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hms-chill · 3 years

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Hii! I see you've read RWRB (which means you obviously have impeccable taste) and was wondering if you could recommend any more LGBTQ+ books? Thank you!!

OH MY GOD I HAVE SO MANY!! It really depends on what genre you’re interested in and what you like; I’ll sort of try to break it down that way (and not just rec every gay book I’ve ever read lmao)

General fiction:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz is about two Mexican boys growing up in El Paso in the late 1980s and the writing style is absolutely incredible. It was the first Gay Book(tm) I remember and I spent months of 2012-2013 trying to find a copy and it was 100% worth it.

Simon Vs. the Homo Sapien Agenda by Becky Albertalli. We know it, we love it, I wanted to include it anyway.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee is a historical fiction (leaning on fantasy) romp about a boy in the 18th century going on his grand tour with the best friend he’s in love with; the sequel stars his aro/ace sister. Bi lead, Black gay love interest, and a sequel about the importance of girl friendships.

I’m on page four of Gail Wilhelm’s Torchlight to Valhalla but I love the writing style and the fact that it’s a lesbian book from 1938 that apparently ends happily almost made me cry so there’s that.

anything by Virginia Woolf, but especially Orlando, which is a love letter to her girlfriend.

Soft Place to Fall by Ba Tortuga is a fun gay cowboy romance; it’s dumb and sappy and predictable and fantastic.

Sci-Fi / Fantasy

THIS IS WHERE I THRIVE this is my wheelhouse so sorry if I get carried away lol

anything by Sarah Gailey. Their Upright Women Wanted is about queer librarian spies in a futuristic wild west. The American Hippo series (River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow) is about queer hippo wranglers in an alternate 19th century. Magic for Liars is a murder mystery set in a magic school, perfect if you’re trying to ditch She Who Must Not Be Named but still want your fun magic school itch scratched.

Nottingham by Anna Burke is a lesbian retelling of Robin Hood; I’m still working through it but I’m pretty sure all the merry men are queer women and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas is absolutely fantastic; it’s got an entirely Latinx cast with a trans lead and a ghost love interest; 15/10 almost made me cry.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo has that casual queer rep that I absolutely adore. Like yeah sometimes you need a book about Being Queer but sometimes you also need a heist where the badass gunslinger casually goes “oh yeah not just girls” and steals a tank, you know?

This is very I’m A Child Of The Late 90s/ Early 2000s but Tamora Pierce was huge for me growing up. She clearly stuffed as many queer characters into her world as publishers would let her, and recently she’s confirmed fan theories about even more queerness (ace/aro characters, trans readings, etc) in her work.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness was published in 1969 and treats gender as a fluid thing; I haven’t read it yet but it’s on my bedside table and I’m very excited to get to it.

Poetry

all of it straight people don’t get poems

Badger Clark was a gay cowboy poet; I love his stuff so much. “The Westerner” made me absolutely feral and “Others” gutted me.

Wilfred Owen is best known for his work about WWI, but “Maundy Thursday” and “How Do I Love Thee” are absolutely incredible.

Whitman wrote poems about being gay and was one of the more iconic queer voices of the 19th century, at least in literary circles.

Byron was an icon and also incredibly queer.

Sappho is the iconic one; Anne Carson’s translation of her work (If Not, Winter) is fantastic and the one I’d personally recommend.

Classics

If you’re down to read between the lines do I have some books for you

Stoker was gay (and wrote thirsty letters to Whitman), and no one can convince me that Dracula is a straight book. Arthur and Quincey were dating thank you for coming to my TEDx talk.

The Iliad is long and complex but also Achilles and Patroclus wanted their ashes mixed when they died (fellas...)

anything by Wilde but especially A Portrait of Dorian Gray.

Les Miserables has a character who “admired, loved, and venerated” another man, and who “took great care not to believe in anything” but said other man (fellas...). There’s also an entire page about how the lead has never felt any form of love other than familial (fellas... is it aro to spend a whole page talking about how you’ve never loved anyone).

I haven’t read Moby Dick but I know there’s like three pages about how much the narrator loves his crewmate (fellas...)

Nonfiction

A lot of people are scared of nonfic but I’m gonna let you in on a secret: you don’t have to read the whole book. Pick and choose chapters that interest you, put it down for a year, whatever. Nonfic’ll be there for you.

Portrait of a Marriage by Nigel Nicolson is a look into his parents’ open relationship and his mother’s relationship with Virginia Woolf; it’s a gorgeous exploration of the various ways that love and marriage can be flexible and it changed how I look at relationships.

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski is a good intro to queer history.

We Are Everywhere by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown is a great look at the Stonewall Era and the time after especially, and it’s full of incredible pictures. They also run @/lgbt_history on insta and 10/10 for that.

Love and Resistance: Out of the Closet and Into the Stonewall Era by Jason Baumann is fantastic too; it’s got pictures and short descriptions of what’s happening in them. Maybe not a first place, but if you know the general scope of the queer rights movement it’s a fantastic thing (or if you don’t and you’re ready to google lmao).

My Dear Boy or anything else by Rictor Norton is incredible. My Dear Boy is a collection of gay love letters; he’s also got books on queer culture in 18th century London and queering the Gothic. You can find a lot of his stuff online here and My Dear Boy specifically here.

If you want more/ something more specific, don’t hesitate!! I work in a library and I’m always finding new gay stuff and I love it.

#i wrote this in two sittings because i had a lot of ideas lmao #and i'm sure i'll come up with more soon #but i love talking about gay lit and i have so many recs #so if you want something more specific let me know #not fic #ask and answer #hannah's recs

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cruelsister-moved · 2 years

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thank you so much for explaining!! i will save that post for reference <3 also may i ask what books would you recommend about lesbian history? I finally came to terms that im lesbian and i realized i have not read much of lesbianism history. I already bought the comic dykes to watch out for.

ur welcome!! i love this doc so much - it's butchfemme specifically but it's a compilation of excerpts from various writings by all sorts of people over many many decades (and stuff that was written later by people who experienced being a lesbian in the 50s/60s/70s etc) and it has fiction and nonfiction, essays and autobiographies and poems and manifestos. even if you have no interest in butchfemme i still recommend reading about it bc butches are a ginormous part of lesbian history and the community would be a lot better if more people knew to treat them w respect and understanding

I absolutely don't agree w everything contained here and that's why I think it's such a good resource. a lot a lot a lot of people are going to tell you to read stone butch blues but if you're going to read one single thing cover to cover make it something which covers all sorts of perspectives and contexts (including an excerpt from sbb) rather than one person's very specific fictionalised autobiography. it's also just a lot more accessible to read a lot of shorter pieces.

literally the main piece thing u should know if u want to know lesbian history is never let urself believe there's such a thing as one lesbian history. every lesbian and every lesbian subgroup has its own history and many of these actively contradict. you can find a gay elder to back up literally anything you want to say and it doesn't make you right.

