#homophobia tw
Levy: Humans are not the only animals that engage in homosexuality, but are the only animals that engage in homophobia.
Gajeel: Wrong, I limped my wrist at Lily and he attacked me.
Anonymous asked: I read your post on the problematic elements of the first season of AHS, and while I agree with a lot of what you said, there’s been something I’ve been wondering about. (My apologies if you’ve gotten a question like this before.) Zacharty Quinto is a gay man portraying a gay man on the show, so don’t you think if he had a problem with the stereotypes he would’ve said something or maybe even backed out of the project? It reminds of when Jordan Gavaris (of Orphan Black) said that straight people-
-would tell him that his portrayal of Felix was very stereotypical and that if they were gay, they would’ve been offended by it. But he then said that response he’d gotten from the gay community had been very positive. I don’t really know where I’m going with this but do you sort of understand what I’m saying? We don’t want all minority characters in media to be represented in stereotypical ways, but the reason we have these stereotypes is because some of them hold true for some people, right?
And it seems like (at least some) people in the gay community are ok with it? Or at least don’t find it to be terribly offensive? I’m not trying to excuse it or anything, these were just some thoughts I had and I wanted to know what you thought of them. Sorry this message was so long and it probably doesn’t make much sense. I really love your blog and appreciate all the effort you put into it. Thank you :)
Hi! Thanks for your question and for reading my blog. It’s answered below the cut!
So I completely understand what you’re asking, but first I need to do a quick intervention on the “the reason stereotypes exist is because they’re true for some people” line of reasoning, which is super problematic. Stereotypes aren’t born from an averaging of the common traits of a group of people, they’re made by people in positions of power who want you to think that all people in a marginalized community behave a certain way in order to most easily identify, group, and oppress them. So say like the stereotype of the melodramatic, feminized gay man - that wasn’t created because the majority of men who identify as gay behave as such, it was created by heterosexual men who want to be able to say “this is what a gay man is like - I have no obligation to get to know him beyond that, to recognize him as a person, or to understand that he is a human being just like I am”. Basically, stereotypes are a way to deny humanity to marginalized people by presuming that you know what they are and how they will behave based on narratives they do not write themselves.
So, all that said - I can’t really speak to Felix’s character as I haven’t yet seen Orphan Black, but in terms of Zachary Quinto’s character on AHS, I understand what you mean. However, it’s important to remember a couple of things - first, actors do not have ultimate power over what is written for their characters. Quinto could have signed on without really knowing what Murphy (who is also gay) would write for that character. Second, actors are people too and people need jobs. While I don’t think Quinto suffers from any dearth of roles, many actors from other marginalized communities, such as Black actors and especially Black women, are probably getting far fewer opportunities because there are fewer parts written for or offered to Black actors. So if we had, lets say, a Black women playing a part that was very poorly written and drew heavily on stereotypes of Black womanhood, it’s pretty unfair to hold her accountable and say “oh well if this was going to be offensive to your community you should have quit”. They may not have the luxury to quit, they may not want to for fear of not getting other jobs, or they may not be offended by the part at all - no one individual can be the spokesperson for their entire community. People of the same group are offended by different things. Quinto could have absolutely zero problem with the role, or he could have hated it but done it anyway. There’s no way of knowing.
The same goes for the fans; some gay fans may have adored Felix’s character, while others found him offensive. Some people may appreciate having gay representation in their media but at the same time wish it was better written - there’s plenty of room for nuance here, and representation is a complicated issue. I would say the best solution to this is to stop writing lazy characters based on stereotypes and have equal representation for marginalized communities on television.
I hope this answers your question! Thanks so much for reading the blog.
(Source)
DPC and DPL. Dead People’s Clothes and Dead People’s Leather.
Their toys, their paintings of half naked, naked, screwing men. The statues. The leather. The sling. The posters. The … all of it.
We’d literally Straighten homes. Depending. Some families knew and were fine. Or more ok. But pictures of other guys on phones was the least of it.
I have… leather that’s been passed through three or four men who’ve died before getting to me. They’re the heirlooms now, passed down chosen families.
Sometimes there were crews. We’d show up as soon as possible, as a unit. We’d hit the bedrooms first. Clear out closets, under beds, bedsides. We’d donate, throw out, take mementos. Pass on. Secret lives and secret, us only treasures.
Then we’d leave. For some family’s you never talked about it. They never knew. It was better all around.
I have vests, gloves. A belt. Arm bands. Paintings. T-shirts. Photos, undeveloped film that’d I’m still somewhat terrified to try to get developed (lol). We live on in the living rooms of others.This is. A very important message for the younger generations of queers.
