While a good portion of the world is actually embracing the future and supporting the LGBT community’s fight for equal rights, Russia has gone medieval. Foreign tourists visiting Russia will be subject to fines and imprisonment if found to be violating their new law against “gay propaganda”. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on it this month. Gays or anyone exhibiting gay propaganda (such as rainbow pins or speech supportive of gays) can be arrested and held up to 14 days before being tossed out of the country.
Cancel my tickets to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
By the way, that “gay propaganda” law? It means that it’s illegal to “promote” homosexuality in anyway (film, tv, books, theater, newspapers, magazines) towards youth. That means that anything gay or gay-related is basically considered pornography. The law also banned Russian children being adopted by couples from countries that support marriage equality.
So, how do we boycott Russia?
http://youtu.be/WA_QCAF655Y
Since when is the fight for ‘marriage equality’ synonymous with support for the LGBT Community’s fight for equal rights? ‘Marriage equality’ is an issue which concerns the niche of the LGBT Community which happens to have the most purchasing power and opportunity for political representation – the same one which back in the 80s decided the coalition which made Stonewall possible wasn’t palatable enough for general politics.
That being said, what’s being done in Russia is supported by a sizeable majority, politically and socially, in a country which throughout history has lacked a culture of democracy and political liberalism; this is hardly a surprising turn of events, or even a turn of events at all. Why not boycott those African or Middle Eastern countries where gay people can be downright executed? Or is that less politically correct?
We can only hope that with the world focusing their attention on Russia that this law will need to be dismantled. I’d love to see countries start boycotting the Olympics because of it…even if that’s not likely to happen. The closer we get to the games the more the pressure will be on Russia.
So you think “marriage equality” only concerns a niche of the LGBT community? Equal rights is ultimately what marriage equality is all about. Marriage is the issue that will lead us to equal rights for all LGBT people. It is the main law of our land that discriminates against us and so it is the target for the equal rights movement. You may not have someone to marry at the moment but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect you in the bigger picture. Our goal should be for everyone in this country to have access to the same laws and protections as everyone else whether we use them or not. If we were parading around screaming for “equal rights” that seems a bit nebulous. Having a specific issue to focus our energy on is what will get us the most cohesive front and therefore power. You can see that it’s working; our President supports it and state after state and country after country are getting in line with it.
The LGBT Community didn’t even start out with a concern for equal rights because it didn’t see itself as equal, equivalent or even comparable to the heteronormative society that had spent centuries oppressing it. They wanted to be free from their social norms, not acquire the right to engage in them. They wanted merely the freedom to be open with their identity, not the desire to ‘blend in’ a broader social framework.
A queer person with no concern for the heteronormative family model is not concerned with marriage or adoption rights. Marriage equality does little or nothing for teenage queers who suffer from abuse daily at school, or genderfluid people, or pederasts. All of these people were there, in the sometimes violent struggles that started it all. Upper middle class urban gay white male professionals just happen to be better political marketeers; It’s no wonder Snobama gets along with them.
Of course, as the years pass and the control this group has over the public image of LGBT people consolidates further and further, the bigger the group will seem and the more marginal and indifferent other factions will appear to be. This is why I’m fundamentally at odds with the agenda of today’s LGBT Rights. I don’t oppose marriage equality and I’m happy for those who can benefit from it where it exists, like in my country, but it doesn’t preoccupy me personally or make me feel more represented.
I agree with you in that like any thing we went through our infancy and childhood and then starting trying to figure out what we wanted as teens and then took action on it as adults. No group starts out at it’s goal. Gay people are no different. We have reached adulthood now and it’s time that we started fighting for equality for everyone. Everyone.
I disagree with the statement that marriage equality does little or nothing for teenage queers. The key in that phrase is EQUALITY. When str8 people see that our government is treating us equally (marriage equality/non-discrimination in jobs/housing/etc) then they will too. Just look at how the sea has changed since Obama said he supported gay rights. Yes, marriage is our objective in this particular fight but equality is the larger objective.