personally most of my learning is just trying to read a wide range of individuals and about their lives, like i think its important to humanise lesbians especially if you just came to terms with being one so like go for lesbian historical figures and read of and about them.. its probably up to you to find people you click with but it's not super hard to google about famous and historical lesbians and look into some of them. you could also look into boston marriages, the harlem renaissance, the ball scene, and the bar scene. but try to find primary sources or people who diligently cite primary sources bc there is a lot of fictionalisation about these by people with agendas.

off the top of my head list of lesbian writers: angela davis, gertrude stein, virginia woolf, radclyffe hall, alice walker, jeanette winterson, audre lorde, emily dickinson, mary oliver, carol ann duffy. i havent read all of these extensively but they are a starting place if you really have no idea at all. the frustration with lesbian history in particular is that the further you look back the harder it is to find information about lesbians who werent white and upper class but there is quite a wealth of black lesbian literature in the last 50+ years who have been extremely important to lesbian history as a whole

ALSO the 1977 album "Lesbian Concentrate: A Lesbianthology of Songs and Poems" was released by a label called olivia records which was notable for being lesbian-run, trans inclusive, and featuring multiple gay women of colour on its roster. its not on spotify afaik but it should be on YouTube & if you can't find it I will upload it to drive for you :-) it features everything from acoustic comedy songs to this mellow soul love song written about another woman ^_^

oh also there's a magazine called lesbian connection that you can subscribe to for free or for a donation online and you can get the magazine digitally or by post all over the world. it features submissions by lesbians everywhere so once again you can get all sorts of perspectives from that in the modern day

#ask #anon #butchfemme #I've had this doc since 2018 so I don't recall who made it or where I got it but I love it sm #also i love the novel tipping the velvet and i think Sarah waters other books r likely to be solid to for fiction #im low-key not the person to ask for anything that isn't butchfemme honestly 😭

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feministakari · 3 years

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Like something i never see talked about is that when people say "listen to [poc/disabled/survivor] people" then you can't take literally everything you hear from a person as truth just because they are X identity.

"Listen to X voices" is NOT a good only rule with no caveats. Because it becomes about:

Absorbing the opinion of X group of people already in your opinion bubble / political group / echo chamber whether its representative of the group or not

Assuming one person speaks for all people like them

Assuming if the majority of an oppressed group thinks something about themselves you must agree with it

Finding people from that group that agree with you to justify your existing opinions and not learning anything

My dad sent us some post by a black man on Facebook about how BLM are all dumb looters and black people need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. I instantly knew it was bullshit because I have an existing understanding of the world not being a meritocracy, an understanding that most problems are institiutional not personal "bad choices", and a suspicion of people who talk badly of their own minority group, especially to get clout or validation from the majority. But all my dad understood was "see he's black so he can't be wrong about race." Or if he was being a racist manipulative fuck on purpose then "I can use this man's words against other black people and their supporters because I can hide behind his race."

He was technically using "listen to black people" but he didn't learn anything. He just got validation for what he already believed which was a harmful and shitty worldview.

You have to do work of interpreting what you learn. As a white person trying to understand racial issues better and how to talk about them to other white people, I've only seen this mentioned in one post ever and it was a graph about steps in racial advocacy. it should probably be closer to step one than like four.

There's many disabled people with ableism. There's gay people that hate bi or trans people. There's sexist women literally everywhere. You have to take a wider look at things than just individual opinions but I don't know how to express that or give it methods or steps. I only arrived at these conclusions after sociology and psychology classes plus years of things I read online. Should everyone just take a class on race or sociology? Why would they ever believe it if they've gone their whole life thinking good things happen to good people?

#race #tw racism #white ppl

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theboywhocriedbooks · 5 years

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Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

[Goodreads]

It's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing.

Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He's terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. Reza knows he's gay, but all he knows of gay life are the media's images of men dying of AIDS.

Judy is an aspiring fashion designer who worships her uncle Stephen, a gay man with AIDS who devotes his time to activism as a member of ACT UP. Judy has never imagined finding romance...until she falls for Reza and they start dating.

Art is Judy's best friend, their school's only out and proud teen. He'll never be who his conservative parents want him to be, so he rebels by documenting the AIDS crisis through his photographs.

As Reza and Art grow closer, Reza struggles to find a way out of his deception that won't break Judy's heart--and destroy the most meaningful friendship he's ever known.

Thoughts:

Spoiler-Free Thoughts:

This was a book that I instantly became excited for when I learned what it was about. It discusses queer love, HIV/AIDS, NYC, the late 80’s, and those are all right up my alley. I’ve personally spent a lot of time educating myself about this history, be it in classes such as the one I took that focused on QPoC and HIV/AIDS specifically, or online, so you can say I’m pretty invested. I even wrote my own short story that focuses on similar themes (more on that some other time). Those parts of this book were so great, to an extent. One of my favorite historical moments is the St Patrick's Cathedral protest in the late 80’s, the die-in, where an individual can be heard screaming ‘You’re killing us!” and that made it into this book. So many other important historical moments made it into this book and I think that is its strongest aspect.

I was also excited about this book because it discusses this topic AND is by a person of color, an Iranian American specifically and one of the main characters is Iranian American as well. I felt like, ‘who better to explore themes of love and friendship during this time than someone who was alive during that time and also is a person of color’, aka, a voice I don’t hear enough of when discussing this topic. So much of this book is important! The queer Iranian representation, the queer youth rep during this time in history, queer sex + safe sex, the iconic activism, and even just some of the general references. I respect this book for that alone, for attempting to tackle it all and doing some of it very well.

Unfortunately, I had a lot of problems throughout the book. I know one or two might be very biased and personal things, but I know there are some I would like others to know or talk about. This includes: love triangle/melodrama?, general pacing, Madonna, the white characters, cis-normativity, privilege, the pov’s, and more. I will discuss that below, so run to read the book (if you want) or continue to read my spoiler-ful thoughts!

Spoiler-ful Thoughts:

I feel like some of what I have to say might be controversial so bear with me. For context, I am a young queer Mexican-American writer from Los Angeles, and that’s where I’m coming from with this, identity wise.

I was so stoked to hear this history told in a PoC perspective but aside from the author being of color, I don’t actually think I got a PoC perspective??? Let me break that down. First of all, the story is a multi-pov that alternates each chapter from Reza, Art, and Judy. Realistically, 1/3 of the story is told from the Iranian American character’s eyes. Then the other two are white characters. That itself is where I began being a little iffy (because, again, I was excited about a young PoC pov on this topic) but I was open, especially because I enjoyed them all in the beginning. I just didn’t understand why we needed a straight ally’s point of view? Overall her arc fell flat, aside from the cute moments of fashion design or that moment with Reza’s brother surprisingly. I would have been okay/would have preferred if it was just Reza and Art’s pov though.

