The Queer Issue 2011

Ride over the rainbow with Kreayshawn, Roaddawgs, Susie Bright, the annual Hot Pink List and our mega-guide to hot Pride action.

06.22.11 - 5:55 am |

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Honey Mahogany on Queen of Mt. Barnabe Farm

PHOTO BY KEENEY + LAW

Every year we bring it for Pride -- attempting to represent the incredibly varied and creative community we call queer. This is an impossible task, of course, but that doesn't mean we don't try! We really try. So strap on those rainbow knickers, hop on a unicorn, and let's dive in.

>>EDITOR'S NOTES

Queer youth and you

By Marke B.

>>THE GUARDIAN HOT PINK LIST 2011

>>OUR MEGA-GUIDE TO PRIDE

Events, parties, art, action and more

>>GO WITH THE FLOW

Oakland rap phenom Kreayshawn reps a casual Bay sexuality

By Amber Schadewald

>>BRIGHT ON

Dyke porn pioneer Susie Bright opens up with Big Sex, Little Death

By Mattilda Sycamore Bernstein

>>YEARBOOK OF HEARTBREAK AND OUTRAGE

A 40-year retrospective highlights the Bay Area Reporter's heroic AIDS coverage

By Oscar Raymundo

>>SHE'S GOT THE LOOK

Cat Perez's Lesbians in San Francisco blog captures queer hotness

By Amber Schadewald

>>GETTING WHAT YOU WANT

Second annual This Is What I Want performance extravaganza plumbs the nature of desire

By Robert Avila

>>SCENES FROM THE ROAD

Queer youth art from the Roaddawgz homeless youth program

Comments

Cover Image

I must say, when I first saw the cover for this issue I was uninterested and offended. As an out gay man, I have a real problem with this. For myself, I believe that people who identify as LGBT are aware of the types of societies out there who feel we are not entitled to specific rights and liberties. Given this current situation it seems inappropriate to use this media medium to buy into stereotypes purely in the name of "Pride". In a time when we are seeking justice, acceptance, and tolerance images like this; that buy into classic stereotypes only divides and separates us from society. We, as strong people of the LGBT community, need to promote the positive rather than shove a rainbow, drag queens, and a derogatory slur down the throats of society.

Posted by Guest on Jun. 24, 2011 @ 5:33 am

Thank you for your comment

However, drag queens have lead the fight for LGBT rights as much as anyone, and this is the 20th year we've put out a Queer Issue, so it's not like this is some new affront to delicate sensibilities. (And in what weird alternative universe is a rainbow derogatory?) Of course, we were going for a bit of over-the-top post-irony with the cover here as well, it's 2011.

But beyond that, some of us don't want to huddle in a ball of fear, while hoping desperately that others "grant" us equality because they think we're boring/normal/deserving enough. Some of us are proud of our wonderful heritage and want to celebrate our difference. The community is big enough for your point of view and for ours. The mere fact that you could even be "uninterested" shows how far we've come and how many choices are available to us now, I think. For my part, I'd rather the stereotype I dedicate myself to breaking be the "cowering pansy" one, rather than the "outrageous queen" one. And I think especially at this time of growing acceptance, we need to remind the world of our fantastic diversity and history -- and that we can poke a little fun at ourselves as well.

Posted by marke on Jun. 24, 2011 @ 6:57 am

Whether a drag queen or a

Whether a drag queen or a cowering pansy, Marke, you are constraining the definition of gay men to be only in terms of women instead of on our own terms.

I contest the definition of normative "gay acting" as effeminate, submissive and weak, I will resist when most gay men would be defined as "straight acting." We are neither thespians nor lesbians, this is not an act, this is real life.

A true measure of persistent homophobia is that so many in San Francisco's progressive community are threatened by non-feminine assertive gay men, those of us whom the Guardian recently pegged as "naughty."

The only place for gay men in San Francisco's political environment is as submissive and effeminate, nonthreatening to the hetero norms. To parapharse Stokeley Carmichael on the SNCC, the only position for gay men in San Francisco politics is prone. This is how oppressed groups normalize oppression within oppressed groups.

Radicalism without the outward trappings of "acting out" rebellion is most threatening.

Progressive gay white men, of course, are to be marginalized politically as siding with the oppressors, even though there are more of us (for now) than most any progressive community of color, even though we carry more than our fair share of water for this loser movement, and even though we sought refuge here not as economic refugees, rather from very real threats of brutal homophobic violence in the largely Caucasian flyover.

-marc

Posted by marcos on Jun. 24, 2011 @ 8:35 am

Drag Queens Are Part of the Gay Community, Homophobia Isn't

It's homophobic for a newspaper controlled, and largely staffed, by straight men to put out an issue during Gay Pride Week entitled "The Queer Issue."

During Black History Month, would it be acceptable for The Guardian to put out an issue entitled "The [derogatory word for African-Americans] Issue"?

Click here:

http://whitecrane.typepad.com/gaywisdom/2009/07/gay-a-recent-historyfrom...

Posted by Arthur Evans on Jun. 24, 2011 @ 7:37 am

John Avalos Insults the City's Transgender People

According to an article just published in the Chron, Mayoral wannabe John Avalos has attacked Mayor Ed Lee because Lee will be attending the transgender march (link below). Avalos claims that the only reason Lee is attending the march is to prepare for a mayoral run.

John Avalos' comment is an insult to the city's transgender people. It implies that there is something suspicious about the mayor attending a transgender event.

John Avalos overlooks the fact that transgender San Franciscans are San Franciscans like anybody else. Lee has regularly attended all sorts of events involving San Franciscans, beginning with events sponsored by the supes themselves.

Lee's attendance at public events has been a distinguishing mark of his administration from the get-go. Many have praised him for this participation.

By the way, this is the same John Avalos who calls the gay people who support him -

QUEERS FOR AVALOS

"Queer" is a homophobic term, just as much as the "N" word is a racist term.

John Avalos seems determined to turn the gay community against himself. Not a smart move.

He should apologize to transgender people. And he should stop using homophobic terms to refer to gay people.

Here's the link:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?entry_id=91734

Posted by Arthur Evans on Jun. 24, 2011 @ 10:05 pm