# Queer Nation Founded by **[[ACT UP]] members in New York City in March 1990** as a direct-action organization focused not on AIDS specifically but on the broader culture of **anti-LGBTQ violence and invisibility**. Queer Nation's emergence was driven by a spike in anti-gay hate crimes in the late 1980s — particularly the murders of multiple gay men in New York City — and a sense that ACT UP's structural focus on AIDS-policy direct action left no organized vehicle for responding to anti-LGBTQ street violence. ## Tactics and Slogans Queer Nation produced some of the most enduringly recognizable American queer-political language and tactics: - **"We're here, we're queer, get used to it"** — the chant, originating at the June 1990 NYC Gay Pride March, became one of the most globally recognized LGBTQ-political slogans of the late 20th century - **The reclaiming of "queer"** as an in-community political identity — Queer Nation's name was a deliberate reappropriation of a previously pejorative term, the rhetorical move that made "queer" the contemporary academic-and-political-umbrella term it remains - **"Queer Kissing Booths"** — public kiss-ins, particularly at corporate plazas and outside churches, designed to force passersby to confront same-sex affection rather than allow it to remain invisible - **The "Queer Shopping Network"** — flash-mob-style group entrances at malls and shopping centers, deliberately making explicit queer presence in heteronormatively-coded commercial spaces - **Direct-action targeting of anti-gay establishments** — including bar protests, restaurant boycotts, and the early-1990s outing campaigns against closeted public figures whose anti-gay political action made them targets ## Organizational Structure and Decline Queer Nation operated through **autonomous local chapters** in major cities (NYC, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego, others). The decentralized structure — like that of its parent ACT UP — produced rapid action capability but also rapid burnout. Most chapters were inactive by 1992–1993; the national organization was effectively defunct by the mid-1990s, though local chapters in some cities continued sporadic action through the 2000s and 2010s. ## Place in the Vault Queer Nation's organizational lifespan was less than five years, but its **rhetorical and tactical legacy is permanent**. The reclamation of "queer," the chant "we're here, we're queer," the visibility-as-political-action frame, and the kiss-in tradition are all enduring contributions that shape contemporary LGBTQ organizing 35 years later. Queer Nation is also a key bridge formation between the 1980s [[ACT UP]] direct-action tradition and the 2010s-2020s wave of Black-trans-led queer-liberation organizing. --- ## See Also - [[Queer Liberation Ecosystem]] - [[Queer Liberation Timeline]] - [[ACT UP]]