They Hate Us Because They Ain't Us
#167
Welcome to Third Cultured, a newsletter about Queer people in diplomacy, politics, and war from the perspective of Kyle Borland (he/they). My goal is to highlight all the ways today is different (and not so) from yesterday.
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This edition:
Opinion Essay
Pride Wins
Opinion Essay
Pride month did not start off the way we wanted but, unfortunately, it was largely expected.
Corporate “allies” in retreat amidst the Christian Fascist hysteria, smearing any and all Pride merchandise as “satanist.” Simple declarations for Pride month that have been routine for years turned into violent flashpoints. An increase in hate crimes that even San Francisco’s Castro District, arguably the global center of queer culture, isn’t immune.
After 70+ anti–LGBTQIA+ laws were signed into law just this year (with more than 525 bills introduced in 41 states), it was no surprise that the culture warriors would look to diminish Pride everywhere they could. The Human Rights Campaign declared a nationwide “state of emergency.” The community was prepared for the worst and everyone I talked to was apprehensive going into June, but the sheer ferocity and frequency of the attacks drives home that we are at war.
It’s not just here at home either. Several countries went into June in attack mode.
Most notably, Uganda finally signed its anti-LGBTQIA+ law into law, which calls for the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” To no one’s shock, queer Ugandans are trying to seek refuge in Europe and the US. The law is so draconian that even Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) tweeted out his opposition and got into Twitter spats with American clergymen over it. On a positive note, the Biden’s administration’s response was forceful and the State Department is considering visa retrictions for Uganda because of the law.
“In the context of the serious concerns conveyed by President Biden, I am announcing today that the Department of State will develop mechanisms to support the rights of LGBTQI+ individuals in Uganda and to promote accountability for Ugandan officials and other individuals responsible for, or complicit in, abusing their human rights,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement. “I have also directed the department to update our travel guidance to American citizens and to U.S. businesses as well as to consider deploying existing visa restrictions tools against Ugandan officials and other individuals for abuse of universal human rights, including the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons.”
Although the events in Uganda may feel unrelated to the fight here in the States, they are inextricably linked together by the global Christian Fascist movement. Africa’s hard right turn is a decades long effort by American evangelicals to pad their churchs’ coffers while church attendance declines back home. It’s a tried and true method of colonialism masquerading as domestic culture and policy.
It’s also the perfect projection.
The demonization of LGBTQIA+ people distracts from the public from focusing too closely on the deluge of sexual abuse scandals at the hands of Christian clergyman. Most recently, it was the six Catholic diocese of Illinois that covered up nearly 2,000 (1997) cases of child sex abuse by 451 Catholic clergy. The weeks before that, it was the Oakland diocese filing for bankruptcy over 330 lawsuits against them alleging child sexual abuse.
To give you an idea of the scale of the deflection, Fox News covered Pride merchandise at Target for hours but spent less than 60 seconds discussing the proven abuse of 2,000 children by Christian clergymen.
Conservatives and fascists are determined to distract from three realities:
The failure of conservative economics since 1980.
The systemic abuse and molestation of children by clergymen of every single Christian denomination.
The loss of the Christian church’s monopolization of congregation in American society.
In regards to economics, all one has to do is look around at the precarious state of society and it’s not hard to come to the conclusion that maybe tax cuts for the richest families and their corporations hasn’t created many benefits outside the smallest of circles. Somehow, they’ve convinced a swath of the American public that poor people took all the money. All the while, everywhere from Montgomery, AL to the Bay Area has seen an increase in homelessness, in visible poverty. We all know the stat that most American households can’t afford $400 in an emergency, but the vast majority are dedicated to not connecting the dots that are right in front of their face. The neoliberal economic order of the last 40+ years doesn’t work for anyone outside the top 1 percent. When they have no other ideas, because prosperity for the nation as a whole was never their intent, they have to create other boogeymen and demons to blame for the societal decay.
Enter: LGBTQIA+ people. Enter: immigrants. Enter: the poor.
If you’re scared, and most importantly scared at what they tell you to be scared about (despite evidence clearly negating everything they say) – then you’re more likely to open your mind to their “solutions.”
