Being queer in the 21st century is risky business. Despite us coming forward through hundreds of years of oppression, there are new struggles every day. As I write this, PRIDE is canceled, there’s a pandemic raging, we’re on our third week of Black Lives Matter protests, Trump just held a rally in Tulsa, and LGBTQIAP+ people have a right to employment in America, but not healthcare. 2020 is an incredibly stressful year and I have to admit, I’m scared of where it might end up.
To have a promise of not being fired for being queer while being told there is no promise of healthcare during a deadly pandemic feels like a slap in the face specially designed by capitalism. It seems sometimes that the battle for queer rights is never-ending, just shifting and stirring now and again. We have made huge strides, and I would not be able to be out without those who have come before me. For that, I am incredibly thankful, every day. At the same time, it seems there are still miles to go.
It’s even stranger when you’re a queer person who is often sidelined at the edges of the queer community — considered queer by many, but also brushed aside, treated as other by our own community. Even worse, many queer people treat my sexuality like it doesn’t exist at all.