In relation to Judy, the whole romance between her and Reza and then Reza and Art was so overblown and unnecessary. Reza didn’t need to date her, though that is a valid and relatable gay teen feels. I wish it ended in that “oh!!! you’re gay, wait!! lol let’s be friends then!” thing. Instead, she’s in love with him for half the book, super pushy with sex and gets extremely upset with Art for… liking Reza, and then you don’t ‘see’ her much throughout the rest of the novel anyway? It just felt so unnecessary, and so love-triangle-y. I did really like Art’s “you don’t understand how it is to like someone and be gay” speech cos felt valid to gay teen vibes, but that could have just been said in a way less dramatic argument? It really made no sense to me.

Before we leave Judy, lets touch on privilege, specifically white privilege and class privilege. Reza’s family, was once poor but now filthy rich. Art’s family, filthy rich and white. Judy’s family, allegedly shown to not be ‘rich’ by the two lines that say “my friends’ rich parents gifted us that cos we’re not as rich as my rich friends” and yet there is really no discussion on that any deeper than that. Like why are her parents not shown working, her mother especially? And her uncle? He lives alone in an apartment in the upper east side or whatever, and doesn’t work anymore? I might have missed that but I shouldn’t be able to just ‘miss that.’ Like, how did they pay to go to PARIS. It just didn’t at all feel like a story I could relate to or one that this history could relate to entirely. Like, even them having a whole ass wake/party thing for her uncle in a night club? Most people who died of AIDS complications didn’t get that, especially not ones who aren’t from ‘not-rich-families’. It was subtle and yet the smell of privilege was everywhere.

Then even Art and Reza’s relationship was also weird? It was forbidden then it immediately wasn’t and they were in love, due to one or two time jumps that really did not help to build their relationship at all. Okay though, some teens love easily, especially gay teens who don’t know many other gay teens so it could slide? Then, however, there is this really real and valid fear ingrained in Reza regarding AIDS and gay sex. He is terrified, and I loved (and hurt) for how terrified he was because it felt reasonable. What I didn’t love was, knowing this, Art was also super pushy sexually? Do you realize he, at multiple times, tried to pressure Reza into sex and once even got naked and pushed his body against him? Doing this after full well knowing how uncomfortable Reza was? No, thank you. From the author’s note in the book, I felt like MAYBE this could have been intentional and not meant to be an extremely positive? While that could be a stretch, it also doesn’t at all criticize or directly address this toxic behavior so boop.

This brings me back to not feeling like I get a QPoC perspective. Reza is our main queer person of color, and really the only prominent one (Jimmy was a rather flat character). Yet, everything else revolves around whiteness. I already addressed Judy taking up space as a narrator. Then there is Art, the super queer activist teen. He is mostly where Reza learns all the queer things from, and he is mostly the perspective where we see the queer action/activism from. Then, who is the elder HE learned everything from? Stephen, the gay white poz uncle of Judy. THEN, who do they frame EVERYTHING around? Madonna, the straight white woman.

Sure we hear about Stephan’s deceased Latino boyfriend and, as I said, Jimmy didn’t have much character to him aside from wearing a fur coat, saying “my black ass,” and helping move Stephan’s character along. He also has one of the few lines that directly addressed qpoc, where he says qpoc are disproportionally affected by AIDS but no one is talking about it. Ironic. It almost rarely addressed PoC throughout the rest of the novel. Heck, it almost never addressed trans characters either. What about the qpoc and trans woc who were foundational to queer rights movements that take place before this book? Sure he name drops Marsha P. Johnson, in passing, on the last page of this 400 page book, but why not mention them in depth even in one section?

Someone asked me, why does the author HAVE to do all of this. Why do they have to representing everyone, like Black trans women. Isn’t that unfair? My answer is no, it’s not unfair in situations like this. This author isn’t writing just a casual romance/friendship story. No, he is heavily touching on so much literal queer history and yet leaving out so many key players that are so often left out because of white-washing that happens in history. He didn’t even have to name these people, but just addressing that they are there as a community. Instead we get two or three throwaway lines about Ball culture after they “went to a ball that one time,” a random line from Jimmy, and a Marsha P. Johnson name drop at the end. It is honestly disappointing.

Even framing everything in the words of Madonna was a bit much for me. Sure, I know of her history and importance to queers so this is one of the more biased parts of this review. I just don’t think we needed several references to her every other page. I then screamed when, not only did we time jump like 20+ years (gays don’t do math, sorry) and the last quote is Lady Gaga! Oh, my god. I won’t linger on the white popstar allies because it’s not worth it. In regards to that time jump, though. It felt unnecessary as well, just trying to tie it all up with a bow. It’s reference to Pulse seemed random, and honestly felt a bit cheap, but so did lots of the things I’ve referenced.

Lastly, why did Art abruptly lick Reza’s lips out of nowhere, or when he was angry it was shown by saying “ and his brow sweats”? Anyway, I’m bummed out. I haven’t been reading as much this year or writing reviews but here I am, writing a novel-sized review basically dragging this book. I liked it enough to finish, and I think it’s important. I know some queer kids reading this will love it and learn from it but I just couldn’t help but realize that right under the surface, this book was sort of a let-down.

Thanks if you read all of this, and also sorry at the same time. Share your thoughts!

#this is a pretty blah review - the book was just a bit disappointing #2019 #Like a Love Story #abdi nazemian #the boy who cried books #3/5 #review

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noahfence1d · 4 years

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Queer people who took time coming to terms with our identities know the dance of avoiding definitive terms and labels. We know what it can look like when someone is a baby queer in waiting; we certainly understand what it’s like trying to figure out how to exist both authentically and safely in the world, calculating the risks of being your true self, and why that waiting period exists—and, for some, never really ends. This process of coming to terms and coming out, however, poses different challenges and has specific implications when you’re a celebrity. Some celebrities—especially those with teen fanbases, like Shawn Mendes or Taylor Swift—are no strangers to being pinned as queer icons because of their presentation, language, or even the friendships they have, despite not being out as queer. However, figures like Mendes or Swift are known for vehemently pushing away from any narrative defining them explicitly queer. Other celebrities, like Harry Styles, have strongly leaned into queerness—or at the very least, embraced being coded as queer.

Look up “Harry Styles queer” on Google and you’ll get a range of headlines from “We need to talk about why Harry Styles is a lesbian icon” to “Harry Style’s New Music Video is Extremely Bisexual.” Styles often dons floral suits and a more stereotypically feminine demeanor alongside lyrics like ones from his song “Medicine,” which are unmistakably bisexual: “The boys and the girls are here/ I mess around with him/ And I’m okay with it.” Recently, Styles announced a tour with artists similarly dubbed queer icons, Jenny Lewis and King Princess, a musical setup that seems like it was made in heaven for queer fans. On his new Saturday Night Live appearance, Styles played a sexually ambiguous character in the Sara Lee sketch, referencing being thirsty for men, almost locking in his “brand” of queerness yet again. In October 2019, Styles’s single “Lights Up” was also deemed a bisexual anthem by certain members of the queer community, especially as the corresponding music video shows a nearly naked Styles surrounded by people of all genders who are touching and carressing his body.

