(In response to anon asking if there were any groups I like/didn’t like)
1. “Gay” Rights – The mainstream movement is focused almost completely on the concerns and problems of cisgender gay men, cisgender lesbian women and that’s pretty much it. These concerns are obviously of importance but the fact that everyone else is ignored and deleted is not okay. The ‘gay’ rights movement will not actually be serving the purpose for which it was created until it is working for everyone under the LGBTQ+ umbrella.
2. Assimilation and the ‘right’ way to be gay - The gay rights movement can be defined by this:
The mainstream gay rights groups want everyone to believe that that is what being gay looks like. For many, that is indeed the life of choice, but what about the people who, like me, have absolutely no intention of choosing that life?
The gay rights movement tries to hide us from view, it pretends we don’t exist and then, when forced to acknowledge our existence, they just shit all over us, shaming us and telling us that we’re hurting their cause. This is a view that has wormed its way into the collective consciousness of many in the gay community; it’s dangerous and damaging to EVERYONE – I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told that I should ‘act straighter’ because I might be ‘supporting the stereotype’. FUCK THAT!
3. Racism – White people run the gay rights movement and focuses almost completely on the problems faced by other gay white people. Everyone else is pushed out, ignored and shouted down and drowned out.
4. Dan Savage – and everything Dan Savage related.
5. Marriage Equality – Marriage equality is a very important issue. It affects a massive part of our community however it’s certainly not the be all and end all and I wish the mainstream movement would stop pretending like it is. It’s understandable why it was chosen to be the staple of the movement – it’s a quantifiable thing, it presents clear victories and losses depending of legislative change. When same-sex marriage is legalised, a part of me worries that, due the movement’s focus on it, there will be an idea that homophobia and heterosexism no longer exist and they most certainly will.
Personally, I have absolutely no intention of ever getting married (seriously, it will never ever ever happen) and, just occasionally, I would like to here someone from the mainstream talk about people like me.
6. ‘Debates’ with homophobes – Everyone’s opinions are not equally valid. My opinion on being gay is infinitely more important than anything a heterosexual has ever said on the topic. Let’s acknowledge this.
7. It’s okay to tell homophobes to go fuck themselves – Let’s acknowledge this.
8. If you believe homosexuality or homosexual acts are sins, you’re just wrong – There’s nothing else to it. There is no problem with saying this. Why does the gay rights movement insist on saying ‘you are entitled to your belief, you just shouldn’t put it into law’?
9. Shitty catchphrases – For example, “Homosexuality exists in 450 species; which one is unnatural now?” No one should ever need to justify their existence by comparing themself to a wild animal. Besides natural does not mean something is okay.
These are the ones I could think of in 10 minutes. There are many, many, many more.
All of this is not to say that the mainstream gay rights movement has not had victories and is not doing some good work, but it needs to get its act together!!!
Okay, because I like playing devil’s advocate.
you’re not playing devil’s advocate. you’re using that as an excuse for your views and it’s a poor excuse.
I’m going to combat every single one of these because I’m a pretentious douche.
yeah you are a pretentious douche.
1. “Gay Rights” - for starters, the people that call it gay rights aren’t gay. That’s what the white, straight, cisgender mainstream media refers to it as.We refer to it as Equal Rights, or Human Rights.
uh no. there are definitely gay people who refer to it as “gay rights”
Secondly, it’s difficult to tackle every single aspect of non-heteronormative relationships and self-view. When you play chess, you don’t advance all of your pawns immediately.
this is not chess and we are not pawns, we are human beings.
That’s a bad analogy, let me try again.
yes it is a bad analogy
You… don’t throw all your pokemon on the field at once?
we are also not pokemon. we are human beings with feelings and rights and our rights are no less important than your rights. trans women of color are dying and THAT NEEDS TO STOP THIS IS NOT POKEMON. PEOPLE ARE DYING.
Basically, what I’m trying to say, is that we work on getting equal rights for the majorities within our minority, then we move towards the minorities in the minority.
no and fuck you.
2. “Assimilation” - Really? This is what you’re trying to pick a fight about? Yes, not all gay people want the life of the David + Patrick, just like how some straight people spend their weekends in bareback leather pig dungeons. However, the way to appeal to the masses isn’t to put pictures of the Folsom Street Fair in People Magazines.
This is simply attempting to appeal to the masses in order to help them accept us as a real group of people that aren’t much different from their American ideal. Trying to show that we’re no different from said ideal isn’t hurting our movement, it’s our biggest asset.
we are different though. not intrinsically different, but we’re different in that we are marginalized. we’re different in that we have different experiences. trying to degrade those differences and shame them in an attempt to appeal to the masses is unfair to those of us who ARE different and those of us who are righteously angry. we’re allowed to be angry.
