The Loss of Queer Safe Spaces | Why Belonging Is At Our Core
The other consequences of the rise in mass shootings & bigotry
Over the last 7 years, after a certain orange man descended a golden escalator, we have all witnessed countless tragedies, mass shootings, and increasingly bigoted people gaining a voice and a spotlight.
While violence has increased across the board and all bigoted violence is wrong, I wanted to speak directly to the violence against LGBTQ+ people.
I’m sick of it.
It feels like queer and especially trans people can’t go outside without being berated or assaulted. My partner was called a “faggot” a few blocks from our home in a progressive city in a progressive state. How 90’s of them! I didn’t even know people still used that word as a slur!
What makes it hard to wrap my head around is the loss of space we have experienced even though our lives have become more visible to the public. Gay bars have been declining. The number of gay bars in the U.S. went down by 37% from 2007 to 2019. And that was before the pandemic!
We got gay marriage in exchange for a loss of safe spaces for our community. This trend, I believe, is driven by capitalism's desire for profit which hurts niche venues, and the increased homophobia…
