We're Here. We're Queer. What's next?

There was a time when as a collective group, gay people needed to band together to have our voices heard. We were persecuted, had our bars raided, had our homes taken when our long-term partners passed away and their families didn't approve of our relationships or lifestyles. Our government turned a blind eye when thousands of us started dying from a mysterious disease, so heroic people within our community formed advocacy groups. These groups supported our "families" and gave us a place to turn for help when we needed it since it didn't seem that many others cared. We had medical groups, social groups and, of course, activists. It was this last category that showed America what it had turned its gay community into: angry, frustrated people who weren't going to sit back and be ignored anymore.

One of these groups, Queer Nation, eventually adopted a slogan that many of us have embraced over the last 20 years. "We're here. We're queer. Get used to it" became a rallying cry, a line chanted at parades, outside government buildings, at events. But over time, as gay people became more and more accepted into mainstream society through TV, movies and everyday regular people feeling more comfortable to come out at work, "We're here" became something people used to toss off a joke or just say, "Hey, pay attention to me. I'm talking and I'm gay!"

The line still has an impact but is it necessary today? Yes, we still aren't fully integrated into American culture and, yes, we are fighting for the basic civil right to marry our loved ones. But is telling people that we're gay and around and to basically, well, get used to it, a little aggressive?

An article written by Christopher Ott on Salon in 1999 had a headline "We're here, we're queer, I'm sick of it," which talked about how the gay "agenda" morphed its focus from a political activist viewpoint to one of partying, when in reality we should've been focusing on obtaining equal rights. It's interesting that we're still talking about this last point today.

That said, maybe it's time to come up with a new slogan that we can all embrace and get behind. Someone jokingly said to me that we should say, "We're gay, we're pretty, please don't beat us up," at which time I told him to shut the hell up. We don't want people to think of us as weak or meager, but as equals. Not every straight man is butch and into sports. Not every straight woman is soft and feminine. Just in the same way that not every gay man or woman can be pigeonholed into stereotypically categories.

So yes, we're here and we are queer and yes, people need to get used to it. But do we need to throw it into their faces? Can't we just live our lives and let people get to know us as people and not as gay people? Of course we need people to know who we are otherwise we will never get our rights. But we've advanced tremendously in the last few decades. So is it time for a new slogan? What do you think? Throw us your ideas. We want to hear from you.

Comments

[alongwayfromthere]

This article is incredibly naive! Is the writer living in some kind of happy bubble land? Yes, what we would all want is to be known and loved as individuals, but we are continually see by many people as objects to be reviled and hated. You dont have to go very far to find statements where same sex individuals are reviled, hated, wished to be exterminated, brainwashed or worse. Look at the news just this week of the "gay excorcism" in Connecticut, that your brothers and sisters in places like Iran or Iraq are being exterminated and you will see the struggle to be accepted has only begun. The narrow focus on "gay marriage" has blotted out the fact that millions of poor and minority men & women are contracting hiv and other diseases because of ignorance of the facts, because prevention news is kept from them deliberately, that violence against gays even in New York City is up nearly 50 percent, and a long list of other issues too long and sad to post in this comment. The struggle for real equality and acceptance has been set back a lot, our work has just begun, yes, you can do it with a smile on your face, but if you want to have real value in your life you cannot sit back and let people see your lovely "inner self". I myself, I live and work in new york city, and would be fired in an instant if people knew I was a same sex loving guy. I struggle all the time to raise conciousness but you cannot have real change by being complacent or by just letting things be as they are. Yes, you can go back into hiding and stay in the closet and no one will have it thrown in their face and they will see the beauty of the "real you", but god forbid you slip once, be prepared for high medical bills afterwards.
You don't have to grit your teeth and scream angry slogans, but you have to be prepared to struggle to protect your rights as well as those of your brothers and sisters, or you can sit back, watch queer eye for the straight guy, sip an apple martooni, and complain about how those angy gays make it hard for people to see the real you.

[jonathan plessner]

Its all very well to try and raise consciousness as you suggest..but how about doing it in the place where you work..so you dont have worry about that fatal slip. Otherwise, you've just sold out like so many others.The war is certainly as international as you describe,but the battlefronts are in our own backyards. However, most people prefer to ignore such battles so that they can afford to drink their apple martoonis.

[media-lad]

Great article, and as for where to now, I have been asking that same Question for several years (Not that I liked the In ya face "We are here, We are Queer, Get used to it" I don't agree with forcing people to accept my sexuality, rather accept me for who I am.