Because some of us are born with the cross hairs of a rifle scope printed on our backs. Some of us aren’t.
- There is no Black Lives Matter movement for white people because white people haven’t spent their lives having to fight for their right to exist as equals.
- There is no #MeToomovement for men because men haven’t spent their lives having to fight for their right to exist as equals.
- There is no Pride for straight people because straight people haven’t spent their lives having to fight for their right to exist as equals.
See a running theme here?
- The black lives matter movement isn’t about telling white people that their lives don’t matter.
- The #MeToomovement isn’t about telling men that their lives don’t matter.
- Pride isn’t about telling straight people that their lives don’t matter.
It’s about telling people that we all matter, that our identity is not something to be voted on, and that we are not pawn pieces to be used in petty games of party politics…
And this is where advocacy gets misconstrued in the minds of people who fear diversity. They fear, for example, that by having pride events, we are ‘on a mission to turn people gay’, when the reality is that our only ‘mission’ is for a society that has historically been hellbent on erasing us, via heteronormativity, white supremacy, and the patriarchy, to finally acknowledge us as human beings.
- For us to be able to hold hands in public without being on the receiving end of ‘death stares.’
- For us to not be viewed as being ‘mentally ill’, or ‘destined for hell’, for daring to fall in love with someone of the same gender.
- For us to not have to resort to morsel scraps of queer representation in the media.
- For us to not have to Google whether we’re likely to be prosecuted if we go on holiday to a country where being gay is still a crime.
Or, if that’s all too much, for us to just be granted the right to exist, even. For us to not be killed for being gay…
Pride is not about ‘flaunting’ our sexuality, as is often lauded by ‘straight pride’ supporters, it’s about advocating for freedom and our right to exist.
When 90% of the population is straight, having a straight pride would be like celebrating your birthday every other day of the year as well as on your actual birthday…
To imply that there needs to be a straight pride, a ‘white lives matter’ movement, a #MeToomovement for men, to suggest that it’s ‘not fair that there isn’t’, is like implying that there is a need for wheelchairs for able-bodied people, that it’s not fair that only disabled people have access to wheelchairs.
It’s nonsensical.
Able-bodied people don’t need wheelchairs or crutches to move about their day-to-day lives, when everything in life caters to able-bodied people, and they face no discrimination on the grounds of disability.
The same is true for straight people, white people, and men, where being white and straight and male is the default.
The fact that there is no straight pride, white Lives Matter movement, or #MeToomovement for men is a privilege.
To not need a month or a ‘movement’ to say; ‘Please acknowledge my right to exist’, ‘Please see me as a human being’, is a massive privilege because it means that you have never been made to feel unsafe for something which is out of your control (whether that be your sexuality, race, or gender).
The Black Lives Matter Movement, Pride, and the #MeToomovement are not about ‘one-upmanship.’ We are not advocating for the oppression of the marginalised to be passed on to the oppression of the masses… We are advocating for equality, and that means equality for everyone. That means that, whatever our sexuality, race, sex/gender, we must all be treated in the same way- with humanity. For, whilst ever people are viewed from a hierarchy, a state of inferiority vs superiority at play, there will be, there can be, no world peace…
Only when we are all viewed as equals will we achieve world peace, for:
Conflict cannot arise where there is harmony.
Harmony can only arise where there is equality.
This is why I advocate for universal human rights…
ANARKISS 