You are fundamentally at odds with equal rights?! What agenda are you aligned with then? What does it matter who gets us where we want to go as long as we’re moving in that direction?
I agree that putting our oddest or kinkiest faction out front and trying to say that they represent the LGBT community at large is not a great starting point but then they really don’t represent us…they’re just louder. We are the same as any other subculture. We have the bulk in the middle, extremes on one end and closet cases on the other. That middle is more palatable so let them lead. It’s like when someone goes on a date; it’s best not to lead the first date with a dissertation of your problems but rather you put your best foot forward. That foot is of course determined by your audience. The same is here.
I don’t know what country you are in but it sounds like you may have gotten complacent since you aren’t having to work for what we in the states are struggling to achieve.
My country passed marriage equality into law non-controversially, with multipartisan voting from Left to Right, but I can assure you it has done nothing for bullying, or homophobia outside the big city (there’s only one, Lisbon), or the yellow press which continues to paint gay people as child molesters unopposed.
They are fundamentally different issues because the social strata that benefit the most from marriage arrangements are fundamentally different from those who don’t, at least on a short or mid term basis. Marriage requires both disposable income and an adherence to heteronormative lifestyles. Random homophobes won’t think of refraining themselves from discrimination because some gay people are in a position to obtain tax benefits and legal provisions. It has nothing to do with the government in this case.
I am ‘at odds’ with equal rights because, like early queer activists, I don’t see myself as ‘equal’. I have nothing to do with the goals of most of society. That doesn’t mean I see myself as inferior, though; I am my own thing, and I only demand respect and freedom to be precisely that. I am not the homosexual version of a heterosexual monogamous teleiophile, so I don’t concern myself much with the agenda that aims to help those who are.
In the meantime, the Gay Rights movement has done more than give its most politically viable members a bigger share of the spotlight: it has actively silenced and opposed erstwhile allies for political expediency. Their response to the growth of ‘children politics’ and the witch hunt on juvenile sexuality has ranged from dead silence to active denounciation and conscious mischaracterizing of people within the movement itself. Harry Hay. Jr. was so disgusted by assimilationism within Gay Rights that he refused to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Stonewall. He had no problem proclaiming Gay Rights were being run into the ground right as they apparently gained broad social acceptance – because what was accepted was the bowdlerized form that was devised to be accepted in the first place. To me, today’s activists are Novemberverbrechen.
I will actively and enthusiastically support Gay Rights once again when its collective voice – be it through GLAAD, ILGA or some other transnational basis – apologizes for destroying a coalition to advance some of its members.
My partner and I got married legally here in the state of Washington back in January. The only thing that is different is that we now have legal protections. Our lives or lifestyle didn’t change because of it nor do we plan to change it.
It seems that you are locked into marriage definitions from past templates. Marriage is a civil action. It doesn’t require more disposable income or adherence to any specific lifestyle. It seems that your desire to be seen as special and unique might be clouding your judgment a bit and leading you to find reasons to not support it. We got married for legal protections and benefits afforded to us by the government. No where does it require that we adopt heteronormative values. Our decision to get married had EVERYTHING to do with the government; taxes, legalities, benefits, protections.
While you may not be able to see how marriage equality directly relates to a reduction in homophobic activities, in truth it does help. The more people begin to accept that gay people are just like any other people and not the demented, warped, pedophiles that fear-mongers have made us out to be, the more attitudes will change. It is a slow process. Change is always slow. The more straight people understand us, the more they accept us. The more they accept us, the more they work to support us. As long as we demand to be seen as special, unique or different from them, we’ll always be on the outside.
No one is asking you to be anything other that the unique piece of magic that you are nor align with any societal goals. However to just sit back and dismiss everything while you wait for an apology from nebulous entities which will never apologize for advancing gay rights in any direction doesn’t serve anyone, especially you.
If you want change, what are you doing to get it? Are you actively working for it? Financially supporting those who do? Or are you just complaining about what is and isn’t happening?
