Two FOJC’s (Friends of Jacksonville Confidential) were jumped this past Saturday just after midnight leaving Birdies in 5 Points; so we thought it appropriate to repost our suggestion from way back in February of 2009. We still think it’s a great idea…
Have you guys heard that the City of Jacksonville is host to a chapter of the national neighborhood watchdog group, Guardian Angels. The Guardian Angels actually started in Jacksonville back in 2007, but with the increasing crime in our area membership is rising exponentially and the group has become more vocal in attempts to take back our neighborhoods. We here at Jacksonville Confidential would like to propose a "sister" group to the Guardian Angels that we will call the Pink Panthers. The idea is taken from the 1995 gay themed movie Jeffrey which starred Stephen Webber as the main character and Patrick Stewart as his mentor, of sorts. The movie also hosted a slew of cameos by actors like Sigourney Weaver, Kathy Najimy, Kevin Nealon, and others. Anyway, the Pink Panthers would be the gay sect of the organization patrolling, mainly, Riverside/Avonale/Murray Hill. The uniform would consist of a pink Beret and matching t-shirt. (as seen at the 20 second mark in the video below). Thoughts?
6 comments:
I seem to remember an actual Pink Panther patrol, quite active in Boston in the late 1990s, early 2000s, after a series of vicious attacks in the Fenway area. They were outfitted with skintight pink tee shirts and whistles, but no berets as far as I can recall.
Pink Cell phones to call JSO..and then Pink I-pod to listen to while you wait for over an hour while they arrive.
If you want immediate attention from the JSO, simple have the nerve to stroll down the sidewalk, carrying groceries to your car, drinking from a can of organic lemon-lime soda from Grassroots.
My partner was stopped and interrogated for ten minutes because Officer Fife was convinced it was a beer! That's some good police work there - we learned our lesson.
HI
There was a group called Lavender Panthers that operated in San Francisco in the 70s, formed to kick the ever living shit out of gay bashers. Not really comparable to the GAs, their code was more loose as they carried melee weapons like clubs and chains, though firearms were forbidden.
I think it's a great idea...it's everyone's neighborhood.
The Pink Panthers was first used for a gay street patrol by the impromptu group that started in NYC in the Village in 1990. This first group was of a more pacifist nature--blowing whistles and making noise to draw attention to bashers. They had a logo but not a "uniform;" i.e., no t-shirts and no berets. They got a great deal of media exposure and were soon sued for copyright infringement by Sony pictures (the owners of the Pink Panther movie franchise).
Although Blake Edwards, the creator of the Pink Panther testified in support of the organization, the women who were organizing the patrols lost the suit and retained only the rights to the logo. The patrols stopped, drained of energy by the lawsuits.
At about the same time, Street Patrol, a more aggressive, Guardian Angels-like group was started in San Francisco by another group of women, and a similar group appeared in Chicago for a brief while.
It was in Washington, DC that The Pink Panthers established a solid visibility. There, a group of organizers from Queer Nation and Fabulous Queers of DC took the extreme and pro-active stance of "Until the Police Come, We Will."
The DC group had close ties to the DC Guardian Angels, sharing training and resources. They also found training support from a former organizer of the San Francisco Street Patrol and subject-matter experts in the community.
They created the "Safe Haven" network in the Dupont Circle area (the Gayborhood) and spoke out on a national level on the issue of anti-queer violence (demos included bringing Alan Schindler's coffin to Congress and a vigil at the US Navy memorial). It was the DC Panthers who had the uniform, the berets and, yes, the t-shirts. Unlike Patrick Stewart's t-shirt in Jeffrey, however, the actual shirts were black with a florescent pink logo (one is now in the Gay Archives).
The DC group was never even contacted by Sony. This may have been because of the bad press the company had already received, or it may have been that the media skills of the DC organizers were better trained by experience with ACT UP, O.U.T and Queer Nation.
The Pink Panthers of DC closed down after almost two years. While there was no banner hung, it was "Mission Accomplished."
Enid
Fabulous Queers of DC
The Visitation Girls
Pink Panthers
I'm a veteran of the NYC Pink Panthers.
The Panthers formed in 1990 out of the heady stew of activism that birthed ACT-UP, Queer Nation, Lesbian Avengers, and other groups at the time. Pink Panthers was in full formation in NYC by Pride Day 1990; I marched with the Panthers in that year's parade. Groups rose quickly in cities across the country.
We wore t-shirts on patrol in NYC: pink logo and lettering on black. I still have mine. It was important for our work and impact that we be visible and identified. We absolutely did NOT wear berets!
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