Guerilla Gay Bar

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Guerilla Gay Bar, also known as Guerilla Queer Bar, is a flashmob group created in May 2000 and founded in San Francisco, California. It is a non-confrontational group which specializes in direct action, largely through the use of the flash mob, a social movement tactic. For one night a month, Guerilla Gay Bar plans to take over a straight venue and recontextualize the venue's demographic through the mobilization of their members. Though the main purpose of the group is to have fun in new places, offering a creative outlet for persons seeking a different atmosphere from the typical gay scene^[1], the group also acts as a social movement organizer, utilizing its organizational structure to form coordinated movements.

Guerilla Gay Bar uses flash mobs, a social movement tactic first documented in 2003 at a Macy's department store, where large amounts of people amassed to stare at a large and expensive rug before dispersing around ten minutes later. Formally, a flash mob is defined as a tactic where large groups of people perform an organized action in a short span of time through seemingly spontaneous action.^[2]Guerilla Gay Bar operates largely through online sources, such as chapter web sites and email lists. It serves as the coordinating point for these monthly flash mobs.

Contents 1 Areas of operation 2 Activism 3 See also 4 Footnotes and References

[edit] Areas of operation

Guerilla Gay Bar is part of a transnational advocacy network^[3]in which it has an international presence with similar goals. This is a list of the known chapters in the United States and Europe. Please note that some groups may be in abeyance.

• Toronto, Canada
• London, England
• Heidelberg, Germany
• United States:
  • Atlanta, Georgia
  • Austin, Texas
  • Baltimore, Maryland^[4]
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: ^[5]
  • Cincinnati, Ohio^[6]
  • Dallas, Texas (www.guerillagaybardallas.com)
  • Denver, Colorado
  • Detroit, Michigan
  • Houston, Texas
  • Kansas City, Missouri ^[7]
  • MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN ^[8]
  • Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota
  • New York, New York
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Portland, Maine
  • Portland, Oregon
  • San Antonio, Texas
  • San Diego, California
  • San Jose, California
  • San Francisco, California
  • Seattle, Washington
  • Washington, DC
  • Twin Cities, Minnesota

[edit] Activism

On November 2, 2008 in Los Angeles, Guerilla Gay Bar took over The Abbey, 692 N. Robertson Blvd, for a celebration to help defeat Proposition 8, a ban on licensing of gay marriages in California. Guerilla Gay Bar, for one night, became Guerilla Straight Bar through the efforts of its members to organize straight people who planned to vote "no" on Proposition 8 as well as to convince others to vote no for the proposition.

[edit] See also

• LGBT culture
• Social Movements

[edit] Footnotes and References

1. ^ http://www.guerrillagaybar.com/manifesto-guerrillagaybar, additional text.
2. ^ Shirky,Clay. Here Comes Everybody: The power of Organizing Without Organizations Penguin Group, USA Inc, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014 (2008) ISBN: 978-1-59420-153-0. (p.165), additional text.
3. ^ Goodwin, Jeff. Jasper, James."Social Movements Reader: Cases and Concepts." Blackwell (2003)
4. ^ http://www.ggb-baltimore.com
5. ^ http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=57819933097&ref=nf
6. ^ http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1567836&view=album&id=529653950&ref=nf#/group.php?gid=54204326586&ref=mf, additional text.
7. ^ http://www.guerrillagaybarkc.com/
8. ^ http://www.mkeggb.com/