Thoughts about "generational" queer stuff
Y'ever think about how, in a lot of cases, this is the first time that any of us have been in a situation where there even *is* an older generation of queer people around?
The mentors we should have had were taken from us
Thoughts about "generational" queer stuff
When I was in high school, if you got HIV, your life expectancy from that point on was measured in weeks
This was celebrated by the straights; I can tell you exactly how they will act if they get to see queers die, and it's not great
This hate was internalized by the gays, who—to this day—still carry the attitude that there *should* be some punishment/stigma/downside to gay sex (you probably have this inside you, it would be a miracle if you didn't tbh)
Thoughts about "generational" queer stuff
When I was in high school, murdering queer people was low-key legal
It was called the "gay panic defence," check it on Wikipedia, it still hasn't been banned in many states
All a straight had to do was tell them that the victim was gay and coming on to them and they panicked, and suddenly murder's legal
So I can tell you exactly how straights will act if they know that the authorities will see "gay" as a legit provocation to violence
It's not great
Thoughts about "generational" queer stuff
We haven't even got a single generation past this stuff, and having grown up under the shadow of AIDS and the constant threat of straight violence, I know that we're not so far from it that we couldn't slide back there and fast
Hell, I have to remind younger gays about the time that the cops solicited gay men for sex in a park in Toronto in 2016 and arrested them when they consented
("Project Marie" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curtis_Park#Gay_cruising)
Thoughts about "generational" queer stuff
So I don't really have a point here
Idk how this is supposed to go
I never knew any queer elders growing up
I was in the fucking closet because I was afraid of being murdered/getting AIDS/going to hell and even if I hadn't been, whoever might have been my mentor probably died of AIDS before we met
And I'm not setting myself up as some wise queer guru or whatever (jeez no)
Thoughts about "generational" queer stuff
But like, just try to remember that we haven't "made it" and it hasn't been *that* long since things were much worse
Thoughts about "generational" queer stuff
@bgcarlisle all of this is true but on the other hand, in the past in queer communities there was a STRONG emphasis on chosen family and cross-generational ties—“drag mothers” being one example; as well as all other forms of adult queers putting up kids who were kicked out of their homes.
as the LGBT community has made progress/acceptance the kids have not been forced into the same kinds of alternative communities, and instead have been able to mostly get by in the mainstream ones (keeping their straight parents instead of getting new gay ones). this has turned out to be a double-edged sword because queer adults interacting with young people is still not considered acceptable in many mainstream environments. so the queer kids today mostly are disconnected from the sorts of places where the historical queer community/generational knowledge has been.
(also, the violence against queer elders has not ended, if you look at the treatment of LGBT people in elder care facilities)
