The Gay Agenda, Or, The Zoo and Me
First of all, let's just get it out there: there IS a gay agenda. Sort of. But it's probably not what you're thinking. When anti-gay people speak of a "Gay Agenda," they make up some items to maintain the politics of fear that have proven successful. Gays getting married. Gays having children. Gays in schools. Gays in the military. Gays in the workplace. Gays in church. Gays in the government. Gays parading. Gays everywhere. Wait. No, that's not scary enough, not to mention that it's already the case. Gays converting your children. Gays converting YOU. Gays in YOUR church. Gays being treated like they are normal, even when everybody-knows-what-they-do-in-bed. Gays running sex dens and converting you and your children as you are mesmerized by sequins and disco music.
None of that is my gay agenda, neither the real nor the absurd, nor the in-between spaces where sexuality, gender, and everyday life interact fluidly and contingently. FOX News is making stuff up.
Our gay agenda looks a lot different from that, which has become more apparent since we found Spike just over a month ago. Now, Sarah is an activist. She is very connected to LGBTQ (she knows all the letters of representation) groups in Cobb County and Atlanta, regularly meeting with organizations and attending functions. She performs with the Atlanta Freedom Bands, and wrote the Safe Zone training manual for her university. She's an advocate for campus equality for LGBTQ students, and she is a presence for students on campus. She forwards me a half dozen news and policy updates from online media every week. And me? I teach LGBTQ-themed classes in KSU's Gender & Women's Studies Program and queer-up just about everything I write about. My activism is a little more sedentary. Regardless, if anybody should know about a gay agenda, it's us.
This topic reminds me of a line by John Proctor in The Crucible. "If there is a faction, then I must find it and join it." If there is a sexy, provocative Gay Agenda, I'd sign up for it. But I'm pretty happy with ours. We talk about it; rather, we note it, at the oddest times. For example, for the first month, we had to "poop" the cat. Baby cats rely upon the mama cat to help get its bodily functions going (I'll leave it at that). We had to assume that role and responsibility since Spike was abandoned. So, while I was holding the kitten over the sink and proceeding, Sarah leans over and says, "THIS is some gay agenda!" Sometimes when we're up to our elbows in cooking dinner or doing dishes, we'll make the same observation. Or when we're loading three animals into a small car to transport to South Atlanta for the weekend--and then repeat at 5:00 AM on Monday morning. This is SOME gay agenda. Or when we FINALLY get a night out to go to Pride because Spike is FINALLY getting litter box trained and we end up volunteering to help close up the booth for KSU's fledgling (and terrific!) LGBTQ Resource Center. While we were there, Sarah mentored a young trans student and set up his schedule for spring semester. THIS is SOME gay agenda. Or, finally, when we made it to the concert area, spread our blanket under the stars to listen to music and one of us says, "Gee, do you think it's time to go and check on Spike?" And the other says, "Yeah, I was just thinking that." And we go home to play with zoo before bed. To sleep because we are so exhausted from living the gay agenda. Our gay agenda.
The point is, for me--I think for us--the gay agenda is living a life. Finding happiness, following our bliss. This is NOT to say in assimilationist fashion, "See, we're just like everybody else...." We aren't. But as for marriage, adoption, employment equality--those are not "gay rights" or items on an agenda. Those are human expectations, needs, and/or choices. I think, maybe, that the gay agenda involves being-human-with-one-another. And if that is the case, it is one I am happy to promote.
None of that is my gay agenda, neither the real nor the absurd, nor the in-between spaces where sexuality, gender, and everyday life interact fluidly and contingently. FOX News is making stuff up.
Our gay agenda looks a lot different from that, which has become more apparent since we found Spike just over a month ago. Now, Sarah is an activist. She is very connected to LGBTQ (she knows all the letters of representation) groups in Cobb County and Atlanta, regularly meeting with organizations and attending functions. She performs with the Atlanta Freedom Bands, and wrote the Safe Zone training manual for her university. She's an advocate for campus equality for LGBTQ students, and she is a presence for students on campus. She forwards me a half dozen news and policy updates from online media every week. And me? I teach LGBTQ-themed classes in KSU's Gender & Women's Studies Program and queer-up just about everything I write about. My activism is a little more sedentary. Regardless, if anybody should know about a gay agenda, it's us.
This topic reminds me of a line by John Proctor in The Crucible. "If there is a faction, then I must find it and join it." If there is a sexy, provocative Gay Agenda, I'd sign up for it. But I'm pretty happy with ours. We talk about it; rather, we note it, at the oddest times. For example, for the first month, we had to "poop" the cat. Baby cats rely upon the mama cat to help get its bodily functions going (I'll leave it at that). We had to assume that role and responsibility since Spike was abandoned. So, while I was holding the kitten over the sink and proceeding, Sarah leans over and says, "THIS is some gay agenda!" Sometimes when we're up to our elbows in cooking dinner or doing dishes, we'll make the same observation. Or when we're loading three animals into a small car to transport to South Atlanta for the weekend--and then repeat at 5:00 AM on Monday morning. This is SOME gay agenda. Or when we FINALLY get a night out to go to Pride because Spike is FINALLY getting litter box trained and we end up volunteering to help close up the booth for KSU's fledgling (and terrific!) LGBTQ Resource Center. While we were there, Sarah mentored a young trans student and set up his schedule for spring semester. THIS is SOME gay agenda. Or, finally, when we made it to the concert area, spread our blanket under the stars to listen to music and one of us says, "Gee, do you think it's time to go and check on Spike?" And the other says, "Yeah, I was just thinking that." And we go home to play with zoo before bed. To sleep because we are so exhausted from living the gay agenda. Our gay agenda.
The point is, for me--I think for us--the gay agenda is living a life. Finding happiness, following our bliss. This is NOT to say in assimilationist fashion, "See, we're just like everybody else...." We aren't. But as for marriage, adoption, employment equality--those are not "gay rights" or items on an agenda. Those are human expectations, needs, and/or choices. I think, maybe, that the gay agenda involves being-human-with-one-another. And if that is the case, it is one I am happy to promote.
Comments
Post a Comment