In a 2019 interview with Rolling Stone, he explained why he often dons rainbow flags on stage at his concerts and why he’s been so vocal about supporting queer people. “Everyone in that room is on the same page and everyone knows what I stand for. I’m not saying I understand how it feels. I’m just trying to say, ‘I see you.’” At this point, Styles isn’t new to curiosity surrounding his sexuality. Throughout his time with One Direction, rumors about his sexuality swirled, as he had a close relationship with bandmate Louis Tomlinson. The relationship became a hot topic, and one hugely obsessed over in fan and fanfiction communities. In a 2017 interview with The Sun, while discussing the way that celebrity sexuality is constantly questioned, he said, “It’s weird for me—everyone should just be who they want to be. It’s tough to justify somebody having to answer to someone else about stuff like that … I don’t feel like it’s something I’ve ever felt like I have to explain about myself.” At his final show for his tour in Glasgow in 2018, Styles announced onstage, “We’re all a little bit gay.”

For much of his career, it’s almost seemed like his fanbase is rooting for his queerness. One reason that online communities seem to be so obsessed with queer-adjacent celebrities like Styles is that they normalize queerness, making it feel more accessible. “If they were to come out, it would be a huge benefit to LGBTQ visibility in the media, and a lot of people in the LGBTQ community would love to have a celebrity of that stature on ‘their’ side,” Ash, a bisexual woman, told me. But Styles doesn’t actually claim queerness just because many fans, queer and otherwise, have hoped that he’ll one day do so explicitly. “Can straight people be queer?” asked a 2016 Vice article about the impact of the term’s increasingly broad application. The fact is that cis, straight people can’t be queer—so what does that mean when queer communities tout artists like Styles or Swift as part of our culture?

At some points in history, having these kinds of allies for the community who are not queer themselves, like Lil’ Kim, who has advocated for gay men and against homophobia in the rap community since the early 2000s, has been monumental. Queer audiences of yesteryears also gravitated toward performers like Dolly Parton who didn’t have to be queer themselves because they were accepting and loving toward all, and used their platform to normalize and uplift the queer communities that have celebrated them. In this day and age, however, expectations of performers have heightened. Unlike other celebrities dubbed “queer icons” who happen to be straight, including Madonna, Janet Jackson, or Parton, the fanbases of artists like Styles’s skew younger. And younger audiences don’t just want performers who see and welcome them. They want performers who are them—artists who understand the queer experience because they are queer, and they’re here to reflect audiences back to themselves.

So why the critique if there are seemingly so many positives to any representation or acceptance? It’s not that Styles, or any celebrity or public figure for that matter, owes us any information about their sexualities. On one hand, simply by existing in such a public manner, these celebrities offer a sliver of hope that there might be someone just like us navigating the world of queerness and identity. Celebrities like Styles or Swift—who has made use of queer aesthetics herself, and whose friendship with model Karlie Kloss has been the subject of rumors—remind us of who we were when we navigated our queerness more subtly before we were ready to explicitly tell someone close to us, or our resident queer community. Entertainers like Jackson or Parton became queer icons because they embraced queer fans during a closeted time, and perhaps it felt okay to have acceptance without representation. It was clear the performers weren’t trying to be queer. On the other hand, with Styles or Swift, the lines are blurred, and it’s unclear whether they’re trying to say they’re one of us or merely accept queer fans while borrowing from the culture to fit in and create a brand.

“I think it’s important for white queer folks to interrogate the whiteness of their queer idols, and work to understand why they feel more inclined to celebrate the visible queerness of one artist over another.”

There’s often a concern that celebrities are co-opting queerness as a marketing ploy. With the long history of queerbaiting (using the possibility of or undertones of queerness to gain favorability with queer people) in popular culture, there’s a certain level of disingenuousness to letting the bait and switch go on with minimal critique. The kind of support and lauding that celebrities like Styles receive for more playful expression and experimentation is not always present for queer people of color like Syd (formerly of The Internet), Alok Vaid-Menon, or Big Freedia. When she sees mostly white, thin, able-bodied figures with “queer energy” centered as icons in the queer community as opposed to queer people of color, Olivia Zayas Ryan, a queer woman, wonders why. “If you’re showing up for a pretty white boy in a tutu, where are you when Black and brown queer folks are vilified, ridiculed, and worse?” she told me. “If you are excited and feel seen when queer aesthetics are in the mainstream, what are you doing to honor, protect, and recognize the folks who created them? I think it’s important for white queer folks to interrogate the whiteness of their queer idols, and work to understand why they feel more inclined to celebrate the visible queerness of one artist over another.”

Conversation around both queerbaiting and our curiosity about celebrity queerness is an ongoing and complicated one. For example, there are theorists who have posited that Kurt Cobain was a closeted trans woman. “Many transgender women see themselves in his shaggy hair, his penchant for nail polish and dresses, and his struggles with depression,” Gillian Branstetter, a transgender advocate and writer, told me. Cobain’s fascination with pregnancy (“In Utero”) and his distaste for masculinity (“In Bloom”), as well as his partner Courtney Love’s references to having a more fluid lover (“He had ribbons in his hair/ And lipstick was everywhere/ You look good in my dress”) stoked this interest in his sexuality and presentation. “It sounds very familiar to trans women whose own relationship with masculinity and femininity was often expressed in coded ways before they came out,” says Branstetter. Styles, who like Cobain shows disinterest in conforming to a traditionally masculine rock-star presentation, seems to spark the same interest in fans from the queer community.

With our investment in Styles or other celebrities who are likely straight but exude “queer energy,” it feels as if we’re looking for a mirror of ourselves, seeking to claim the most popular public figures as our own, and in turn feel more normal and accepted. Perhaps our obsession with artists like Styles comes down to the excitement of feeling visible—but what do fans of potentially straight queer icons like Styles actually want? Can we thread the needle between feeling seen and normalized in our queerness while also feeling the imbalance between Styles’s privilege and the most marginalized people in the queer community’s lived experiences? Ultimately, it’s queer fans who get to decide if Styles’s kind of allyship and solidarity with the queer community is enough, or if it’s begun to give off the all-too-familiar stink of disingenuous baiting.

#did I write this?#Harry Styles #queerbaiting discourse #he's going to have to shit or get off the pot at some point

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tanadrin · 5 years

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@discoursedrome

Uh this does mean that this discussion is split across like three distinct threads now but ~oh well~

Sorry, that’s my fault, for the whole “...and another thing!” style of posting. I think our disagreements here may be irreconcilable, but I think they’re worth explicating, so I’ll condense my specific responses in one post.

The extent to which the current level of trans acceptance is owed to piggybacking on the legitimacy of psychiatric medicine can’t be overstated.

