Lgbtq cloen
Russian authorities ban Putin ‘gay clown’ meme but flunk to investigate homophobic killings
After the Russian government banned a digitally altered image depicting President Vladimir Putin wearing lipstick and mascara – widely reported in global media as a “gay clown” meme – Sergei Nikitin, Director of Amnesty International’s Moscow office, said:
“In its twisted definition of justice, the Russian authorities have chosen to use anti-extremism legislation to silence peaceful freedom of expression at a hour when state-supported homophobia inspires violence across the country.
“Rather than clamping down on political satire, the declare should be using the machinery of justice to investigate the recent horrific reports of mass abduction, torture and killings of gay men in Chechnya.”
Background
It emerged this week that the satirical image of President Putin in make-up – which carries the caption, “Putin voters… they say there are lots of them, but there aren’t any among the people I know” – has been added to the Ministry of Justice’s list of banned “extremist materials”.
The image first appeared in response to a 2013 law banning “propaganda of homosexuality among minors”, a law
You can´t have the vote
A hundred years past the Women’s Suffrage Movement in 1918 women and LGBTQ+-people are still fighting against inequality. Like their predecessors they’re using visual mediums like posters, memes or videos to revolt against the patriarchy. Dean Cooper-Cunningham is doing a Ph.D. on LGBTQ+ movements, part of which involves meme wars.
The Women’s Suffrage Movement fought several battles in the Twentieth Century, prior to receiving the vote in 1918. They protested for their right to vote and they revolted against the cultural norms and discourses of their time through pictures and captions on poster boards all over the UK. On that visual battlefield Suffrage and anti-Suffrage organizations fought with brushstrokes and wheat paste to either promote the Suffrage-cause or to present the result in as a danger to society. Ph.D. Dean Cooper-Cunningham didn’t intend to explore their use of visuals or images, when he began researching the Suffrage Movement for his bachelor thesis. But he rapidly realized that visuals were at the core of the two main Suffrage organizations in Britain as their primary strategy of resistance.
»For the Suffragette movements posters Last week, David Howard Thornton, the actor who plays Art The Clown in the Terrifier series, posted a note to his followers on Threads letting them perceive, in no uncertain terms, he has no time for anti-LGBTQ fans. I am not a fan of the motion picture series, but now I’m a fan of David Howard Thornton. It’s complicated for some celebrities to risk alienating parts of their fan base by taking a robust stance on socio-political issues. By “some celebrities,” I generally mean white guys. Art The Clown is very accepted these days; the third movie in the Terrifier franchise grossed close to $90 million on a $2 million budget. That’s a lot of fans to possibly alienate and he’s been blocking the ones who disagree with him on this and other issues. That post isn’t just a one-off for Thornton. He’s been very outspoken on Threads about where he stands on current political issues. Hint, he’s not a fan of the current administration and compares it to the German Third Reich. Strong allies who aren’t afraid to be visible and converse out are crucial to marginalized commun Today, I want to talk to you about clowns. No, I am not slyly referring to the various GOP politicians who are filing ever more draconian bills to living transgender freedom across our country, though the thought had occurred to me. Rather, I actually do mean the white-faced, red-nosed, baggy outfits, and red shoes types that one might detect at a circus, a rodeo or other such place. When I was a young child, my bedroom was decked out in a circus theme, including more than a few clown-themed doodads. In fact, I still have the plaster of a Paris clown-shaped bank from those days, not far from my desk. I enjoyed watching Bozo the Clown on my parent’s black-and-white television. I was also no stranger to an even more popular clown, Ronald McDonald, who extolled the two all-beef patties of their signature hamburger. Of course, clowns go advocate much further than the days of my childhood. The whole idea goes back at least to Ancient Egypt, with the more familiar white-faced ethics we might notice today dating all the way assist to the initial 1800s. The aforementioned Bozo and Ronald are a couple of the more well-known of their ilk. Or, at least, used to be. Some time during “‘So, what complete you do?’ asks an attractive woman I’ve met for a dinner outing. I look at her and take the plunge. ‘I am a clown’”. These are the opening lines of Em Stroud’s new book, Lessons From A Clown. For me, a lifelong lady partner, this bold opening is remarkable on two counts. If I think assist 30 years ago to my younger self, the idea that someone would write a self-help novel that is so unwrap about being gay, without the queerness being in any way central to the plot, would own been mindblowing. Em owns who she is as a clown through her alter ego, “Orange”, taking the reader through her journey of discovery and sharing her wisdom on “clowning” and how to show up and be yourself. I ask Em about the importance of gay visibility: as a woman loving woman herself, she replies “gay men are so much better at promoting themselves and getting in the public space. I realised when I hit my 40s that I had spent much of my life shying away from the ‘gay market’. It’s a part of me, but it’s not the Art the Clown Will Not Tolerate Anti-LGBTQ Clowns in His Comments
“I realised when I smash my 40s that I had spent much of my life shying away from the ‘gay market'”
BY SAMANTHA GRIERSON, IMAGE BY EM STROUD