‘Queer Eye’s’ Bobby Berk Wants Non-Violent Protests Like Stonewall Uprising

The hit TV show “Queer Eye” wouldn’t be the same without Bobby Berk and his design talents. Now, Berk is speaking up in support of non-violent protests, especially in the Midwest, to “keep up the fight” for LGBTQ rights.

“The rights we won are in danger. Now the cloak of ‘religious freedom’ is being used to attack us. Even though we have come forward, in a lot of ways we haven’t. We’ve fallen backwards in a lot of ways. In coastal cities we’re ahead of the times, but in Middle America we need more Stonewall Riots — not violent, but definitely to keep up the fight,” Berk told The Daily Beast. “It’s up to people like myself who have the luck and are blessed to have a platform that we use it. With more visibility comes acceptance.”

Berk didn’t find out about the Stonewall uprising until he moved to New York City in 2003, but he was immediately inspired.

“Without them we probably wouldn’t be where we are today,” he said.

Many other Americans seem to agree, or at least believe that LGBTQ people are ready to protest to defend their hard-won rights and reach for more. According to a recent YouGov poll, 33 percent of Americans would not be surprised if LGBTQ people started rioting again.

“We’ve traveled so far from a time where people couldn’t be out, couldn’t hold hands, couldn’t get married. We have marriage equality, and we have the Equality Act, if stupid Mitch McConnell will allow it to pass through the Senate,” Berk told The Daily Beast.

He, along with many other human rights advocates, is also worried about the placement of conservative judges onto courts and thinks “the effects of that will last for decades.”

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