My Problem With Heteronormativity

This goes along with the idea that all the Gay Rights movement is is the struggle for same sex marriage.

Yeah. It is. And that bothers the fuck out of me. Not equal treatment, protection, or anything like that. Just marriage.

This was pointed out to me a few weeks ago by a guy in the college Queer and Allies called Spectrum. He pointed out that all the “Gay Rights” movement is is the gay and lesbian, white, middle class right to marry each other. That this whole movement is not changing the ideas of heteronormativity, but embracing and assimilating to them.

“Oh, look at us,” the gay people cry “we can get married and adopt kids! We can conform to the 2.5 children, a white picket fence, and a dog. We can be just like you!”

It is a repeat of the Women’s Suffrage Movement. So, we got our right to vote. But then things went beck to being the exact same as they used to be, and now, a hundred years later, women still have to work harder to be paid the same as men of a lesser qualification, and choices about our bodies are being decided in congress, yet we cry “Feminism is a dead issue! These feminazis are just complaining and they don’t want to accept the simple laws of human biology.”

I’m not going to argue the relevance of feminism here, because I think that it goes without saying where I stand on that subject. What I am going to say is that I don’t want a repeat of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the Gay Rights Movement.I don’t want people to lose steam after we achieve federal support of Same-Sex marriage, because I’m sure that we will. I think that the Queer Rights Movement should be more than that.

The Gay Rights Movement has snowballed away from being an inclusive whole which supported things like Trans* issues and completely ignores minorities. The face of the Gay Rights Movement is the face of all these celebrities who are gay, and you know, that’s not such a bad thing, but the fact that it has become so exclusive bothers me, and I wanted to point it out to you guys.

Someone pointed out to me that all these “gay” stereotypes and the gay movement might really just serve to make our differences more apparent rather than trying to stress our similarities. And you know, I thought about it. Cisgender homosexuals and heterosexuals DO have a lot in common. They identify as the sex they were born as, and they fall in love and/or want to have sex with people from the opposite OR the same cisgender group. The only difference really is that OR. But really, that may be the only case in which that’s true. Bisexuals, pansexuals, polysexuals and asexuals (plus more) all have different ways of falling in love or NOT. And that should be okay. Trans*-anythings have no voice in this movement, and transphobia is something that is still wide-spread today, despite growing support of the Gay Rights Movement.

It’s also disheartening that there are not more cultures, ethnicity races, or people of the lowest incomes who are speaking out to support this cause. The supporters of the Gay Rights Movement have been isolated into this group of white, middle-income people, and that seems to be about all. People from all walks of life are not being represented in this movement, and it’s a shame.

It bothers me that these things are not being seen by more people, and that it seems as if as long as everyone can jump on this bandwagon that still resembles the heterosexual lifestyle, people can be okay with it, but once we start adding in alien concepts, like bisexuality, trans* issues, asexuality, or even polygamy, people will shy away. It’s hypocritical and even backwards, and I hope to point out that WHILE MARRIAGE EQUALITY IS STILL AN IMPORTANT GOAL, it shouldn’t be the only goal.

#gay rights #feminism #equality #lgbt #heteronormativity #marriage equality #goals #lifestyle #differences #similarities #being a human being