More than marriage
New Orleans Police discovered the bodies of three young, Black, queer people in a 7th Ward house Dec. 13. [ Editor's note: According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the three individuals were Felix Pearson, 19; Kenneth Monroe, 27; and Darriel Wilson, 20. ] The three people, one of whom was gender-variant, were all shot to death in the house sometime around 3 or 4 a.m. Dec. 11. Mainstream media and the police are, as of now, ignoring the fact that the three people were queer and possibly trans. However, Facebook groups devoted to the three and comments on news sites have raised interesting questions by queer people of color as to why large lesbian and gay organizations are ignoring this. Many people have wondered as to whether there would be an LGBT organizational blackout on such violence had the three been wealthy and white gay businessmen.
The lesbian and gay movement is currently so focused on begging the state for a marriage license that they seem to have forgotten everyone who is not well-off and white. There is the incident with three queer people in New Orleans being shot and killed. On Dec. 17 Jennifer Gale, a homeless transwoman, froze to death because no shelters would take her in. And on Dec. 20, Join The Impact held silent candlelight vigils around the country for their "right" to marry.
Needless to say, that in this latest "struggle" for same-sex marriage, white people have consistently demonized communities of color for their role in passing Prop 8. To many in the marriage movement, queer people of color and trans people do not even exist. It is typical for white people in the marriage movement to claim that trans people should wait until gays and lesbians get their rights. When violence is perpetuated against queers of color, the Human Rights Campaign and other marriage-oriented organizations are typically silent. ( See Duanna Johnson, The New Jersey Four, yhe people just killed in New Orleans, Jennifer Gale and virtually every other trans person or queer/trans person of color. )
If we put all of the energy and money that is being wasted on the marriage movement into other projects, think of what we could do. We could easily open queer/trans-friendly spaces for the homeless throughout the country. We could successfully demand or, better yet, provide free and quality healthcare to all people. Instead of collecting food and giving it to institutions that are notoriously corrupt and, yes, homophobic, we could collect food and distribute it ourselves. We could actively confront classism, racism, sexism and transphobia amongst LGBTQ people—all the while, militantly raising hell in the streets and disrupting business as usual, as every generation of queers has since 1968. If we did all of these things and more, we would see more change than Barack Obama has ever offered us.
What's more important: a marriage certificate or housing for people who are freezing on the street? A slip of paper or the guarantee that when multiple people in our community are shot at point blank range we stand up and bash the fuck back?! Why are we not focusing on the plague that is HIV/AIDS? Shouldn't we be making a big fucking deal, seeing that in the last week alone four queer/trans people that we know of are dead?
It is long past the time that queer and trans people got their shit together. We have been fighting since birth—by now you'd think we would now how to do it in an inclusive and effective manner.
Beau Vyne
Bash Back! Chicago
Clan do
With regard to the Phelps clan, there are many of us who feel that the constant attention we pay to them and their protests are not the best way of treating this. What would happen if—instead of the hundred people who held the protest against God Hates Fags last week at Center on Halsted—we simply ignored the idiots? It's like the adage: "If you ignore it, it will go away." I vote no more attention to this circus.
Derek Worley
