Delta Foundation trades cosmos and well liquor for molotov cocktails?

Expectations, anticipations, and anxieties are running high across the LGBTQ community as we await the US Supreme Court’s decisions regarding same-sex marriage. In cities across the US plans are underway to organize rallies to respond to the announcement which is expected before the end of June.

The Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh, a group always happy to suggest that they represent the whole of the community, has chosen the opportunity to shed it’s frivolous party-boy image by calling for a riot. The group best known for their big drinking and dance event on Liberty Ave and their cute boy pool party where porn stars and strippers are the hired entertainment are getting rowdy!

A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and exhibit herd behavior,[1] and usually generated by civil unrest. However, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that riots are not irrational, herd-like behavior, but follow inverted social norms.[2]

My theory is that they really have no interest in a riot, but the two “R” words were just too freaking good to pass up from a marketing perspective. And if Delta is all about anything, it is marketing.

But maybe not. Maybe they think a riot is a legitimate response to a ruling from the Nation’s highest court. Or they feel so sure that the court will decide in favor of same-sex couples, that it is an empty threat. Look how aggressive we appear- making a threat of something that won’t happen.

Here is what really pisses me off personally

I’m an old guy. I was a young teen at the time of the Stonewall Riots in 1969- which were REAL RIOTS!

At 18, I started going to the bars in Columbus Ohio and I met guys who had been arrested for simply dancing together! The bars still had a system where if the police entered, a doorman alerted everyone by flicking a light, because in the 60’s, you could be arrested simply for holding another person’s hand. The doorman wasn’t there, just to card patrons, but to be a warning system.

When you call gathering some people together for a rally a “riot”, you dismiss and offend Queer History and the hundreds if not thousands of folks in the past who didn’t have the freedoms and fairness we share today.  When you call gathering some people together for a rally a “RIOT,” you disrespect the way the queers in 1969 placed EVERYTHING ON THE LINE to demand change and the most basic fairness. 

The Delta Foundation does much good, but let’s be real- they aren’t placing anything on the line. They aren’t risking anything. They are exploiting our IMPORTANT History for their own marketing’s sake.

A riot makes no sense at all. A rally, on the other hand, makes sense. No matter the decisions, providing the community a way to visibly respond will be important as our very hard work begins after the Court’s announcement, and our community will need the energy that rallying can muster to propel the movement forward.