Maybe you should just decide that since you’re gay, supporting gay rights is indeed in your best interest. Doing something to help the whole will ultimately help the individuals as well. Bring your uniqueness to the mix and let it be celebrated and used there.
I would happily bring my ‘uniqueness’ (which it’s not) to the mix if I were allowed to, but since my kind have already been expelled from the mix a long time ago, and continue to be vilified by its former companions, I don’t believe I’d be very welcome. I don’t support Gay Rights because they don’t support me. I have nothing to gain from their conquests if the tolerance they promote is aimed at people I am fundamentally different from.
The greatest discrimination I’ve ever suffered from, online and offline, has not come from religious fundamentalists or cultural reactionaries, but instead has been at the hands of insecure gay people who are concerned that I might project any image to the world other than the milquetoast one which they believe will make it more likely to obtain the legal benefits you’re talking about. I’ve never heard Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson denounce any aspects of black culture for giving the whole race a bad rap, but it happens everyday among LGBT people. I know several people who are better than me and know how to turn the other cheek, but I can’t stomach it. I can’t be insulted, spat on, then asked to support the political goals of those who did that to me, and who are its primary beneficiaries.
Why should gay people courageously campaign against certain laws and be dead silent, or in active opposition, regarding others? Apparently these are taboo questions which you can’t ask, lest we compromise our oh so fragile conquests. Politics may occasionally be compromised to advance principle, but 25-30 years ago the Gay Rights movement decided it would compromise principle to advance politically. This is the only conclusion I can draw from years of trying to explain my views, rationally and dispassionately, to completely deaf eared ‘progressives’ a generation older than me. It saddens me, but it’s the way the world rolls and it won’t be changing. At least I know I’ll never sink to their level and actively campaign against everything they’ve achieved so far (because I’m not opposed to it).
I’m hearing a lot of “victim” in your words. It sounds to me that you are letting the actions of others determine your actions. No one is expelled from life from fighting for what they believe in. That just doesn’t happen. It sounds like you have not gotten your way on some issue somewhere along the way and have extrapolated “discrimination” from it. You’re also speaking in vague generalities here. What is “your kind”? What is the fight you aren’t being allowed to have? What is your image that is being prevented from being expressed? And just exactly WHO is it that is doing all this controlling of you and why are you letting them? (These are rhetorical questions, please don’t feel the need to respond to them for me…see point 2 at the end.)
There is no “gay rights movement” that is making the type of decisions that you speak of. You make it sound as if some specific organization met and decided to compromise principles and that it was directly seeking to alienate you and your kind. There are organizations out there who are fighting for their agenda. Every organization is doing that. Every one of those is also meeting opposition because they run into conflict with others fighting for the opposite agenda. It doesn’t make either of them right or wrong, just in opposition. Being opposed doesn’t mean that you are wrong or should quit…and it seems as though that is what you’ve done and are now blaming them for your choice.
The bottom lines here for me are:
1) if you want change, go and make it happen. Stop complaining and blaming. Take action.
2) I’m really done with this conversation and not because you are wrong or I am wrong or the post is wrong but it’s just going on far longer than I’m interested in sustaining.
I wish you all the best with your fight or lack thereof.
Tragic to see what’s happening in poor old Mother Russia – Tsar Putin and his gangsters are looking for a scapegoat and gays and lesbians fit the bill nicely. Of course, we should see this crackdown on the LGTBI community in the wider context of authoritarianism in Russia that’s been happening since Putin took over. He’s used the classic checklist of creating a dictatorship: centralised power and exerted control over the police, armed forces and judiciary; increased restrictions on the press; snuffed out democratic rights and freedoms; rigged elections; curtailed the opposition by jailing its leaders and silencing other critics of the regime, etc. Sadly creating scapegoats is just the next box to tick.
Going back in time already? I thought we haven’t come far enough on peoples rights- let alone to go back to communistic old school Kgb searches and unfair cruelty! This is just one more sad thing to shake my belief we as humans are evolving…