SF: DEBASEMENT - Queer Slut Dance Party

DEBASEMENT
A Slut Dance For Radical Queer Creatures of All Kinds
Benefit for Arab Queer groups ASWAT and Helem
Friday July 14, 2006

It’s time to debase Israeli Terror (and maybe even each other) at a radical queer dance party and sultry soiree. DEBASEMENT will happen at De Basement, a dark and sleazy subterranean speakeasy below the Baker’s Dozen. Enjoy the sizzling sounds of your fave local DJs Gary Fembot(The Clap), Brontez(Gravy Train, Pussyboys) and Reaganomixxx(Pussyboys). Come thirsty, darling, because some of SF’s most babealicious barmaids have concocted some delectable cocktails and mocktails for your enjoyment. We invite you to dress up, dress down, cruise, network, dance, prance, make out, and make trouble in support of Helem and ASWAT, two queer organizations whose members have spoken out against the hypocritical World Pride event in Israeli Jerusalem this August. DEBASEMENT will occur on Friday, July 14, 9pm-2am at 733 Baker St @ McAllister, SF. $5-$25 NOTAFLOF. Info: frenzy [at] riseup.net

World Pride’s theme, “Love Without Borders” is a bitter and bloody irony. During an international boycott of Israel, hordes of tourist gays will flood the streets of Jerusalem to celebrate “dignity, pride, and boundary-crossing” while just on the other side of the Apartheid Wall and racist checkpoints, Palestinian lives are violently interrupted and policed by Israeli state terrorism. World Pride may amount to little more than a PR campaign to deceive the world into accepting Israel as a bastion of progressive politics.

It is difficult and dangerous for many Arab queers to express themselves in the face of state-sponsored homophobia and occupation. At DEBASEMENT, we will do our best to show our truly mischievous colors in order to raise funds for queer groups who are opposing World Pride and working towards liberation for everyone, not just gays with frequent flyer miles.

A coalition of members of Queers Undermining Israeli Terror(QUIT), the Lesbian and Gay Insurrection(LAGAI) and the SF Queeruption Benefit Collective have joined forces to benefit ASWAT, a group of Palestinian queer women, and Helem, an anti-occupation queer group based in Lebanon.

The mission of the ASWAT initiative is to serve as a Palestinian gay women’s group where we may express ourselves, discuss gender and sexuality, define our feminism, and address the conflict experienced by us between our national and gendered identities. The ASWAT group provides a safe space for any Palestinian woman who identifies as lesbian, bi-sexual, transsexual, transgender or inter-sexual, where we can break our individual silence through dialogue, self-education, healing and activism. In addition, we strive to generate social change in order to meet the needs of one of the most silenced and oppressed communities in Israel. We work to reach out to Palestinian and Jewish communities in Israel, and also to collaborate with other like minded institutes, groups and individuals in order to combat the multilayered discrimination we face and to promote women rights. Info: aswatgroup.org

HELEM leads a peaceful struggle for the liberation of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in Lebanon from all sorts of legal, social and cultural discrimination. Helem's immediate concern is to empower the LGBT community in Lebanon through rights and health awareness. Shielding LGBT individuals from persecution and discrimination also involves systematic monitoring of human rights violations and thorough follow up on individual cases. Helem.net and a planned on-location community center are formidable tools for the empowerment of LGBT individuals by offering useful information, and for the struggle against homophobia through visibility. Helem will also take part in all civil society activities deemed necessary to attain its goals. Info: helem.net