Andy Thayer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 1, 1960 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Political activist |
| Website | Gay Liberation Network |
Andy Thayer (born May 1, 1960) is an American socialist, LGBTQ rights and anti-war activist. He is co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network, one of the largest LGBTQ direction-action groups in Chicago. [1] He is also the co-founder of Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism. [2]
Thayer was born in the state of New York. He and his family lived in Holland, New York. His father designed missile parts, and his mother was an activist who helped draft dodgers of the Vietnam War escape to Canada.
At the age of 17, Thayer wrote articles against corruption in his high school newspaper at Holland Central High School. His articles led to the school shutting down the school newspaper. Thayer later studied journalism at Northwestern University in 1978. [3]
Thayer founded the Gay Liberation Network in September 1998 under the original name "Chicago Anti-Bashing Network" which was changed to the Gay Liberation Network in 2004. The group is one of the largest and most-active LGBTQ direct-action groups in the area of Chicago. [4]
Thayer organized heavily against the Iraq War and the use of drones. In 2003, Thayer was an organizer of the March 2003 Iraq protest [5] and march that ended up with the arrests of 500-700 people on Lake Shore drive. Thayer was among those arrested.
On March 18, 2006, Thayer organized another march against the Iraq war down Michigan Avenue. Despite having permits, Thayer was directed by police to have the march earlier; Thayer refused to change the time, and started the march at 7pm, the original time he planned for and had on the permit. [6]
In 2012, Thayer was one of the lead organizers of the NATO protests in Chicago. Thayer commented that the march was more than against the wars that NATO causes, but the use of taxpayer money for war that could be used elsewhere such as healthcare and education. He stated that "NATO has an indirect effect on the life and death issues of many people; take for example, health care, where millions go without, but when aligned with NATO the effect is devastating."
On March 20, 2003, Thayer as one of the leaders of the Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism held a demonstration against the Iraq War that drew an estimated 10,000 – 15,000 people. [7] Thayer was among those who were arrested.
The demonstration led to the arrest of anywhere from 500-700 people on Lake Shore Drive. Some of whom were demonstrators others who may have been bystanders. [8]
A class action suit (Vodak v. City of Chicago) was filed approved by the city. In 2012, $6.2 million were awarded to those arrested in a settlement [9]
On March 19, 2005 Thayer, as head of the Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism, organized a demonstration against the Iraq war which attracted over 1000 demonstrators. The demonstration was scheduled for March 19, but Thayer was denied a permit to demonstrate by the city of Chicago. [10] Despite warning from the city and the Chicago Police Department (CPD), Thayer decided to hold the demonstration anyway in a form of a press conference. [11]
Thayer was arrested on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Oak Street [12] after holding a press conference instead of a march. Thayer was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and violation of the permit ordinance. Thayer later appealed the arrest in 2005 [13] arguing that the city violated his first amendment rights, but was officially denied in September 2012. As a result of his charges, Thayer was fined $1,000 by the city. [14]
In 2010, Thayer was one of twenty-three activists that had their house raided by the FBI due to "the material support of terrorism." [15] The FBI claimed that Thayer and the other antiwar activists were providing material support to terrorist organizations like Hamas, the F.A.R.C. and many others. [16]
No arrests were made in the investigation as there has not been any connection made between Thayer and terrorists groups.
In response to the raids of the twenty-three activists, demonstrations were held across the country against the FBI's harassment of Thayer and the other activists. [17]
Thayer is a supporter of transgender whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Thayer has organized protests in support of Manning and serves on the advisory board for the Bradley Manning Support Network. For the past few years, Thayer has marched in the Chicago Gay Pride Parade with a message to pardon Manning of her crimes. [18]
Thayer founded the Gay Liberation Network in 1998. Thayer has organized protests for marriage equality and has called an end to the discrimination that LGBTQ people face. In February 2001, Thayer was arrested along with one other activist for attempting to chain and lock the doors of the Cook County's clerk building in protest of not being able to receive a marriage license. Thayer was charged with a felony and spent the night in jail and was later released on a $3,000 bail. [19]
In 2008, Thayer organized a protest against Prop 8 in Chicago, the amount of demonstrators was in the thousands. [20]
Thayer was one of the organizers and speakers at the 2013 March on Springfield for Marriage Equality on October 22. [21]
In 2011, Thayer was arrested in Moscow alongside Lt. Dan Choi for taking part in a gay pride parade unsanctioned by the city. [22]
In December 2013, Thayer visited Honduras to assist local LGBTQ activists with the fight for equality and to help monitor the Honduras presidential election. [23]
Thayer is also an outspoken opponent of Cardinal George in Chicago due to Cardinal George's hateful remarks against homosexuality.
Thayer is openly gay and currently lives in Chicago in the Uptown neighborhood. Thayer got engaged in November 2013 and married in the summer of 2014. Thayer is also an atheist. [24]
Thayer is also an activist for economic equality, labor, and immigration rights. He has participated and organized actions for Occupy Chicago. Thayer also supports abortion rights.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBT people and their interests, numerous LGBT rights organizations are active worldwide. The first organization to promote LGBT rights was the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, founded in 1897 in Berlin.
On the 31 October 2002 a series of anti-war and anti-capitalist protests, generally focusing on the planned war on Iraq took place across the UK and the United States.
Beginning in late 2002 and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, large-scale protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world. After the biggest series of demonstrations, on February 15, 2003, New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet: the United States and worldwide public opinion.
Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), also known as International A.N.S.W.E.R. and the ANSWER Coalition, is a United States–based protest umbrella group consisting of many antiwar and civil rights organizations. Formed in the wake of the September 11th attacks, ANSWER has since helped to organize many of the largest anti-war demonstrations in the United States, including demonstrations of hundreds of thousands against the Iraq War. The group has also organized activities around a variety of other issues, ranging from the Israel/Palestine debate to immigrant rights to Social Security to the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles.
The Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) was founded in New York City on December 21, 1969, almost six months after the Stonewall riots, by dissident members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). In contrast to the Liberation Front, the Activists Alliance solely and specifically served to gay and lesbian rights, declared themself politically neutral and wanted to work within the political system.
Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK, Australia and Canada. The GLF provided a voice for the newly-out and newly radicalized gay community, and a meeting place for a number of activists who would go on to form other groups, such as the Gay Activists Alliance, Gay Youth New York, and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in the US. In the UK and Canada, activists also developed a platform for gay liberation and demonstrated for gay rights. Activists from both the US and UK groups would later go on to found or be active in groups including ACT UP, the Lesbian Avengers, Queer Nation, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and Stonewall.
On January 20, 2005, a number of counter-inaugural demonstrations were held in Washington, D.C., and other American cities to protest the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.
Carlos Montes is a nationally respected leader in the Chicano, immigrant rights, and anti-war movements. He was a co-founder of the Brown Berets, a Chicano working class youth organization in the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s. The Brown Berets were inspired by and often compared to the Black Panther Party. Montes was one of the leaders of the Chicano Blowouts, a series of walkouts of East Los Angeles high schools to protest against racism and inequality in Los Angeles-area high schools. He is portrayed by Fidel Gomez in the 2006 HBO movie Walkout.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Georgia face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Georgia is one of only a few countries in the former Soviet space that directly prohibits discrimination against all LGBT people in legislation, labor-related or otherwise. Since 2012, Georgian law has considered crimes committed on the grounds of one's sexual orientation or gender identity an aggravating factor in prosecution. The legislative ban on discrimination has been enacted as a part of the Government efforts to bring the country closer to the European Union and make the country's human rights record in line with the demands of Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
Moscow Pride is a demonstration of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender persons (LGBT). It was intended to take place in May annually since 2006 in the Russian capital Moscow, but has been regularly banned by Moscow City Hall, headed by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov until 2010. The demonstrations in 2006, 2007, and 2008 were all accompanied by homophobic attacks, which was avoided in 2009 by moving the site of the demonstration at the last minute. The organizers of all of the demonstrations were Nikolai Alekseev and the Russian LGBT Human Rights Project Gayrussia.ru. In June 2012, Moscow courts enacted a hundred-year ban on gay pride parades. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly ruled that such bans violate freedom of assembly guaranteed by the European Convention of Human Rights.
LGBT pride is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBT rights movements. Pride has lent its name to LGBT-themed organizations, institutes, foundations, book titles, periodicals, a cable TV channel, and the Pride Library.
In the United States, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people have a long history, including vibrant subcultures and advocacy battles for social and religious acceptance and legal rights.
Beginning on March 19, 2011, and continuing through the 2011 military intervention in Libya, anti-war protests against military intervention in Libya were held in many cities worldwide.
People's Law Office (PLO) is a law office in Chicago, Illinois, which focuses on public interest law, representing clients believed to have been the subject of attacks by governmental officials and agencies. It was founded in 1969. Clients have included political activists, people who have been wrongfully arrested and imprisoned, or subjected to excessive force; and criminal defendants.
The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA is a new communist party in the United States founded in 1975 and led by its chairman, Bob Avakian. The party organizes for a revolution to overthrow the system of capitalism and replace it with a socialist state, with the final aim of world communism. The RCP is frequently described as a cult around Avakian.
There were several protests organized by the LGBT community against the policies of United States President Donald Trump and his administration.
The first Bialystok equality march took place on 20 July 2019 in Białystok. Approximately a thousand pride marchers were opposed by thousands of members of far-right groups, ultra football fans, and others who violently attacked the marchers. Following the attack, solidarity events were held in Poland.
Robin Tyler is the first lesbian or gay comic to come out on national television, a feminist and pioneer in the grassroots struggle for LGBTQ civil rights and marriage equality in the U.S., and a producer. She emceed and produced the main stage at three marches on Washington for LGBTQ rights, including the historic first National March On Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979. Tyler coined the phrase "We are everywhere" as a rallying cry for the LGBTQ community. This became the powerful signature chant of the 1979 march, appearing on banners and posters. The chant "We are everywhere" has continued as a popular rallying cry for LGBTQ equality.
Queer radicalism can be defined as actions taken by queer groups which contribute to a change in laws and/or social norms. The key difference between queer radicalism and queer activism is that radicalism is often disruptive, and commonly involves illegal action. Due to the nature of LGBTQ+ laws around the world, almost all queer activism that took place before the decriminalization of gay marriage can be considered radical action. The history of queer radicalism can be expressed through the many organizations and protests that contributed to a common cause of improving the rights and social acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Gay Liberation Network (GLN) is a multi-issue LGBT direct action organization based in Chicago, Illinois. The group was founded in September 1998, after Matthew Shepard was murdered and three gay bashings that took place in Boystown, Chicago. It was originally called the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network; the group changed its name in 2004 to the Gay Liberation Network. They describe themselves as "A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Direct Action Organization".