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Tag: queer history
hey quick q idk if it’s been answered already but have aros & aces historically been a part of the lgbt community? like whats the history? idk im just seein all this ace discourse & idk where to stand. ty!
All right, my answer may be long because I think it is important to make sure we have a nuanced discussion around this.
The answer to this question is not a clear one. There are instances where asexual and aromantic people have been excluded from the queer community, but there are also instances where they have been included.
The problem with saying “Aces have always been a part of the queer community” or “Aces have never been a part of the queer community” is that you will be wrong either way.
Asexual and aromantic people have historically had to face exclusion from the queer community, and they still do today. They have also historically been a part of the queer community (I will always point people to The Golden Orchid because I think it is one of the most clear examples of asexual and aromantic inclusion in the queer community).
So to have this discussion in a clear and healthy way we need to first divorce ourselves of the idea that the queer community is some monolithic thing.
We have always had division; and in every place and in every time period the queer community is different. Queer people haven’t generally been able to organize on a global scale, so there is no truth of the queer community that is true everywhere and in every time.
The internet has given us an advantage in that we can have discussions internationally within the queer community, which has never happened before to the scale it is happening today. Which makes right now a turning point for the queer community.
The decisions we make today will be recorded in the history books of tomorrow. So it is time for us all to decide what kind of community we want to be.
Throughout history we have examples of when our community has been exclusive and catered only to a select few identities, and we have examples of the opposite happening. We have examples of people coming together to fight for the rights and the safety of not only people who share their exact struggle but for people who face a whole different set of obstacles. And it is time for us all to decide what type of people we want to be remembered as.
The very word queer is vague which many people now find issue with but I think is a distinct advantage. It does not narrow our community down to a series of labels we care about.
And if I have learned anything from my ongoing study of queer history, it is that how society has treated different sexual and gender identities has changed throughout time. And to assume that will stop with us seems pretty arrogant.
There have been times when being gay has been accepted in certain societies. But because of these times does that mean that gay people don’t deserve a place in the queer community? Of course not.
I fully believe there have been times when asexual and/or aromantic people have been fully accepted in society at certain points. But now is not that time. So we include them. We fight for them because right now that is what is needed.
I love the queer community. For all it’s many flaws I have faith in it. One of the reasons I love it is because of how inclusive we have the power to be.
I cannot make this decision for anyone else. But as someone who studies queer history, I can say that while the past can give us much, it is ultimately the present and the future we must make our decisions for.
Miss Major in The Trans List (2016)
Transcript and description:
A series of images with subtitles showing words spoken by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. The first images show black and white photos of the Stonewall Riots.
The first picture shows cops leading a drag queen (as identified by Getty, though this term also referred generally to trans women). The source seems to be a 1962 photo by Getty Images from a ball that took place seven years before Stonewall, and she is probably being arrested for “masquerading and indecent exposure” according to Getty.
The second image shows a crowd of angry people over the shoulders of two cops and a man in a suit who are facing them and holding them back, and is the only picture of the first night of the Stonewall Riots. (Wikimedia Commons copy).
The third image shows a crowd of people outside the West Side Savings Bank on the corner of Christopher Street (location of the Stonewall Inn), with a small group of cops in the foreground, on the fifth night of the Stonewall Riots. (NYT source)
The remaining images show pictures of Miss Major, a Black woman with dark grey hair wearing a pink shirt, speaking to the camera. The subtitles say:
“And when that Stonewall Incident happened, I was there when the fighting started. Did it change things? It did for the gay and the lesbian community. Did it change things for my transgender community? It really didn’t. We’re the third or fourth letter in that alphabet soup thing that they have, LGBT. Well, to me, “T” should have been first. We were there doing most of the fighting, so let’s start there.”
Old cranky tired lesbian on the aro/ace spectrums here to say:
If you’re gonna pull that “heteroromantic asexual/aromantic heterosexual people don’t belong in LGBT+ spaces!!” bullshit, you can just walk on out. Unfollow me. Block me! Go ahead. I don’t care.
Or, you can stay a moment and listen.
I’m fine with people having more specific spaces. Lesbian spaces, trans spaces, bi spaces–ace spaces! All good. I am fine with, say, heteroromantic aces not being in lesbian-only spaces. (Are there lesbian-only spaces?)
But the general LGBT+ community? No. Hell no. You are ignoring over a century of history because you do not understand how someone else’s mind and heart works. Trust me when I say we are in this together. Trust me when I say that heteromantic aces and aro heterosexual people are not seen as straight by straight people.
“Straight” is a definition of exclusion. Full stop. The history of “overlap” between trans and queer people also includes overlap with asexuals. Going back literally decades.
I get that a lot of people on this site are teenagers and may not be aware of that stuff, so fine. Go read up on the history. Listen to people. Learn from people.
Stop the aphobia. Educate yourself. Stop trying to throw out people who’ve literally always been here.
And for fuck’s sake, stop using “the discourse” just please stop it’s not funny.
Sophia Parnok, Russia’s Sappho
For our last article in this year’s women’s history month celebration we focus on a woman known throughout Russia as one of their first openly lesbian poets. Sophia Parnok was a Jewish poet born in Russia in 1885 and has grown a small reputation for being one of the first out lesbian poets in her home country. Though her work is not widespread, it is impactful. And while the government tried to curb that impact with censorship, today we will work to continue to spread that effect by sharing her story. (Read full article here)
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