As we near the Witchy season of October (because it’s more than just a month to the truly devoted) and we in the north begin to adorn our digs with the trappings of fall (and maybe a bat, or spider, or two), let us also remember that October is LGBT History Month, making it a perfect time to read up on our queer ancestors, saints, and heroes.
History gives any culture and people a sense of being grounded, of feeling where and how they belong in the world. It is a story, a narrative that not only describes how things are but also shapes them at the same time. This is the power of the story. This is where true change comes about. This is true magic.
Image: DepositPhotos.
The trick is being able to see the magic in the mundane. Every June we see the now familiar trend: an explosion of rainbows adorning anything from t-shirts to keychains, to calendars to coffee cups, all in an effort to cash in on – well, let’s say celebrate – the economic spending power – ah, well, I mean, the victories – of the LGBTQIAA+ community. (Let’s stick to “queer” for short. I’m trying to avoid carpal tunnel, thank you.)
Visibility is a good thing, right? To have companies direct their advertising dollars to the queer community demonstrates, on the surface, the mainstream’s willingness to adapt and change, to become more accepting, and perhaps even to celebrate us, our causes and struggles. At least in part. While these obvious displays of “rainbow capitalism” reveal that the true motivations of the companies that engage in the practice are somewhat less than altruistic (“Wait! Queers have money, too? Let’s get some of that!”) it does still have a positive effect in the overall cultural acceptance of queer people by the mainstream. It might be slow, but it is cumulative.
Even still, it is not enough. While some will argue that the goal of the queer rights movement should not be to assimilate into straight culture (a valid argument, stemming from the exploration of the non-conventional, “outsider”, and even subversive nature that has been commonly indicative of the historical queer experience), it has always been steadfast that no matter what other items might be on the so-called “Gay Agenda,” our primary goal is a simple one: nothing less than full equality in the eyes of the law.
Same-sex marriage was a milestone, but there are so many other goals toward which we must strive. Image: DepositPhotos
From a queer point of view, straight people have been relishing “special rights” since time began. While they enjoy their time in the sun, we were forced to live in the shadows, not truly revealing who we were for fear of reprisals. Those reprisals could come in the form of being arrested or worse. Straight society would tolerate us just so long as we remembered our place: the queer bar, the back alley, the gutter. If we stepped outside of those places, we had better be prepared to blend in, or at least be able to defend ourselves. Queer people learned from an early age to become invisible, adopting secret codes and even our own language in order to communicate with our own without incurring heterosocial wrath.
For generations, queer people of all genders fought the ever-uphill battle toward equality and justice for our people. The Stonewall Riots in 1969 were not the first time our people rose-up against state-sanctioned violence and harassment. But it was a galvanizing moment that empowered our community toward greater cohesion, allowing us to become a viable political force to advocate for our collective goals. This is what we celebrate each June as “Pride Month” and in October we remember all those who we have lost, those who have struggled, those who succeeded, and those who have helped us all move forward. But what of the other ten months of the year?
Pride, the month, exists as a reminder that our equality has not yet been won. It might be comforting to think that now that same-sex marriage is legal and sodomy has been decriminalized in the United States, that this means that we have achieved our goals. Consider the sadly predictable reaction whenever queer characters are introduced to the public in a book, movie, TV show, or video game. Cries circulate of “inappropriate,” “gay agenda,” “politically correct woke culture,” and “shoving their liberal politics down our throats,” as if the mere existence of queer people were a political choice. These cries are especially laughable when we consider that the vast majority of characters on television are unequivocally straight. GLAADs’ Where We Are on TV 2020-2021 report (released in January of this year) found that a mere 9.1% of series regulars on TV were LGBTQ. Pardon my gay math, but that seems to say that more than 90% of regular characters on TV are straight.
Never mind that we queer folk have had to endure untold millennia of straight people acting like they’re the only ones at the party – flaunting their lawful marriages, inheritance rights, hospital visitation rights, and a hundred other privileges and legal rights from which queer people have been excluded, and it is somehow we who are the sensitive “snowflakes”?
It is not a political statement to be a queer person. Being queer is no more – or less – political, “adult”, “sexual, “appropriate”, or “weird” than being straight; it’s just the struggle for equality that has sadly become a political one, turning the lives of real, living, breathing human beings into nothing more than statistical talking-points for the masses. Our presence is seen as invasive, unwelcome (or welcome, to a point), and “extra.” We are a prop, when convenient, and a problem to be solved when we aren’t. We aren’t allowed to be people, largely because – for generations – we simply weren’t included in the narrative, both social as well as literary. And when we were included, we were either the villain or the victim, a cautionary tale of what to expect if you step outside the boundaries of heterosexual society.
No more. “We’re here! We’re queer!” as goes the now famous chant. “Get used to it!” Visibility is essential for the humanization of queer people in the eyes of the “culturally sheltered.” For many people, the simple fact that they have never met a queer person allows other people’s narratives about us to remain unchallenged. Seeing queer people on TV, especially when they are “likeable,” is one avenue in which the culture can change for the better. Some may scoff at the idea, but I do believe that TV shows like Ellen and Will & Grace did more to help sway public opinion in favor of queer equality than any political campaign ever did. People may have been shocked at first, but over time became accustomed to the idea of queer folk on their TVs and, to a degree, in their homes.
Queer characters are important in media simply because queer people exist. We are part of society, whether straight people notice us or not. Every day, not just in the month of June. It is only straight bigotry or ignorance that ignores our presence in the world. And that is a political choice. Where once, for our own protection, it was commonplace for us to hide, we have been steadily coming out of the shadows, and some of us are on full technicolor display. This makes some segments of straight society uncomfortable, and the inevitable backlash reminds us of just how much farther we still have to go.
i need everyone to see the scum thats here in South Ga
this just happened today at Lowndes High School, the high school i went to and my brother is currently going to, here in Valdosta pic.twitter.com/o0DWllzn4h— Raymond 🤘 (@jrcamachobass) September 2, 2021
We still face anger, and oppression, and violence just for being who we were born to be. Every day. THIS is why we need Queer Pride. Not just for a month, but year-round. THIS is why the calls for “straight pride” are both so ridiculous and offensive. When people start getting fired, beaten, and murdered for being straight, go ahead let me know. Until then, the “straight pride” brigade can just do what they do best: narcissism and white supremacy.
Let’s support the things that support us; that bring us visibility all throughout the year. Things like queer characters on our TV. Shows like Motherland: Fort Salem, which I wrote about last month and has given us a lesbian romance (set in a world of Witches!). Shows like Star Trek: Discovery, which has given us at least four queer characters (and not just supporting characters, but main ones) including the first transgender and non-binary characters in the franchise.
And even video games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Last of Us, which not only provide us visibility, but maybe even an opportunity to examine ourselves a little more deeply. The Proteus effect demonstrates how playing a digital representation in a video game can have an effect on the player, and even grant opportunities to explore aspects of our personality we might not otherwise have been able to observe; to the effect of expanding our minds, hearts, and even whom we love.
Dorian is about to get busy and gay in BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition [BioWare]
Equally important is making real-world actions toward our political goals. Toward that end we need to demand that the brands and companies that market to us in June honor what they claim to support. It means nothing for a multi-million-dollar company to slap a rainbow on its boxes for a month and then give thousands of dollars to anti-equality politicians. Support of the queer community is not seasonal. We are not a trend or anyone’s accessory.
Queer people have always been here. Though our histories have been actively suppressed, we have found enough threads to weave for ourselves a new community, better than before. It is tattered, in places, but it is strong. It is diverse. And it is beautiful. It has so many stories to share. And we are just getting started.
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