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2500 lucky festival-goers at today’s Lesbian/Gay/Bi/Trans Freedom Day celebration received samples of a hot new product from Estee Slaughter Inc. In the first appearance by the San Francisco-based cosmetics shrimp at the LGBTFD celebration (aka San Francisco Pride), volunteers distributed thousands of the “Realityfold TM” sleep mask. The black mask, tastefully emblazoned in gold with the ES logo and “Make the Occupation Disappear,” bears this explanatory text on its flip side:
Distributors, wearing the ES logo on newly minted t-shirts, had scarcely begun the giveaway when parade security monitors descended and told them they could not distribute the masks at the festival because they had not paid for a booth. The Slaughter reps responded that this was free speech activity and that they were not disrupting the event. Soon thereafter, the police arrived and said that they work for the parade committee, that the parade committee, by acquiring a permit for the event, had managed to make the entire ten-block area of the festival “private property” and the unauthorized distribution had to stop. Policewomen told one member of the group that the problem was that rival company, Estee Lauder had a booth at the event and festival organizers were afraid the similarity in products would cause some confusion. The group eventually agreed to leave, because police were threatening to confiscate the remaining masks (handmade in a very labor-intensive process). They attempted to locate someone in charge of deciding which queers can hand out what literature at the festival, but never could get to talk to anyone. They were repeatedly told to go to the “free speech area,” which they never were able to find. “Do you think anyone at Stonewall paid for a permit?” one activist asked event staff. Estee Slaughter is a division of Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!). QUIT! plans to challenge this ultraregulation of communication among queers in a variety of legal and grassroots ways. QUIT! is a grassroots Bay Area queer direct action group challenging Israeli apartheid in creative ways. QUIT! has been around since early 2001, and initiated the call to boycott World Pride Jerusalem almost two years ago. Related Links
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