Queer Political Performance and Protest: Play, Pleasure and Social Movement

From the birth of the Gay Liberation through the rise of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in 1987, the global justice movement in 1994, the largest day of antiwar protest in world history in February 2003, the Republican National Convention protests in August 2004, and the massive immigrant rights rallies in the spring of 2006, the streets of cities around the world have been filled with a new theatrical model of protest. Elements of fun, creativity, pleasure, and play are cornerstones of this new approach toward protest and community building. No movement has had a larger influence on the emergence of play in social movement activity than the gay liberation and queer activism of the past thirty years. This book examines the role of play in gay liberation and queer activism, and the ways in which queer notions of play have influenced a broad range of social movements.

Benjamin Shepard, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Human Services at City Tech/City University of New York. He is the author/editor of five books, including the second part of this study, Play, Creativity, and the New Community Organizing (also under contract with Routledge) and Community Projects as Social Activism: From Direct Action to Direct Services (Sage).

List of Illustrations. Acknowledgments. Introduction: Pleasure is a Resource: From Drag Marches to Global Justice Movements. 1. Play-Acting and World Making: From Berlin to the Black Cat 2. Play as Pleasure: Gay Liberation and Movements for Sexual Freedom 3. Play as Resilience: Eros vs. Thanatos in ACT UP 4.Playing by Different Rules: DIY Experiments in Harm Reduction 5. Play and Panic in the Neoliberal City: The AIDS Prevention Action League and SexPanic! 6. Activism as Circus: From Street Carnival to Direct Action. Conclusion: Reconsidering and Situating Play: From ACT UP to the Rude Mechanical Orchestra. Appendix: Methodological Notes on the Study of Play and Pleasure in Social Movements. Interview Guide. References. Index.