(no subject)
I wrote an essay about what it means, to me, to be queer. Read it if you'd like.
Queer Conformity
by Brandon Fisette.
Being queer, to me, is something completely special and unique. It is something that only a few amazing people can actually experience. The queer community is a community of people who love each other and help each other out and care about each other, for the most part. This community, that I have loved for so long, is beginning to turn into something else. Instead of supporting each other, and makign the community a safe place for everyone, it is being turned into an oversized political campaign for marriage. At almost every queer event, the main topic is marriage. Marriage, marriage, marriage. What happened to our love of being unique? What happened to our love of feeling special? How can we be special and unique by assimilating into heterosexual culture and caring only about marriage? We have always been a community that is ABOVE marriage. We have always beena community that can have long-lasting monogamous relationships without needing the political ties of marriage. Why is the community losing this? It has always been said that, in heterosexual culture, marriage is the ultimate goal. Theres always this picture of "the american dream." A man and a woman fall in love and get married. They start a family. The mother stays home to tend the kids while the father goes off to work to support the family. Marriage is based on heterosexual misogynistic traditions which people base their lives on, therefore falling into this conformist ideology where everyone is the same. I do not want the queer community to fall into this. We have forever been a community of people who are different and, i'll use the word again, unique. We cannot be unique if we assimilate into the general belief that marriage is the ultimate goal. Soon, everyone will be the same. I do not want this to happen. Marriage will also set up gender roles. A queer marriage will be almost identical to a heterosexual marriage in its gender roles. One person will be considered the "masculine" one, and she/he will go off and work and support the family. The other will be considered the "feminine" one and she/he will takje care of the kids. I know this is an outdated philosophy, but it is true. The queer communit has also always been above gender roles. We never needed them. Oviously, we shun them. Gender is another obstacle we have to get by as a community if we want to be viewed as real people. If we all start getting married, then we can never disassociate ourselves from these roles. They will be forever instilled upon us. The queer community has almost been brainwashed into believing that marriage is the only problem facing us. It definately is not. Why not fighting against homophobic violence? Why not fighting for a universal health care plan, so that all of us can enjoy our health, instead of just the wealthy married ones? Why not fighting against illegal pre-emptive wars that affect us and everyone in this country? Instead of only caring about ourselves, why don't we fight for an end to poverty, better human rights in third world countries, and cures for dieseas such as AIDS/HIV? Because the community is BLIND. The queer community is brainwashed. It's dying. The gay rights movement started off with radical riots against discrimination from police. Now, it is turned into a conservative movement that holds festivals in which people speak about marriage and sell you stuff, and they call them rallies. The queer community, for the most part, is blind. As I said before, I consider being queer to be something unique and special. I do not believe that you can be unique and special in a community which is trying to instill the same beliefs on every person who is part of it. The conformity must be stopped, in order to ensure that we remain unique. That we remain beautiful.
<3,
Ziggy
Queer Conformity
by Brandon Fisette.
Being queer, to me, is something completely special and unique. It is something that only a few amazing people can actually experience. The queer community is a community of people who love each other and help each other out and care about each other, for the most part. This community, that I have loved for so long, is beginning to turn into something else. Instead of supporting each other, and makign the community a safe place for everyone, it is being turned into an oversized political campaign for marriage. At almost every queer event, the main topic is marriage. Marriage, marriage, marriage. What happened to our love of being unique? What happened to our love of feeling special? How can we be special and unique by assimilating into heterosexual culture and caring only about marriage? We have always been a community that is ABOVE marriage. We have always beena community that can have long-lasting monogamous relationships without needing the political ties of marriage. Why is the community losing this? It has always been said that, in heterosexual culture, marriage is the ultimate goal. Theres always this picture of "the american dream." A man and a woman fall in love and get married. They start a family. The mother stays home to tend the kids while the father goes off to work to support the family. Marriage is based on heterosexual misogynistic traditions which people base their lives on, therefore falling into this conformist ideology where everyone is the same. I do not want the queer community to fall into this. We have forever been a community of people who are different and, i'll use the word again, unique. We cannot be unique if we assimilate into the general belief that marriage is the ultimate goal. Soon, everyone will be the same. I do not want this to happen. Marriage will also set up gender roles. A queer marriage will be almost identical to a heterosexual marriage in its gender roles. One person will be considered the "masculine" one, and she/he will go off and work and support the family. The other will be considered the "feminine" one and she/he will takje care of the kids. I know this is an outdated philosophy, but it is true. The queer communit has also always been above gender roles. We never needed them. Oviously, we shun them. Gender is another obstacle we have to get by as a community if we want to be viewed as real people. If we all start getting married, then we can never disassociate ourselves from these roles. They will be forever instilled upon us. The queer community has almost been brainwashed into believing that marriage is the only problem facing us. It definately is not. Why not fighting against homophobic violence? Why not fighting for a universal health care plan, so that all of us can enjoy our health, instead of just the wealthy married ones? Why not fighting against illegal pre-emptive wars that affect us and everyone in this country? Instead of only caring about ourselves, why don't we fight for an end to poverty, better human rights in third world countries, and cures for dieseas such as AIDS/HIV? Because the community is BLIND. The queer community is brainwashed. It's dying. The gay rights movement started off with radical riots against discrimination from police. Now, it is turned into a conservative movement that holds festivals in which people speak about marriage and sell you stuff, and they call them rallies. The queer community, for the most part, is blind. As I said before, I consider being queer to be something unique and special. I do not believe that you can be unique and special in a community which is trying to instill the same beliefs on every person who is part of it. The conformity must be stopped, in order to ensure that we remain unique. That we remain beautiful.
<3,
Ziggy