There Will Always Be Sex and Kink at Pride
After hard fought victories, this shouldn't be a discussion | #TC97
Welcome to Third Cultured – a foreign policy and LGBTQIA+ politics newsletter – published by yours truly, Kyle Borland. My goal is to highlight the unique role Queer people play in the politics of the United States and the world-at-large.
Third Cultured is available to all but, as Austin Kleon says, "This newsletter is free, but not cheap.” If you’re able, support my writing by becoming a paid subscriber!
This edition:
Opinion Essay
#FreePalestine Update
Stories to Watch
Opinion Essay
On Monday, President Biden marked the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, calling on dozens of countries and half the states to strengthen anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ+ community. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi supported the initiative saying:
We live in a world that is increasingly short on solutions for refugees. Resettlement in a third country – often the safest and only option for LGBTIQ+ refugees – is at an all-time low. As long as persecution based on sexual orientation and gender expression persists, I call on countries to step up for LGBTIQ+ people who are often at the greatest risk and in most urgent need of safety.
This was the second week in a row the Biden administration declared a major effort for Queer people. Last week, the administration announced that health care providers cannot discriminate against gay and transgender individuals, reversing another civil rights setback from the Trump administration.
More close to home, Alabama’s anti-trans bill died in the House as time ran out.
Granted, the state still banned trans people from participating in sports that align with their gender identity in a previous bill, but this one would’ve made providing the life-saving treatment trans kids need a Class C Felony. A true blessing it failed.
Without the hard work of trans people and allied activists, this win wouldn’t have been possible. I am beyond thankful that thousands of Queer kids all over Alabama can rest a little easier this week knowing this bill was defeated. It will be temporary relief – bills always come back – but it was hard won and it should be celebrated to the fullest.
That is, if the “no kink/sex at Pride” crowd doesn’t stop them first.
These folks come out of the woodwork every year to cry, “But what of the children?!” when Pride festivities start getting planned. Everyone knows there are leather daddies and naked people are Pride, but now there is a vocal group of people who believe the celebration and protest is supposed to be a “family-friendly, rainbow Mardi Gras.”
Why are breeders like this? (We know it’s them. I know it. You know it.)
Why do they insist on projecting their prudish, boring lives onto everyone else?
Why is the responsibility not on them to parent their child? Why are fully grown adults celebrating our sexual freedom supposed to cater to people who chose to bring their children rather than demanding the parents have a conversation with their brats?
“He’s dressed like that because he wants to be. It’s Pride, it’s all about being who you want to be and celebrating it.”
"That’s an adult activity. You can do it when you’re older if you want.”
“They’re celebrating sex. You’ll understand why one day, kiddo.”
What is so hard about that?! Why have a whole child – or several – if you’re not willing to have those kinds of conversation with your children at Pride or any day?
Regardless, no Pride anywhere in the world should be crafted to please cishets.
Everything in this world is catered to straight people and their children. It is absurd to cede the ground our community won over the last 50+ years because some puritanical prudes expect every space to conform to them. The US is the forefront of Queer Liberation, historically and today. We have our president out here declaring international days and making LGBTQ+ rights a pillar of US foreign policy (although homonationalists take it way too far). In that context, we don’t have to change or tame our celebrations because straight people decided a few years ago Pride was another parade for them to drink excessively, take up space, and act a fool.
But, god forbid there be a pair of assless chaps.
Stay safe and get vaccinated, beautiful people. Thanks for reading.
Roll Tide,
Kyle (@kgborland)
PS – Here are some great reads worth your time.
A Major Greek Artist Gets His First US Retrospective (Hyperallergic)
In Paris, he was freed to explore the male figure in paintings, often featuring sailors, imbued with palpable erotic energy. His interest in the male form continued throughout his life, and his groundbreaking series of male portraits and nudes constituted a radical recoding of conventional gender roles and hierarchies represented in 1930s Modernism. His subjects often appear in allegories where the figures bear wings like angels and spirits, whether shown in meditation or being violated by the state, as in “Military Policeman Arresting the Spirit” (1965), which anticipated the 1967 Greek military coup.
Age of Intersectional Empire Is Upon Us (The Nation)
Rasberry’s most recent book, Race and the Totalitarian Century, examines how W.E.B. Du Bois, Shirley Graham, and other writers chose to align with the communist bloc and the global decolonization movement as a way to counter United States government efforts to recruit African Americans in the fight against Nazism and Stalinism. These writers understood that a new mode of empire was ascendant, and that it understood the complex working of race and identity enough to use them for imperial ends.
One major consequence of the Cold War politics of race and empire, says Rasberry, is “the marginalization of more radical voices” like those of Richard Wright, Paul Robeson, and others. A more recent example of this marginalization is that of Cornel West, an open critic of neoliberalism and the American empire who formerly enjoyed countless invitations to appear on major news shows. However, once he started criticizing Obama and other examples of what he called “Black faces in high places,” he has not enjoyed the same media attention.
