There was a time when I was really proud to be Queer and a part of a community. These days those moments of pride seem fleeting. In fact I noticed just in the last year that I feel pride in very specific and small spaces (mostly with my work with Queer youth). When I first came out I felt free and elated at the possibility that I could do anything with my life, the community that I came out into was supportive, strong, and welcoming. I grew up Queer in a community that understood activism and had a wide ranging view of what was possible. My Gay mentor told me time and again that I could do anything that I wanted, and that since I was Queer I didn’t have thousands of years of cultural expectation to define my choices. I was taught how to love, how to have sex, how to get and give consent, how to expect the unexpected, but most of all I was taught about “Family” (with the capitol F).
I am weary of the places my community is going in the 21st century. I am weary of our antipathy toward one another, of our distrust and dismissal of people who don’t fit our expectations, and of our seeming inability to understand the potential that we have as a group. Somehow along the way we have adopted the worst traits of humanity and aimed our dislike inward at each other. I think, hell I KNOW we can do better. So I want to start a dialogue, a contest, a movement if you will. I think we can reclaim our sense of ourselves if we try. I want to start in my own town, in my own community, with my damn self. So here is my list of "Community Relations Tactics" and I would very much like to hear yours.
1) Battle homophobia by being kind to each other instead of hateful
2) Think really hard before we speak, I mean like REALLY hard
3) Educate ourselves about the complexity of our community
4) Being aware of how racism is enacted within Queer community
5) Giving back in whatever way we can
6) Don't let people get away with using Transphobic language
7) Create a self assessment plan for how we are doing as individuals
8) Pledge to make yourself and someone else happy
9) Help someone who is new to the community get connected
10) Make your strengths known and put them to work!
I am weary of the places my community is going in the 21st century. I am weary of our antipathy toward one another, of our distrust and dismissal of people who don’t fit our expectations, and of our seeming inability to understand the potential that we have as a group. Somehow along the way we have adopted the worst traits of humanity and aimed our dislike inward at each other. I think, hell I KNOW we can do better. So I want to start a dialogue, a contest, a movement if you will. I think we can reclaim our sense of ourselves if we try. I want to start in my own town, in my own community, with my damn self. So here is my list of "Community Relations Tactics" and I would very much like to hear yours.
1) Battle homophobia by being kind to each other instead of hateful
2) Think really hard before we speak, I mean like REALLY hard
3) Educate ourselves about the complexity of our community
4) Being aware of how racism is enacted within Queer community
5) Giving back in whatever way we can
6) Don't let people get away with using Transphobic language
7) Create a self assessment plan for how we are doing as individuals
8) Pledge to make yourself and someone else happy
9) Help someone who is new to the community get connected
10) Make your strengths known and put them to work!
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