One thing that has occurred to me throughout the last few classes when discussing LGBT literature is that of being careful not to isolate the identities, and groups associated with such, as under the exclusive reign of the political left. I say this mainly due to a combination of certain themes that did pop up in the last few classes, with the act of teaching being a political action as one of them. Part of the reason I feel this is an area of concern is that if minority identities are over associated with only one part of the political spectrum then those individuals who are of the other parts of said political spectrum risk erasure. I bring this up due to a combination of the need to develop a wide diversity of writings to avoid situations like Advocate.com’s declaration that people like “Thiel [are] an example of a man who has sex with other men, but not a gay man”. Which represents the erasure of an identity due to said person not having the ‘right politics’. The issues that this heavy association of the political left with LGBT creates in the wider culture can be seen in the case of a man named Chadwick Moore. Who wrote, for Out Magazine, an article on a gay conservative man named Milo Yiannopoulos. After this article was written Moore ended up in the situation of being orchestrated by his local community and would later write an article expressing his own ‘coming out’ as a conservative. Overall, what I am trying to say is that if one assumes that one’s identity means that they must fall under a specific set of politics that would just erase those with marginalized identities that don’t necessarily agree with those politics. Therefore, to add an additional layer of complication it may be necessary to seek out a wide diversity of marginalised voices with a rich variety of political views and beliefs. One example of this could be in introducing and discussing why a person like Bruce Benderson would write a book titled ‘Against Marriage’.
Here are some links to the articles mentioned:
https://nypost.com/2017/02/11/im-a-gay-new-yorker-and-im-coming-out-as-a-conservative/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-benderson/why-im-against-marriage_1_b_5248992.html
Hi Dylan,
Your thoughts and the texts you referenced are great additions to our class discussion about identity, politics, and education. I agree that it is problematic to align certain identities with only one part of the political spectrum by default. Identities are multiple, hybrid, overlapping, and in flux. Identities are not just boxes that are checked and are informed and constructed by countless unique experiences. It is important to select texts (like some of the ones you have posted) that challenge assumptions about identity and politics. I think that many of them could generate some very spirited and productive discussions about the nature of identities in general. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It definitely gave me another piece of a very large puzzle to play with.