Opinions

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by Quintease

I'm only 37 and I remember (I was in a different country but we had similar laws) not allowing my gf a motorbike because if she died, I knew her family would lock me out of the hospital room and the funeral. They hated the fact she was gay.

I had friends who got kicked out of rented premises for being gay and others lost their job. I currently know people who are fighting American immigration. In my own country gay marriage is still not allowed and until recently, transpeople had to be 'biologically infertile' in order to change their birth certificate.

People can turn this into a class issue all they want, but it's not. Gay people are second class regardless of class and we need to change that. This means that gay people of all classes and privilege are getting involved. I know closeted lawyers who are sticking their neck out to fight for LGBT asylum seekers. Being privileged does not necessarily mean you don't care, if fact it can mean you can achieve more. Just like Obama has done in the hearts and minds of the American people. He told the people who voted him in that he feels that gay marriage is OK. These people may even listen to Obama, they wanted him to rule the country after all.

You think all queer people are treated just as horribly as each other? If a white middle or upper class gay/lesbian is treated as a second class citizen, then everyone else in the community is third or fourth class citizen. You think that a queer person from the south east Asian community who has to deal with the myriad of racist stereotypes about their community both within their community and outside of it is treated the same way as a white middle class gay men? How about other queer people of colour? I certainly don't think a working class gay black man and a middle class gay white man are getting the same shit end of the stick. A queer person living with a physical disability? There is a huge prejudicial gap, and marriage isn't going to mean shit with regards to basic human rights for many of these people.

You write that "This means that gay people of all classes and privilege are getting involved." That's not a very accurate statement. In fact, it's a pretty visible reality that those arguing for many mainstream gay/lesbian issues are not members of the most marginalised groups. They are by and large not people of colour, people with disabilities, people living below the poverty line or sex workers. Nor are they overwhelmingly poly folks. It's the same as with most popular "rights" movements today, from Occupy to the It Gets Better campaign. And the minute these people get their token law past or their five minutes of fame, they aren't going to give a shit about anything else. Exactly as its happened in Canada.

As far as turning it into an immigration issue, barely means shit for immigration...the system here continues to screw queer immigrants and refugees no matter what the nation's stance is on same-sex marriage. Until those seen as the "bottom of the barrel" are seen as legitimate human beings by society and governing bodies, there are always going to be horror stories about queer and trans people being locked away for months, denied immigration or refugee status, abused horribly. And as aishah said so well, "trick-down equality" is bullshit. As I said before, you want to espouse marriage equality as your primary rights fight, fine, but don't make it out to be a fight for all queer and trans people, because a fuck ton of us haven't (and won't) gained shit from that struggle, and it will be a cold day in hell before we do.

Edit: At this point, at least from the perspective of a Canadian, it becomes clear to me that a lot of policies are superficial and mean very little as far as how a person is going to be treated in day to day life. It means little in actually protecting people with these policies. Policies often act as a means of reinforcing the current liberal "feel good" view point that X policy is in place, everyone is equal. Personally, I think it's about time queer rights movements and feminist movements learn from the past...that this "trickle down" approach that sees certain privileged people as the target population for these policies as simply "opening the door" for others, is just an illusion. Most of the time that isn't what these policies mean at all. It's time to learn that truth and start fighting for rights for those who need them most urgently...and by urgently I mean those whose lives are most immediately in danger. People who are still actively being denied housing and employment. People who are still actively being verbally and physically assaulted on a regular basis and who have no advocates to stand up for them. I mean sex workers, I mean the homeless, I mean prisoners and others who whether because of additional racism, sexist, homophobic or transphobic challenges, or due to the fact that they live with mental illness or were diagnosed with mental illness, or live with physical disabilities, are believed to have no one to stand up for them when authoritative bodies lock them away as incapable of ruling over their own lives. Lock them away simply because they are visible. Lock them away because they believe they're nothing but trash.