3. “Racism” - This stems more from the fact that homosexuality is even more frowned upon in black culture. How many mainstream black gay actors do you know? I don’t know any, but I also don’t know many actors to start with, much to my boyfriend’s chagrin. Being gay is still a huge disgrace in most black communities, so it’s a much harder struggle to be gay and black, and therefore even harder to rise to a position of prominence in the equal rights movement.
I know plenty of LGBT Black people. Homophobia is no more a problem in the black community as anywhere else.
4. “Dan Savage” - Counter point, Perez Hilton.
Don’t even get your response.
5. “Marriage Equality” - Yes, because once blacks could vote and marry the white women, HALLELUJAH! NO MORE RACISM IN AMURRIKAH! We know full well that marriage equality is not the be all and end all of equal rights, but it’s a great start. Don’t knock it.
they’re not knocking it - but the focus on marriage equality is HUGE and again, people are dying. that should be at least as much of a focus
6. “Debates with Homophobes” - …no kidding. That’s usually a huge focal point in most debates with the religious right, that they have no proper perspective. I can’t even argue with you, because you made my point for me. Our perspective is more important, and that’s brought up in most debates.
7. “Tell homophobes to go fuck themselves.” - I’m not going to pretend that every member of the LGBTQQIA community has to be a master debater, but telling them to fuck themselves gives them what they want, and shows them the side of us they’ve always expected to see.
too bad for them - I don’t give a shit.
8. “If you believe homosexuality or homosexual acts are sins, you’re just wrong” - because in a country founded on religious freedom, they are entitled to their belief. Just like I can believe that penguins are made of laffy taffy. Should it be written into law that because I believe penguins are made of laffy taffy, it should be taught in elementary schools? Of course not. Can I believe it? Of course I can, it would just make me a moron. However, since this is America, I can believe that penguins are made of laffy taffy and that I’m 1/16th native unicorn.
they are not entitled to have their belief go un-criticized.
9. “Shitty catchphrases” - I agree that these can be really annoying, but I’ve been out of the closet for 8 years. I’ve been exposed to it. However, my straight friends and people that have just come out love this kind of stuff, and I think that’s great. People live by catchphrases. How many times in the last week have you heard someone quote The Hangover, or say “Cool. Coolcoolcool.” If you’re around me or my friends, you’ve heard a zillion catchphrases in the last ten minutes. It’s just a great way to feel comfortable in your own skin.
The equal rights movement is doing the best it can. In the last few months, we’ve gotten DADT repealed, DOMA ruled unconstitutional (I think? Politics isn’t my strong suit,) and now the freakin’ President is on our side. I think we’re doing pretty well. We all know that eventually this will be a thing of the past, but we’re putting in the best work we can now, while we still can.
DOMA has not been ruled unconstitutional.
And while we are making small steps towards certain measures of equality (which are good no doubt but not enough)
people are dying.
trans women of color are dying
trans women of color are being placed in prison unjustly
cece macdonald is in a prison for people of the wrong gender, where she is completely unsafe.
After going through your blog, I see that you mainly use this username to reblog political posts you disagree with and practice your debate skills. I think that’s great. I’m basically doing the same thing. Being a child therapist, I don’t get much “grown-up talk”, so I like to get political on here every now and then.
I’m not going to pretend I’m not pretentious. So are you. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know everything about the world. I will say, I understand OP’s view points. I disagree with them. And, when I say I played devil’s advocate, I mean I didn’t just scroll past the post. I took a minute to sit and go through, point by point, fallacies. I didn’t harp on things I agree with, because… well, I wanted to focus only on debate. Hence, Devil’s Advocate.
Now, question. Have you seen Small Town Gay Bar? It’s a documentary directed by Malcolm Ingram. Watching that documentary changed how I view equal rights. In the south, if you go to a gay bar, you may not make it out alive. In the north, we are the lucky ones that can go to a gay bar sans persecution. Does that mean I should give up fighting for what I feel is right in my life simply because there are trans women of color dying? Because that’s what you’ve told me. You’ve told me that because there are other groups suffering, that I’m not doing my job right. Well, are the trans women of color that are surviving doing anything for starving AIDS victims in africa? Because they’re black and they’re dying. How dare they promote and support people like themselves when there are people that look like them dying in another country?
Telling me that I should feel guilty for doing my best to fight for the easier victories that, frankly, directly affect my life isn’t going to work. I do not, nor will I ever feel guilty for fighting for marriage equality.
Let’s face it. OP is treating the “gay rights movement” as if it’s some professionally run organization that should be held responsible similarly to a business or employer. It’s not. It’s a bunch of regular, untrained, hopeful people fighting for what they believe in. And screaming at me about a prisoner placed in a wrong gendered facility isn’t going to make me switch gears.
