There are so many Gay wedding posts on my Facebook feed these days that I spend more time hiding posts than I do reading them. It seems that the hysteria associated with being the next in line at the altar is not only is full effect, but is also picking up steam. I became so enraged by a post (by a former Facebook acquaintance) that I had to take several days off from being online just to get the old blood pressure down. Now you have read my rantings about Gay marriage several times now, but I have an honest question for you, does anyone remember when Gay marriage was supposed to be the “gateway” issue that got us working on other things?
I seem to recall (ohh I want to say 20 years worth of) people saying that we had to work on one issue at a time and that the “civil rights victory” that was Gay marriage would open up the G/L community to all sorts of new wins from employment to access to heath care. What I see now is realization of the real aim of Gay marriage from its inception. This was never a political bulldozer that would create new pathways for liberation; it was a scam to create new methods of access for Gay and Lesbian people who have desired acceptance more than anything else in the world. This was the way in for the capitalist machine to get its nasty fingers into the lives of all Gays and not just the super rich ones. As new same sex couples run down the aisle to get validated they spend more time talking about receptions than homeless Queer/Trans youth, more time on china patterns than the violence facing Queer/Trans women of color, and more time posting about their happy futures tucked away in Str8 middle class life than posting articles about politics. I don’t know about you, but the promise of a liberated future for my community was a sham.
What is happening right now in America, in our states (North Carolina for me), and in our communities has us at the highest risk we have faced in 20 years. Gay people are being attacked in Texas, Trans women of color are being killed at the highest rate in our modern times, and Queer/Trans homelessness continues to rise. Are we still going to pretend that our post-Gay marriage era is the “better” future we spend decades and millions of dollars trying to realize? I for one cannot read one more post about your upcoming marriage while so much of the community suffers. If Love Wins, then who is the loser?
I seem to recall (ohh I want to say 20 years worth of) people saying that we had to work on one issue at a time and that the “civil rights victory” that was Gay marriage would open up the G/L community to all sorts of new wins from employment to access to heath care. What I see now is realization of the real aim of Gay marriage from its inception. This was never a political bulldozer that would create new pathways for liberation; it was a scam to create new methods of access for Gay and Lesbian people who have desired acceptance more than anything else in the world. This was the way in for the capitalist machine to get its nasty fingers into the lives of all Gays and not just the super rich ones. As new same sex couples run down the aisle to get validated they spend more time talking about receptions than homeless Queer/Trans youth, more time on china patterns than the violence facing Queer/Trans women of color, and more time posting about their happy futures tucked away in Str8 middle class life than posting articles about politics. I don’t know about you, but the promise of a liberated future for my community was a sham.
What is happening right now in America, in our states (North Carolina for me), and in our communities has us at the highest risk we have faced in 20 years. Gay people are being attacked in Texas, Trans women of color are being killed at the highest rate in our modern times, and Queer/Trans homelessness continues to rise. Are we still going to pretend that our post-Gay marriage era is the “better” future we spend decades and millions of dollars trying to realize? I for one cannot read one more post about your upcoming marriage while so much of the community suffers. If Love Wins, then who is the loser?
RSS Feed
