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Zap, Zapping
From Outcyclopedia, the free and queer encyclopedia.
Zapping is a protest technique developed by 1960s anti-war demonstrators and later adopted by Marty
Robinson and other members of the Gay
Activist Alliance. It involves militant, but non-violent
face-to-face confrontations with homophobic authority figures and celebrities.
In the early 1970s, members of GAA used this method to disrupt local business
offices, political headquarters, local television programs and newscasts,
and even performances at the Metropolitan Opera, and were frequently arrested. The first gay zap occured in 1970, and was directed towards New York City mayor John Lindsay, as a public appearance by the mayor was disrupted by GAA members chanting "Gay power."
Zapping was quickly adopted by gay rights groups across the country and
in Canada and parts of Europe. Groups as varied as Queer
Nation, ACT-UP,
and the Lesbian
Avengers have used zaps in their demonstrations.
During
his first attempt at a television show, a live broadcast on CBS, Rush
Limbaugh was zapped by a lesbian audience member who linked Limbaugh's
homophobic statements with the government's relunctance to fund AIDS research,
accusing him of contributing to the deaths of thousands from the disease. The
usually confident and bullying Limbaugh was unable to even look his accuser
in the eye. Other recent examples of zaps include members of
Queer Nation disrupting Arsenio Halls' opening monologue during a 1990 broadcast of his television talk show and asking why
he did not have more openly gay and lesbian guests, and protestors disrupting
Sharon Stone's monologue during a 1992 broadcast of "Saturday Night Live" due to the controversy
concerning her character in Basic
Instinct. Anti-gay demonstrator Fred Phelps is a frequent
target of zaps, though they only seem to have the effect of feeding his
ego.
External links:
Advocate Timeline: Gay Protests
100 Favorite Moments on Television - Queer Nation protest on The Arsenio Hall Show is at 91.
Entry revised 3 December, 2004. All text is available for use under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (see Copyrights for details).