Banning LGBTQIA+ people and queer expression. (All while claiming to be the party and ideology of “small government” and “liberty.”)
Locking down the border. (Even though they’ll complain in the next breathe about the labor shortage in a nation that’s always relied on imported labor to meet its needs. Or that the “violence” they’re terrified of is infinitely more likely to be committed by a native-born white male who’s consumed a little too much Andrew Tate and 4Chan.)
Giving cops more money and reinvigorating the failed War on Drugs. (Who needs to go by decades of data showing these policies don’t work when you can make decisions based off the feelings stirred inside you by shouting talking heads on a overly saturdated screen? Let’s see if it works to waste more money and further burden police officers – high school graduates with at most 6–8 weeks of training – with the responsibilities of highly-specialized social workers amid a fraying social safety net.)
That’s what they call an intelligent society right there, doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
The second and third primary motives for distraction – child sex abuse by Christians and declining church attendance – are intricately linked. It doesn’t take a genius to determine why more and more people, particularly parents, would stop attending institutions that can’t stop touching their children.
However, to understand why they have recently resorted to increasing forms of violence – like the brawl that broke out at the Glendale School Board meeting hoping to declare Pride month as it has for years – I think it’s important to acknowledge what church’s have lost that they see LGBTQIA+ spaces gaining all over. For so long, Christianity had a monopoly on communty and congregation in American life. Much has been written about “what has been lost” from declining church attendanc, but this cannot be said of queer people and our allies. Long ostracized from religion, queer people are adept at creating welcoming, tolerant spaces that center love, community and acceptance. No one is going to pull out a tome and start hurling judgment at you during a drag brunch or drag story hour or a Pride parade. You might get playfully read by a drag queen, but like a roast, when done well – everyone is in on the fun.
Church simply cannot provide the same offering.
Christianity’s rigidity and inherent antagonism toward adaptation leave it wholly unprepared to serve the modern world, especially modern America. In a society that is struggling economically, very few people want to show up to any event that is going to hurl additional judgment (re: stress) on them and then ask for your money for the service. It’s a fundamental misunderstanding between the average modern American and those who claim to speak for the Prophet of Peace and Love.
And, that’s where their anger ultimately comes from.
“You never had the orgasms that you thought you were having. You’re not getting the emotional support you thought you deserved in your heterosexual relationships. They’re realizing that they don’t have the love that they thought they had.”
– Amber Abundance on the Black Fat Femme podcast
They know where Jesus would want to be if he was around today. He’d wave dollars at drag performers, baskinng in the love and joy on display at Pride parades, and trying desperately to get the zealots of another empire to see where they had lost their way.
They know that despite their best efforts to whip up anti-queer hysteria, the American public’s support for gay marriage – a useful barometer for LGBTQIA+ acceptance as a whole – has held steady at 71 percent.
They know they are jealous. On a cellular level, they are envious of what queer people created for ourselves and, in doing so, spreading the message they have monopolized for so long. Love and salvation are gifts we must give ourselves – and each other – in this life, not something we are rewarded in death after a life of suffering.
That’s why they must project their sins and crimes onto us so violently: to distract themselves from what they already know to be true.
We already won.
Happy Pride, beautiful people.
As always, thanks for reading. (And, don’t forget to “like” this post!)
Kyle (@kgborland)
Pride Month Wins:
1,185 LGBTQIA+ representatives are currently serving in government, a record high.
A federal judge shot down Tennessee’s drag ban on First Amendment grounds. (Friend’s of Georges)
“Freedom of speech is not just about speech. It is also about the right to debate with fellow citizens on self-government, to discover the truth in the marketplace of ideas, to express one’s identity, and to realize self-fulfillment in a free society.” He continued, “That freedom is of first importance to many Americans such that the United States Supreme Court has relaxed procedural requirements for citizens to vindicate their right to freedom of speech, while making it harder for the government to regulate it.”