This, I think, is where you and I diverge strongly. I think trans acceptance doesn’t need to rely on the legitimacy of psychiatry, any more than gay acceptance or the equality of woman, and probably shouldn’t try, given the fraught history of the supposed neutrality of medicine being used as a stick to hit people with. Where trans acceptance exists, and where it will come where it does not exist, is through the same basic mechanism as gay acceptance: it’s hard to consign trans people to the Hated Other when you know a bunch of them, they’re out, and the default message of society (conveyed through the law) is Trans People Aren’t Doing Anything Wrong. Medical acceptance is important for trans healthcare specifically, and to a greater degree than it might be for, say, gay men (who don’t need to be plagued by doctors who think Gay Bowel Syndrome is a real thing), but the difference between trans people and LGB people here is of degree and not kind.

doctors in general and psychiatrists in particular are guardians of social order and, in particular, gatekeepers of permissible abnormalities. ... and if that faith lapses then the result will either be that everything relying on psychiatry for legitimation becomes illegitimate, or that some other group ... steps into the breach and becomes the new source of legitimacy, despite having comparable problems in reality

I also don’t think this is true. I think the average view of the medical establishment sees them neither as a true and impartial priesthood or a suspect cabal colluding with Big Pharma for profit, but has a healthy mix of respect and skepticism. I know people whose view lies somewhere along that axis both of rather conservative and extremely leftist positions, so I also don’t think this differs much by political orientation either. If it were true, I think the social consensus on trans people would be changing much faster. To the extent it is true, it is one small, small contribution to a broad array of institutions whose opinions people factor in (to different degrees, depending on their upbringing and worldview) when internalizing for themselves what the range of permissible abnormalities is.

(I think the importance of medical acceptance is an empirical question, but one which would be very difficult to answer except through many surveys asking a bunch of people slight variations on a set of similar questions. I don’t know myself of any substantive data which might point toward one or the other model as lying closer to the truth, except the similar historical examples, which obviously I interpret as being in my favor. But you may disagree on their relevance or their interpretation.)

So it’s no surprise that the common narrative for homosexuality being reclassified as “not a mental illness” is that the original classification was a mistake, and it changed when people learned more about homosexuality. This is a total myth, though! ... Whether or not you classify homosexuality as a mental illness or not has a lot of influence on spin..., but nothing at all to do with the biological/psychological/medical/empirical reality of homosexuality. It’s that way with everything.

I agree. This is basic to the epistemology of medicine specifically, and all taxonomies generally.

I can’t overstate the extent to which society’s willingness to show compassion to people in difficult situations is dependent on their viewing those situations as external, unnatural and out of the subjects’ control. ... You can’t construct durable defenses that don’t rely on these things, at least not under the umbrella of a society that is alien to them.

But this I disagree with. One reason I beat that dead horse to a pulp about liberalism generally is that the humanist/Enlightenment/democratic/rights-based framework, however loose it is as a tendency, that we slap the label “liberalism” tends logically toward an equilibrium of tolerating greater individual diversity, and encouraging/being reinforced by social structures that are tolerant of greater individual diversity (like atomic individualism and moral therapeutic deism).

In more conservative spaces, where that liberal worldview which pervades society has to compete with brainspace with provincial xenophobia, “out of the subject’s control” is a line of argument that can smuggle in the logical consequences of the liberal-democratic worldview to yer dad (in Olly Thorn’s parlance) who otherwise feels icky about the gays and the blacks and the transgenders. In spaces where values of tolerance have less thin and rocky soil to grow in, it’s commensurately less necessary to use “but it’s not a choice!” as a justification for not being shitty to people who are different. You may have to use it with young children, but that’s about it.

I’d be interested to know if our respective attitudes on this point are the product either of the environments we were raised in or the environments we currently live in, though. This is the kind of thing for which one’s personal data set can be... heavily biased by the qualities of the people they’re surrounded with.

“Defining transgenderism in terms of gender dysphoria is the best!” which I definitely don’t believe; I’ve seen a lot worse definitions, but I’m not at all happy with that one, for roughly the usual reasons.

FWIW, I didn’t take that as your position, but I also struggled to articulate what rubbed me the wrong way without feeling like I was stereotyping you as having that position.

That said, here is what “gender dysphoria” has that “gender euphoria” or the combination of the two doesn’t: [list of attributes]

The importance of these attributes varies to the extent that one believes in the importance of trans legitimacy relying on medical legitimacy. Obviously there’s considerable difference between us on that point. One thing I do think “euphoria” conveys more aptly than “preference,” especially in informal discussions, is that it’s not dispassionate or remote from one’s deeply internal/spiritual processes, those aspects of the self which ache and yearn and struggle and weep, far away from any dispassionate process of logic or craven process of calculated self-interest. “Preference” speaks to me of statements like “I prefer a lighter room so I can read this book more easily,” but not more unconscious processes like “it’s December, and it’s been cloudy for three weeks, and I’m going to turn on every light in the house so the bleakness of crushing winter is replaced by the warm glow of cozy joy.”

So the use of the word can be important, because those distinctions in connotation color how these discussions unfold, especially with skeptics, and they’re really hard to pin down otherwise. A “mere preference” can be dismissed. A spiritual yearning (even if it’s for more light in the wintertime) that shoots through to the core of your being is harder to toss away, even rhetorically. In this particular online space we might admit that the word “preference” can subsume the latter meaning, because we’re used to a degree of technical and semantic precision, and to having the space to define our terms. Most everywhere else--at the Christmas dinnertable, on Twitter, in Whatsapp discussions with friends, in the pub, even often in academic essays--conversations don’t proceed on those terms, and the language you deploy has to utilize aesthetics in the pursuit of communicating truth.

#by aesthetics i mean connotations #the fuzzy boundaries of meaning #separating the precise definitions of words from their casual use #etc #plus also actual aesthetics

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vtori73 · 3 years

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A bit controversial (for white people but I feel most POC despite some not thinking it's okay at least would understand) but ever since I started learning past what they taught us in school and just few specific interactions/relationships with white people & what you learn & observe online I've come to this mindset of "never truly/fully trust White people."

And what I mean by that is, I like to think the best of people, I don't want to think they are bad especially if they are nice to me but I also am VERY aware that just because someone is nice to you doesn't mean they actually are nice or a good person.

Too many White people, no matter what other marginalized identities they may have (gay, disabled, trans, etc) , will at the end of the day excuse racism and be buddy buddy with people who are or are basically white supremacists. To them that's just opinions, racism is just an opinion & won't let it affect their relationships but will question why POC don't feel comfortable around them & get angry if they call them out for being complicit in white supremecy. And I do believe it's because they don't want to, because then they have to come to terms with the fact that a lot of what they benefit from comes from their privilege & don't like the idea of giving it up & to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if a good chunk of them were ALREADY aware & actively feign ignorance to get from being called the dreaded "R" word (& no not the ableist one).

