Be gay do crimes origin
OP-ED: “Be Gay, Do Crime,” and other shit you can say without the university censoring you
You may recognize UNCW’s two energy rocks as places where fraternities alert the campus to upcoming events, where student organizations voice their support for or criticism of social issues, and where birthday wishes are shared. More often than not, incomprehensible markings arise as less artistic students, including myself, try their hand at the aforementioned messaging. Regardless of purpose or skill, these stones are an essential element of UNCW culture. They are painted and repainted with such frequency that one never knows what will be there in the morning.
However, a modern and dangerous policy threatens our decades-long tradition. Construct sure you don’t tell something counter to the sentiments of Vice Chancellor Lowell Davis. Over the past several weeks, Davis, the vice chancellor for student affairs and censor in the making, has called for the repainting of the rocks whenever students voice beliefs that run afoul to his definition of the First Amendment.
In a meeting with me and three other students, Davis shared that he has overseen the removal of such statements as “Be Gay, Complete Crime
Be Gay Undertake Crime
About
Be Homosexual Do Crime is a catchphrase and protest slogan used by activists, members and allies of the LGBTQIA+ group, promoting freedom from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or creature non-cisgender.
Origin
While the group of words existed prior to its appearance online, the earliest established reference was posted by Instagram user @absentobject on September 15th, 2016. The post features the words "Be Male lover. Do Crime." spraypainted onto a wall in Marseille, France (shown below).
Spread
Three days later, the Tumblr account queergraffiti featured the photograph, which received more than 58,000 notes in three years.
On January 13th, 2018, Twitter user @AliceAvizandum tweeted the image along with a piece of stencil graffiti quoting Mark Fisher. They captioned the image "two kinds of leftists." The tweet received more than 1,900 likes and 630 retweets in a year and a half (shown below, left).
Several months later, on June 2nd, Twitter user @ioascarium tweeted an adaptation of a Thomas Nast political cartoon, replacing the sign a skeleton is holding with the expression. The tweet received more than 13,000 likes and 6,400 retweets in about one year (sho
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 defunct 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 show 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 narrate .
Be Gay, Do Crime: Everyday Acts of Queer Resistance and Rebellion
Available for preorder
Sometimes it pays to be gay and do crime.
As communities are boldly rising to challenge capitalism, white supremacy, and authoritarianism, Be Queer , Do Crime: Everyday Acts of Gay Resistance and Rebellion is your ultimate guide to Homosexual resilience and rebellion. Packed with daily snapshots of extreme queer history, this book celebrates the bold, the courageous, and the beautifully defiant moments that have shaped the fight for justice.
Ever wonder why the Stonewall protests became an uprising or what the earliest acts of gender non-conforming resistance looked like? How about the ways queer communities have organized against oppression across the globe? Be Same-sex attracted, Do Crime dives into these stories and so many more—from fierce acts of resistance to joyful victories—bringing to life the abundant, diverse history of LGBTQ+ liberation.
By situating readers within a larger pattern of struggle, these everyday acts counter the erasure of gay people from history and serve as a reminder that our struggles are part of a broader fight against systemic violence and dehumanization.
But, this isn&rsq
The phrase “Be gay, execute crime(s)” is a hairpin trigger for the conservative outrage machine, as a non-binary law professor establish out after using it in a TikTok video that unwittingly introduced the words to a disapproving new audience.
But in homosexual 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 homosexual liberation. (Both the unique “Be gay, do crime,” and plural, “Be same-sex attracted, do crimes,” are used, though the singular is in much more regular use.)
Last fall, criminal statute professor Florence Ashley made a short TikTok saying, “As a law professor who teaches criminal regulation, 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