Parker noted that the Supreme Court does not protect obscenity but certainly does protect speech that is unpopular. “Simply put, no majority of the Supreme Court has held that sexually explicit — but not obscene — speech receives less protection than political, artistic, or scientific speech. … The AEA’s regulation of ‘adult-oriented performances that are harmful to minors under § 39-17-901′ does target protected speech, despite Defendant claims to the contrary.” In a retort to Republicans seeking to rid libraries, classrooms and performance venues of anything they find offensive, Parker wrote, “Whether some of us may like it or not, the Supreme Court has interpreted the First [Amendment] as protecting speech that is indecent but not obscene.”
And Parker also found the law “targets the viewpoint of gender identity — particularly those who wish to impersonate a gender that is different from the one with which they are born.” This is prohibited “content-based, viewpoint-based regulation on speech.” Republicans insist there is no such thing as gender identity other than gender determined at birth. That’s not a fact, as the MAGA censors insist; that’s a viewpoint. And it is impermissible to ban other viewpoints. That, Parker underscores, is what a free society is all about.
Another federal judge ruled Florida’s gender-affirming care ban unconstitutional, finding the bans contradict “widely accepted standards” of medical care.
The judge wrote that “any proponent of the challenged statute and rules should put up or shut up” by stating clearly whether they acknowledge the existence of individuals whose gender identities differ from the sexes they were assigned at birth. “Dog whistles ought not be tolerated,” he added.
Hinkle noted that puberty blockers and HRT are standard treatments for gender dysphoria “widely followed by well-trained clinicians” and endorsed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, as well as numerous major U.S. healthcare organizations. He also noted that “no country in Europe or… anywhere in the world entirely bans these treatments,” except for in oppressive anti-LGBTQ+ regimes.
“At least as shown by this record, not a single reputable medical association has taken a contrary position [to offering these treatments],” Judge Hinkle noted. “These medications … have been used for decades to treat other conditions [like endometriosis, prostate cancer, and early onset puberty]. Their safety records and overall effects are well known. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved their use, though not specifically to treat gender dysphoria.”
“Denial of this treatment will cause needless suffering for a substantial number of patients and will increase anxiety, depression, and the risk of suicide,” Hinkle wrote. “There is no rational basis for a state to categorically ban these treatments.”
“The record includes no evidence that these treatments have caused substantial adverse clinical results in properly screened and treated patients,” he continued. “Regret is rare; indeed, the defendants have offered no evidence of any Florida resident who regrets being treated with [puberty blockers] or cross-sex hormones.”
“I find that the plaintiffs’ ability to evaluate the benefits and risks of treating their individual children this way far exceeds the ability of the State of Florida to do so,” Hinkle’s decision states. “I find that the plaintiffs’ motivation is love for their children and the desire to achieve the best possible treatment for them. This is not the State’s motivation.”
“Nothing could have motivated this remarkable intrusion into parental prerogatives other than opposition to transgender status itself,” Hinkle wrote.
Latvia's Parliament elected former foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics as President, becoming the first openly gay person to hold the position in any country.
Pat Robertson died during Pride Month! Rot in Piss.
President Biden doubled down on his support for the Queer community with a Pride celebration at the White House where he announced new initiatives to protect LGBTQ+ communities from attacks, help youths with mental health resources and homelessness and counter book bans
“These are our kids, these are our neighbors; it’s cruel and it’s callous,” Biden said. “It’s not somebody else’s kids, it’s all our kids, and our children are the kite strings that hold our national ambitions aloft. It matters a great deal how we treat everyone in this country.”
Speaking directly to LGBTQ+ people, Biden said, “You’re loved, you’re heard, and this administration has your back, and I mean it. We are not relenting one single second to make sure that they’re protected.”
Biden announced that the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Justice and Health and Human Services departments, will partner with LGBTQ+ community organizations to provide safety resources and training to help thwart violent attacks.
Separately, HHS and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide resources to help LGBTQ+ young people with mental health needs, support in foster care and homelessness.
To confront a spike in book bans, the Department of Education’s civil rights office will appoint a new coordinator to work with schools to address that threat. The White House said banning books erodes democracy, deprives students of material needed for learning and can contribute to the stigma and isolation that LGBTQ+ youth feel because books about them are often the ones that are prohibited.