2SLGBTQIA+ The Erasure of Gays & Lesbians from their own Movement
I’ll say off the bat that I’m old school. When I was young, being openly gay was dangerous. Gay men (especially white men) were targeted by gangs for brutality. The police were rough and often violent. In school, no one was out— that was waving a red flag to a jock for a beating. I lived in constant fear of being outted. In my church, the word “gay” was not allowed. I tried to talk to my preacher about it, and he turned away, would not look at me again, and handed me a sheet of paper (without looking at me) with the name and number of a reparative therapist (which I discovered on my first visit— fortunately, as f-upped as I was, I knew that would take me deeper into the abyss).
I had simple wants. To love and be loved without fear of attack or even death. Marriage was not that important— I wanted basic tolerance. But the legalization of marriage was amazing, and I’m grateful for it.
Back in the day, being out was about being authentic to oneself, but as important was allowing others to see you for who you really were and through that gain acceptance. People had co-workers, family and friends that were LGB, and there was respect, love and acceptance in these relationships but if the LGB was hidden then the biases remained entrenched. Coming out was then as much about being authentic as about showing others that people who were LGB were human with basic human needs (love and sex) like everyone else.
The movement today is unrecognizable from what it used to be.
A movement that started out seeking tolerance and acceptance has gone full blown fascist when it comes to cancelling, rejecting, expelling anyone who does not sign on to every line item of the 2STQIA+ agenda. In the original movement, children were off limits but the movement has pushed transitioning to minors and actively seeks underage indoctrination. The movement has become an umbrella for fetishes and neuroses described as “queer” as a catch all term for anything not normative. In the current culture, there is incentive to be some sort of minority as that gains inclusion in the victim-hooding club. I’m waiting for the letter to designate people who think they are animals (oh wait, the vast majority of furries identity as queer). I’m shocked and dismayed they do not have their own letter and stripe on the flag.
The movement started out trying to make friends out of enemies— that meant police, people in the church, even rednecks— that meant reaching out to people who despised or hated you and may have committed violence against you. The movement today is all about making enemies, drawing boundaries of who is okay and who isn’t with gatekeepers everywhere casting out those they deem insufficiently pure in their beliefs and opinions (they are as bad as my church ever was).
The movement has also expanded to include additional agendas— Queers for Maduro (drug trafficker) Queers for Palestine— Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism— while ignoring the treatment of the community in Gaza and other Muslim countries (there are also Christian nations in Africa that are equally oppressive). Iran killed upwards to 30-40 thousand protesters in a week yet there are pro-Iran queer groups that seem unbothered by the mass killings (the same movement that went ballistic when 2 anti-ICE protesters were killed). This sort of selective caring is driven by a desire to create an alliance with Muslim populations in western countries notwithstanding that Muslims persecute the community when given the chance. I don’t think those of the community who align with such causes understand how insane it makes them look to normies. Because it is insane. There are several anti-Israel / Pro-Palestinian groups— I suggest their members go and live anywhere in the Muslim world for a year as their most authentic self and see where that goes. Be sure to leave behind a will if you go.
I believe the LGB should be its own movement. That does not mean being hostile to 2STQIA+. But LGBs are about the biology and the + community is about identity. Being gay is same-sex attraction but it does not define personality— but the identity part of the community equates personality with identity (I have a judgment this is shallow and meaningless as it presents very surface level wherever I have encountered it). That is not a judgment for the entire 2STQIA+ community but to those in the community who confuse identity with a values system, with personality, with who they are below how they label themselves). Beyond that, it’s a fundamental difference between the populations. I think the pressure to remain a unified movement comes down to power by those who run things— numbers matter and they do not want to see other narratives get attention (intolerance).
LGBs are about loving who you want to love. That’s it. What is queer movement about? It’s an entitled, privileged movement that would not last outside the comfort of the places they like to hate upon. No thanks.
There are areas where the two communities agree but there are many where they do not. Many LGBs are not on board with men who identify as women in female spaces (and female sports). Many of them are against transitioning children (indeed, many of the children are probably gay/lesbian not transgender). The focus on pronouns is off-putting (I would always use a person’s desired pronoun but I see no need to affirmatively present mine). LGBs have no problem if you want to present as queer but many present much like normies (which, in the current movement, is often labeled as internalized homophobia or in current slang as a “pick me” which is someone who acts different (even at the expense of) from their peers for validation/attention). In other words, the movement shames and shuns its own if they are not presenting in ways deemed acceptable (even though when the broader culture treats those in the movement in this way it’s labeled as fascism). The queer movement has also metastasized into resistance against anything normative.
Peer pressure and the fear of losing rights keeps many LGBs in line, but I’ve had enough conversations to understand that what I see is seen by many others— and they are not liking how the movement has evolved.
I’m all about respect. And that cuts both ways.
I will not adapt myself into a version of someone that the current movement deems acceptable. Piss on that! For a movement that started out wanting to live authentic lives, it’s tragic to see that it has become what it once most reviled in others.
For the health of LGBs, it’s time for them to regain their voices and to speak without shame and without fear of cancelling.
