It would be naive to suggest that the queer community invented cheeky protests. Long before inflatable animal costumes, or ACT UP protests, or Black civil rights activists sitting at lunch counters, or women’s suffrage demonstrations, there were barrels of tea being dumped into Boston Harbor. The history of witty and memorable protests began with anyone who had a bone to pick and a taste for irony.
Still, the ‘No Kings’ protest, at least the one in Atlanta I attended on October 18, proved that modern day protests can be inventive, downright patriotic, and gloriously queer.
First, the vibe. I would have to harken back to my childhood growing up on Air Force bases to conjure the feeling of the Fourth of July that permeated the No Kings rally in Atlanta.
Sure, you might find more American flags waving at a political convention, but that sea of red, white and blue feels performative in contrast to the flags flying on Saturday. The people bearing the Stars and Stripes at No Kings actually meant it. It was an atmosphere of sincere, incandescent patriotism and it gave me chills, again and again, throughout the day.
Snapshots that will stay with me from that day include senior citizens sitting on the fold-up lawn chairs they brought along. Baby strollers with flags waving in tiny hands. Gay couples holding one another and bearing t-shirts calling out discrimination of all sorts. A lone lesbian triumphantly waving the LGBT flag like the emotional climax of Les Misérables.
It all flew in the face of the absurd, gaslighting claim on the part of the Republican leadership that No Kings was somehow anti-American. It has been a long time since I was this proud of my country. And it deepened my resolve to continue flying the American flag on the front porch of my house. We are patriots, too.
The speakers from the main stage, largely Black advocates from a host of sponsor organizations, pleaded for unity and equity while beseeching the crowd to vote in every election available to us – while we still can. If there was a disconnect at all between the leaders onstage and the thousands of faces watching and cheering, it might have been the surprising demographic makeup of attendees; the crowd was overwhelmingly white, more so than the demographics of Atlanta would suggest.
Such are the costs that people of color face when exercising their First Amendment rights in the current climate, alongside the reality of rally volunteers being carefully trained on how to respond to violence or an active shooter.
Even in an environment of joyful celebration and community, some of us, understandably, have heightened levels of anxiety and alarm.
Moving past fear being used as a cudgel against our nation’s most vulnerable was a constant refrain from the event stage. My hope is that the next rally and protest – and God knows there will be more, as we continue exercising our patriotic duty – will be even larger, and strength and safety will be in the sheer numbers.
I can’t wait to do it again.
Mark
