Who needs money for bread, when you can eat wedding cake?!
Not everyone appreciates how the HRC has been lent high legitimacy as the organization representing the entire movement when their actions have consistently proven otherwise. Going further, some people have reservations that a large number of people — especially economically well-off, able-bodied, gender conforming, non-immigrant and white (read: relatively privileged) gay and lesbian Americans — will disengage from the many other institutional and social changes necessary for full inclusion of LGBT communities.
…With marriage equality occupying so much space in the conversation, many people have grown tired of the perfunctory strategies that eat up time, money and resources to address surface-level issues rather than work intersectionally to address the root cause of systemic issues impacting LGBT communities. That’s not to say marriage doesn’t matter — it’s indeed a big step that’ll move us closer to achieving equality — but the high, high level of its prioritization is troubling to many.
I never thought I would see all of my issues with the marriage equality movement (and the HRC in general) articulated so succinctly in an article on the Huffington Post. I’ve been pretty vocal about my frustration with short-sighted “activists” and their full-throated, all-consuming need for marriage equality; my question is: when are we going to fight for actual equality?
Hat tip to Paul for always stirring up shit.
My response to this moron:
I actually started an account just to post a response to you, because your ignorance is disgusting. I don’t think you understand the extent that poverty destroys peoples’ lives and limits their potential; the privilege you have is obvious in almost every sentence you write. The impoverished ARE hated and are the victims of bigotry and prejudice on a regular basis, and if you don’t understand the constant intersectionality of race, class, and gender in this country, you have a lot to learn. For you to try to argue that it’s somehow more difficult to be gay in this country is sad. It’s not all about you, Lea Michele.
With apologies to my lesbian sisters, much of the battle for gay rights in this country is a Freudian wrestling match over masculine identity. We need someone to step up and subvert the stereotype, someone who dunks on his opponent or plants them in the turf off the blindside, then goes home to snuggle with his husband. I spent one year, what one might call a cup of coffee, playing professional basketball in Ireland. When I began teaching, I used this factoid to my advantage with some of the boys in my classes. It was the leverage I needed to get them to understand that a boy could be both smart and athletic. The lesson was driven home to me one day after I started as Dean of Students at a new middle school. Two of the boys, who were excited because I’d promised to start a basketball team, came running up to me in the hallway before first period. They didn’t say anything at first because they didn’t know quite how to broach the subject. Finally, one of them blurted out, “Mr. Day, you write poetry!?” It was half exclamation, because the internet had told them it was true, and half question, because they still couldn’t understand how someone can both play basketball and write poetry. Simply by combining the multiple aspects of my self, I was, if only in a very small way, helping to deconstruct the stereotypes their pre-pubescent minds had started to form about what it means to be a man. I’m only sorry they weren’t then also able to Google the fact that I’m bi-sexual. But, you see, I wasn’t fully out then. I lacked that courage, which is precisely the courage we need from some athlete or athletes to help begin breaking down the stereotype that pits homosexuality against masculinity. If that happens maybe, just maybe, 7 years or 10 years or 17 years from now we’ll be witness to legislation that grants marriage rights, which bestow full and equal recognition on gays and lesbians, not just in the blue states that cling to our country’s coasts, but all across this great nation.
An Open Letter to Liberals
I still have a lot of reactions to the (mostly online) behavior I witnessed Tuesday night. Countless people created an utter deluge of social media-delivered vitriol, resentment, and vengeance in response to news that North Carolinians had voted, in majority, to pass a constitutional amendment effectively banning same-sex marriage. I was shocked and appalled by the self-righteous rage I saw pouring forth on my Facebook home page and Twitter feed. I decided to take a day to formulate my response and really think through the plethora of feelings I experienced as the night progressed into the following day.
First and foremost, I want to state unequivocally that I believe members of the LGBT community should be able to marry their partners. I hesitate to go so far as to say it’s a “right,” but that’s mostly irrelevant; in the society that we live in today, people in a loving and committed relationship should be privy to the legal benefits that are attached to civil marriage. End of story.
