Problems of “Legitimate Organizing” in Queer Communities
Ignorance to history is nothing new in American society. But for minorities it can be both deadly and oppressive. Because of the highly commercialized nature of queer culture as it is today, the history of the queer community has been either ignored or marginalized. Pride events relegate our history to the backburner, if they even mention it at all. This general emphasis on acceptance has blinded leaders in the community to the very real dangers that have threatened it in the past.
Our leaders have capitulated to the political mechanisms designed to destroy us. Several states have passed laws that would encourage abuse of queer children, that would rob them of the language they need to understand themselves, that would endanger them. The federal government has done nothing to stop this. Our rights are being attacked on the most vehement level in history. As a historian of sexuality, I would argue that persecution of queer individuals has only been so high once: the Lavender Scare.
The United States has undergone systematic purges of homosexuals from the government and educational institutions before, and I will caution our community that it can happen again. Our community’s leaders have left us defenseless in the face of constant attacks not only on our identity, but on our bodies, our education, and our right to express ourselves. As a homosexual, our community organizations have been the band-aid used to cover a stab wound. How were we so woefully unprepared?
How has progress been reversed? How has the community gone backwards? It is very simple. Our community has existed in a gross indifference to how vulnerable we have become. We must once again remember that safety isn’t a matter of being able to talk or walk a certain way. It is our right to build a group that enables us to do all these things. If we must take matters into our own hands from the “legitimate” government, then this is what our community leaders and organizations should dedicate their energy to. To waste our time and money begging elected officials to not strip us of our rights is a foolish move, especially since no amount of our money or votes in the most vulnerable gay communities will be able to sway these people.
Queer politics has suffered severely from the civility politics of the 2010s and 2020s. We must be allowed to express our anger, to fight with the forces that are attempting to oppress us. To assume that elected officials care about us is also a mistake. Historically, the government has never involved itself in the support of queer rights, except in the (highly conservative) matter of gay marriage. The criminalization of consensual homosexuality was virtually unenforceable. It was rarely ever enforced in the first place. Only after the cultural reactions of the 1950s and 1980s has homophobia been virulent enough to spark organized campaigns of deprivation or eradication.
And now after the conservative reaction of the 2010s, we come again to the question of queer rights. We have very few political allies, and none of them are elected officials. The whole government is our enemy.
Of course, you might say we have a problem of not getting the right people elected to the right places. But I would say the problem is rather that we have focused on electoral politics instead of building our communities in solidarity.
A troubling majority of the queer people I’ve spoken to have no understanding of our history. Our organizations have not made lessons in the history of queer culture a matter of importance, but this informs us as to how our political enemies have targeted us in the past. It is of great importance to our future. Our events should feature the bravest people in our history. We must strive to be as fearless as the people who have brought us here, not only to honor their legacy, but to ensure we survive as a community. In the face of increasing social and political regulation of our events and cultural centers, our only option is to break the law.
Remaining silent in the streets is out of the question. The implementation of these bills requires a response beyond electoralism and the cult of the ballot box. Voting is ineffective. Our rights are negotiable, and our supporters in high places will sacrifice us if they believe it to be in their best interests. Who leads us? Who supports us? Who are our enemies? These questions were answered incorrectly during the most recent portions of the gay and trans rights movements. Our history told us who our friends and enemies are, and none of them were ever in the elected majority.
Yet our community forgets the very real consequences of our oppression. A generation of children will grow up without the vocabulary necessary to recognize themselves as they are. Our best and brightest ignored the whole problem of queer history, and incorrectly informed us that we are in the “best possible present.” We have forgotten that increasing repression is what led to the very formation of our communities, not increasing freedom.
