary thinkers? Would I be able to convince people that queer issues were being prioritized ineffectively? 

I arrived the night before the LGBT pre-conference, met up with friends, had a beer or two. Some of them had watched my radicalization over the past year, and knowing looks were exchanged at the bar when I mentioned corporate corruption and its effects on queer communities; a member of GLAAD I hadn't met before looked at me knowingly and said "Oh. I know who you are."

... this was going to be interesting.

The first day's activities took place in the LGBT pre-conference, when everyone who had been working on queer issues got together and brainstormed new challenges we were facing and hopefully came up with solutions.

Bil Browning, Adam Robbins, Me, and Seth E. Kaye. Photo taken by Jamie McGonnigal.

The first half of the day was fairly boring; we all introduced ourselves to each other. Most of us knew one another but it was nice to see new faces. 

After lunch, things got interesting. We had three panels on the issues of marriage equality, immigration, and LGBT health. During the marriage conversation debate was heated both out loud in the room and in the Twitter storm that ensued. Some in the room (like myself) objected to the prioritizing of marriage equality over other, perhaps more important, issues such as health care and ADAP funding. My question regarding the assimilation of queer identity into heteronormative institutions was rebuffed; a panelist responded that just because we had a different sexuality from straight people we weren't really any different. 

I objected to that of course, but that's fine. 

The next panel was regarding immigration, and I was stunned, as in last year, with the bravery of some of the activists who had been trying to get the DREAM Act and similar legislation passed. Simply identifying oneself as undocumented is to risk deportation; some of these amazing folks had actually risked arrest in order to work on their issues. 

One panelist said something that drew immediate applause from my table: "Among LGBT immigrant youth, marriage is a white, middle class issue. We're trying to survive, not get married." The applause drew a rash of glares from around the room, I was quick to note that the majority of those who objected to this statement were indeed white. 

Finally we had the LGBT health panel, of which I was invited to take part in as an HIV-positive individual. Interesting highlights: the number one killer of LGBTs in the US is smoking. HIV/AIDS actually accounts for a small, small portion of the overall healthcare costs of LGBTs. There is a noticeable lack of prevention education for HIV. One question that seemed to raise a lot of questions: is bareback porn to blame for the spread of HIV? I argued that it wasn't; if we had more education about HIV/AIDS and its consequences, people would relegate bareback porn to "fantasy" instead of "a fun thing we should do."

We wrapped up, had a mixer with the Netroots Women's pre-conference and then dispersed for the evening.

The next day started with a treat. I have the privilege with organizing with an amazing woman who writes as Just Jennifer on the Daily Kos and she e-introduced me to her fellow radical colleague, Allison, who writes as UnaSpenser on that same site. I met with her and two others for breakfast; much to my suprise (I didn't find out who he was until I was halfway through my french toast) one of the two was famed OWS livestreamer Tim Pool.

After breakfast Allison and I brainstormed. We had similar goals; we wanted to find out who was radical and what we could do to promote a more radical agenda at an overwhelmingly Democratic conference. We picked a time two days hence, on Saturday, and began Tweeting about a Radicals' Caucus meeting. I was helped with super damn awesome gay blogger Daniel Villarreal (follow him on Twitter, @hispanicpanic79, you won't regret it) and we hoped to have a solid turnout. 

Daniel V. and myself. Photo taken by Joe Jervis. 

Uh. Maybe. 

Occupy Providence had set up shop outside of Netroots Nation so I went over to introduce myself. They lacked a legal observer and so, having taken the National Lawyers' Guild training in Seattle, I offered my contact information and hustled off to an amazing panel about sexual liberation. Interesting (if not disturbing) observations: If you have three or more condoms on you at a time, this can be used against you in a prostitution investigation in New York City. Many teenage girls don't use condoms not because they don't know how to use them, but because they're afraid they will fall out of their purses and they'll be labeled sluts. If you have been fired for taking a sex-positive stance, you can contact the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom.

Nothing much happened after that, unless you count the thunderstorm that suddenly broke over the building when I walked into the marriage equality panel that took place that day (evidently someone up there knew it was trouble) and the riot act I read an SEIU rep at a mixer that night. Note: it's not classy to yell at an SEIU rep while drinking the free booze provided by... the SEIU. Oops.

