Error.tpg Party Posters

by Solenn Real Molina

Error.tpg* is a queer collective from Marseille organizing parties by queer people for queer people : LGBTQIA, QPOC, sex workers. To them, partying is political, because our queer bodies, music and lifestyles are political. These posters, stuck on the walls of their last party in October 2021 and posted on their social media, are a way to reassert it. These messages were visible in the party’s VJing (Video-jockey, visual performances) ; both imageries were created by the Error.tpg member and graphic designer Gael Lapasset.

They intend to bring the public to discuss queer, trans, sex-work-related issues, issues of precariousness, policing, deportations and other violence against the marginalized ; as well as to create an actual inclusive space, in which all minorities feel that they belong. Moreover, the posters provide advice for drug-related harm reduction.

The collective acknowledges that a 100% "safe space" is unreachable, however they are setting up different means to create a welcoming, pressure-free party environment :

- A table for  harm reduction information and materials

- Two person, who are visible, available and lucid through the party, who can be reached in case of trouble

- An announcement prior to the party, informing that all dress codes are welcome - from kinky & leather to pajamas - and that they would like this place to be free of any judgement based on appearance and style

- Encouraging people to plan their return walk in groups

- Not forbidding any substances, but fostering discussions on consent

These items were collected during my PhD. I focus on drug use among LGBTQ people and in queer spaces, more specifically how these practices are governed at the city level : public policies, health services & other interventions targeting this audience. I investigate the content of these policies, but also how various actors involved in the public discourse around drugs, LGBTQ rights, public health or HIV/HCV collaborate – or not – in the making of this governance. I ask myself : what are the political conflicts and power relations at stake in this network ? My research also wishes to highlight community-level regulation and harm reduction initiatives, whether it is self-help groups, informal care practices, or how queer spaces and events include the issue of drugs.

* Tpg stands for transpédégouine, a French translation of ‘queer’