QUEER POLITICS- PASSION VS RESPONSIBILITY
Recently I lost a friendship because of politics. I sent
this new friend an invitation to like the Queensland Rainbow Greens facebook
page. I did so because I saw a video of a rally for transgender rights in
Brisbane. As my friend is transgender I figured he would surely be interested.
But no, I got a message soon after from his partner asking me not to send him
any political messages. I replied to the person directly “I am an active
supporter of the Australian Greens. I think about politics all the time. If you
don’t like that then unfriend me and stay away from me”. It did the trick, he
unfriended me. But not before sending me a message complaining that I should
not force my passion on others.
I think I have a right to reply to this so I want to say a
few things without identifying the person. Firstly, Jesus Christ had passion, I
have a brain. And I use my brain to think thoughts like these. I understand
that some people find politics upsetting. I myself have just come out of a
period of avoiding all news because the election of the new United States
government upset me too much. But I’ve come out of it. LGBTIQ people have a
responsibility to be politically conscious and engage with the national
discourse on LGBTIQ rights. Why? Because our freedoms did not just happen, they
are the result of generations of queer and non-queer activists and
sympathetic politicians who have enacted
legal reforms though state and federal parliaments.
All of us endured discrimination and homophobic bullying at
school and even after that as young adults. If you refuse to engage with
Australian politics you are reaping the benefits of the hard work done by others
to give you greater rights- without doing anything to assist young LGBTIQ
people. LGBTIQ children still face bullying at school every day. They still
struggle with their identity and how to tell their family, just as we did when
we were children. Politics can change this. The Safe Schools program, if
properly funded and implemented nationally, can help LGBTIQ children to
understand their sexual orientation and identity- and assist their classmates
to understand them too. This will go a long way to prevent social isolation and
stigma for LGBTIQ children and young people.
But it’s not a done deal. Funding for the Safe Schools
program has, I understand, been severely restricted by the current federal
government. The Safe Schools program has not been implemented nationally,
whereas the school chaplain program has received much more funding. We cannot
assume that LGBTIQ children will be treated equally by school chaplains due to
mainstream Christians’ non-acceptance of homosexuality. Furthermore, at the
moment a prominent sporting celebrity is publicly making bigoted homophobic
remarks under cover of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. These remarks
will contribute to low self-esteem in LGBTIQ children and put them at risk of
bullying. Nothing less but complete respect for the diversity of sexualities
and gender identities can be accepted.
This is why it so important for LGBTIQ minorities to
continue to engage with the discourse of LGBTIQ rights, both locally and
nationally. Politics is not an abstraction from reality, but is an expression
of the grassroots efforts of individuals and communities to effect real change.
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