Dear conciliatory gays (Eric Altneu, Dave Knappenberger and whoever else might be out there),
Well, I’m not sure exactly where to begin with you. You managed to say so many problematic things in the course of your attacks on the queer community on Oct. 22 that I couldn’t possibly respond to all of it. However, even though it’s hard for us queers to think about anything besides sex, chalking, sex while chalking and sex with chalk, I thought I’d try your suggestion to “educate and teach tolerance to those who act ignorantly” and respond to some of your more egregious comments.
Educating you about queer politics is obviously beyond the scope of a Wespeak, but I seriously encourage you to read or ask about it sometime. I do want to point out that the reason for anonymity in chalking is not that we don’t know what we want to say, as you suggest, but that believe it or not, even this “ultra-liberal” campus has its share of power inequalities, discrimination and hate crimes. Chalking anonymously was a way for people to express themselves without risking personal attacks. The other means of discourse on this campus are either potentially dangerous to those expressing unpopular opinions or are censored for “relevancy” and other subjective and political issues, or (often) both. If you think the most offensive things about your walk around campus are the brief glimpses of chalkings on the ground before they’re erased five minutes later, than you aren’t paying attention.
Speaking of which, direct actions like chalking and staging a kiss-in, which run the risk of an SJB referral and discrimination, are not “the easy way out.” I recognize that not everyone has the privilege of taking direct action, and I don’t think it’s something everyone has to participate in, but don’t attack us for using it as a tactic while condescendingly warning us not to forget about the real world out there. We’re very aware of the “real” world, because the real world’s here, too. Nobody seriously calls this school an “ultra-liberal haven” or “Diversity University” except the admissions office. I congratulate you on feeling safe on this campus, but the very reason that queers are raising visibility is that we do not feel safe, we are not safe and we will never make ourselves safe by pretending we don’t exist. Eric Altneu may claim to not let his sexuality dictate his social interactions, but the reality is that we don’t get to choose the fact that there are entire systems of oppression based on sexuality which shape our social interactions on a daily basis.
Contrary to Dave Knappenberger’s claims, the queers at the anti-hate crimes meeting never said that direct action is the only course of action, and I don’t presume to know or care whether you hate yourselves or not. What I do know is that at the same time you chastise us for letting “the homophobic attitudes of others shape our entire being,” you’re telling us we should conform to some heteronormative standard of decency and relegate our sexuality to the closet while heterosexuality continues to set the standard for legislation, administration policies, advertising, news, public sexual expression, etc. Why aren’t you writing a Wespeak against all the straight people you see making out at parties?
For all your talk of a united front and respecting other people’s strategies, you sure break out the personal attacks on people with approaches that differ from yours. You talk as though we should change our tactics, “clean up our act” and join you at the same time that you’re slandering us with terms like “imbecilic,” “over-politicized and sometimes downright bitchy,” “adolescent” and “immature.” So let’s see, you’re calling us names, portraying us as sexual deviants, attacking a politics you clearly don’t understand and insulting our intelligence? If you think that defining yourselves as normal against the deviant queers and our “angry” make out sessions will make you safe, good luck. You can stop worrying about how our actions reflect on you and stop referring to “our voices collectively” and urging us to clean up “our” act, because we are not part of a community that belittles our experiences and judgments.
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