Hello! I hope these Pride Month thoughts resonate with you. Whether they do or not, I hope you add your thoughts to the discourse and share with whoever needs to read these words.
Merriam Webster defines “pride” as such:
1: the quality or state of being proud: such as
a: inordinate self-esteem : CONCEIT
b: a reasonable or justifiable self-respect
c: delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship (parental pride)
…state of being proud.
Queer pride is loving out loud. Queer pride says: shame withers n my presence. Queer pride was born as a riot and has blossomed into so—many—forms—especially as society has taken some steps forward but also m a n y steps back. Being proud is a fighting stance against white cis-hetero-patriarchal systems that target all forms of non-conformance.
…self-respect.
Queer pride does not mean participation in rainbow capitalism. Queer lives are legitimate whether or not they are “productive” to the market. Love all the pride flags for all of us, but their signification is so easily co-opted by corporations looking for a revenue stream. Purchasing an insulated tumbler with pronouns on them may feel great (if not v e r y cheesy), but how does that help any queer person, materially? (Upon further inspection, it seems that the tumblers are a collaboration with GLSEN, an organization that works to ensure that LGBTQ students are able to learn and grow in a school environment free from bullying and harassment. This—and other organizations—will be the topic of a future Queer Agenda…)
…act, possession, or relationship.
Queer pride exists in relationship to cis-hetero society. This requires queer folks to be visible—but what kind of visibility matters. Recently, mainstream entertainment has dabbled in not depicting queer people as the first to die, or as one-dimensional supporting characters. Still a lot of queer-coding for villains, though. And in political debates (which are debates about who lives and who dies) queer and trans folks are “visible” in negative ways: accused of grooming children, blamed for mass shootings, blocked from accessing life-saving healthcare. Visibility can be a trap if not coupled with changed behaviors and actual action.
Remember Stonewall and Compton’s Cafeteria Riot and the Queer Liberation March:::::::::
Does the queer agenda need a flag? Maybe no:
But maybe yes:
All of this talk about queer pride being a riot and a fight… it follows, then, that exhaustion is normal because queer pride is w a y bigger than just “expressing yourself.” Queer pride is bigger than loving who you love without harassment. It’s bigger than the oftentimes painful process of coming out, or flying your flags in the month of June.
It’s fighting the Prison Industrial Complex, which disproportionately affects queer people of color. It’s about making the connections between systems of oppression and identity politics. It’s recognizing that your personal values and beliefs and decisions are political in the sense that they impact other people’s lives—not just your own.
Ally is a verb. Verbs mean action. You cannot ally with queer communities if you are not taking action. Too often, people use ally as a noun, which abstracts the fundamental meaning of the word and turns allyship into an identity. But identity is subjective and fluid and does not fully encapsulate the ongoing work that is required to ally.
“This is why I’m always a bit suspicious of and hesitant to embrace the ‘allies’ rubric—because if we really take the queer, trans, gender-non-conforming political position seriously, we have to understand that to undertake the work of gender self-determination and gender liberation, we don’t simply ‘stand alongside/behind’ our queer/trans peers; we inhabit a position with them in absolute political intimacy.”
—Dylan Rodríguez (Captive Genders, p. 330)
Community, on the other hand, is both a verb and a noun. To be in community is to be with people who celebrate queer pride with you, see you for who you are, and care for you when you’re exhausted. Community provides loud, unwavering support. Community implies the coming-together of people. The verb—the action—is baked in.
Why does this matter for architects and designers?
(and stay tuned for part two!)
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I hope these words inspire you in some way, shape, or form.
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Thank you for reading.
Until next time 🦚,
A.L.