"You're Here, You're Queer, Get Over It"

“You’re Here, You’re Queer, Get Over It,” the headline screamed out from the Surf City: New York Politics from a Libertarian Perspective newspaper. This is not a paper that I normally read, to be honest prior to seeing this headline on my way to the grocery store I didn’t even know that the paper existed. However the headline caught my eye, that and the chains and leather harness which adorn the front page, and I had to pick it up. The newspaper rode around in my messenger bag for about a week before I remembered it and sat down to read. The main point of this front-page article written by Joseph Dobrian seems to be an attempt at exploring the social and political motivations of the LGBT community through the lenses of the annual pride parade.

The article gets off to a misogynistic start with citing the appearance of “topless lesbians” as a reason why the pride parade is the most enjoyable of “New York City’s many annual ‘special interest group’ parades.” The article then goes on to discuss the ways in which the LGBT community can never expect to be treated with the same validity as other minority groups because as a whole we fail to fit into the heteronormative roles of appropriate behavior. “At a time when so many gay people are demanding to be treated as ‘just folks,’ particularly on issues such as same sax marriages and adoption by gay couples, I wonder why so many gay people tend to hold up undesirable or bizarre behavior as particularly commendable.” Steeped in heterosexism, Dobrian clearly insinuates that unless queer people conform to straight norms of appropriate behavior, dress, and mannerisms that we do not have a right to protect our families. Instead of challenging larger cultural systems, which mandate conformity in order to achieve safety and protection, the victims of the systems are instead blamed for others inability to accept their difference. Later the article goes on to compare the struggles of the LGBTQ community with the experiences of people of color in our systematic racist society; during this analysis Dobrian chooses to use the highly racist phrase “negro” to refer to all people of color.

The article continues in it’s oppressive arguments inaccurately argue that AIDS is only contracted through “unsanitary and reckless” practices. Dobrian argues that the community treats those who are HIV positive as being “more gay” than community members who are negative. Despite his attention to HIV/AIDS he fails to address the real and profound affect that this disease has and continues to have on our community and instead trivializes it as nothing more than a political ploy for sympathy and a sort of badge of true gayness. Dobrian goes on to address the stereotypes, which the LGBT community perpetuates and in so doing shows a complete lack of cultural sensitivity or even basic understanding of LGBT community. In his analysis he argues that there is a certain “uniform” which must be worn. In that uniform he includes “leather motorcycle cap[s]” while failing to address the additional cultural meaning this clothing item has within queer leather culture, and instead chooses to treat it as simply an accessory. He also argues that lesbians “assume a surly scowl when speaking to men.” This further perpetuates the stereotypes that all lesbians are man haters, and I’m personally left wondering if perhaps his analysis is gained from attempting to talk to lesbians in the same disrespectful tone he has written his article in.



Dobrian concludes his article by saying, “to the gay community, don’t worry about being mainstream. You’ll never be any good at it anyway, and the parade would get really boring.” This dismissive attitude is highly offensive in that it dismisses the concerns of members of the community who worry about the mainstreaming of the LGBT community and lack of queer visibility. Furthermore it goes back to his initial oppressive arguments about how we are never going to be good enough to have our families protected and recognized. The problem becomes ours because our difference, because we “go around dressed in a jockstrap and a policeman’s hat, with chains strung through [our] nipples, doing Judy Garland imitations” Dobrian seems to argue that oppression is ok. Confusingly enough he argues that LGBT families deserve protections and recognition (although he admits he personally is uncomfortable with gay marriage). Yet despite his arguments for LGBT civil rights he seems intent on curtailing queer culture, something he clearly fails to have any sort of meaningful grasp of.

The article can be read here:
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:s-_brdDke1YJ:manhattanlp.org/SerfCity/serfcity_vol3_iss2.pdf+%22You%27re+Here,+You%27re+Queer,+Get+Over+It%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=safari