But their are also the ones who just don't think of racism as all that bad or see it for what it truly is. They don't realize it's imbedded all over this country and others, it's everywhere but for white people because they aren't personally effected will never bother to try to understand how truly insidious it is.

At least with the overt racist white people it's easier to avoid them but when it's comes to the progressive, dem, liberal or whatever white people it can be harder to notice and for people like me who aren't good at confrontation & second guess ourselves often it can be harder to break away or confront them about it.

They know the lingo, they know the basics, they know what white privilege is, they have BLM in their handles, profile, they consider themselves allies, or don't consider themselves racist but will do things like defend other white people who have been racist in the past even though it's not their place but will turn on POC for even the slightest evidence of being X (ex: John Boyega & Kylo/Rey shippers who are mostly white women were harassing/bullying him for being "misogynistic") they'll freely compare the oppression that POC/specifically Black people face to compare to other things that they personally experience & think it's okay ( "q word is just as bad as the n word" or whatever else that I can't recall because I've seen it plenty of times I just can't give anymore examples) but at the same time never discuss the actual topic of racism or anti-blackness & is only ever mentioned when it's being used as a prop for discussing their own oppressions.

Or the liberals who shout and scream at 3rd party or non-voters who are mostly POC to vote and blame them for all the ills in the world but don't do anything to help POC within their own communities to be able to safely go to vote or acknowledge that the voting system in general in this country originated from colonialism and trying to force/guilt POC to participate in it is modern day assimilation or unwilling to acknowledge just how truly messed up the voting system in this country is with all it's gerrymandering & voter suppression OR the real kicker that the actual people to blame in all this are their own relatives, friends and family who overwhelmingly voted BUT about MORE THEN HALF voted for Republicans/Conservatives or more specifically this election voted for a fucking fascist AGAIN.

So sorry, but also not really because too many White people have shown they are ok with racism and I don't want to put all my trust in people who might one day reveal to me they always saw me or my friends or just any BIPOC as acceptable scapegoats & casualties for their own comfort, agendas & lives.

#current election feels #and yeah i probably sound gruff but honestly #this is my blog im able to put on that act a bit easier #they are still my opinions but im also like i said scared of confrontation & doubt myself often so that kind of...#makes me less threatening scary mean etc #im just also mad so its being channeled in this very much

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idontknowhowtoplayleague · 4 years

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SonicFox Brings Diversity and Politics to eSports (3.23.2020)

March 9, 2020 - Dominique ‘SonicFox’ McLean took home the grand prize at the Mortal Kombat championship tournament at Park West Theater in Chicago. As they accepted their win, they appeared on stage dawning a full ‘fur suit’ of a blue fox (worn typically by ‘furries’, this is a suit that resembles an animal of the wearer’s choosing), the trans flag worn as a cape, and declared that people should vote for Bernie Sanders in the upcoming democratic elections and beyond. If you are familiar with eSports, this kind of display for a champion esports player is a rarity, to say the least.

A staple of the gaming community is transphobia/homophobia/all the phobias and all the isms you can imagine. In the year of 2020, most would think that this would not be prevalent in a professional league, but much of the community is held to an incredibly low standard when compared to traditional athletes. As someone who likes to play online games, it’s rare to not face a player who uses racial slurs, phobic insults, etc.

So, in such a toxic community, it’s interesting to see someone like SonicFox appear on the mainstage. In 2019, SonicFox publicly announced that they identify as non-binary. As a gay, black furry who is known for leading a trans rights chant at tournaments, SonicFox hasn’t been without ridicule and backlash. Many people believe that sport and politics should be separated. Why bring something that can be so stressful to something made to entertain?

As SonicFox themselves points out, the gaming community has a real issue with queerphobia and racism:

“It’s a lot of oppression, racism, homophobia and transphobia everywhere. Especially in the gaming industry.”

If players hold marginalized identities, they cannot rely on the industry they are a part of, and who wants to continue to be a part of something they don’t feel welcomed in? As discussed in previous posts, there is a lack of diversity in gaming. With players like SonicFox appearing, maybe we will get to see gaming become a more welcoming community.

Watch Kotaku’s Interview With SonicFox Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWhrECl6zOY

esports champion SonicFox signs with Evil Geniuses, pledges to continue message of ‘equality’: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/esports-champion-sonicfox-signs-with-evil-geniuses-pledges-to-continue-message-of-e2-80-98equality-e2-80-99/ar-BB11zLqG

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billyflood · 6 years

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I was indoctrinated into the Star Wars fandom from an early age. I was born in 1980, and my brother is eight years older than me. So being like any other little brother, I wanted to be like him in every way possible. Even though our father was a strong presence in the house, my older brother served as a closer, more relatable model for who I should be as a black boy. My father worked seven days a week most weeks, and still is a stoic man (he was NOT drafted, he volunteered to serve in Vietnam because he felt he owed it to his country if that gives you any idea as to his nature) so my brother was human, of flesh, not G.I. Joe, and was in the room next door. So whatever he liked, I liked. I should say my brother did not like Star Wars, he ate, slept, devoured and LIVED Star Wars. He had every single action figure, poster, doll, cassette tape, story book, bed sheets, pillow cases, house shoes, watch, ALL the accessories ok? So when I was very young, I was taken to the movies with him to see Empire Strikes Back in the theatres and the Ewok movie. Looking back, I am sure my parents did this on purpose to make sure he was on the up and up and to get us out of the house. The proverbial “Sure you can go, as long as you take your brother.” I actually still have my original Ewok plush doll. So let me just state the obvious, I am vetted. A true fan of the world George Lucas created.

With all of my true blue fan credentials out of the way, let me say I saw The Last Jedi yesterday afternoon, and I am conflicted. I don’t say this in an academic, clinical way. I say this as a true fan of the franchise. It saddens me and simultaneously relives me to say that this will most likely be my last Star Wars film that I rush to the theatre to see. Let me outline why The Last Jedi, is in all practical terms, my last Star Wars movie.

The race problem in the galaxy is strong with this one. In the Star Wars world White Supremacy is rampant and people of color are reduced to cowards in the personage of John Boyega once again running from a fight to jump into an escape pod and abandon everyone (predictably for a Rey, a white woman…), or they are maintenance workers or fighter pilots that fall into the noble savage trope and die heroically. Authority is racialized in space, as it is here on Earth. To put it simply, diversity in Star Wars is masked in white supremacy by putting women in charge…but white women. The authorities in charge of the resistance:

The major protagonists in the story arc:

The story is about characters who are white, and led by characters who are white. The narrative is moved forward by white charatcers who are making decisions that have life and death ramifications for the non-white characters.

People of Color (John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran)are tertiary characters (the Force being one, white people being two and POC…) who go on side missions that are completely useless and a distraction from the main story. Of course Tran has faced the same racism online that John Boyega faced when pictures of him in the last film popped up from production.

