[1] Formed in Chicago in 2007 to facilitate a convergence of radical trans and gay activists from around the country, Bash Back!
sought to critique the ideology of the mainstream LGBTQ movement, which the group saw as assimilation into the dominant institutions of a heteronormative society.
was noticeably influenced by the anarchist movement and radical queer groups, such as ACT UP, and took inspiration from the Stonewall and San Francisco's White Night riots.
The organization's model was a nonhierarchical autonomous network based on agreed-upon points of unity, such as fighting for "queer liberation" rather than "heteronormative assimilation", and accepting a diversity of tactics, "including an individual’s autonomy to participate in actions deemed illegal by the government".
Simultaneously, members of the group also distributed barf bags with slogans written on them such as "Corporate Pride Makes Me Sick," a statement about the commercial and assimilative intentions of mainstream gay culture.