DE-CENTER THE CENTER, 2009

Flyer for the action with a collage and computers and lasers, explosions, mathematics, a water cooler, and a comet-like object crashing into the LGBT Center of San Francisco. The GLBT Center: Office Park Portal to the 8th Dimension, Come Help Us Reverse the Polarity to Suck Back Our Resources from Non-Profit Land. 6 PM June 25th, 1800 Market St at Octavia. Dress up representing the office park nonprofit industrial complex portal (cubicles? Excel spread sheets?) OR representing grassroots movement from then and now. Pick Yr Teams. Gay Shame: A virus in the system.
De-Center the Center flyer with a zombie theme picturing zombies climbing out of the dark and a nonprofit office that is extremely dilapidated. Text says "Demonstrate Your Queer Defiance, Reverse the Polarity of this Non-Profit Vortex at 1800 Market, Thurs June 25th 6 PM. Some signs read "Death Before Assimilation" and "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded."
40 years after the stonewall rebellion and all we have is a racist, classist, transphobic lgbt center? de-center the center!! reverse the polarity where: outside the lgbt center 1800 market street when: thursday june 25, 2009 - 6pm what: direct action dance party performance realness why: because the center does not serve the majority of trans and queer folks dress as your fav. radical from the past present or future gay shame a virus in the system gayshamesf.org
whose center? does today’s mainstream lgbt movement make you feel like you’re lost in an alternate reality? perhaps even another dimension? do the things groups like the HRC fight for cause you to feel as if you’re going the wrong waay backwards through time? does the thought of straight ally gavin newsom’s ascendancy to governor give you vertigo? GAY SHAME has uncovered shocking truths! upon studying the blueprints to the san francisco lgbt community center, GAY SHAME has gathered evidence that it is in fact a portal to the 8th dimension. cleverly disguised as a community center, familiar evil mega-corporate donors (ranging from lennar to pg&e to bechtel) and the san francisco power elite, have been using their office park portal to suck away all our time, energy and passion. who does the center serve? what is the real agenda of the non-profits housed there? why does the center claim to have budget troubles, yet is able to re-paint the exterior (ugly) while leaving its youth art programs without art supplies? what could be the purpose of so diabolical a device? gavin newsom seeks to move us all towards a more perfect oblivion. what could possibly undo such vile machinations? after further careful research, GAY SHAME has discovered that this vortex gate SWINGS BOTH WAYS. join us june 25, 2009 as we coverge upon the san francisco lgbt community center to attempt to REVERSE THE POLARITY of this terrifying non-profit office park vortex. how will we be able to do this? but turning their tricks against them. in gavin’s infinite hubris, he and the marriage movement attempted to siphon off some of the portal’s stolen energy to dress up their callous ruling class publicity machines as activist struggles. unwittingly, those foolish attempts have fractured the time-space continuum. 30 years after the white night riots and 40 years after stonewall, radicals from splintering time periods and multiple movements without number shall join forces. this is an epic battle between their non-profit office furniture and all your favorite movement heroes from various time periods. PICK YOUR TEAMS! this will be a high-concept anarchronistic interpretive dance-off to determine the fate of radical queer politics! DE-CENTER THE CENTER!! where: the san francisco lgbt center, 1800 market street when: thursday june 25, 2009 - 6 pm sharp! what: de-center the center, reverse polarity why: reverse the polarity, girl! free food! build direct action activist networks outside of non-profits! and much much more!
A sparse flyer that is the first in a series, designed with font salad, and some images of some cartoon-ish characters. The text reads: "What resource are you looking for? Draw/Write/Need/Give. Only 2gether can be build beyond 501(c)3s. Gay Shame will be meeting on July 4 to discuss building mutual aid resource networks with these sheets! HOLD ON TO THEM. Gay Shame meets 5:30 every Sat at Modern Times Bookstore, 888 Valencia Street, SF, CA!!! All Are Welcome. What resource do you have to offer?
This flyer asks the reader to fill in the blanks. Draw or Write your favorite radical queer/trans activist/grou/thing from history!!! Draw or write the institution or obstacle preventing them from getting what they want!!! What was the thing they were fighting for? NOW: What is a fun way to depict the adversity your favorite struggle faced as a jolly competition sport? THE SAN FRANCISCO LGBT CENTER IS A PORTAL TO THE 8TH DIMENSION IT WAS DESIGNED TO SUCK ALL OUR TIME LOVE AND ENERGY. OUR STOLEN ENERGY HAS BEEN USED TO DISGUISE MAINSTREAM POLITICS AS ACTIVISM, BUT THIS HAS DAMAGED THE TIME SPACE CONTINUUM. ACTIVISTS FROM DIFFERENT TIME PERIODS WILL CONVERGE TO REVERSE THE POLARITY OF THE PORTAL TO GET ALL OUR RADICAL POWERS BACK. JUNE 25, 6PM, 1800 MARKET, DE-CENTER THE CENTER.
POLARITY REVERSAL reads this flyer. A pic of the Lavender Panthers (San Francisco circa 1973); an image of an SFPD cop on a motorcycle saying "Oink"; outer space "Safe Space"; "Ringed Planet Toss" with superheroic characters playing some kind of messy game in space.
Photo of the banner drop at the De-Center the Center action! With two beefcakes in tightie-whities flanking a message saying "The Center Sucks" and a colorful whirly circle with the words "Potential, Inspiration, Hope, Dreams, Money, Time, Imagination" which are all things that the Center is sucking like an energy vortex.
Another photo of the banner drop, this time from across the street. Someone in the foreground is also taking a picture. Meta!
A crowd of people including someone with silvery hair on a bullhorn and 50 or more people who are ready for action.
Image of someone wearing business attire that would befit a dandy living off a sizeable nonprofit salary (the person wears a sign saying "Assimilation" and also holds a faux carrot); a cross is being erected in the background and some other action-goers bear signs alongside it in front of the main doors to the LGBT Center in San Francisco.
Now the dandy-ish nonprofit worker holds out the fake carrot that says "Food" in front of hungry radical queers who can't quite get to the carrot!
people gathered around a pile of cardboard props in front of the locked-open main entrance of the lgbt center at 1800 market street, two people cross cardboard swords before competitively striking to break a large cardboard "stone" with the cardboard polarity meter in the background
a person dressed as a "radical queer" holds a cardboard sword while sharing a bit of odd-looking apparently conspiratorial banter with a person dressed as a police officer in front of the locked-open front entrance of the lgbt center at 1800 market
A dude wearing a giant star that reads "Cop" and carrying an AK-47 stands next to the giant cross erected in front of the LGBT Center in SF.
A shot of the above-described action, with people in the foreground listening to someone on a megaphone.
The megaphone person is mad and pointing.
Another person now has the bullhorn and some people with signs indicating that they were, among other things, that they are part of the system (eg. "Board of Directors"), look on.
A far-out shot of the action.
Close shot of people who have signs: "Non-profit manager," "Board of Directors", "Government funding" - and a novelty-sized check from the LGBT Center made out for a million dollars with the memo "You Better Do As You're Told Suckas!"
The person portraying a cop is pointing the crowd.
Three people motioning to their left.
It appears a Gavin Newsom supporter or perhaps Gavin himself has fallen ill and lies on the ground. The non-profit people are weeping and the cop is attempting to make sure everything's A-OK.
Another nonprofit-y person resplendent in a blue skirt-suit with a sensible low heel addresses the crowd.
Two nonprofit workers appear to be loving up on each other's bodies.
Another long-shot of the action.