After my musings yesterday about Angry Little Queens, I am compelled to highlight some not so angry queens that are getting the job done. I am talking about a half dozen or so activists that went to the California capital city of Sacramento to tell lawmakers about anti-gay harassment on high school campuses. I am talking about youth across the nation who are taking the role of activist into their own hands and making moves to change the way that society acts. These young Queeroes have got through their noggins that we may not be able to change the way people think, but to some degree we can stiffen the penalty when their ignorance takes over.
I have long believed that one of the problems with gay leadership is that, unlike ethnic minorities or persons with disabilities, the LGBTQ population can seemingly morph into the majority hetero population at any given time. I believe that if we had large Q's embroidered on all our clothes that our need to be full-time activists would greatly increase. Each Queer would be forced into a leadership role for the sake of survival. That's horribly dangerous, you say? Yip. It was dangerous for every Civil Rights marcher in the South too. People could get killed, you say? Yip. But wake up, Queers are getting killed now. We all know the incredibly sad stories of Brandon Teena and Matthew Shepard, but I am talking about recent murders like that of Ryan Skipper who was stabbed to death last month in Florida. He was stabbed to death by two men in his own car. Ryan's lifeless body was thrown out before the two men drove the car around to their friends' houses pointing out the blood stains in the car. Harassment, beatings, and killings still plague the Queer community. It will take leadership to bring this injustice to an end.
The Queeroes I mentioned in the beginning are accepting this leadership challenge. With 84% of LGBTQ youth experiencing harassment in school, these Queeroes are putting their selves at risk in the hopes of making a difference. May we all be so brave.
I have long believed that one of the problems with gay leadership is that, unlike ethnic minorities or persons with disabilities, the LGBTQ population can seemingly morph into the majority hetero population at any given time. I believe that if we had large Q's embroidered on all our clothes that our need to be full-time activists would greatly increase. Each Queer would be forced into a leadership role for the sake of survival. That's horribly dangerous, you say? Yip. It was dangerous for every Civil Rights marcher in the South too. People could get killed, you say? Yip. But wake up, Queers are getting killed now. We all know the incredibly sad stories of Brandon Teena and Matthew Shepard, but I am talking about recent murders like that of Ryan Skipper who was stabbed to death last month in Florida. He was stabbed to death by two men in his own car. Ryan's lifeless body was thrown out before the two men drove the car around to their friends' houses pointing out the blood stains in the car. Harassment, beatings, and killings still plague the Queer community. It will take leadership to bring this injustice to an end.
The Queeroes I mentioned in the beginning are accepting this leadership challenge. With 84% of LGBTQ youth experiencing harassment in school, these Queeroes are putting their selves at risk in the hopes of making a difference. May we all be so brave.
5 comments:
I'm kidding of course. How could anything including the word Queeroes ever be boring. It can't. It simply can't. Now excuse me while I eat my bowl of Queerioes. On the plate for lunch, a bean and cheese Queeritoe. Oh this is fun, now you guys fill in the blank. Ready? And of course for dinner I will be having...
;)
Great article! Also very inspiring for my upcoming webcomic called Queeroes
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