Join us for Rise Up Get Down: A Benefit for Queer Futures on Sunday June 28! Show starts at 5pm PST / 8pm EST / via a recording later (if you register but can’t make it) for comedy sets by El Sanchez and Jes Tom, a reading by Junauda Petras-Nasah and a performance from Be Steadwell!! Shelli Nicole will MC this night of queer togetherness, all in support of the uprising in the United States. 100% of proceeds from ticket sales after costs will be donated to Women for Political Change in Minneapolis! From their accountability statement, “Our priority is to intentionally redistribute resources so our community members can sustain themselves and remain as safe as possible throughout the painful, exhausting, but critical journey of fighting for prison abolition and a world where we keep each other safe without police” and “During this time, Women for Political Change (WFPC) has expanded our mutual aid program to support community members on the frontlines, especially Black youth and their families.” Funds will support women, trans and/or non-binary people on the frontlines in the uprising in Minneapolis. We hope you’ll join us!
Tickets are Pay-What-You-Want starting at $1. See you there!
Autostraddle has worked for years, and in new, more intentional ways since our fundraiser in July 2019, to act more concretely on what it looks like to center BIPOC members of our community. As the uprisings against state violence and white supremacy and the fight for Black lives swept the United States at the end of May, it became clear that the only stories worth posting for the first week of June, Pride month, were about defending Black lives, making room for Black grief, and the efforts every non-Black person can make to support defunding the police, abolishing prisons and dismantling white supremacy in our communities. As a reader-supported independent publication, we were able to make this decision to stand behind our values through financial support from our community.
As part of our efforts to continue to sustainably publish and pay queer writers and our team, we’d originally planned a benefit show for June 28 to raise funds for Autostraddle. However, it is, again, more aligned with Autostraddle’s values to prioritize the needs of those engaged in protest and the fight for Black liberation right now. So, instead of a fundraiser for ourselves, we’re hosting Rise Up Get Down: A Benefit for Queer Futures, virtually, on Sunday June 28 at 5pm PST as a way to raise funds to directly benefit local protest and aid efforts in Minneapolis. The variety show will be MC’d by Shelli Nicole and feature comedy, music, and readings! We hope we’ll see you there!
It’s the 51st anniversary of the start of Stonewall Riots and we will not forget that Pride was an uprising. That’s why we’re donating 100% of proceeds from ticket sales from Rise Up, Get Down to Minneapolis-based mutual aid efforts, protest organizations and funds supporting those fighting for Black lives at the center of the uprising. Because the organizing realities and needs of Black communities in Minneapolis are shifting day by day, we’ll announce the Black-led Minneapolis efforts we’ll be donating to at the time of the benefit, and can affirm that the choice will be led by the priorities of people based in Minneapolis. We’ll share updates about donations transparently and will let our community know the total raised from ticket sales and where it’s donated to.
Autostraddle stands in solidarity and support with the Black Lives Matter movement, with an end to the carceral state, with the abolitionist movement — and with our queer and trans Black community. We hope you’ll join us in raising funds for our collective future through practicing togetherness and partaking of queer joy on Sunday June 28, 2020. 5pm PST / 8pm EST. Tickets are Pay-What-You-Want, from $1 to Infinity, recommended contribution of $25, with 100% of ticket proceeds after costs donated to Minneapolis-based orgs or funds. Our collective queer future is our responsibility. None of us are free until all of us are free.
P.S. While this will be great fun to attend live (You can cheer people on in the chat as they perform! It will have good energy!) we also know our readers have other commitments, are spread across time zones and more! If you know you can’t make it and register anyway, I’ll send out the link a couple days after the show for you to enjoy. Thank you for being so kind and thoughtful and wanting to support!