Click here to read the exciting conclusion to Ian Awesome's trip to Netroots Nation.

.... And I'm Back?

Not only have I made a temporary return to OneAngryQueer, but I have returned to the fabulous Netroots Nation blogger's conference. After the usual shouting and hugging and saying "I missed you so much!" to all of our comrades that we haven't seen since last year (as well as meeting new colleagues) we are now settling down to the LGBT pre-conference in order to brainstorm future strategies for our communities.

Of course, my politics have definitely changed since last time in the last year. Not only have I done a crazy amount of IRL organizing, my politics have (like my hair) gotten a lot more radical. I have a feeling that there are some people in this room that I love and respect... who I might be yelling at a bunch later on in the conference.

Anyway. I'll post a few things on OAQ, sometimes about Netroots and sometimes about other shit. Yay! A week where I get to do nothin' but blog!

Oh, and drink. And flirt. And annoy people.

Netroots Nation 2011: It Really Does Get Better

Netroots Nation was a powerful and incredibly moving experience.  One of the amazing things I was able to do was get a ton of bloggers together, ranging from Markos Moulitsas of the DailyKos to Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend to lil ol' me from right here at OneAngryQueer to let queer youth know: We are working to make it better.  Whether you are gay, trans, disabled, a person of color, or any other sort of thing that you could possibly get bullied for, it does get better.

It's a little long, but all the testimony delivered from the LGBT bloggers of Netroots Nation was so powerful we didn't have the heart to cut people out of it.  Thank you so much to the participants, and to the viewers out there?  Stay safe, love each other, and know that it gets better.

Peace.





Names and Twitters of participants, in order of appearance:

Markos Moulitsas @markos – straight ally
Pam Spaulding @pam_spaulding
Scott Wooledge @Clarknt67
Tom Torres @_floatingworld
Evan Haliburton @evanhaliburton
Viktor Kerney @wondermann5
Mark Snyder @ColageNational
Jason Haas @jasonlhaas
Zack Ford @zackford
Andy Szekeres @AndySzekeres
Cynthia Wright @cynisright
Noah Baron @noahbbaron
Joe Sudbay @JoeSudbay
Phil Reese @ReallyPhilReese
Christopher Edwards @xtopher1974
Daniel Villarreal @hispanicpanic79
Alvin McEwen @holybullies
Carlos A. Quiroz @CarlosQC
Jake Weinraub @jakeweinraub
Mel England @melengland
Scottie Thomaston @indiemcemopants
John Aravosis @aravosis
Michael Rogers @MichaelRogersDC
Ian Finkenbinder @OneAngryQueer

If you have any questions about this campaign, please check out the

It Gets Better Project website.

If you feel alone, you need help or

you are considering suicide, please call 24-hour confidential:

1-866-488-7386
1-866-4-U-TREVOR

TheTrevorProject.org

Bachmann Glittered, Sparks Discussion About Non-Violent Protest

Here at Netroots, the gossip of the day is the the morning glitter-bombing of Michele Bachmann at the conservative blogger's conference, RightOnline.  GoodAsYou includes video:



It's hard to see, but the glittering happens at the :05 mark in the lower right corner.

Activists and bloggers at the conference seem sharply divided on the use of a physical "attack" such as glittering as a method of non-violent protest.  In essence: does tossing a handful of glitter on someone constitute a violent assault, and is it an example of effective action?

Some writers and activists present have gotten angry and denounced the act as a stunt that shames the progressive community, with Ryan Davis (who blogs with the Huffington Post) saying that GetEQUAL's tactics (they organized the action) are counterproductive and largely outdated.

There is a question of whether or not glittering a political candidate can still be considered non-violent.  I spoke with Rachel Lang, the woman who glittered Michele Bachmann, and she had this to say:

"Ask Matthew Shepard about violence.  He knows what violence is."  She dismissed the notion that glittering is in any way violent and bemoaned the hyper-criticism from some sections of the progressive movement.

There's not much I need to add to that other than this: how can you posit that glittering is ineffective when it creates a discussion?  The point of direct action is rarely to impact an issue or candidate's opinion on the spot.  The point is to demonstrate passion and outrage, two incredibly important tools in any progressive cause.  That's why I'm OneAngryQueer-- without anger to motivate the movement over outrageous transgressions against the American people, how do we effect change?

