Why Queer is Boring

An Introduction

Yeah, yeah. We’ve heard it all before: the sex is amaaaaazing and everyone has better haircuts and hey, NO OPPRESSION!* Plus, we’re so inclusive,** everyone is beautiful, and GLITTER!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but being queer does not make you better. It doesn’t elevate you in some way. You haven’t surpassed, say, your nice straight married neighbors, or your parents, or your grandparents, because of your identity. Maybe you have in other ways, but that’s not going to be one of them.

Being queer doesn’t make me better, either, because yeah, for all my bitching, I’m queer, too. And I’m bored of it. It doesn’t make me a more talented singer, or improve my international geography. It hasn’t helped me learn a second language, redo my bathroom, reduce my mile time, or get rich quick.

But, jokes aside, my queerness doesn’t make me more interesting — you, either. Queerness does not ensure that we are more compassionate, more loving, or more fair, or that we are kinder, stronger, realer people.

Why do I carp on so?

Because there can be a real danger in thinking, somehow, that a queer person, space, or community exists in a vacuum and is immune to the pitfalls of the rest of the world. Queer folks can be just as biased, dismissive, hurtful, mean, or violent as anyone else. Queer venues and events are not free of discrimination, bad politics, or poor judgement. Nor is the queer community at large.

It’s true — shit happens, it’s normal. Nothing and no one is perfect. That’s not the problem, though; the problem is that we cannot continue to behave as though all things queer are immune to these issues (and more) — yet so many of us perpetuate the myth that they are. The longer the rose-colored glasses stay on, the less progress is made — as people, no more and no less.

So, let’s start small, shall we?

Hell, let’s start period.