Queer Politics - Tumblr Posts
*sees someone different from you, even though their still human and not hurting anyone*
Normal human response:
"hm, interesting. I'll treat them with respect and possibly learn more so I may connect with them and understand more."
Their responce:
"MONSTER! AAAAAAA-"
This is totally good and normal and definitely wouldn't result in an increase of anti-trans violence and death at all.
this has been on my mind after coming across a YouTube video where a lesbian discussed how she is ashamed to be a part of the lgbtq+ community. she took pride in being a “normal” gay and not like the “weird” gays. many people in the comments agreed, saying they were gay and happy to find another “normal” gay person.
so let me say this: know the rich history of your community. the leather lesbians, the butches, the drag queens, all of the people who you are denouncing…they are the ones who fought for your right to love. they are the very foundation of the queer community. without their contributions, you would not be able to even make a YouTube video about your queerness. It’s extremely disrespectful to identify those people as “weird” and “not normal” when they are the very people who have paved the way for your existence.
in addition, I’d like to bring in a point that I read about the other day. a lot of younger generations of queer people are toning down their gayness to be acceptable and comfortable for straight people. what I mean is that they dress “normally”, they maintain long hair, they are not vocal about politics, they do not show off pride flags. they also denounce the queer people with dyed hair, short hair, pride flags in their bios, loud political opinions, and other outwardly gay attributes as “weird”. be aware of the ways that “acceptance” has really become limited in the way that many people are only accepting of gay people who are not too gay to be considered “weird”. do not, as a queer person, actively contribute to this.
and finally, please remember that in a world where there is increased division, where more people are attacking lgbtq+ rights, where hate crimes are on the rise…the community is what you have. those “weird” and “not normal” gays are a part of the community that has and will continue to have your back. show some respect.
tbh the very concepts of “feminine” vs “masculine” are entirely man made constructs. just imagine…thousands and thousands of years ago when we were cavemen, do you really think they were like “look at this BLUE sky, it’s so manly and masculine!” or “look at the PINK flower, how feminine and girly!” of course not. because that’s stupid. and do you think they were like “you can’t play with this dirt! girls have to cook!” and “sorry bud you can’t sleep with your friend because he’s a guy and that is a SIN!” NOOOOOOOO.
like there’s nothing wrong with identifying as a woman or a man, and I myself identify as a woman, but I do wonder how much of that is due to the societal definition surrounding femininity. it will be interesting to see how my relationship to femininity and womanhood change as I reconstruct my definitions of those things.
anyways, I think that the increased exploration of gender identities is beneficial to EVERYONE. when we can accept that gender is a construct, we can more freely explore ourselves without worrying about fitting into the boxes of “feminine” and “masculine”
As much as straight ally’s can exist and be so accepting and loving and full of love and joy, there is no match for the queer community. Even when I exist within my friend groups of straight girls who know I am gay and accept me and treat me normally, I still feel like I am missing a piece of myself. I cannot embody my true ‘queerness’ around them. But, like magic, when I am in queer spaces, I feel sooo me. I feel empowered and I feel authentic and I feel like I can be anyone I want to be at any moment. Just…there is something so special and unifying about the universal elements of queerness. The way that the queer community is just brave people who take on the world in a way that most people don’t and allow themselves to fully explore every aspect of themselves. There is a certain joy, a deeper love, in that. One that straight people will never understand or access. I am very, very grateful for that community and that bond. Despite the suffering and pain that has come along with it, I would not want to live without being queer. My life is so much fuller and lovelier because of it.
people making comments where ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ are used as insults or to make fun of someone and then following it with “not that there’s anything wrong with that” is the equivalent of a white person making racist comments and then justifying it with “I have a black friend.”
if you truly support the queer community, don’t perpetuate hateful beliefs by encouraging an environment where being queer is used to ridicule and ostracize others. even if you meant it as a harmless joke, there are people in the room who see your behavior as enablement for them to be hateful and homophobic and to write it off as a “joke.”
bad behavior is bad behavior. doing something in a playful manner does not erase the consequences of your actions.