Netroots Nation Day 4

Today is the last day of my participation in the Netroots Nation 2011.  I attended last night's JoeMyGod reader meetup and predictably got drunk.  I stumbled home at 3 AM, passed out, and woke up six hours later with a case of the hangover sweats.

I'm powering through today, though.  It's an exciting one.  I haven't attended any panels yet, because I've been organizing the gay bloggers to get together in order to film the first ever LGBT blogger ItGetsBetter video, filmed and edited right here at Netroots Nation.  We should have it ready by Sunday evening, so keep an eye out.

Breitbart Tries To Crash Netroots, Gets Chased Out Of The Building

The drama continued at Netroots today, as Andrew Breitbart tried to gate-crash the event and was shouted out of the building by a whackjob with a flip cam.

Breitbart, a conservative journalist, is in Minneapolis this week in order to attend RightOnline, the GOP response to Netroots Nation that takes place every year. He also serves on the board of the dubiously monikered GOProud. Breitbart strolled over to the convention center today and attempted to enter the conference without credentials.

He was turned away, as he refused to purchase a $355 ticket. Almost immediately, a crazy person shoved a camera in his face and began shouting useless bullshit, yelling "Do you ever use cocaine?!"

Already, the right wing blogosphere has blown up with the incident, with one weirdo insisting that the incident was a homophobic attack on Breitbart on the part of progressive activists.

Right. Because we're all just so homophobic.

I believe this was a pointless attempt by Breitbart in order to create a media event and grab attention in order to smear Netroots participants. Unfortunately one man assisted him to that goal. It was childish of Breitbart to show up (I mean, what - is RightOnline so boring that he has to come and wreck our party?), and just as childish to attack him.

Netroots Nation Day 3

I slept in today, having attended the Netroots Nation LGBT Bar Crawl last night.  It started at Dakota Jazz Club, continued on to Saloon, and somehow ended up in a hotel room where everybody shushed each other in order to avoid hotel security.  While it was the strangest party I've ever attended, there was plenty of free booze and I made use of it.  I'm regretting that a bit today.

Let's just say I don't really remember coming back to my own hotel-- though I have a vague recollection of yelling at Dan Choi in Arabic.  Hmmmm.

Luckily, there's not many panels in the morning today, and I don't have any obligations.  I can essentially stumble down to the convention center and then camp out in the DailyKos Lounge, a cushy area dominated by beat-up sofas and (yay!) power outlets. 

xoxo from Minneapolis!

Twitpic: Netroots Nation

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teacher gave a rousing speech tonight excoriating foes of labor and education and celebrating the efforts of Netroots participants.

She tweeted this picture, taken from the stage.  I know it's poor quality, and the crowd doesn't look that huge, but this is only half of a huge room filled with progressives.  Even though I was exhausted the energy filling the convention center was amazing. 

Dan Choi Confronted By OFA Activist, Thoroughly Pwns Him

Netroots isn't short of excitement, especially when Dan Choi is involved.

The third panel I attended today was a high profile get-together of Dan, John Aravosis of AmericaBlog, Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake, and Felipe Matos, a DREAM activist.  The title of the panel, "What To Do When Your President Isn't Into You," described perfectly the tone of the presentation.  Essentially: what do communities do when candidates seek their stamp of approval but balk on delivering the goods?

Dan gave a stirring testimony, declaring that the DNC "has been more divisive than any other political force in the history of gay politics."

However, the highlight of the panel was when one of Organizing for America's activists approached the stage and attempted to hijack the conversation in order to swing opinion positively towards the President.

He made one mistake.  Handing over an informational card to John, which was quickly appropriated by Choi, the OFA rep made the mistake of saying that he was not for same-sex marriage.

"I can't say that I'm for marriage equality, as a bisexual,"


"You say you're not for marriage equality?" asked Choi.

"I can't, as, uh..."

Choi ripped the card in pieces and scattered it on the stage, waving away the young, bumbling activist.

"Do you not understand? I believe I'm an equal citizen."

I'm not embarrassed to say I leapt to my feet, applauding.  

My Interview On Rod 2.0

One of the great things about Netroots Nation is connecting with fellow bloggers and journalists.  I got the opportunity to do so yesterday with Rod McCullom of Rod 2.0, who shared concerns with me that the conference has a disturbing lack of discussion about HIV-related issues. 