That said the fundamental issue at play here that is a non-starter for me and has not, in my social sphere of a combined eight hundred voices on Facebook and Twitter, been mentioned is the institutionalization of oppression in our country and abroad. The majority should never put the rights of the minority to a popular vote. Ever. To do so negates the fundamental concepts of liberty and the republic in which we live. I could go off on this point for quite some time, but suffice it to say that the entrenched and hierarchical capitalism of this country has created oppression that manifests itself through sexism, racism, and yes, homophobia. By living within this caste system instead of actively questioning it, we succumb to these morally atrocious situations like voting on civil rights as if it is an opportunity for growth. As I have said before, hatred is not a hierarchy, and no marginalized group should feel they have a lion’s share on pain and suffering. All too often, the LGBT rights movement has pushed forth white men (and sometimes women) to speak for their group at the expense of people of color, the impoverished, and the transgendered within their own community who know all too well the sting of feeling silenced.
I have also seen several people make some horrifically lazy conclusions regarding the history of North Carolina, even comparing an 1875 decision to ban interracial marriage to last night’s decision. Let this be clear: this comparison is at best poor critical thinking skills, and at worst malicious, ignorant speech. To compare an amendment voted upon by the population at large – men and women over the age of 18, of all races, classes, creeds, and backgrounds – to a revision enacted by a Constitutional Convention almost 150 years ago is unfathomable. Yes, this state constitution of thirty amendments was put to popular vote, as well, and a majority of around 230,000 men (most likely overwhelmingly white and landed) voted to ratify the document. If you want me to spend even more time expounding upon this point, I would be happy to do so. Unfortunately, there are so many other topics to discuss.
Countless people professing to be liberal have found it necessary to paint broad strokes about the “evil” they witnessed and the “hatred” in the hearts of North Carolinians. I have seen jokes about North Carolina being the “gay back bus of America” and several people calling citizens of the state “cousin fuckers.” Many threw out insults involving the unemployment rate of the state, or pointing out poor education systems in counties that voted for the amendment. Why are the (en masse) ad hominem attacks necessary? Are we not the same people who complain constantly about the polarization of this country? North Carolinians are not evil, they’re not malicious, and they’re not even necessarily that ignorant. Several also lumped “the South” together as a conglomerate of Bible thumping, Jesus loving rednecks of improbable witlessness. The truth of the matter here is that a majority of voters chose to pass an amendment banning gay marriage. The more important truth at hand here is that they are the thirtieth state to do so. What is it about the Tar Heel State that deserves this apoplexy? Why the bitter outrage directed so viciously at the most recent state to ban gay marriage – by far not the sole state to do so?
The nuance necessary to discuss these matters is strangely absent from this discourse, however. The intersectionality of oppression is diverse and multi-faceted; as a result, a white heterosexual man can never begin to understand the background or experiences of an African-American homosexual woman. Conversations about identity must be shaded; they must deal in matters of gradation and compartments in order to be successful. Unfortunately, our society has become increasingly simplified and polarized. I see absurd binaries like good versus evil, blue versus red, poor versus rich, woman versus man at work on a daily basis. Many of those ensconced in youthful liberalism and privilege feel entitled to think that progressive ideas are the correct ideas and that to disagree with them is outright diabolical. It depresses me to see some of our brightest minds jump to vicious insults and acrimony over reasoned thought and contemplation. This was absolutely at work Tuesday night and lamentably so.
My final point has to do with engagement and the trend that I like to call “Facebook activism.” I’m not pointing fingers only at Millennials either, because I think this is overwhelmingly a trend in our country at large, but there is an increasing amount of disengagement in civil rights and civic duties due, in large part, to social media. Some good friends of mine realized in our conversations last night and since that a lot of this ire is coming from entitled men and women who have never been told no, who are suddenly invested in social justice once they realize they are the group being marginalized. The same people who have never spoken out on the countless socialinjusticeswe face every day are furious because they understand now what it feels like to be a victim. To be fair, they have every right to be angry, and my point with this post is not to tell people how to react or how to process their own pain. That said, I do not have to sit blithely by while they spew forth their “self-satisfied moral high ground bullshit,” as my friend Eamonn so eloquently stated.
