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Be gay do crime origin

For Quincy Brinker, who, by disrupting the talk of yet another washed-up academic trying to write Marsha and Sylvia out of Stonewall, reminded us that not even the lifeless will be safe if our enemy is victorious.

For Feral Pines, last seen by some of her friends throwing rocks at police, by others in an assembly plotting psychic warfare against the fascists, and by others dancing and then defacing some fascist insignia in the moments before her death.

For Chris Chitty, who would surely use this opportunity to insult the insulters while transmitting some brilliant insight about where we have been and where we are going.

For Ravin Myking, whose beauty caused the pastor of a homophobic megachurch to froth at the mouth and declare the arrival of wolves to hunt his sheep, and caused the sheep to fall to the ground, speaking in tongues and praying for their absent god.

For Scout and the fires of memory.

For Vlad, ai ferri corti!

For all our friends on the other side, we submit these reflections.

Ten years ago, we were seized by a frenzied spirit and, in a trancelike state, received a set of ten weapons for a war we were only just discovery the words to illustrate.

The phrase “Be gay, accomplish crime(s)” is a hairpin trigger for the conservative outrage machine, as a non-binary law professor initiate out after using it in a TikTok video that unwittingly introduced the words to a disapproving new audience.

But in gay communities, the heavilymemed and relentlesslymerchandised slogan is both a rallying cry and a winking inside joke—or an eye-roll-inducing cliché, depending who you ask—with a short but rich history rooted in anarchism and the fight for gay liberation. (Both the unusual “Be gay, do crime,” and plural, “Be queer, do crimes,” are used, though the singular is in much more regular use.) 

Last fall, criminal commandment professor Florence Ashley made a short TikTok saying, “As a law professor who teaches criminal commandment, I felt compelled to inform you to be gay, do crimes.” The video was derisively reposted by rage-farming social media outlet Libs of TikTok and culture warrior psychologist Jordan Peterson, and inspired a column in right-wing media outlet Western Standard titled “Is this any way for a rule professor to talk?” The columnist dug up a number of comments from Ashley’s website and social media accounts, heavily implying that the an

Tuck speaks with printmaker, comic-doer, and A.B.O. cofounder Io (they/them), who also started the whole “be lgbtq+ do crime” thing. 

Topics include:

  • The origins of “Be Same-sex attracted, Do Crime”
  • What we signify when we say undertake crime!
  • Train-hopping to outrun your gender feelings
  • A.B.O. Comix and trans prisoner support
  • Plus: gender nihilism, anarchist D&D, bike helmet phrenology, 3 futures of gender, and a debate over the transness of Dune. 

This Week in Gender: Amy Schneider makes more Jeopardy history; Lithuania doesn’t go far enough; April Ashley passed away; Quidditch begins to rename itself; And Just Fancy That fully does a meme. 

Io’s print shop (featuring the original Be Same-sex attracted Do Crime design) is at etsy.com/shop/bumlung. You can also find Io on twitter (@bum_lung) and IG (@bum.lung.press).

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Find episode transcripts and starter packs for new listeners at genderpodcast.com. We’re also on Twitter and Instagram @gendereveal.

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Associate Pr

Be Gay Do Crime

Authors

  • Isobella Austin Swinburne University of Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/imaginingtheimpossible.132131

Keywords:

queer theory, dystopia, hierarchy, community, queer time

Abstract

This essay deals with queer theory and how it applies to the videogame Cloudpunk and the comic series Motor Crush. Both of these texts use cyberpunk settings to tell stories about finding hope in group. Each text features protagonists trying to navigate worlds where legal success is highly competitive and practically impossible. They must therefore turn to community building, mutual aid, and criminal activity to find happiness. This analysis views the texts through the lens of queer time and queer space making practices as outlined by J Jack Halberstam and Jose Esteban Muñoz. Central to this article’s exploration of these texts is the characters inability and/or refusal to fit neatly into the worlds they inhabit, and how they must therefore find success outside of accepted channels. Triumph i

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