Jan. 31st, 2012 03:22 pm
Baby, I done chose this way
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muckefuckAm I the only one who finds the whole Cynthia Nixon brouhaha absolutely depressing? Even her defenders strike me as being essentially reactive and confused in their thinking. A typical example:
What is that message? From my point of view, intolerance and insecurity. Nixon made it explicit that she was talking solely about her own personal experience and yet she's being everywhere taken to task for being "unclear" and "irresponsible". This sends the message that people shouldn't be allowed to talk about their experiences if they don't fit the dominant narrative. And all the very public hand-wringing about how these comments will be "used against us" makes it look like we haven't escaped the ghetto mentality of a generation ago. Today it's not the queers and their allies who are in the minority any more, it's the homophobes.
"It's not a choice" is not the sole or even chief basis for demanding equal rights in this country. After all, religious minorities are a protected class before the law and if being a Christian isn't a choice, then why are so many people trying to get me to "choose Jesus"? Sexual minorities should be treated as equal before the law because there's no compelling argument for them not to be, just some claptrap about "traditional values" cobbled together from squeamishness and bits of scripture. Cynthia Nixon's remarks don't weaken the position of gay rights advocates in anyone's eyes but their own--a perceived threat that risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As a member of the gay community, I knew what she meant all along. I was never angry at her. What I was angry at was this was an opportunity, as always, for anti-gays to take ONE example and apply it to the ENTIRE group. It's a frustration with THEIR bigotry, not her.And, so what? Haters gonna hate. Anti-gay bigots will always be scouring the totality of the queer experience for that handful of instances which confirm their established prejudices and then trumpeting those to anyone who'll listen. But why do we care so much now that fewer and fewer people are listening? Why are we more worried about the message remarks like Nixon's are sending to our "enemies" than the message our reaction to them is sending to our allies?
What is that message? From my point of view, intolerance and insecurity. Nixon made it explicit that she was talking solely about her own personal experience and yet she's being everywhere taken to task for being "unclear" and "irresponsible". This sends the message that people shouldn't be allowed to talk about their experiences if they don't fit the dominant narrative. And all the very public hand-wringing about how these comments will be "used against us" makes it look like we haven't escaped the ghetto mentality of a generation ago. Today it's not the queers and their allies who are in the minority any more, it's the homophobes.
"It's not a choice" is not the sole or even chief basis for demanding equal rights in this country. After all, religious minorities are a protected class before the law and if being a Christian isn't a choice, then why are so many people trying to get me to "choose Jesus"? Sexual minorities should be treated as equal before the law because there's no compelling argument for them not to be, just some claptrap about "traditional values" cobbled together from squeamishness and bits of scripture. Cynthia Nixon's remarks don't weaken the position of gay rights advocates in anyone's eyes but their own--a perceived threat that risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.