Discerning the queerist unity ...
My good friend Jonah loves calling himself "queer," it's even in his e-mail address. But for me, it's kind of a "hate the sin, love the sinner"-deal. If the joke isn't lost completely on you, I'll continue.
In my brief flirtation with moderatism, I've come away with a better understanding on compromise. Whether you read that to mean compromising for the greater good or compromising a particular belief system is your own business.
While the image accompanying the word queer in my head makes me laugh, the root behind the reclaiming the word is less that hilarious. Since the Stonewall era, reclaiming the word has been a pastime for gay folk, but it's also grown into a political ideology and complete left-wing, radical camp. The sentiments of Bruce Bawer's book, "Beyond Queer" isn't lost completely on me. Although I've solidified myself as a Liberal, bleeding-heart and all, what I am not is a camp-jumping, cause-of-the-week reactionary. I've never been.
I credit my cultural background for that temperance.
In traditional Lakota society and government, decisions are not made lightly. They are discussed, debated until the sun comes up before a consensus is reached. And while that ideal is not really applicable to modern standards and social movements, I still believe in it.
When working in Native youth leadership in high school, we were always the target of American Indian Movement folk and land rights groups and every fringe would come knocking at our door. While these groups are great and wonderful for their purpose, there was always competition for attention. Which cause was worthier than the next? And that's where the trouble started. Before too long, my beloved Indian Youth 2000 conference was splintered after it broke with its uniform structure by differing opinions and personality conflicts.
In my work with the equally-divided Bear Butte International Alliance, I got to witness the actual moment it all came apart. Once the founder of the alliance did all that she could and was still willing to make her stand, crowd behind her or no crowd behind her, in swooped old members of the AIM camp. Let this also be a lesson to those of you who don't think me feminist; I was appalled to hear the words, "The women have done all they can, now it is time for the men to carry on the work."
From then on, it was the AIM camp's show, not the alliance. When they arranged protests and marches, members of the board were oohed and ahhed out of their common sense. The actual work of protecting Bear Butte [filing briefs, injunctions, calling for special elections, going to commissioners meetings] was swept aside for showy and flashy statements and personalities too large to bear, all under the guise of Native rights.
Unified front, indeed.
I learned that allies are valuable, but we must -- as a community -- determine the value of our allies.
While I have signed many a petition for a myriad of left-wing causes and even extended my services beyond that a time or two, I knew how to pick and choose my battles, unlike those who would call themselves, "queer."
Case in point: when I attended a rally for the campaign against Referred Law 6 in South Dakota, I knew I was among good, Liberal stock who would be more than willing to sign up for what I had to offer. But when I saw a young, gay man who previously yelled, "My body, my choice!" and then refused to volunteer for South Dakotans Against Discrimination, a campaign that was directly related to his rights as a gay man, it gave me pause to wonder, "What help would he be to either campaign?"
As a gay community, we are indebted to many groups who have helped us along the way and who will -- God willing -- continue to help us in our further struggle for equality. But I believe it is incumbent upon us not lay uneducated about the queerist, all-cause-catch-all philosophy and to discern where our assets lie, not just how valuable they are to us, but how valuable we are to them and how effective their strategies -- whatever they may be -- are.
It is not our place to yammer and hark on their parade and their methods, but it is our place to decide for ourselves whether we can be most valuable.