Occupy Seattle Protestor ‘Gay Marries’ Abandoned Building (VIDEO)

Posted by Kevin Farrell on Jan 30, 2012 in OMGWTFLOL | 6 comments

Babylonia Aivaz...WHY?!

Before the weekend demolition of one of the buildings in our real life neighborhood that had fallen into complete disrepair, an Occupy Seattle protester ran out in a wedding dress to “gay marry” the abandoned warehouse. And she brought a television news crew.

“If corporations can have the rights as people, so can buildings,” said Babylonia Aivaz, referencing a Supreme Court decision on political advertising. “I’m doing this to show the building how much I love it, how much I love community space and how much I love this neighborhood. And I want to stop it from gentrification.”

The building had been slated for demolition for some time, but Aivaz expected the wedding to precede the demise of her beloved one. But demolition crews began their work on Thursday.

When Aivaz learned demolition work was under way, she rushed over to the site and changed into her wedding dress on the street.

“Yes, I’m in love with a 107 year old building! Yes, ITS A GAY MARRIAGE! How is that possible? Well there must obviously be a deeper story,” she wrote.

Real talk, while Aivaz makes a good point about the moronic (but backed by the Supreme Court!) “Corporations are People” period in American history that we are unfortunately caught up in, using the LGBT community’s fight for equal marriage rights is not the way to draw attention to this fact. Aivaz is using a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel to make her messy, muddled point here.

Plus there’s the fact that I live not two blocks away from this building. It’s a blight on the neighborhood. It’s covered in graffiti, not maintained in any way, and host to nonstop shedding of garbage on the surrounding sidewalks. The previous tenant was, if you can believe this, a dollar store-meets-Weird Science museum complete with lava lamps in the windows. Oooooh! I assure you that we’re all glad to see it go.

Surely this wedding will be used by anti-gay protestors to slander LGBT couples on the cusp of Washington State’s effort to enact full marriage equality.

Thanks for setting the movement back about twenty crazy points, Babylonia.

(via KOMO)

Anonymous

Friends, and especially Kevin;
Hey, Kevin, I think Babylonia’s street theater idea here really ROCKS!!!
If your article here is NOT tounge-in-cheek, Kevin, then you , in MY opinion, need a twenty-point increase in your HQ!…(HUMOR QUOTIENT). Oh, and by the way, Kevin, your upscale values are admired by me immensely. I hope you can afford one of the APARTMENTS slated to be built in the CLASSY NEW BUILDING which apparently will replace Babylonia’s “WIFE”. My guess is that a one bedroom will be priced at $1750 per month, but I am only guessing!!
Save up your money, Kevin, so you can afford it. If you are already independently wealthy, I am a wonderful 64 year old straight guy who MIGHT , for the right price, consider RE-OPENING a BI-CURIOUS lifestyle!!…(My bad, Kevin, just kidding…[ I think])!!

Thanks for listening
Peace and Love
Loudmouth Karaoke Brad, a SEATTLE “OCCUPIER”

http://www.facebook.com/sammael88 Matthew Williamson

Yes, just what we need. A higher humor quotient so we won’t be bothered when someone makes a mockery of our fight for equal rights. Yes, the Supreme Court’s decision is asinine but two wrongs don’t make a right. You, in MY opinion, need a twenty-point increase in your IQ.

Anonymous

Why do they call homosexuals “gay” anyway? Gay means “happy” – you sound bitter, angry, and paranoid.

mike stevens

Hi, I’d like to clarify a few things. First, this building has been home to a number of establishments — not just the museum you mention (that’s a bit disingenuous, when it’s neither the most recent nor the most commonly cited renter), but also the Union Cultural Center, home to capoeira artists, slam poets, and other community members.

Second, my thoughts about graffiti aside, this was not about who’s rented it before so much as what it could become, what people (Occupiers) have been trying to make it since December. A community space. A space for the neighborhood (and yes, many of us live here). This wedding was a celebration of a queer neighborhood, becoming increasingly gentrified, whitened, and straightened since the mid-90s by developments like the one we protested yesterday. (Multi Family Tax Exemption developments, by the way, have a direct impact on the makeup of a neighborhood by raising rents to $975 for studios and $1285 for 1-bedroom apartments, for example, and those are the “affordable” 20% of units.)

I was one of the organizers. I’m queer. Most of the people I know who organized and/or attended this event were queer. We had four Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence consecrate this union. This was never about what Rick Santorum or NOM speakers might say to their absurd fans, who already believe their bullshit and will never be swayed so much by one news story like this as by real engagement with queer people like you and me. This was about saving a community and honoring one woman’s commitment to it.

Anonymous

Well said, Mike. Unfortunately, this is the Internet, where the usual method of commentary is to overreact first, and think later. People are going to flip their shit over this simply because we’re dealing with the kind of people who flip their shit over everything. If this action was truly offensive to the queer community, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence wouldn’t have come. Of course they’d be natural allies in this kind of statement since they too have had to deal with the overly-serious members of the queer community.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3Y54AKBQUPT5A4ODDHKIB44RMA Beau Nobo

So I’m a little confused here – how is this going to set gay rights back at all? If the opposition’s argument is that “letting gays marry will lead to people wanting to marry inanimate objects,” but people are ALREADY marrying inanimate objects (and have been for centuries, for reasons of protest, personal preference, and general silliness), that “slippery slope” argument is rendered null and void. They may as well be saying “If I eat chocolate ice cream tomorrow, it will cause the Peloponnesian War in the 4th century BC.”

We need MORE of this, not less. And we need it before it’s too late.
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Occupy Seattle Protestor ‘Gay Marries’ Abandoned Building (VIDEO)

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