#punk out

[kemetic-dreams]

Oooooooph what a punk out

[radiostaticphilly]

Donate to Punk Out's Food Drive TOMORROW!

Donate to Punk Out’s Food Drive TOMORROW!

The holidays are all about giving so, Punk Out (Philadelphia’s registered non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and connecting LGBTQ+ musicians and their fans through the music that moves them) is sponsoring a food drive where one lucky winner gets a signed T-Shirt from Senses Fail & Silverstein! All you have to do is go to the show TOMORROW at The Electric Factoryand bring at least…

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[boomboxdiction-blog]

Punk Out is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping LGBT musicians and their fans through the music that moves them. Together we sing.

If you didn’t know, I work with a non-profit organization called Punk Out. I would greatly appreciate if you follow our page on Instagram, helping us reach our last social media goal for 2015.

[boomboxdiction-blog]

It’s National Coming Out Day. Working with Punk Out this past year or so (it’s been that long?) has helped me to look at sexuality and orientation more openly and broadly. Learning from other people, in very trusted ways, has also done a great deal. I see orientation as a wide spectrum, with all types of in-betweens. I see myself somewhere on that spectrum that might be considered heteroflexible, or possibly bisexual. This is something I’m still learning about myself, and I don’t yet feel comfortable sharing it with certain people (especially family). But this is the first type of mention on social media or to a broader public that I’ve made.

Thanks.

[gatherersband]

Playing the Punk Out Launch Party tonight in NYC at Arlene's Grocery! Starts at 10:30. https://www.facebook.com/events/1375264879467149/

[chorusfm]

Punk Out Hosting Benefit Show

Punk Out is hosting a benefit show at at Arlene's Grocery in NYC on April 4th. The line-up includes Gatherer, Manic Pixi, PWR BTTM, CUTTERS, and Freya Wilcox & The Howl. Half the proceeds will be going to the Attic Youth Center - you can buy tickets for $10. Read More →

[propertyofzack]

Pop-Punk’s Hetero-Normative Problem

by Connor Sheehan

Our music community has a problem with acceptance. As we have previously mentioned, it has historically been very difficult to be taken seriously as a woman in the poppunk scene, and LGBTQ members of our scene experience a similar set of problems.In an article for Punk Out, Zack Lomas had this to say on the hetero-normativity found in pop punk:

Making pop-punk more LGBTQ friendly is not just about leveling the playing field and creating egalitarian songs that everyone can identify with, but also pushing those pop-punk musicians who identify as queer to the forefront. While using gender neutral pronouns might make straight pop-punk bands more accessible to the LGBTQ community, it is also important to let that same community have something that is unequivocally theirs, which is why we ought to encourage LGBTQ pop-punk bands (and all bands) to sing the lyrics that represent their lives best.  

The punk community was (supposedly) founded on the premise of inclusion for the misfits of society and so often we fail that guiding principle in regard to anything from race to sexuality.  The pop-punk scene needs to make a stand and support pop-punk bands that openly identify as LGBTQ and whose songs give the LGBTQ community something to identify with. The LGBTQ community needs to hear Jordan Black from Like Pacific scream about his failed relationships, they need to hear Against Me’s Laura Jane Grace sing about the harsh realities of being Trans in America, and they need their own Soupy.

I think most people would say they agree with the sentiment, but in practice we still fall extremely short in championing LGBTQ bands. Speaking under the promise of anonymity, a member of our community had the following to say on their experience coming out to those who were supposed to be supportive:

I came out, it got weird, people called my significant other an experiment and didn't believe me and didn't give me any support when it happened. Their friends made jokes about me coming out. They preached about acceptance in the community but when it came time for me to be accepted and reassured that I was still an equal, everyone stayed quiet and didn't want to get involved. My friends disappeared in this community and now I don't know who to trust so I’ve stopped going to shows. You can write all the songs you want about accepting LGBTQ but where are you when your friends are using slurs and we don't feel welcome at shows anymore?

To be honest, I don't know what happened. Bands used to hit me up all the time, touring and smaller locals. They would use me to get show contacts for other states, they would ask for me to contact my label and 'hook them up' because they were trying to do a full length and wanted a label to invest.

Then when I came out and left my band no one hit me up anymore and no one defended me. Instead I saw an abundance of comments online and heard from other mutual friends that I was blacklisted and not welcome in my area. It's discouraging to want to try to go out to local shows but not feel safe or welcome when people you thought were your friends shit talk you online and say good riddance just because you're not in a band anymore.

Bands such as Like Pacific are a great step in the right direction for LGBTQ fans of the genre, but we still have a long way to go. Once a band gets a national or international following it is easier for them to find support, but local scenes are still rampant with ingrained homophobia. It is only after local scenes become more accepting that I think LGBTQ bands will start finding a larger audience.