In most major cities this weekend, Pride celebrations are taking place. Of course, you wouldn't even know anything remotely queer existed in this tiny village of big box drug stores and pizza places. Oh well, I digress. I'd really love to be in NYC this weekend to experience PRIDE. J and I were too hung over to fully enjoy the PRIDE in Minneapolis a couple years ago, but we managed to catch a glimpse of the parade and I even got teary-eyed over seeing parents march in support of their children. Fat chance I'd get either one of my folks involved in such things. My mother has taken to prefacing everything with: "he/she is a gay/lesbian, but that's ok". Oh, thanks. I get so fucking pissed at her for this behavior, or for privilegeing weddings, babies, and the entire existence of heterosexuality . . . I've been aware of being queer since I was in high school, but didn't really deal with it until undergrad, and even then it took me until grad school to "Come Out". A truly horrifying experience . . . I actually attribute a lot of my problems with my father to my queerness. The family betrayal and shame they displayed for a long, long, time made me hate my sexuality even more, often internalizing that anger on a partner, coming close (or in certain cases) ending the relationships. Now I find myself in a very settled, comfortable life, with a partner I love more than anything. And, frankly, I don't give two shits if it still bothers my parents . . .what a few years will do for your soul. In honor of Pride 2006, I read an essay titled: *Queer Anti-Capitalism: What's Left of Gay and Lesbian Liberation?" by Alan Sears in the Jan. 2005 issue of Science and Society. Many points in the article reminded me of an interview with Barbara Smith in which she criticized the gay/lesbian liberation movement for it's abandonment of radical politics in favor of reform and consumerism. Indeed, the movement, as a whole, has been subjected to some of the most intense forms of commodification and, according to Sears, the movement exists happily (for some) and comfortably within the confines of advanced capitalism. Located within the folds of capital, the gay/lesbian movement finds itself in contradictory spaces. For example, Sears argues that during the last 30 years the movment has gained ground as more places/spaces have opened up for the queer identity, while other social movements went in "retreat". How did the gay liberation movement find itself progressing during a major rightward shift in our country's history? A lot had to do with changing social conditions . . .mostly related to a form of moral deregulation that accompanied the broadening of the neoliberal state. Who cares about "morals" if you can make a quick buck--so market niches were created, commodification intensified, while the bodies of poor queers, and queers of color, queer youth, and lesbians (in most cases) continued to be ignored. As evidence of this, take a walk down the Castro district in SF, and you'll see nothing but bars, businesses, hair salons, etc catering mostly to middle-class, upper-middle class white, gay men. Who works in these queer businesses? And, how are they treated? And, as usual where are the women? Another example involves the corporate sponsorhip of PRIDE marches. Smith was livid to see the Citibank (or some other label) logo on the back of PRIDE t-shirts . . . as I recall the Minnneapolis marches, the same corporatization of all things queer were everywhere . . .leading many to believe we had actually come a long way. No, we just brought in a ton of money for a market that gladly takes in queer dollars, while simultaneously policing other aspects of our lives. Such is the contradiction surrounding contemporary queer politics. As the movement became increasingly commodified, the more radical sectors that were born immediately after the post-Stonewall riots of 1969, seemed to give way due to lack of funding and resources . . . gone were community centers, shelters, AIDS activism and other cultural aspects that once defined a much more militant demand for sexual liberation. And, theoretically, Foucault marched in to the minds of queer thinkers, effectively removing any, liberatory potential that might have once existed. As the body of thought known as Queer Theory emerged, the politics took on a more playful, reformist, anything and everything goes mentality, completely divorced from the materiality of social life. And, so it goes. Not much has really changed, which is why I was thrilled to see an essay attempting to apply a marxist feminist analysis to the queer movement. I dug it for the most part, but it made me sad to see how the 1980s pretty much killed off any type of grassroots,radical analysis created in certain sectors of the gay/lesbian liberation movement. However, Sears concludes on a hopeful note: in the midst of growing global justice movements (at least those with an explicit anti-capitalist agenda) a space for queers needs to be developed and explored to get us back on the path towards liberation for all and not for the middle-upper-middle classes who have much better security over their working-class counterparts (marriage, domestic partnership, housing, health care, etc). I show the film *Southern Comfort* in my Intro classes, because it is entirely focused on poor, southern, transgendered people . . . and it provides a nice balance to the trendy, transgressive, images of gender "insurgents" that we are saturated with in the major cities (again the west coast comes to mind). Sometimes, if you don't live in a SF or NYC, being queer is lonely, tough, and not near as playful as one might think. On the pther hand, there are a ton of queer youth in this city having to hustle just to stay alive . . .mostly expelled from their own communities that refuse to accept anything other than a straight identity.
I'll end here. Happy PRIDE and may the tides start to turn towards a more progressive analysis in the 21st century. God knows, living in the heart of empire, we need a return to radical politics. And, fast.
