I think anger is a very interesting idea, especially when framed by the gay (or rather queer) community. As “Queers read this: I hate Straights” demonstrated queers have a lot to be angry about, in the past and now. There is, of course, how medical professionals treated AIDS victims, and how transgender people are treated today. And as class demonstrated on Wednesday, there is the issue of silencing. Silencing, to me, continues to be a huge problem today, and one that this manifesto really helped me to articulate. I thought that these anonymous authors really brought up some interesting and subtle points about how straight people respond to queer anger, and I thought it was fascinating that, 10+ years later, I, a lesbian who’s only been out for 2 years (though it sometimes feels much longer), has already heard nearly every single ‘straight’ silencing line that they mentioned. It is amazing to me how most majorities can simply refuse to listen to the minorities, or perhaps, it is not amazing to me that most majorities can do this, but that most majority individuals who claim to be allies can and do continually silence their minority friends—often without realizing it. Furthermore, this silencing most often, at least in my life, occurs during times of anger, and sends the message that queer anger is unacceptable.
What is particularly interesting, I think, is the way that queer people do this to each other. My experience of queer people my age, which is unfortunately fairly limited to Carleton, is that we are very intellectual and critical. There is not a queer movement, past or present, that my queer peers don’t have some sort of take on, often negative. There seems to be this way in which we are constantly striving for some version of perfect and constantly discounting anything less than, instead of accepting different versions for what they are. Even just within the conversations of our class, I think we have a tendency not just to try and categorize movements and theories, but to actually place judgment on them, as if we know what is better or worse. When speaking about current issues, I think these judgments are particularly silencing, and I think that often the impotence behind it is some sort of belief that anger will not move the queer community forward, will not get us the right to marry. Perhaps, once queer people begin to take the time to listen to one another, we can set an appropriate model for straight people, and the power of multiple viewpoints will add a much needed push in the right direction.