I also was not excited by the fact we were basically gay baited into thinking

Oscar Issacs and John Boyega might be a romantic item (they were “Shipped” all over the internet and even hinted at the romance on Ellen). The thought of the galaxy finally being non heterosexist I guess was just TOO fantastical to imagine, especially with it still being white supremacist.

So with Han Solo murdered, Carrie Fisher dead, and Luke now evaporated into the Force, white supremacy and heterosexual norms everywhere, I can say that I have not left the Force, but the Force is definitely no longer with me.

The Fault In Our Star…Wars I was indoctrinated into the Star Wars fandom from an early age. I was born in 1980, and my brother is eight years older than me.

#adam driver #carrie fisher #daisy ridley #film #hollywood #john boyega #kellyMarietran #laura dern #mark hamil #oscar issacs #race #star wars

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roidespd-blog · 5 years

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Chapter Twenty-Seven : QUEER & RACE

If you recall yesterday’s article on the Equality Act (June 26th), the Gay Liberation Movement and it subsequent attempts at protecting Queer people under the Law took a page at the Civil Rights Movement that culminated (but did not end) with the signature of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The fight of minorities have always mirrored one another through the last century of our History but today, we’re exploring how race is being handled inside the Queer community. And since I’m a white cis man, I’m perfectly qualified for the job.

A WHITE MAN EXPLAINS RACISM

Fuck no. 1. You’re perfectly aware of what racism is 2. I ain’t whitesplaining this situation 3. Next.

RAINBOW IS NOT THE ONLY COLOR

In the United States, Queer Black People had the hard challenge to face two major fights in the 1960s (three for Queer women of color) : Right to exist as a black person and right to proclaim their Queer identity without serious consequences. The New York Times published an article on June 22, 2019 called ‘Queer People of Color Led the L.G.B.T.Q Charge, but were denied the reward”. Very instructive if you have a second. In this article, it is stated that the same thing happened to Transgender people, Drag Queens, Blacks and Hispanics during this period of time “(They) played outsized roles during many of the earliest milestones of the Gay Rights Movement (but) have been denied many of the benefits of the revolution they sparked”.

As a matter of fact, many of the first major push backs at the Police and the Law were led Queer people of Color. Logical when you think of how badly black people were treating in America since… always. If on top of that, you throw homophobic attacks for being a transvestite or a homo, well someone might snap for good. As the article states “the LGBTQ community owes a huge debt of gratitude to the ones who really didn’t have that much of a choice, who were out there taking the beatings and taking the verbal abuse”. Basically Trans women of color. Didn’t you hear, Marsha P. Johnson threw the first brick at Stonewall ? Well, more on that later (PLOT TWIST : She probably didn’t).

You can’t deny all the good and sacrifices Marsha achieved during her short lifetime though. An outspoken advocate for gay rights and founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, she was known as “the mayor of Christopher Street” (location of the Stonewall Inn). Marsha was a black individual. Many of them were. Without the hardship and strength that they accumulated in a country where they were never considered equal and couldn’t hide their identity — because think about it, you may have the possibility to pass as straight, but you can’t pretend to be white, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

And what do we have today ? A total ignorance of the pain and struggles are our brothers and sisters of color.

DOUBLE STANDARDS

Queer individuals of color may find themselves in a double minority, in which they are neither fully accepted nor understood by (mainly) white Queer communities nor their own ethnic group.

If you are an Arab person (especially if you are Muslim), religious backgrounds and crowd mentality are clear obstacles to your own acceptance of Queer Identity. Meanwhile, you’ll have a hard time finding people to relate to as you will inevitably be consider a sex object by the community (more on that later).

Some Asian family traditions will hold you back to marry the person you love. One study found that 90% of Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) who self-identified as Queer thought homophobia and transphobia to be an issue in the later API community. Amy Sueyoshi, an Historian specializing in sexuality, gender and race, said : “Voices from the queer left, though opposed to homophobia in cultural nationalism, have picked up the protest against the feminization of Asian American men in the gay community. While coming from drastically different perspectives, both groups find common ground in supporting a phallocentric standard of Asian American Male sexuality”. And on the Queer side, people of Asian descent are mostly ignored (more on that later).

Gay Latino Men report experiencing Ostracism from their friends and families as they are not considered truly “men”. Latina lesbians are considered traitors who have forsaken their roots (they are perceived as “Malinche” figures corrupted by foreign influences who contribute to the genocide of their people). More than in any other community, rigid gender roles, patriarchy and religion give a sexuality judged ‘abnormal’ and hard to accept. Queer communities, meanwhile, created a toxic environment for Gay Latinos and Latinas (more. on. that. later)

In Black communities, homophobic attitudes are mainly the reason why there’s a disproportionately high incidence of HIV/AIDS amongst African Americans (that and poverty). Those overtly homophobic standards in that community gave way to a subculture called being on the “Down-Low”, in which black men who usually identity as heterosexual have sex with men without anyone else knowing shit about it. In many cases, those sexual acts are unprotected and create a space of danger for the individual and their future sexual partners (male and female). Finally, in the Queer community… Well, you get my drift (more on that right now).

Do you need to talk about Trans people of color ? Really ? Don’t you know that by now ? Have you ever considered what they were going through ?

This creates multiples minority stress inside one individual, with consequences of internalized homophobia and poor mental and physical self-care (drugs, alcohol, sexual risks, suicide).

SEXUAL RACISM

Sexual Racial Preference is the individual’s sexual preference of specific races. Is is an inclination towards potential sexual or romantic partners on the basis of perceived racial identity. In a way, it all depends on your point of view. There’s the blind point of view where we present this situation as a matter of preference and there’s the “put your fucking glasses on” point of view of we need to characterize this as racism. It’s been going on for hundreds of years, especially with the world’s dark past with slavery. In the last ten years, online dating has overtaken previously methods of meeting potential partners. The number of dating sites (gay, straight, bi, etc) has spiked to a uncountable level. Some are even created especially for an ethnic background OR for people in search of a different ethnic background. Along with this, there has been a rise of online sexual racism. Racial discrimination is everywhere. ESPECIALLY in Queer dating apps.

Take the case of Asian men. In other gay men’s minds, they are being represented as feminine and desexualized. The term “undersexed” has been used. Without even mentioning the stereotyping of size for an Asian male, gay pornography often depicts Asian men as submissive to the pleasures of white men. The way Asian men have been treated in the Queer community is close to “symbolic castration” according to Gilbert Caluya. Gay Asian Men experience constant racism on dating apps, where it is common for profiles to state “NO ASIANS” or “NO FATS, NO FEMMES, NO ASIANS” (the holy trinity of what Asian Men are represented as). They are being “relegated to the bottom of the attractiveness spectrum”, reflecting the position of the Asian individual in the world (and as always, with WHITE MALE on top). And if somehow, a Gay White man will get an interest in an Gay Asian man, it’s often part of a fetish or sexual racial preference based only on appearance and race. The objectification of someone’s race is in no way better than pushing that someone away because of this race. Those “rice queen” need to stop taken Asian people for objects to play with and then throw away. Same thing for Asian women in the Queer community. They are not deemed “Gay enough” due to their traditional Asian descent and at the same time, “passive but exotic”, mirroring the way Straight white males view Asian women.

