They're here. They're queer.
They're packing heat.
They're here. They're queer.
They're packing heat.
Gays with Guns
In an attempt to curb gay-bashing, the Pink Pistols aims to arm gays
BY DYLAN OTTO KRIDER
A Vietnam vet and mechanic, Dan Weiner admitted his bisexuality to himself
only eight years ago, when
he was 43. ("As a Libertarian, I should have known better," he jokes.)
While he was closeted, Weiner
heard his fair share of "guy talk," and he knows violence against gays
is nothing new. Weiner recalls one
70-year-old WWII vet recounting how upset his fellow soldiers were at the
loss of extra spending
money when the base cracked down on the routine beating and robbing of
homosexuals.
While some stories are exaggerated, another tale Weiner remembers has the
ring of truth to it. A
co-worker said he had been out "fag-bashing" with three friends and was
amazed to find the gays
fighting back. "They were really beating the crap out of us," he told Weiner.
Weiner finds that story believable, and not just because someone who engages
in this sort of harassment
(either a bully or a closeted gay, according to him) wouldn't lie about
getting bested by a fairy. Not all
gays are content to just lie down and play the victim, he says. "If us
queer folk would just stop letting
these guys keep picking on us and fight back, they would quit." That sentiment
prompted Weiner to form
the Houston chapter of the Pink Pistols, a gun rights group that advocates
the carrying of firearms by
homosexuals. Armed gays, their Web site asserts, don't get bashed.
How is the typically left-leaning gay community responding to this? "Well,
to answer your question,"
says a Pink Pistol at the group's press conference of one, "we invited
the gay press -- do you see
anyone here?" Straight gun advocates are just as cool to the idea. The
Pistols have seen some nasty
posts about their group on progun Internet bulletin boards.
Despite his stint in the army, Weiner claims his experience with firearms
was limited to basic training
and admits the loud noises still startle him. "The army just shoves a gun
in your hand and shows you
where to point it," he says. Truth be told, the group's founder doesn't
even own a gun but says he plans
to buy one as soon as he's saved enough money. He hopes the Pink Pistols
will help him and others
overcome their uneasiness by learning the proper use of handguns and the
art of self-defense.
Weiner is also active in the Q Patrol, a neighborhood watchdog organization
that collects the license
plate numbers of people who throw beer bottles and otherwise harass folks
in the parking lots of gay
bars. They report the bashers to police, then track down their addresses
and mail bright pink cards that document the offense and provide
the phone number of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center switchboard --
in case the harassers wish to pursue their interest in the gay
lifestyle.
Rather than waiting for the police department to show up, Weiner thinks,
gays ought to take their protection into their own hands. Though
he admits groups like the Pink Pistols could egg some people on, Weiner
hopes that in the end bullies will think twice about attacking gays
if they believe their targets might be armed.
houstonpress.com | originally published: January 3, 2002