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Single-issue politics has been a huge issue in LGBT+ history.  An example of this is when campaigns for LGBT+ rights were framed around same-sex marriage equality, as pictured above.  I chose this photo because of the slogan, “We all deserve the freedom to marry.”  That this slogan is seen at a gay rights protest surrounded by rainbow flags ignores how, even when same-sex marriage is secured, marriage equality still isn’t achieved.  Many benefits, such as healthcare, are tied to marriage.  This shuts out people who cannot/choose not to get married for whatever reason and excludes people who are disabled and would lose their disability benefits through marriage.  The single-issue political conversation about same-sex marriage not only ignores how the system of marriage as a whole is flawed, but it also ignores other issues that LGBT+ may face—especially trans people.

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"Bury Your Gays" Trope and Media Representation

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"Bury Your Gays" Trope and Media Representation

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Included in this photo is Angel Dumott-Schunard from the musical Rent.  I first saw Rent in high school, and it was one of the first times I ever saw an openly trans character on screen.  While Rent is one of my favorite musicals because of the personal ties I have to it, it is not above critique.  Though it is never truly clear if Angel is intended to be trans or a drag queen, she is the only gender nonconforming character of the musical.  She is also the only main character to die of AIDS.  This falls into the Bury Your Gays Trope, which depicts a queer life as a life of misery and helps promote the message that queer people are dispensable.  When trans people are treated as dispensable in media and left out of conversations of LGBT+ activism, trans people are erased and devalued by both dominant cis-heterosexual and cis-homosexual communities alike.

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Pictured above is what I would consider a better example of radical queer politics than the single-issue politics pictured prior.  The slogan “Protect Black Transwomen” acknowledges the oppression that Black transwomen face—due to a combined effort of racism, sexism, and transphobia.  Looking at trans rights through an intersectional lens allows us to see that Black transwomen face the highest risk of violence.

Radical queer politics allows us to see how all of the issues faced by trans people are connected.  Whether the conversation is surrounding housing insecurity, healthcare, rights within the workplace, or just the right to live and survive as one’s authentic self—none of these issues exist in a vacuum and how different intersections of one’s identity impacts these must be acknowledged in order to move forward in a radical, inclusive way.

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Pictured here is Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance dressed as a cheerleader for a concert during their reunion tour.  I included this because my love of MCR represents a turning point in my journey with my own transness.  Not only have I looked up to Gerard Way as a male role model because of his theatricality and nontraditional masculinity—wearing makeup throughout his career, openly talking about his love of his own feminine side, doing things that are not considered hegemonically masculine, and writing lyrics that I have seen myself in—the community of MCR fans has also been a very welcoming space for trans people.  I included this as an example of finding the erotic because to be openly and proudly trans during a time when trans people are attacked and erased is something I consider to be an act of rebellion.  To be in community when capitalism demands isolation, to find joy in your own transness when every other source equates transness with misery, to make radical noise when the world wants trans silence—all of these represent ways that I find the erotic in my own life.  Gerard Way was recently quoted shouting, “In the face of extermination, say fuck you!” into the crowd during one of their songs, and I think that really exemplifies how I find the erotic in my transness.

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Pictured here are my friends and I, taken during a time when I was coming into my own identity.  I included this as another example of queer desire—to be openly queer and have trust and acceptance in queer friendships.  Queer friendships are often about chosen family, to find family in our friendships and be our authentic selves around them—where we wouldn’t have that opportunity around our blood families.  Not only are Anna, Grace, and I all queer, but our queerness informs how we move through the world and how we interact with each other.  Our friendship is based on strength and trust, and a deep emotional intimacy that I have never experienced in a friendship with a person outside of the queer community.  They are also my biggest supporters and have been there to witness me growing into the person I am today.  For me, that’s what queer friendships are about and how the erotic can be found within them.