because this isn't a country club
2013-08-05
i posted this thing about bisexual ppl and their troubled relationship with the l/g communities
and i make a point there that really needs to be emphasized, highlighted, and developed a bit more.
This is:
The Queer – ‘LGBTQ etc’ – movement is not a country club
Nor is there actually a singular ‘lgbt’ community. There isn’t. most in the community know that there is a lesbian community. there is a gay community. there is sometimes a bi community. there is a trans community.
the lgbt movement is not a community. rather, it is – or perhaps ought to be – conceived of as a coalition, rather than the umbrella. it is, at its best, a coalition of distinct (often overlapping) communities working together in solidarity for a common purpose (one we might identify, at its most idealistic, as freedom).
these are – despite appearances to the contrary – communities built off of a shared experience of oppression, not on shared identity.1
i’m sure some people look at the scant social spaces, the bars, the community centres, etc. and think, ‘wow, this looks like super fun’. without really thinking about why, exactly, it is that l/b ppl have to gather in these very specific and very few spaces. why are these spaces even necessary? what is their purpose?
i promise you, they aren’t country clubs. an important function is social, but it isn’t their sole function nor is it necessarily their primary function.
community building is hard fucking work. and the onus is on you to build your own community (if you feel like you don’t have one, if you are unsatisfied with the ones that exist, if you just feel like it). there is no specific reason why anyone should allow you to exploit all the effort and energy they’ve put into building their community.2
build your community. join the coalition. work in solidarity.
(amusingly, i just went to read the wiki article on country clubs and maybe the ‘lgbt’ community actually is a country club, i mean
Historically, many country clubs refused to admit members of minority racial groups, such as Black people, Asian Americans, and non-white Hispanic Americans,
lol. just like Gay Inc. today. hahahahahaha)