This is Just The Beginning

In the words of Eliel Cruz, “I didn’t want to exchange a white heteronormative world for a white homonormative one.”

I gotta be honest, it’s tiring as a queer bisexual girl to see the cis white gays waving their Pride flags and talking about just marriage equality, acting like this is the one and only fight of the LGBT community. They never once mention the issues that transgender people face, never once talk about bisexual erasure, and pretty much never discuss things beyond the “L” and “G” of LGBT. Not to mention the whole leaving out QPOC.

Again, not shitting on the victory that is marriage equality. But I’ve got a double whammy being a queer bisexual girl, and my identity is often erased in the LGBT community. My partner’s identity is even more erased. Our issues are rarely discussed. How often have you heard others in the "L" and "G" part of the community being super vocal about trans issues, like access to restrooms and proper medical care? I know, just because someone doesn’t speak up about something doesn’t mean they don’t care about it, per se. But when they act like the marriage equality movement is the main issue in the LGBT community, it ticks me off. Because people are dying, yet how often do you hear about trans suicide rates?  Where’s the outrage over this? Do they realize that there's no marriage to look forward to if most of us are dead?

Yes, I’m grumpy and cynical as hell. But I’m tired of this homonormative world that erases queer and trans people.

Jason Cantrell had a good point in this blog post: "The Supreme Court may have given everyone the right to marry, but there are still a lot of places where transgender individuals don’t have the right to use a public restroom. And there’s still a lot of people who have to hide who they are, for fear of being attacked by “good moral Christians” and “proud patriotic Americans” who see anything outside of their binary, heteronormative world as a threat to their lifestyles. And I don’t know what to do about that. And it scares me."

So, yes, marriage equality is great and I’m excited for it. But this is just the beginning. We have so much more to work on. I hope that we continue to make progress and keep working on the issues that affects those in the community who don’t fall under the “L” and “G” of LGBT.

Marriage equality, conservative parents, and opinions

Recently the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) offered a free equality bumper sticker. Of course, I love stickers, and while I had no intentions of using them on a vehicle, I got one anyways.

I didn't know when exactly it'd arrive. It knew it'd take a few weeks, but I really really did not want my parents coming across it. I think that before the sticker arrived, they sorta kind of knew my opinion on marriage equality (pro), but it's not a discussion I want to get into with them. I've already heard their opinions on it (against) and....well...it's just not something I care to discuss with them.

I've been thinking about the sticker lately, but I didn't expect it to arrive today. I was lying on my mom's bed when she came in and handed me an envelope from none other than the HRC. I don't know if she realized what it was at first, but she wanted to see what was in it. Crap. She opened it and handed it to me. I took the sticker out and read the little slip of paper. She mentioned the sticker, something about it meaning equal, and what it was for. I said marriage equality, probably not in my best voice, and she read the slip of paper.

Anyways, that was awkward, for me at least. I don't know what she thinks about it. I really don't want to talk to her about it. Marriage equality just isn't a subject I want to talk about with them.