the alienation of queer identity

What does it mean to be queer?

…and why is the mainstream “gay establishment”, if there even is such a thing, working so hard to erase that word from the political discourse surrounding QUEER issues (i refuse to reiterate the lengthy, assimilationist acronym that is LGBTTQQIIAA).

As a QUEER person, the validity of your sexual identity, you gender identity (or lack thereof), you gender expressions, your sexuality, even your body, integral aspects of who you are, is consistently questioned, threatened, & trivialized. The common thread of experience that all queer people share with one another is the inner struggle to accept & embrace these natural, normal parts of our being, despite the patriarchy’s insistent oppression.

Gender & sexuality are the two most basic components of the human experience. They are the foundation on which everything else is laid. Some may say that is a stretch, but i beg to differ. Hetero-normative individuals take for granted their right to these basic emotions and identities. Sure, society may enforce it’s own oppressive gender norms on “straight”, cisgendered individuals as well, but those are merely gross exaggerations of natural phenomena.

Why am i such a fierce advocate of a term some may deem offensive, archaic, & “radical”.

I defend queer, because the word is a way of reclaiming an identity that has been consistently questioned & threatened by hetero-normative society. All of us queer folk have had to evaluate, examine, struggle with it, and come to terms with such basic components of ourselves. It’s no surprise that many in our community, who have supposedly come to terms with their gender identity and/or sexuality, still view themselves as “different”. They glam up their “freakishness” & in doing so, strengthen the pervasive mode of thought (which dominates out medical establishment as well), that queer bodies & queer lives are FINE, but not “normal”. They are FABULOUS but “weird”. So, clinging to societal expectations, we compartmentalize our community into “freaks” (who we still may love and adore) & “normals”. But i think even joe the gay plumber has to accept the fact that he sleeps with a MAN every night, and no amount of macho credentials can erase that “minute” detail from his life.

I am not saying that joe the plumber should also accept his freakdom. Many assume that queer is a way of proclaiming to the world “I AM FREAKY, BUT I’M AWESOME, SO SHUT THE FUCK UP & HEAR ME ROAR”. In reality it means something much different. It’s a way of mocking society’s need to categorize “different” identities that threaten the familial values and heterosexual backbone that keeps “our” world running. Terms such as gay and transgender were invented to categorize. People who fit into these categorizes (given to them by society) begin to take pride in these terms. In an ideal world however, these terms would not exist. Homosexual behavior, transgender identities, & intersex bodies would simply be seen as part of the continuum that is human gender & sexuality.

I am not saying that we should abolish these terms. I myself take pride in them as well, as we DON’T live in that ideal world, and probably never will. However queer is a much more inclusive, affective way of “categorizing” my gender/sexual identity & life experiences regarding these “issues”.

Something that is quite similar amongst queer rights and the struggle for female liberation, is the fact that both of these groups of people are defending things they were BORN with. The state of being female for most women, is not just an identity, it is also a biological fact. Similarly, queer people do not chose to be the way they are, they are born that way.

The identities, expressions, and capabilities of queer people & biological women may always be questioned. However, we can not give in to the oppresive framework that threatens our existence. Woman can not simply lobby for civil rights, but also accept the gender norms, rampant sexism, & body discrimination that pervades our pop culture.

and queer people can not let their minds succumb to the flawed world that they born into.

Queer is not a way of saying I’M different.

Queer is a term that puts the spotlight on you.