Eminent gay historian John D’Emilio writes in the prologue of his latest book, Making Gay History, “One of history’s greatest values is that it can offer us encouraging lessons in difficult times.”
And indeed, these are difficult times for the LGBTQ+ community. Our history and basic civil rights are being systematically erased by the White House. MAGA enthusiasts and right wing Christian Nationalists blame the queer community for every problem on the planet.
n my own recent book, Passionate Outlier: Gay Writers and Allies on Their Work, I wrote, “If, as writers, activists and advocates, we stand on the shoulders of all those who came before us, it is our first responsibility to know who they were in their own words.” Understanding what our ancestor activists actually said will, as D’Emilio notes, offer us lessons on how to proceed in these politically volatile times.
Another responsibility we have to those who historically made progress on our behalf is recognizing that they didn’t get everything right —– and that we still love them.
In the future, when others reflect on the actions of today’s activists celebrating sexual identities, racial equalities and cultural diversities, I’m certain they won’t conclude that today’s leaders got it 100 percent right. No generation does.
Even so, that’s not a legitimate reason to dismiss those who came before us just because we’ve evolved beyond what was their own understanding of reality. Life is not stagnant.
Realities change.
Here’s a perfect example of what I mean:
In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded. And can you believe they called themselves colored people?! Couldn’t they foresee just how behind the times using the word “colored” would be today?
Or did the C-word reflect their “lived experience”? Could it be that’s who they thought they were at the time? Likewise, might there be aspects of today’s political wisdoms that will, in future times, be regarded as backward?
Such aspects are sure to be analyzed. Humans evolve as conditions change. So does human language.
Don’t believe me? Then explain how references to African-Americans as “colored” were, at one time, viewed as acceptable then later considered racist. Now we’re back to using the term people of color for anyone who isn’t white as a continuing part of our nation’s linguistic evolution.
Understand that I’m not looking for a fight. I’m looking for clarity in a blurry mirror. I’m also looking for analogies drawn from the African-American experience that apply to today’s queer community.
The lived experience of writer James Baldwin — both a gay man and African-American, and a favorite of mine — helps me to understand the nuances of our current circumstances. In a famous 1963 televised interview on PBS between Baldwin and the renowned psychologist Dr. Kenneth Clark, whose research on the harmful effects of segregation influenced the landmark Supreme Court 1954 decision outlawing segregation in Brown v. Board of Education, Baldwin rejected the racial myths weaponized by white American society to justify systemic violence and subjugation. He boldly asserted, “I am not a nigger! I am a man!”
That’s Baldwin in his own words.
He argued that the slur and the concept behind it were white inventions born out of a psychological need to subjugate others. He noted that the future of America depended entirely on white people facing up to why they needed that ugly invention in the first place.
Seems to me Baldwin was right.
The backstory to Baldwin’s pronouncement was the topic of Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck’s acclaimed 2016 documentary film, I Am Not Your Negro. And that’s what led me to “I am not your faggot!”
As I write this, the American Civil Liberties Union is tracking 529 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced at the state level. The Trump administration efforts on a federal level reflect what happened in the 1950s McCarthy Era when ultra conservative, alcoholic Sen. Joe McCarthy orchestrated The Lavender Scare, claiming homosexuals — as we ourselves and others called us back then — were destroying America and our national security.
Sound all too familiar?
At last count by Wonkette Managing Editor Evan Hurst, there have been 188 Christian and Republican leaders identified, caught, accused, sued or convicted for allegedly abusing or exploiting kids. Not trans people, not queer people, not Democrats — Christian and Republican leaders!
Applying Baldwin’s thinking to current affairs, can it be that the endless slurs against queers are born out of a psychological need to subjugate them? Does the eventual resolution of today’s widespread derisions of anything not heterosexual depend entirely upon those who rely on such falsehoods to create an openly vehement anti-queer atmosphere?
I’m thinking we better figure this out.
Trump’s new National Security Directive [NSPM-7] on the topic of “countering domestic terrorism and organized political violence” identifies anyone with “hostility” towards those who hold traditional American views on sexuality and religion as potential terrorists. Queers are not terrorists. We are not hostile towards the values of others different from us. We just want others to stop forcing or legislating their political and religious beliefs on us.
Isn’t that the foundation of our imperfect political history?
Frank Pizzoli’s work has appeared in The Village Voice, Raw Story, Brooklyn Rail, ABCNews.com, Washington Blade, Alternet.com and Huffington Post. His book Passionate Outlier: Gay Writers and Allies on Their Work [Rebel Satori Press] has been reviewed nationwide.