This photo is from last week’s Pride parade in New York. Everyone is always pretty friendly in allowing me to take their photo at these events — it’s one of the only times people are that gracious about having a stranger stick a camera in their face, and it’s one of the things I love about NYC Pride. I also love that it’s one of the most racially diverse queer events you could ever participate in. Not every state is that lucky. What I hate about Pride, though, is that like any queer-related event, the focus is still on very homonormative goals and values.
This year, there was a lot of focus on DADT and on marriage, as there was last year. Don’t get me wrong, when I decided to sneak into the march last year, I ended up walking with Marriage Equality NY – and they were lovely people! But the emphasis on “gay marriage” is problematic for a number of reasons: it ignores the fact that not everyone who wants a same-sex marriage is gay, and it also prioritizes marriage (something that mainly affects gays and lesbians) over issues that affect the other letters in our acronym, such as trans-inclusive hate crime legislation. Last year, I was at an LGBTQ conference with other colleges in the Northeast, and we were asked to state our opinions on a number of issues affecting our community by standing in various boxes ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. When marriage came up, 95% of students strongly disagreed with Prop 8. When HRC’s actions concerning ENDA came up, 95% of students stared blankly at the man asking us questions, as they had no clue what he was talking about.
Let’s think about this for a minute: a bunch of students living on the east coast were up to date and very much concerned with a law in California concerning marriage, yet none of them knew about HRC lying to the trans community and pushing for a non-inclusive ENDA, an action that probably set our community back a good decade. They’ve since apologized, but it’s still troubling that this doesn’t quite register as a big concern within the LGBTQ community (at least not within my age bracket, though I don’t think this is really specific to us).
I also saw a lot of “born gay” signs this year, a phrase that annoys me more and more every time I hear it. I think it’s one of the worst approaches to homophobia our community has ever created. Besides the fact that it (absurdly) singles sexual orientation down to this one so-called “gay gene,” it assumes gender by suggesting that biology predetermines our attraction to gender. If we understand gender to be biologically innate (rather than a social construct), the “born gay” standpoint further complicates the LGB relationship with the trans community, and we have enough tension there to begin with. “Born gay” is an easy comeback to the argument that homosexuality is unnatural as well as the religious argument, but it’s more problematic than anything else, and completely ignores the fluidity of sexuality.
In addition to the born gay posters were signs that appropriated the language of the Civil Rights Movement. I believe I’ve posted about this before (one one of my blogs, at least), but I’m bothered by it so much more after Prop 8. As it is, offending the black community by equating our struggle with the Civil Rights Movement does nothing to help our relationship with people of color, but it’s especially offensive after we blamed black and Latino voters for the outcome of Prop 8. And that was only after opponents of Prop 8 did not go into communities of color to appeal for their vote in the first place…
I still love Pride events, and I always enjoy myself in the craziness of it all. But we’re not immune to homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, or racism just because we are a fairly progressive community. As a community so focused on our own oppression, we should be more conscious of the prejudice within our own community and the voices we silence in favor of the ones more marketable to heteronormative society.
(cross-posted on my tumblelog)
Interesting comments, Lauren. I am with you on people equating the Civil Rights movement with the “Gay Rights” movement. No matter how much we may think homosexuals and transexuals are opressed or persecuted in this country it is nothing compared to what black American suffered under Jim Crowe laws. There are no ‘straights only’ drinking fountains and “no gays” lunch counter. Homosexuals are not being beaten back by high powered hoses.
To compare the movement to define marriage however you see fit with the struggle of blacks to be treated like human beings along their white countrymen is absurd and insulting to blacks and homosexuals.
Lots of really good points, points that I think a lot of people don’t really think about. I think that it’s good that people are pushing for equality for marriage anyway, despite the issues you pointed out. That said, we really do need to be focusing more on the TQ of LGBTQ. I was reading an Internet forum awhile back where a transsexual posted about some relationship problems, and the entire thread didn’t have a single bit of advice, just people arguing over whether the person was male or female. It was utterly ridiculous, full of “stop being so PC, he’s definitely a man since he was born that way!” nonsense. And these were supposed open-minded I think it’s easy to just look at the issues the media makes a big deal out of while at the same time ignoring other issues, but we really need a whole shift in mentality and a whole lot more open-mindedness about the whole thing.
That said, I think that the “born gay” thing is just a backlash to conservatives/religious saying that everyone is born straight and it’s a choice to be gay, and so since gay folks are choosing to be gay, they’re choosing to be perverts and all sorts of other nonsense. It’s like saying that since a gay person is choosing to be gay, that person is choosing to be a sinner, and so it makes it easier to hate the gay person. I really feel, though, that we do need to stand up and say, “My choices do not make me a bad person.” If sexuality IS controlled by a gene or not, it shouldn’t matter, because even if it were a choice it’s not a BAD choice. That’s what we need to be thinking. You’re also right about excluding trans folks. I think there should definitely be a better saying instead of “born gay.”
Anyway, not sure if any of this makes sense. I get where the GLB folks are coming from, which is basically backlash against conservatives/religious telling them they’re sinning/unnatural/horrible people. But they (and the rest of everyone) are ignoring transsexuals, queers, questioning people, and all sorts of other people falling outside of the traditional heterosexual cisgendered people. I don’t know what the solution is, but I’m glad you’re posting about this to make people aware of the issues.