O M G
What happened in America? Is it because the land was stolen by discarded criminals, and then, funded by war machines? Are they revisiting segregation because they are afraid that no one will sign up for the newsletter next season? That maybe, just maybe, they might loose the bulk of their subscribers all together?
Sorry Hi, it's me, your lady boi Lester.
I know, I started off by kinda yelling here, but I am furious... well more annoyed really. Aren't we all a little tired of these angry christian bullies? Yelling about the sanctity of life, posturing, spewing their skewed view, believing lies.
What lies you may ask?
One big one is the claim that the drag community is grooming children... it's lunacy. Especially when their catholic priests get shipped to different churches all over the world as a punishment for diddling lil’ Jimmy.
Sounds just.
In my humble experience here, on this wild rotating place we call home, it was the same type of christian conformists who abused and or alienated me regularly.
In the mid to late 90's there was not a lot of mixed raced families, so my daily life was already challenging. Adding insult to injury, I was going to a catholic arts school, indoctrinated by baptists, bullied by most of my peers... including some teachers. Safe to say, It had been a long and horrible time in my life. Because there was no control over my physical changes or genetics, civilized society deigned me deserving of it's unrelenting bigotry. Yet, I was emotionally protected, embraced and supported by drag queens.
I found solace in the nightlife during this time in my youth, since the 'streets' will warmly welcome anyone at the end of their mental tether. One random fall night, a stranger I had met on various chemicals at a rave, took me to The Barn: A strictly male gay bar in Toronto. It was 1998 nearing the end of October, I had just turned 17, 5'11 at 220 pounds... shaped like a linebacker. (●_● ) Likely the bouncers believed me to be trans, NO MATTER, I was allowed in. The place was packed, gay porn played on tv's placed high above the crowd, in various corners of the space. The bathroom had metal troughs full of ice rank with man’s personal potatoes, there must have been a stall somewhere in the back, unsure, as I was too fearful to investigate. The dance floor, full of men of all ages pulsing to the bass, a few making out... A random handjob here, a quickie in the corner over there. No one was focused on me at all, and for the first time in my life I felt unseen.
It was magical.
I was bopping to the music, getting my own drink when a warm hand grabbed mine and I was pulled on to the dance floor. I had never been greeted by so many smiles (in fact now I'm a bit teary remembering how accepted I had felt) 。ﾟ· (>﹏<) ·ﾟ。 . I was sweating, dancing with a bunch of strange men I had never met before, feeling safe around people for the first time in six years.The music pulsed for at least an hour, and I had been dancing the whole time, never wanting it to end, when spotlights turned on to a small staged area.
A large lady woman came from the stairs leading to the 'backstage', with a thirsty wig on and a wit that had me agape. After she called the crowd ungrateful hookers for under tipping the last girl, she performed a standard disco song that I can't recall at the moment. Smiling and singing along, I had begun celebrating MY life and been given permission to enjoy my wholeness, something my christian faith couldn’t accept. The rest of the night was quite a blur after imbibing shots with these larger than life characters, who felt strangely like home. These incredible drag queens, these monolithic mavens, had taught me a very important lesson in self love, and that night, a seed of self acceptance was planted.
Being queer myself, I had no idea what that even looked like, I was making out with girls, having sex with them in bathrooms of cafes all over North York, Ontario. Wanting a boyfriend and a girlfriend, equally, at the same time. Believing I was even weirder for desiring both. My peers were no help at that point, and I had only just crested my understanding of the rainbow in existence. Unfortunately never having the balls to go back to The Barn on my own, I relented and dropped in a few lesbian bars, thinking the vibe would be the same.
It wasn't.
I have that community to thank as a whole, yes, even the unaccepting lesbians of my dualistic nature. The LGBTQ+ welcomed me when I was outside their understanding. No one shamed me for being a human being. All of that said, the opposite was quite true when it came to my christian counterparts. As much as I believed in something larger than me, the human god I kept hearing about from my teachers/predecessors and texts written by man, seemed more like a bitter old fusspot. Which by proxy, feels more blasphemous. Saying a 'god' is spiteful when you don’t do as you're told, and then full of love when you behave. Feels manipulative and human, certainly not godlike. If creation is pure, then by right whatever the creator may be, is also pure... not prone to human folly.
But I'm getting off topic here.
There seems to be a lot of projecting happening in the America’s especially, a lot of blame been thrown around too. Is it the media? That played out, tired story?
Is it us?
Why do we shame things that are meant for individual navigation?
Why do we believe in class, when science proves race is but an environmental truth?
Why is sex so controversial, when it is natural and necessary for our existence?
Is it so important, which imaginary friend has your spiritual back?
All these things come to mind when I see mobs yelling about their personal, arbitrary opinions.
How could we possibly continue to live as we do, now that mental health and therapeutic practices illuminated how truly similar we all are. Never mind how much work we ALL need to do internally. Civilized society has wasted too many a millennia, fighting over gods and righteousness, ownership and class, that we have not really learned anything.
(ಠ ∩ಠ) Isn’t the simple fact that most people believing in something bigger than themselves, just as important? And if it's children you wish to protect, wouldn’t the largest creator of child predators be the first target? Because I can assure you they aren’t gay... and likely christian.
Yes as homosexuals, we have accepted our sexuality is not for everyone, but we don't force it on others, that’s for born again zealots and reformed harlots. No, no we prefer grown people thanks. Pedophilia is spawned from something missing from your moral fibre, worse than a murderer. Being queer is not deviant, as we see it in nature outside of the human condition. In fact... coming out is a public act, where as, those grooming children stay hidden in shadow. In pews and pulpits, shrouded by money and media, programming your children with shame.
Drag is pervasive, political, punk, it is a celebration of the absurd, abnormal and audacious. Drag spawned from the need to scream out our injustices, laugh at our pain, dance with our demons, a way to revel in our uniqueness without shame, without control. If you think about it, Drag is one queer way of healing the inner child, considering all the trauma riddled in the many truths of being queer. Reality is, society still has a hard time accepting that sexuality is a natural fact for us all, like we didn’t come from it?
It’s asinine really, but we still believe in a class system too, so... |*￣ー￣|
Point being, children are safe amongst the drag community, because those adults were once broken during their own childhood, who are only healing themselves, by being themselves. Why would we violate that in another? When each of us know what it means to desire acceptance, when finding yourself. Isn’t that what a healthy childhood looks like? Don’t you want that for humanities future?
Or more to the point, don’t we all want the courage to truly be as we are, loved genuinely for who are, not forced into some colonized narrative of normal.
Wouldn’t we all be that much better if we could celebrate our differences, laugh at our humanness without a bruised ego?
Wouldn't each of us benefit from the freedom of autonomy, when differences are no longer seen as threats, but the glorious spectrum of our nature as human beings?
Asking for a friend.