On Wednesday October 25th, activists with the Rainbow Rebellion, a queer-led group within Extinction Rebellion Boston, entered the lobbies of major banks around downtown Boston dressed in drag as gender-bending custodians and maids to "clean up" the banks' fossil fuel funding. We went into Chase Bank, Bank of America, TD Bank, and PNC Bank, and disrupted bank activities by pretending to clean up their lobbies with mops, dusters, and brooms while dancing to "I Want to Break Free" by Queen. We were protesting the banks' financing of fossil fuel infrastructure and demanded that the banks divest their funding from fossil fuels immediately. We called this protest "Drag the Banks."
Our queer activists are targeting banks because collectively the world's 60 biggest banks poured over $5.5 trillion over the past 7 years into the fossil fuel industry, driving global climate chaos and causing deadly local community impacts. In 2022 alone, Chase, Bank of America, TD Bank, and PNC bank contributed $39B, $35B, $29B, and $13B respectively to companies like Exxon, Saudi Arabian Oil, Chevron, BP, and Abu Dhabi National Oil.
One of our activists, dressed in a traditional-looking French Maid outfit, said "We're bringing some queer fun and creativity into climate action today by dressing up as cleaners to highlight the finance industry's bankrolling of climate change. Queer people have a storied history of activism and standing up for our communities for stronger political policy that's based in science, and we can do the same with climate change. We don't want climate change to be a drag, so instead we're dressing in drag to cheekily demand the banks move their funding immediately to low carbon alternatives."
The Rainbow Rebellion is a queer group of climate activists within Extinction Rebellion that focuses on the intersectionality of queer and climate justice. The climate crisis disproportionately affects queer people because as the climate crisis worsens weather-related disasters and crop failure, the higher rates of homelessness, poverty, and food insecurity of the queer population puts them at even greater risk.
Are you a queer climate activist or ally? Rainbow Rebellion wants you! Send us a message today and we'll connect you.