“It’s Queer Baby”
This picture was taken in November 2016 in Yaletown, downtown Vancouver. It is a picture of my girlfriend and I standing in front of a restaurant’s graffiti art.
Many street artists, such as Bansky and his piece ‘Gay Cops Kissing’, have celebrated homosexuality through a form of art that is accessible and visible to the general population. On June 26th 2015, the supreme court of the United States ruled that all 50 states would have to permit LGBTQ couples the fundamental right to marry. The entire country followed in celebration and the term “love wins” was heard everywhere. “It’s love baby” is a variation of this and has resonated profoundly with me. Beyond the legal, social and political aspects of homosexuality lies the fact that it is simply about wanting the freedom to love equally.
The term “queerness” is one that has been used often and that refers to certain sexual identities and sexual formations as abnormal. This derogatory expression does not accurately describe or explain the true meaning of homosexuality. Anthropologically and historically, homosexuality was “characteristic of societies where homosexuality is obligatory and universally practiced such as those where sexual relations between old and younger males are part of the socialization process into manhood”, which is the complete opposite of the meanings it holds today (Manalansan, 1995: 427). Modern homosexuality is defined in five key ideas. First, homosexual relations have been able to escape the structure of the dominant heterosexual kinship system (Manalansan, 1995: 428). Second, exclusive homosexuality, now possible for both patterns, has become an alternative path to conventional family norms (Manalansan, 1995: 428). Third, same-sex bonds have developed new forms without being structured around particular age or gender categories. Fourth, people have come to discover each other and form large-scale social networks not only because of existing social relationships but also because of their homosexual interests. And fifth, homosexuality has come to be a social formation unto itself characterized by self-awareness and group identity (Manalansan, 1995: 428).
The Stonewall ’25 march was held on June 26th 1994 as a celebration of the Stonewall rebellion and began at the United Nations for its global symbolism (Manalansan, 1995: 425). The march initiated conversations about homosexuality throughout the country and led to the creation of various progressive social groups. An important piece of rhetoric appeared in the creation of The Pink Book, which is a publication of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, was formed to “monitor the political and social conditions of gays and lesbians worldwide” (Manalansan, 1995: 428). The ILGA noted, “the increased visibility of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals, supported by a strong movement, has proved to be a successful formula for confronting and fighting homophobic tendencies in all types of society” (Manalansan, 1995: 429). These groups have helped partially improve LGBTQ’s human rights. Within the context of transnational cultural, economic and political exchanges, “monolithic constructions and prescriptions are doomed to failure” (Manalansan, 1995: 429).
Within a global context, “coming out” as an identity construction process and narrative does not travel easily across cultures. The “same sex” phenomena is placed within a developmental and teleological matrix that ends with Western gay sexuality (Manalansan, 1995: 428). A Western framework of gayness becomes framed as the ideal against which all others must conform and is viewed as the modern form of homosexuality, which is typically characterized by domesticity, conjugal relations and community formations. Gay globalization in the form of gay marriage and gay nightlife restricts the type of queerness that is made visible in the public realm, which is very much classed and tied to a conjugal definition. On the other hand, countries such as the Philippines, have adopted the West as a model for notions of queer modernity.
Regardless of the progressive movements countries like the United States and the Philippines have adopted, others are moving in the opposite direction. The Nigerian, Ugandan and Gambian legislatures have recently passed laws to increase penalties for existing offenses and have added new anti-homosexual provisions (Han & O’Mahoney, 2014). A common narrative is that acceptance and tolerance of homosexuality are a “foreign, or alien, Western imposition on indigenous cultures” (Han & O’Mahoney, 2014). Bishop Arthur Gitonga of the Redeemed Church in Kenya said, “homosexuality is equivalent to colonialism and slavery” (Han & O’Mahoney, 2014). Therefore, not all countries are open to accept our Western views on homosexuality. Steps have been made in the right direction, but it will be long before the entire world joins in unity and accepts homosexuality.
Works Cited
Han, Enze & Joseph O’Mahoney. “The British Colonial Origins of Anti-Gay Laws.” The Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2014. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/10/30/the-british-colonial-origins-of-anti-gay-laws/?utm_term=.f5768ac084c2. Accessed 9 Apr. 2017.
Manalansan, Martin F. “In the Shadows of Stonewall: Examining Gay Transnational Politics and the Diasporic Dilemma.” GLQ, 1995, 2(4): 425-438. http://glq.dukejournals.org/content/2/4/425. Accessed 9 Apr. 2017.