Reminiscing on my “coming out.” I was so scared. So small, so shaky. So, so scared for so long. It had been over a year of sexuality related anxiety and OCD taking over my life. It almost drove me to take my life. I didn’t want to be who I knew I was that much. Finally…one day, I got the courage to tell someone. I told my sister. I really said it, I said the words “I’m gay” out loud. I did it. It felt like a relief. I was still terrified and shaky, but I was glad to have another person to hold this with me. And then…that same night my sister outed me to my entire family. She didn’t mean to hurt me. I found out that she had been cutting herself, so I told my mom for her safety. In an effort to take my moms attention off of her cutting, she outed me. In front of her friends and my mothers friends. It hurt me so much because this meant that she viewed being gay as something so bad and horrible that it could top her harming herself. I remember getting that text from my mom, feeling my heart drop out of my chest, feeling my throat tighten up. “____ is saying that you’re a lesbian. Is that true?” my mom texted me. She sounded so accusatory, like she was hoping my sister was lying. When they returned to the house, they looked at me differently. They acted nervous and unsure around me. Like I was some caged animal that could break out at any moment. I will never forget that night. It took me so long and it took so much courage for me to tell my sister, and I needed her support because I didn’t have it in me to give it to myself. But she didn’t give me that. She took my chance to come out on my own terms away from me. And she made it more dangerous for me. My family already treated me differently than my other siblings, but this pushed them over the edge. It was just another thing to other me, to separate me from others. I really understand the pain she was in and the reasoning behind her doing it, but I can’t forgive that. She took something from me that can’t ever be given back.
Not to mention…my mother took it upon herself to inform my dad, my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, and pretty much everyone she could think of about my sexuality. I was not ready. I was so terrified and I told my sister I was gay as a start. I was not ready to come out to everyone in my life or to exist as a gay woman yet. It should have been my choice. It should have been on my timeline. I am very very angry at them. My sister was a child so I can understand it more, but my mother? She was a grown adult. And she thought that she should tell everyone my own deeply personal information without so much as asking me if it was okay. I felt so out of control that day. I never had so much anxiety in my life. My whole body felt shaky and it felt like I was having a heart attack. It just…shouldn’t have happened that way.
Reminiscing on my “coming out.” I was so scared. So small, so shaky. So, so scared for so long. It had been over a year of sexuality related anxiety and OCD taking over my life. It almost drove me to take my life. I didn’t want to be who I knew I was that much. Finally…one day, I got the courage to tell someone. I told my sister. I really said it, I said the words “I’m gay” out loud. I did it. It felt like a relief. I was still terrified and shaky, but I was glad to have another person to hold this with me. And then…that same night my sister outed me to my entire family. She didn’t mean to hurt me. I found out that she had been cutting herself, so I told my mom for her safety. In an effort to take my moms attention off of her cutting, she outed me. In front of her friends and my mothers friends. It hurt me so much because this meant that she viewed being gay as something so bad and horrible that it could top her harming herself. I remember getting that text from my mom, feeling my heart drop out of my chest, feeling my throat tighten up. “____ is saying that you’re a lesbian. Is that true?” my mom texted me. She sounded so accusatory, like she was hoping my sister was lying. When they returned to the house, they looked at me differently. They acted nervous and unsure around me. Like I was some caged animal that could break out at any moment. I will never forget that night. It took me so long and it took so much courage for me to tell my sister, and I needed her support because I didn’t have it in me to give it to myself. But she didn’t give me that. She took my chance to come out on my own terms away from me. And she made it more dangerous for me. My family already treated me differently than my other siblings, but this pushed them over the edge. It was just another thing to other me, to separate me from others. I really understand the pain she was in and the reasoning behind her doing it, but I can’t forgive that. She took something from me that can’t ever be given back.
Saw this and had to share. I feel the same way. Queer friendships are as close to divinity and holiness as I have ever gotten and will ever get. What a gift it is to have that community
btw this is about a girl I met at a party yesterday who opened up to me about how she is bisexual, but doesn’t feel particularly able to express that part of herself due to experiences she’s had in the past. I was just like…wow. I went through the same thing at the same time. Could we have saved each other? Could I still save her? Could I resurrect the part of her that she lost, the part that I fought for years to uncover in myself? It would have all been easier, gentler if we’d have had each other then. Maybe it can be easier and gentler now.
do you ever meet someone and they tell you about the things they’ve struggled with in the past and you’re just like … damn. I wish I would’ve been there when you were little. I could’ve saved you. You know…I could have kissed the bruises on your back…yadda yadda yadda
⚠️trigger warning politics! Genocide mention! May be considered heavy discussion, proceed at your own risk!⚠️
I don't care if this is an inflammatory or radical take, but you're either a decent person or a republican. You're either a decent human being, or right wing.
