https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGTIfZY8ROM&feature=youtu.be
The Queer Dance Party held by DC activist groups WERK and DisruptJ20 in front of VP-elect Mike Pence's house in the DC suburb of Chevy Chase, Maryland went off last night and it was colorful.
Pence will arguably be the most openly anti-LGBTQ Vice-President in history when sworn in.
From running a think-tank that published virulently anti-gay articles, to attempting to divert HIV/AIDS money to fund conversion therapy, to refusing to protect LGBT Hoosiers from discrimination, to legalizing anti-LGBT discrimination in Indiana, to cozying up to notorious homophobes, to supporting a ban on gay marriage, and decrying the ‘mainstreaming of homosexuality in the military' after DADT was repealed, the list is among the worst records on LGBTQ issues the office will have ever seen.
They're dancing now pic.twitter.com/4rH7ieHzQB
— AJ Metcalf (@AJwatchMD) January 18, 2017
More pix from the Queer Dance Party @WTOP pic.twitter.com/aqQFov3VvH
— Michelle Basch (@mbaschWTOP) January 19, 2017
Protestors holding "Queer Dance Party" outside VP-Elect Pence's house tonight. In ChevyChaseCir now @WTOP pic.twitter.com/KbHwlyTJNm
— Michelle Basch (@mbaschWTOP) January 19, 2017
It featured twerking.
So…the Queer Dance Party meant for VP Elect Pence's place is happening in the middle of Western Ave. and it includes twerking @WTOP pic.twitter.com/Kit7QEcOjf
— Michelle Basch (@mbaschWTOP) January 19, 2017
Musical selections, including Madonna, Beyoncé,Whitney Houston, and Lady Gaga,
Now playing on Western Ave: @ladygaga — protest almost at Mike Pence's home pic.twitter.com/wugfY0Ud76
— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) January 19, 2017
“Dance is so integral to the queer community as a form of self-expression and a form of asserting our power and our beauty and our love for one another,” said Firas Nasr, 23, a protest organizer who lives in Virginia. “The idea is to leave a mark that Mike Pence will never forget.”
“We want to send a strong message to Pence that we're a united queer community,” he said, above the pulsing sounds of Michael Jackson and Madonna. “We've always stood united. There's always space to dance.”
Throwing glitter and waving glow sticks and rainbow flags, the protesters gathered at Western Avenue and Tennyson Street NW and danced in the street. By 8 p.m. many in the crowd swayed in unison and sang along as Whitney Houston's “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” blared from a pair of two-foot-tall speakers.
Watch:
The Queer Dance Party continues…to Whitney Houston @WTOP pic.twitter.com/td5DhQr0s9
— Michelle Basch (@mbaschWTOP) January 19, 2017
Mike Pence's immediate property was blockaded off so protesters were kept well away, but that didn't stop the celebration. And there were Trump supporters massed too, but protest leaders told people not to engage.
Protesters informed there are Trump supporters ahead. They were implored not to engage:"We do not need to feed their energy," organizer said pic.twitter.com/9J5kkWLVST
— Betsy Klein (@betsy_klein) January 19, 2017
Except with Queen, and more dancing:
Marching/dancing along Western Ave. as Queen plays @WTOP pic.twitter.com/yht5XTRsgH
— Michelle Basch (@mbaschWTOP) January 19, 2017
There were supporters along the march route:
Some people are standing along marchers' route & waving in approval, some cars beeping horns @WTOP pic.twitter.com/pRhr2cb4nK
— Michelle Basch (@mbaschWTOP) January 19, 2017
More of the dancing that went on in DC's normally quiet Chevy Chase neighborhood tonight @WTOP pic.twitter.com/WWl75uaoWT
— Michelle Basch (@mbaschWTOP) January 19, 2017
FOX5 in DC broadcast live on Facebook for about 40 minutes.
https://www.facebook.com/fox5dc/videos/10155112306712494/
