An "Open Letter to LGBT Leaders Who Are Pushing Marriage Equality" by Kate Bornstein was very interesting to me. I agreed with her overall point that Marriage Equality should not be the focal point of the Queer movement. The queer community seems to have a split in it between the older members of the Marriage Equality Movement and the younger member of the Queer and Trans* Youth Movement. Marriage Equality just isn't a huge issue for queer and trans youth, it is a distant institution that may or may not apply to use in the future. We are much more concerned about education, housing, healthcare, and jobs. Problems that we are currently facing or watching our friends face. Yet just because marriage isn't important to the youth doesn't mean the Marriage Equality Movement hasn't done any good for us. The movement has done a great job of gaining visibility and acceptance for the queer community. Very slowly things are getting better for the queer community and there is no deny that the Marriage Equality Movement has had a part in that. It is always frustrating when those outside the community think that the only injustice left is marriage, but at least most of are in favor of marriage equality and willing to listen if we explain the problem the youth, trans*, and POCs face. Rather then fighting the Marriage Equality Movement the Queer and Trans* Youth Movement should be learning from the strategies used by the Marriage Equality Movement.
~Heather Self
Heather, I agree with your statement that the Marriage Equality Movement has helped the queer community in more ways than one. It has brought more attention to the issues surrounding the queer community and not just the issue of marriage. I believe that the Marriage Equality Movement is just one small step towards total equality in our society.
ReplyDeleteThank for your ideas, Heather and Nicole. Heather, your post made me wonder what specific strategies from the Marriage Equality Movement would be useful for broader gender and sexuality movements. I also wonder if the Marriage Equality Movement is in some ways cementing marriage between two people even more as the norm rather than helping people think more critically about family and inequalities.
ReplyDeleteI was in a work shop at a confrance that brainstormed diffrent strategies the Queer and Trans Youth movement Could use from the Marriage Equality movement. We talked about making the movement more appealing and to larger society, educating the public about problems, making our movement relatable, and gaining more visibility, to name a few.
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