When I was in my teens and early twenties, I had trouble with the concept of an LGBT “community”. Obviously I understood why people might want to socialize with other queer people in bars or clubs (it would certainly make dating easier), but the idea of only patronizing LGBT-owned businesses or whatever seemed no more sensible to me than the notion of Christians only trading with other Christians or sci-fi fans only doing business with the people they might hang out with at cons. As I aged I began to realize how fortunate I was to have such an accepting group of straight friends, and realized that in other parts of the country more uptight than sexually laissez faire New Orleans, a queer “community” could be a lifesaver. Of course, that was before the ascendancy of Gay, Inc; the change of the official LGBT motto from “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it!” to “We’re just like yooooooouuuuuu!!!”; the nauseating pageant of corporate rainbow flags every June; and the transformation of Pride from the commemoration of an anti-cop riot (50 years ago today, though you’d barely know it from Big Gay’s shameful lack of interest in the anniversary) to a “family friendly” celebration of picket fences, Hallmark-card-ready sentiments, conspicuous consumption, and NO SEX (because that’s apparently not what “sexual orientation” means). But if you still cling to the concept that because one of your preferences is similar to one of the preferences of a bunch of assholes you don’t even know, that makes them “your people”, you may want to read this:
LGBTQ Americans want cops and corporations to participate in pride parades by an 8-to-1 margin, a landslide of support that breaks from a vocal faction of protesters, according to a new survey conducted by Whitman Insight Strategies and BuzzFeed News. The nationwide poll also found most LGBTQ people mistakenly think they occupy much more of the population than they actually do (y’all, it’s nowhere near half the country)…Support for welcoming cops at pride was about three-quarters across a wide range of demographics — male, female, gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, white, and nonwhite. People of color, who made up 21% of all survey respondents, support cops in pride events by 77% to 8% (15% say it makes no difference either way). Support was slightly lower among LGBTQ people who have not come out (56%), queer/nonbinary people (57%), and those under 30 years old (70%). As for corporate floats at pride, 76% welcome them in the festivities, while just 9% oppose…
What this tells me is that ignorant, bootlicking sociopaths are just as common among those who want to stick their body parts into other people of their own sex as among those who want to stick their body parts into people of another sex. Worldwide, cops are still the major perpetrators of violence against queers, and in the US they are still very dangerous to a large fraction of the LGBT population, especially transwomen, sex workers (most of whom, as I often point out, are LGBT) and black people. Having cops at Pride is nothing less than spitting in the face of those who are persecuted by them every fucking day; it’s basically saying “We picket-fence gays have our seat at the Big Table thanks to our eagerly throwing the rest of y’all under the bus to win it, so fuck all of you.” Sorry, I’m not part of any “community” with opportunistic fascists, and those who are can take their cop-packed, state-worshipping, white, vanilla, bourgeois “Pride month” and use it as an immense butt plug, preferably without lube.