AIDS activism by the book: 'Let the Record Show' captures a movement's rise and decline (Bay Area Reporter)
America Needs An Honest Debate About Red Lines In Defense Of Taiwan (The Federalist)
Asia’s Anti-Colonialist Journey (New Yorker)
Cameroon Sentenced These Women to Prison For Being Trans. They Need Support (them.)
'Conspiracy is hard': Inside the Trump administration's secret plan to kill Qassem Soleimani (Yahoo News)
Ellen DeGeneres to End Talk Show: “I Need Something New to Challenge Me” (Hollywood Reporter)
Here, the woman whose 1997 “Yep, I’m Gay” Time cover story nearly torpedoed her career, speaks with THR about the decision to wrap up a show that’s earned her 64 Daytime Emmys, the allegations that nearly sent her packing and the parts that she’ll miss most — and least — about her daily platform.
Europe Wants Americans Back (The Atlantic)
For All the Queer Habibis Out There (Hyperallergic)
Five Ways Not to Analyze War (Foreign Exchanges)
I’m So Trans When I Turn On My Lamp (them.)
(Seemingly everything is gay except two men having sex).
Gatekeeping has gotten a rap as of late; people feel as if we do not allow anything and everything to identify or be identified as queer or trans that we are doing a disservice to our community members. But I would like to posit that some forms of gatekeeping are good, if they keep materiality at the forefront of our queerness and transness.
Without gatekeeping, too many things breach our gates: mediocre television shows and corny Instagrammers and the idea of failure are now part of the queer community. Perhaps it is time to ask them to leave.
Is Mars Ours? (New Yorker)
Space exploration presents ethical quandaries even on Earth. Astronomers sometimes want to place telescopes on sacred land. In orbit, we scatter litter. Countries are now debating whether we have a right to mine the moon or asteroids, and asking who should be entitled to use such places as a second home. Space agencies and tech billionaires are working to solve the myriad technical issues associated with travelling to and staying off-world, but, once that’s done, there’s the problem of our conduct after we get there. Critics suggest that, in space, we risk repeating the mistakes of the colonial past, in which exploration was often a cover for the exploitation of native beings and environments.
Comment: I firmly believe human beings’ biggest hurdle will be the mental strain of being far away from Earth. We’re still animals at the end of the day, and this is home. People couldn’t last in a biodome in the desert…alone in space will drive many mad.
Long Undeath Of Forever War Heroes (Wars of Future Past)
Reporter's Notebook: The Power of Proximity (Scalawag)
Rep. Ritchie Torres to introduce bill to collect LGBTQ small-business loan data (NBC News)
Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the Future of Transportation (The Verge)
‘Shrek’ at 20: How a Chaotic Project Became a Beloved Hit (NYTimes)
The New Great Game (Express Tribune)
The new imperialism: as Asia gets caught up in power struggle between China and the West, what can it do? (South China Morning Post)
The 'Self-Defense' Mantra Is a Green Light for War Crimes (Eunomia)
The Tender, Loving Side of the Romans (Hyperallergic)
The Triumph of BTS (Rolling Stone)
“We Need Love at the Center” (The Forge)
Who owns Australia? (The Guardian)
#FreePalestine Updates
For the third time, the US blocked a joint statement calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The American people fund Israeli apartheid to the tune of $10 million/day or $3 billion/year. We are also responsible for this atrocity as long as we fund Jerusalem’s arsenal.
Israel’s official Twitter account can’t stop taunting the world.
Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel declared a general strike on Tuesday to protest Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which has killed almost 220 people, including 58 children. Israel has lost 12 people.
Netanyahu ignored President Biden’s half-hearted call for a ceasefire and his administration’s “pressure” to wind the military campaign to a close because “time is not on their side in terms of international objections.”
Amid pressure from progressive Democrats, the House Foreign Affairs Committee was planning to request a delay to an additional $735 million arms sale to Israel, but Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) backed down after the Biden administration agreed to brief lawmakers on the deal.
Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia led a group of 29 Democratic senators that called for an “immediate cease-fire.”
Read – Teshuvah: A Jewish Case for Palestinian Refugee Return (Jewish Currents)
Stories to Watch
800+: Since the coup, more than 800 activists have been killed in Myanmar. Unsurprisingly, the West uniformly imposed sanctions and the UN Security Council is likely to follow suit short of a veto from China or Russia.
Afghanistan: The Taliban is in the beginnings of a massive assault with the goal of reestablishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan by force. Pakistan is worried that America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan puts BRI at risk as the Taliban and other extremists ramp up attacks on its border. China is not happy either that they’ll have to defend their own western border from the “three evils.”
AI, BioTech, and Quantum (Oh my!): The Senate has drafted a bipartisan $110 billion bill for basic and advanced technology research and science over five years and the creation of a White House chief manufacturing officer in the face of rising competitive pressure from China.
COVID Death Toll: It’s a lot higher than any country officially reported.
Germany and Russia’s Pipeline: Biden lifted the US sanctions on Nord Stream 2, showing his administration was not willing to upset the alliance with Berlin.