We still have so much father to go, but y'all. Don’t let our past be forgotten.
transcript of video by TikTok account thatannamarie from early December 2021
-begin transcript
Here’s a word that every queer person should know: homonationalism is not the name of my new synth-pop album. It’s a concept from sociology that acknowledges how queer people are used in conversations about global politics.
Homonationalism is when we use LGBT rights as a yardstick to judge how “moral” a society is. It’s short for “homonormative nationalism"—say that five times fast—and it was first coined by Jasbir Puar to describe how the US presented itself as LGBT-friendly to contrast itself to “homophobic” Muslims during the War on Terror. It can also be applied to other contexts, like the way we talk about homophobic countries in Africa or the Caribbean while ignoring the role of European colonialism in those regions.
Put a finger down if you’ve ever heard something like:
- You know being gay is a crime in Ghana, right?
- Those Middle Eastern countries are so backwards. Do you know what they do to gay people over there?
Oh it’s so weird. [Looks around as if hearing something from outside the room.] My neighbor’s dog is going crazy…
You know you’ve lost the plot when you’re talking about homophobia among Muslims, when white American Christians are the ones who made gay marriage illegal, ignored the entire AIDS crisis, and to this day don’t have any national policies regarding conversion therapy, a trans-panic defense, or the forcing of trans women into men’s prisons and vice-versa.
Barbados just became free of British rule this week; we should not be shocked if they have some homophobic policies.
And while I obviously believe that a more moral society is one with robust protections for queer people, LGBT rights can’t be used to judge other countries, to make us feel better about bombing them.
As an aside, I live in Connecticut, an American state where it gets dark at 4pm now, and where LGBT rights are actually pretty good. We were one of the first states to institute gay marriage, transgender health care is part of our state insurance, and we’re just generally more legally protected here.
And yet while legal support is very robust in our state, there’s very little cultural support. Homophobia and transphobia in day-to-day life is roughly as bad as any other part of the country, and we have no gay cultural infrastructure. Only enough gay bars to count on one hand, and no known queer meeting spaces otherwise. It’s obviously not as bad as living in a place where being gay is a crime, but it’s still pretty lonely out here.
So for a variety of reasons, I don’t appreciate queer and trans people being used as a pawn to further Islamophobia, anti-African sentiment, and general xenophobia. Mainly because it’s racist and ignorant; many of these countries have a long, rich history of queer and trans and nonbinary identities before white European colonizers showed up, but also because western “acceptance” of LGBTQ people is very conditional and very limited in terms of material and legal protection.
White supremacy wins when we pit queer people and people of color against each other. We need international solidarity and an acknowledgment of colonialism to achieve equality and equity.
-end transcript
this is a huge problem in canada as well, touting the legality of same sex marriage while the canadian anglican church refuses to perform said marriages
and it’s always "well in x majority-poc country being gay is illegal, aren’t we so much better and progressive? you know what muslims do to gay people, right?”
while as a lesbian in one of the largest cities in canada I have experienced multiple hate crimes. I have actually had white ppl say to me, an east indian person, that I’m lucky my ancestors came here because of how homosexuality only recently became legal in India. but who made it illegal? british colonists.
white people have a serious superiority complex about thinking that they’re on the forefront of lgbt+ rights, as though they aren’t the ones who invaded most of the world and made our identities illegal
and for the record, my fellow muslims have been more accepting of my identity than white christians have ever been
it’s just so twisted that the same people whose ancestors spread anti-gay and anti-trans laws use those laws to justify invading/bombing/brutalizing their victims
to all the queer kids who have parents who aren’t openly homophobic but still not Nice about their queerness. Its okay to feel mad about it. Just because you’re in a physically safe place doesn’t mean that it can’t be frustrating and heartbreaking to not be accepted. to feel like you have to shove yourself into a box to be loved. your feelings are valid. you deserve all the proud acceptance in the world
This is a very real question: Have most terfs ever faced queerphobic violence in real life?
Cause like, I live in a deep rural area, and queer people do get our asses beat out here, which is why the concept of just excluding some queer people is so foreign to me. Like, are y’all aware that queer bashings still exist? Have you experienced it? Because I’ve not met a single queer person whose been beaten physically to the ground who still believes that people beaten to the ground for the same fundamental reasons as they were are somehow inferior.
I’m being serious, if a single hate-crime survivor who is exclusionary exists I’m curious how you came to the conclusion that the people who beat you are somehow more justified in beating someone else.
