At first blush my most
important Queer hope for 2017, and that would stretch to 2020, is that Donald
Trump remains the president. No, I haven’t lost my mind. I am very aware of
what a terrible indictment he, and his election, is of the tattered state of
our democracy. Though he is certainly racist, xenophobic and sexist in the most
despicable of ways his attitude toward LGBTQ folk was certainly muted during
the 2016 campaign.
If we loose Trump through
impeachment, early retirement or most likely a big myocardial infarction that
leaves us with Mike Pence. In addition to the negative qualities attributed
above to Trump we get a toxic dose of homophobia. Pence truly scares me. At
least with Trump I do on rare occasions see very human expressions on his face.
He is malleable around most things except perhaps his ingrained sexism. Pence,
on the other hand, is a zealot and I see in his steely gaze a real hatred for
all things Queer, feminist and just plain other. Catholic fundamentalism is
truly something to fear.
My second hope for 2017
is that we LGBTQ people do not further abandon our strong and to date very
productive sense of queer identity. Identity politics, fueled of course by the
powerful coming out process, has been at the root of our success. This has been
success, not only through self-acceptance in the form of our own internally
vanquished homophobia, but also success in the form of an emerging place at the
table of society at large.
The main hurdle has
always been overcoming our own internalized homophobia. The key to this has been a realization on a soul
level that we are different in many ways and that these unique traits are gifts.
We can and do exploit and extrapolate these differences to the larger society for
a profound mutual benefit. Harry Hay had it absolutely right in asking his
three questions of the early Mattachine: who are we, where do we come from, and
what are we for. Finding the answers to these questions is not a finite task
but an ongoing process that continues to evolve to our benefit and that of all
sentient beings.
My third and last hope
for 2017 is that our Story Telling group continues to thrive. Our sincere
participation in this group really is in part the antidote and juice we need to
steal our resistance in the coming Trump years. Whether we want to openly own
it or not our participation in this group is a revolutionary act that is soul
food for our ever-evolving queer identities.
Recent proof of the power
of this Story Telling collective of LGBTQ folks was the memorial for our friend
and comrade Stephen Krauss. The event was attended by a variety of individuals
and groups all of whom had been important in Stephens’ life. The Story Telling
group may well have been the most recent group he was a part of in his 70 odd
years.
The group was very well
represented at the memorial and I thought provided a loving and a very purple
patina to the whole event. Thoughts expressed by Gillian and Betsy and the
powerful readings by Lewis and John were all heart-felt testaments to how
quickly we as a group have come together in just a matter of a few short years.
It is one of our many queer gifts, our ability to coalesce quickly when the
space to do so is available, through shared life experiences, into a vibrant
and a truly supportive community. I sincerely hope this continues to grow and
thrive in 2017.
© January 2017
About
the Author
I was born in La Porte Indiana in 1949, raised
on a farm and schooled by Holy Cross nuns. The bulk of my adult life, some 40
plus years, was spent in Denver, Colorado as a nurse, gardener and gay/AIDS
activist. I have currently returned to
Denver after an extended sabbatical in San Francisco, California.
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