Gay Shame

A sidewalk bomb found around town (2007, credit Danny Howard).

Flyers outside of Modern Times Bookstore (2008)

Gay Shame might seem like some kind of joke, but is self-described as:

We are committed to a queer extravaganza that brings direct action to astounding levels of theatricality. We will not be satisfied with a commercialized gay identity that denies the intrinsic links between queer struggle and challenging power. We seek nothing less than a new queer activism that foregrounds race, class, gender and sexuality, to counter the self-serving “values” of gay consumerism and the increasingly hypocritical left. We are dedicated to fighting the rabid assimilationist monster with a devastating mobilization of queer brilliance.

Gay Shame engages in highly visible and performative acts of protest and resistance, including street theater, and sidewalk bombs around the city with messages like "End Marriage. Gay Shame." In 2002, Gay Shame held the Exploitation Runway in response to then-supervisor Gavin Newsom's proposed ballot measure, Proposition N, also known as "Care Not Cash".

Gay Shame was created as a protest to the overcommercialization of pride events and opposes queer assimilation. Gay Shame was started in 1998 in Brooklyn, NY, and was active at DUMBA, the artists' collective that the movie Short Bus was based on. Gay Shame SF started in 2001 when one of the major members (Mattilda) moved from NY to SF.

Mattilda has written about Gay Shame's activities and history in "Gay Shame: From Queer Autonomous Space to Direct Action Extravaganza", in That's Revolting! (ISBN 1-932360-56-5).

Gay Shame SF meets every Saturday in the back room of Modern Times Bookstore (888 Valencia btw 19th & 20th) at 5:30PM.