I don't care if you're normal about queer people, not sexist, not racist, or all of the above, if you can consider yourself right wing you are not a good person. You're actively supporting and are a part of a group that strives to make it impossible for people to be themselves, have bodily autonomy, and even exist.
Don't get me wrong, democrats and other left wing parties are NOT blameless. There are some shitty left wing people. But it's better than being a fucking Trump supporter or some shit. Like come the fuck on, bro has gone full on trans genocide mode and you're telling me you support him? Scum. You're scum, and I have no respect for you if you're a Trump supporter.
Posts like the above reply are a great example of how to use an incomplete data set to imply something that's actually completely meaningless given the limitations of the data in question. For example, the phrase OP quotes has been about since at least the 80s/90s (couldn't find a solid source for earliest usage, but it's been around for a while), while google trends 1) only goes back to 2004, and 2) is known to have had stretches of time prior to 2007 (the date OP claims is the "first" usage of that phrase) during which it didn't update its own data for months at a time.
Anyways, this is why everyone should learn how to fact check things for themselves.
Also, OP makes excellent and accurate points that also serve as a great example of why treating members of a minority group as though everyone who falls into that particular group will have identical experiences/beliefs/etc, can lead to some pretty wild and inaccurate conclusions that plenty of marginalized people from the same group won't agree with.
the queer community was formed by people who were deemed strange and abnormal in society based on them not conforming to expectations about sexuality & gender. there are no specific boundaries bc this isn't a club. a cishet guy that likes wearing dresses who fights side by side with us for true liberation, is 100x more queer than a millionaire gay man who's besties with companies that sell us watered down versions of our own culture for profit during pride while donating to homophobic lawmakers every other month.
Something something sick and tired of ppl hating men casually as if there’s anything progressive about that. Like you get that you’re discriminating against someone because of their gender right? You get that they are also victims of this fucked up system right? You get that gender equality is not about cis women switching places with cis men in the social hierarchy right?
Look. I get it. You’re mad. I’m mad too. Horrible men have done horrible things to me. But I work that shit out in therapy instead of retreating into gender-binary enforcing bullshit and calling it feminism.
Not even going to get into the inherent transphobia that comes with this kind of talk cuz I don’t have the energy or vocabulary but boy it sure is there
My hot take is that you have to be patient with people who are trying to be better allies. And by that I mean don’t bother correcting them saying “pregnant women” instead of “pregnant people” if they haven’t even been introduced to the concept of trans men having periods. If you make someone feel like they’re a bad person for breaking a rule they were never taught, they’re going to give up on trying to be better. Becoming a good ally is not an impossible task. Becoming a good ally in one night absolutely is.
And it’s easy to get into the mentality of “I figured this out at 13, so there’s no excuse for this adult’s ignorance” but we KNOW that on a psychological level it’s not only harder to learn new things as you get older, but it’s also significantly harder to UNLEARN than it is to LEARN.
Do what you need to do for your mental health. You don’t have to be the person who guides your bigoted relative through years of meandering progress. But if you are trying to help someone, you have to be patient, really, exhaustively patient, or you could end up doing more harm than good.
And none of this “don’t reward the bare minimum” bullshit. If someone is making an effort to use they/them pronouns but only does it right 15% of the time, you will get a lot farther by acknowledging that 15% instead of yelling at them the other 85% of the time.
In my experience one of the first hurdles bigoted people are subconsciously stuck on is the idea that being “politically correct” is just something you do to avoid making people angry, rather than something you do to make others feel safe and respected and loved. Don’t reinforce that.
Sincerely, a hot-headed queer girl (with a well-meaning mother from Jackson Mississippi) who spent ten years learning the hard way that yes, you really do catch more bees with honey than vinegar.
IG: @rainbow_guillotine
IG: @rainbow_guillotine
IG: @rainbow_guillotine
IG: @rainbow_guillotine