Do you think it’s better with other ethnicities ? Sure, keep dreaming. Where Asian men are desexualized, Black men and women, cis and trans, are overtly sexualized, on top of the deepest form of racism born out of centuries of slavery and fear. As I said, the rise of the two movements made life twice as difficult for Queer Black folks. John Wilder said “Now that it is becoming unfashionable to discriminate against N*****, discrimination against homosexuals will be on the increase”. Furthermore, Keith Boykin said “the dirty little secret about the homosexual population is that white gay people are just as racist as white straight people”. It’s a truth that you can see everyday in our community. It has been predominantly led by white people for white people. Just as what ? The rest of the world. So if Black people are rejected as individuals by their Black communities and by the Queer community, what’s left for them ? Yes, I digress from the sexual stereotyping I was supposed to talk about. Here it goes. Those discriminations are reflected into their sexuality in constant judgement from all parts of both communities. For example, Black men who have a sexual preference for White men are accused to suffer from “insidious legacy of white racism”. They are also rejected by other Black Gay men opposed to interracial relationships with White folks, as it is a sign of lack of roots into their enslaved history and a oblivious blind eye to racism. Otherwise, Black Gay Men are supposed to be “tops” with enormous dongs (something that is explicitly demanded by dating apps users of all races) who are “urban”, “ruff” and gonna treat them like “lil’ bitches”. Some White men unofficially think that being sexually attracted to Black people automatically proves the lack of racism in them. But if you are only fucking and dating Black people, you have a sexual racial preference and… you racist.

And did you know that Trans Black Women are four times as likely to be sexually attacked, raped or murdered than the rest of the Queer population ? Uh ?

Have you noticed that in America, there’s a lot of Gay Latino bars and nightclubs, not so much Asian or Black gay clubs ? Do you think it’s because Latinos are better club dancers ? You racist fuck. No, it’s because Queer hispanics and Latinos have one of the greatest level of discriminations, both within and outside the Queer community, prompting the creation of the first Latino gay bar in San Francisco in 1979. Many more will follow.

I had a harder times finding specific prejudices against Latinos and Latinas inside the Queer community than for others, I’ll admit. Then I remembered that I just needed to search inside of my own prejudices, those that came with growing up inside the system. The first thing that comes to mind is big butts. Latino Men are targeted for the specific proportions of their bodies, especially if they are bottoms. Who doesn’t like a big ass ? They’re trendy. What else ? What else ? What else ? Well, just like any other races, your shade is uber important. I mean, are you darker skinned ? light skinned so you can almost pass as white ? Are the physical traits on your face obviously Mexican ? Spanish ? Brazilian ?

Arab men faces another type of stereotypes : the THUG.

Here’s the situation : you’re a young white bottom with a really big urge of being mistreated by someone with a bad attitude. White boys don’t scare you, it doesn’t turn you on. Latinos ? why not but it’s gonna be enough ? A Black man ? Well it could hurt (because big dicks, right ?). So you turn your attention to Arabs. They wear street clothes, sneakers that you can worship. They will insult you, spit on you, fuck you like the whore that you are. Maybe even in a basement ! And with some of his thug friends ! You’ll end up cover in spits and jizz, the rose bud blooming like never before. Who said Arab men were all thugs ? What makes you think every time you objectify a Arab sex partner, it’s gonna end up like this ? Wouldn’t it be… SATAN ? (that was a SNL reference) Nop, it’s Society.

Gay Arab women are non existent, Asian-Indians of all sexes as well, Native Americans don’t even mention it !

And don’t think that ethnic minorities are totally off the hook on this one. The fascination of some for white partners are just as racist as the rest of those examples.

In BBC Three’s documentary Series Queer Britain, specifically episode 4 called “Preference or Prejudice”, the host skypes the author of the book “True confessions of a Patato Queen” (apparently, it’s Asian male who are only attracted to White men). When asked why is he only attracted to those, he responded : “I believe the white race is a superior one and I love being with a white guy primarily because of that and also because he’s got a powerful big cock that I love. Once you go whish (white), nothing else seems rigsh (right) ! (laugh)” Staggering. But who made him think that ? Could it beeeee…. ?

VICTIMS OF OUR SOCIETY’S PREJUDICES

At last year’s Paris Pride, a collective called Qitoko called for an assembly of Queer and Trans people of color (I don’t know why Trans is not part of the Queer but whatever) to go up front of the march, part of the “Cortège de Tête de la Pride — Stop au Pinkwashing!”. It is a reflection on the way Queer people in general are not properly considering Queer people of color inside the community, very much the way Society has never viewed people of color at an equal level as white are.

The article I found on Irrecuperables goes on to talk about the country’s politics, lack of support, the act of parking different races together, pushing minorities to the outer limits of the Capitol. They also speak about feeling and being “indesirable” as part of the march.

What this recent example shows, as it is something I’ve said a few times already in previous articles, is that Queer people are making the same mistakes as the rest of the world always had. For an outside perspective, it seems like the Queer community is super inclusive and ultra liberal. I tend to disagree with that. As we were all raised in the same heteronormative white society, we have, in our DNA, the same principles of white superiority and race hierarchy that History and the way that we live today openly shows us just that. The fact that you are Queer doesn’t change that fact or erase those mistakes from your beings. Off course, I’m not saying we are ALL racist. Off course not. But it’s time, as a society, to recognize our prejudices and take ownership of our errors. The same goes for the Queer community. Why does a Black Lesbian have to feel so abandoned in a Lesbian bar ? Why does she think that she have to straighten her hair and act less masculine in case girls get scared of her attitude ? Can’t you just look and appreciate the person for who he/she/they is, regardless of the stereotypes life force-fed you ? It doesn’t take much to step back, reflect and correct. You mostly need to silence your ego. Silence that bitch now.

It is extremely problematic to use racialized desire as personal preference as “it constructs ‘preference’ and identity categories as equitable, which ignores the fact that Queer men and women do not choose their Racial identity”. This also reduces Queer men and women into a category of an object or ‘kink’ that can be adopted or cast aside at will. In France, we’ve let people in our country in waves, as someone reminded me not so long ago. Then, we parked them, used them and now are just plainly ignoring their sufferings. We, as Queer people, have to do better than that. We can’t go from victims to executioners and not even blink on it. I’ve barely scratched the surface of the Race problem inside our community. And honestly, it took me long ass time to come up with something to say, as I didn’t feel like I could legitimately talk about it. Well, I did because it’s just as important as the rest of this month’s projects.

Stop hiding behind “preferences” and “white blindness”. Document yourself, talk to people. Make a change. Be inclusive all the way.

Check yourself before you wreck ourselves.

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