Click on over to Rod 2.0 to hear my statements about AIDS fatigue in the gay community and lingering stigma that prevents effective action on ADAP and prevention.

Netroots Pre-Conference

Thank Jeebus there's coffee.  People have to shout to be heard over the sound of dozens of bloggers clicking away on their Twitter.

The one conference where it's ok to type while people talk. 

At my table is Dinah Finkelstein from Friend Factor, Scott Wooledge from PHB, Phil Reese from the Washington Blade, Will from Back2Stonewall, Pam Spaulding (PHB), Jeremy Hooper from GayAsYou, and Daniel V. from Queerty.  I'm a bit starstruck.

Good Morning From Minneapolis

So after my insane flight debacle yesterday, I finally ended up getting into Minneapolis to be treated to an evening summer thunderstorm, which was a bit inconvenient navigating my way across a strange city.  Happily, when I arrived at the hotel, it turns out that I had a room to myself (Netroots scholarship participants normally double up), so I'm sittin' pretty in the lap of luxury.

Even though I was exhausted, I joined Scott Wooledge (of the DailyKos and Pam's House Blend) at the Hilton bar, where I had the privilege to meet a few of my heroes, to include Pam Spaulding and Jeremy Hooper of GoodAsYou, oddly enough the very first gay blog I ever read.  I admit, I gushed on him a little bit.  He gracefully thanked me and then moved to the other side of the room.  Maybe I should have offered him a wet nap.

It was a delight to meet all these characters (Zach Rosen from The New Gay?  Cute as a button, FYI), and I was super pleased.  I couldn't help feeling, naturally, a certain sense of What-The-Fuck... I mean, I'm just some PNW hipster with too much time on my hands, right?  What the hell am I doing rubbing elbows with Rod McCullom?  But everyone was super friendly and warm.  Nothing productive was gained in the evening-- meeting up in the hotel bar was purely social.

Scott and I got down to the bottom of a gay scandal rocking the blogging world this week, however.  You know Maggie Gallagher?  We decided her yet unseen husband simply must be the true identity of Paula Brooks. 

I came back to my hotel to find a treat: one of my very favorite BFFs from high school was waiting for me in the lobby with a bottle of wine in his bag and a smile on his face.  Evidently he's traveling the country with his girlfriend and is in Minneapolis the same week I am, so we marveled at the serendipity of our meeting and then promptly got drunk on cheap hooch in my room.

This morning I'm starting a day of pre-convention meetings, so I'll get to meet all the other Netroots participants and will probably be drooling over the hot progressive gays.  Don't worry, I've got a pocket full of wet naps.  See you there!

On The Road To Netroots Nation

I'm traveling to Minneapolis today, so posting will be sporadic.  I've asked Sarah and Michael to post a few times over the next few days, so hopefully you'll get all the whining about politics that you've become accustomed to from yours truly. 

I am notorious for having a travel curse and it struck today.  Due to a mechanical failure, my flight from Portland to San Francisco has been canceled, meaning that I would miss my connecting flight to Minneapolis.  Happily, I'm not an asshole, so the nice lady working the counter (who had been yelled at by angry passengers all morning) tearily thanked me for my calm, polite demeanor and put me on a direct flight to my destination to leave later in the day.  Thanks, Faith Rasband of United Airlines!  You rock!

Word of advice:  Be angry.  Be angry, because it's a tool to change things for the better.  But you know what?  Save it for the big stuff, cuz otherwise you're just some punk in an airport getting put on a red-eye because you pissed of the ticketing agent. 

I'll see you in Minneapolis!

Netroots Nation 2011

I've been extremely lucky this year.

My latest stroke of luck is that I have been awarded a full scholarship to attend Netroots Nation 2011, the largest liberal blogger's conference in the country, if not the world.  While there, I will get the amazing opportunity to attend some awesome panels, hear big political names (think Pelosi, Polis) speak, and rub elbows with blog luminaries such as Joe Jervis.  I'm very excited! 

The dates of the conference are 16-19 June, and if you are in the Minneapolis area during that time, be sure to send me an e-mail and maybe we can meet up. 

Congratulations to my fellow scholarship recipients, and to all other Netroots attendees: I look forward to seeing you there.  :)

[Netroots Nation]