I am not here to police online expressions of thought, or to pass judgment on the reactions I have witnessed in the time that has passed since the Associated Press reported the amendment successful. I am here to plead for intelligent and respectful discourse on the extremely complex issues at hand in our country today. This is not a case of good versus evil or right versus wrong, this is an example of how desperately our country needs to have Difficult Conversations and learn from our neighbors. The sanctimonious fury that erupted in the past few days has forced many people to embrace their own views ever tighter, unwilling to even discuss compromise with the other side. Regrettably, this is an all-too-common occurrence in contemporary America; I can only hope next time something of this importance takes place, we seize the opportunity to discuss it rationally rather than retreat into our respective encampments, seething in haughty anger.
Anonymous asked: I think you're wrong about Tyler Oakley. His youtube channel and subsequent interactions with LGBT youth have had a really big impact. I feel like you're attacking the wrong "enemy" here. Everyone does their part to support LGBT kids. Are you saying that gay guys can't be flamboyant? Cos I know of plenty who are like that without realising it's a "stereotype." I think he's hardly the biggest threat out there.
I wish we could have this conversation in person, but with you being all anonymous, I guess this is our only chance.
I’m not sure how Tyler Oakley has had a positive impact on LGBT youth, other than existing. Many people out there think that visibility of LGBT people alone is a triumph toward “normalizing” our culture, but I argue that the depictions of LGBT persons in our culture have a very intentional effect - and Tyler Oakley’s video was damaging, to say the least.
Just because he seemingly supports the community, when really it seems like he only supports men (and mostly white men at that) doesn’t mean that I should blindly follow suit. HIs message and his vision were narrow and self-defeating.
Also, I have no idea where your criticism comes from regarding the flamboyance of gay men. I never said they can’t be flamboyant. I said that the straight man portraying a cartoonish stereotype of gay mannerisms is inappropriate. I would be just as offended if Tyler had claimed to be an African-American female; unfortunately, this happens all too often amongst white gay men.
I’m sorry you don’t agree with me, and I honestly couldn’t care less. However, if you’d like to discuss the deep-seated issues at play in that video, I would be happy to expound on the intersectionality of oppression in our culture, and the staggering amount of male privilege on display in Tyler’s argument.
I’m not one to beat a dead horse, but let’s go back to that ignorant ass clown known as Tyler Oakley. You made a video about how homophobes are on the way out. You claimed that they were on the wrong side of history, and that this country will no longer tolerate their intolerance.
How bizarre, considering you referred to these opponents as “bitch” continually throughout the piece that lasted all of two minutes. You also cast a man professing to be straight in the video, and he portrayed gays in the reductive, tired stereotypes in which you seem to find offense.
Not to mention the fact that a few studies on the rising tide of support for gay marriage in no way indicates that homophobia, sexism, transphobia, or racism have been eradicated in this country. If you need me to discuss the intersectionality of oppression and the firmly entrenched institutionalization of these concepts, please ask.
Bravo to those belonging to gay straight alliances in their high schools; their work is important and a great first step. We need gay straight alliances in Congress - and state legislatures, school boards, everywhere - if we want legitimate change in our culture. We need to truly seek out and destroy bigotry in all of its forms, because hatred is not a hierarchy; homophobia is not magically more important than any number of other prejudices in our country.
I’m sure you think that wearing a t-shirt, cursing at a faceless audience, and swinging your metaphorical dick around with palpable male white privilege is a lesson in satire and progressive thinking. In the long run, though, it just makes you look childish. Please work towards making real change and not just cheap shots.
I wish I could fund a documentary made by her.
This man is such trash. To turn something like the LGBT rights movement and make it about him, to have every sentence of this video revolve around him, is just appalling.
I’m glad you think the LGBT rights movement only involves people who look like you, Ryan. I hope someone somewhere gets through to you that there are gays of color, there are lesbians, there are transgendered people out there that you all but ignored in your “project.”
I gotta testify, come up in the spot lookin' extra fly...
