Among the chants of "we are the 99 percent" and "banks got bailed out, we got sold out," Occupy Chicago protesters have overheard another, less progressive mantra.
Some protesters have been screaming "faggot" at police officers.
Join the Impact-Chicago ( JTIC ) , an LGBT direct-action group that has been involved in the Occupy Chicago protests, is starting conversations about such homophobia at the protests and about why Occupy issues are queer issues.
"We don't have a formal organizational connection to Occupy but we see it as our role to make Occupy more welcoming to LGBTQ people and also to bring specific economic issues
that affect LGBTQ people to the forefront," said Ryne Poelker, an organizer with JTIC.
JTIC held a teach-in on such issues on Feb. 25 at the Occupy Chicago headquarters in Pilsen.
The teach-in included a "safe zone" training for organizers on how to make Occupy Chicago more queer-friendly, and JTIC distributed fliers on proper pronoun usage, access to HIV medicines and hormones behind bars, the need to create gender-neutral spaces and other issues facing queer protesters. The teach-in also focused on ideas about how corporate interests can fuel homophobia and transphobia.
The group will host another town hall meeting that will address such issues on March 24, although that meeting will be more general than just Occupy concerns.
LGBTQ- identified people have been a presence at the Occupy Chicago protests from the start. Groups like Gay Liberation Network and Gender JUST have each participated in protests independently, while other queer people not affiliated with LGBT organizations have been regulars at the ongoing protest against corporate greed.
"Occupy does address queer issues because class issues are queer issues," said Poelker. "We have greater disparities in things like homelessness and health care needs."
But not everyone has been receptive to that connection, organizers say. Homophobia has been a problem from time to time.
Andrea Crain, who participated in the teach-in, said that JTIC has received reports of protesters calling police "faggot" or refusing to use a megaphone after a person living with AIDS has done so.
"We don't want to demonize Occupy, we just want to help make the environment more welcoming to everyone," Crain said. "One of my genderqueer friends told me about a man at an Occupy encampment who refused to respect his name and pronoun. Another friend was gender nonconforming and another protester felt the need to tell him how disgusting he felt queers were."
Occupy protests have seen strong turnouts of gender-variant and transgender people, and some have expressed annoyance with rally speeches that start with "brothers and sisters," a phrase that implies two genders.
But for every bad experience said Crain, there have been 100 positive reactions to queer people at Occupy Chicago.
Rachel Miller, a JTIC organizer, said that the JTIC teach-in is the first step. "It seems like everyone's trying to be inclusive at Occupy," Miller said. "But there's much work that needs to be done."
