'Creating the community I want to be part of': Affinity-based organising in a small, progressive rustbelt city. (May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Currans, Elizabeth
• Other Names: Bain Alison L guest-editor.; Podmore Julie A guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Urban studies. Volume 58:Number 7(2021)
• Page Start: 1484
• Page End: 1499
• Publication Date: 2021-05
• Subjects: affinity-based community -- community building -- feminism -- intersectional activism -- queer affirming -- small cities; 基于亲密关系的社区 -- 社区建设 -- 女权主义 -- 交叉行动主义 -- 支持酷儿 -- 小城市; Cities and towns -- Periodicals; City planning -- Periodicals; 307.1216
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098020966258
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0042-0980

Abstract

This article explores a small city's response to the inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2017. Love, Resilience, Action Ypsilanti (LRAY) focused on community-building and the social justice history of Ypsilanti, Michigan to create a queer-affirming feminist event that intentionally referenced and diverged from national Women's Marches. In exploring intersectional social justice organising by a queer-dominated feminist group, I argue that organisers' emphasis on communal care in combination with direct action reflected an affinity-based understanding of community characteristic of this particular small progressive rustbelt city. This example demonstrates the importance of including small cities in urban LGBTQ research.