I wish we would have more conversations about the ugly tropes and narratives used to denigrate us. Last week when that awful UFC fighter called Michelle Obama a man, Black pundits, scholars, and even regular voices on social media
were quick to point out the racist history of this accusation as it pertains to Black woman. And they did so loudly, creating a much-needed conversation.
That's not the case with the LGBTQ community unfortunately. We either try to ignore or play defense when confronted with outright lies and vulgar images designed to dehumanize us and make discrimination and violence against us more acceptable. We seem to be so jaded that we accept the name-calling instead of forcefully calling them out for the idiocy they embody. We shrink from demanding a conversation as to how these things invoke prejudices - both open and hidden - about our community when it comes to subject like sexual intercourse or interactions with children.
With that in mind, this is how those who opposed our equality in the 1980s exploited the AIDS epidemic to portray us as sad people constantly seeking sex
(Editor's note - this is from an actual comic book attacking LGBTQ people. It was called Deathstyle and was endorsed by William Dannemeyer, who was at the time a member of Congress from California. Click on the picture to see it in full size.)
Over 30 years later, the victimization hasn't changed all that much but it has gotten more intricate. Thanks to social media, images like the ones below are like flaming balls of cow sh!t constantly dropping from the sky.
One could say, however, that the bigots have a higher regard for us. In the past, we were portrayed as the pathetic victims of our alleged sexual desires. Now we are an evil syndicate whose wants (marriage, safety for trans kids in schools) are actually part of a larger, more nefarious goal of transforming America's children transgender by the clever use of mind control instituted by drag queens (or adult transgender men and women because the morons posting this junk don't know the difference) and schoolteachers. Supposedly this is the end of a slippery slope process which began with us being allowed to legally marry.
Or, if you want to go further down the rabbit hole, the endgame would not be "creating transgender children." The next step, according to the below tweet is becoming surrogate parents in a higher number and finally what looks like unleashing trans sleeper agents to kill Christians.
Yeah right. As if the LGBTQ community could get that organized. And I know what you're thinking. This is ridiculous. None of it makes sense.
Of course not. It's not supposed to make sense. It's supposed to scare and in this culture of "vibes over facts," it's like planting seeds in fertile ground. And our silence and nonchalant jaded attitudes are helping to let it grow.
These claims are ridiculous and the folks spewing them are idiots. But with no one around to point this out with any degree of fervor, they tend to root and pollute the public debate about LGBTQ people.
And they even grow into something worse such as a bunch of anti-LGBTQ laws or an anti-LGBTQ Supreme Court decision.
It's something to think about.
