ruminations
Aug. 30th, 2008 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rkti am deferring a life and whatever update.
apparently, my neighborhood is "hosting" a straight pride parade. [background: the neighborhood is historically black/african american or caribbean american and jewish (hasidic).] it has become increasingly gentrified in the last 5 years. considering (even if you subtract the 2 weeks i've been gone) i have not seen a single sign about this. anywhere. and it was in Time Out New York Magazine (and Gay City News), i had been rather weary it would be 80-90% queer folks (who will be primarily white) and a handful of straight-identified (who will (ED: be POC).
now, it's just looking more and more like a publicity stunt for Taking Care Of Our Own record label.
either way, i REALLY HOPE that the news cameras don't show up. tv intentionally tells stories and lies. i cringe to think about what might get aired.
the response in the media and their various forms thus far has already been frustrating. (Please, stop conflating "white pride" and "straight pride". different histories. different presents. and, hey, boys and girls, POC CAN BE QUEERS, TOO! so fucking stop it.)
yes, the lyrics for at least one of TCOOO's songs are triggeringly offensive.
Jah Jah gonna hit them hard
All the men who visit men backyard
Leaving all the women to starve
One thunder ball and all of them pause
and, from another song on the same label
Carry life's joy for free
Ladies please, don't you take no abortion
Carry life's joy for free
Let it be, the youths don't deserve no rejection"
but they're also kind of cute in an "oh, really?" sort of way.
(also, most of the articles are reposts of the TONY article and link to myspace, which doesn't even (as of this writing) seem to be mentioning anything about a protest. many of the articles (google is your friend -crown heights + straight pride - state blanketed admonitions against reggae music, in general. Not All Reggae Music is Homophobic. Not All Other Music Lacks Homophobia.
Last I checked, kids were still being shipped off to sexuality reprogramming camps, legally. Transwomen were still at high risk for being murdered - and then blamed for their deaths. Queers were still being harrassed on the street. Psychiatrists were still trying to place labels on those who deviate from gender norms. all In the grande olde United States. So shut it about Jamaica being a bastion of hate. splinter meet 2x4)
although, i'm confused by this quote from the press release: PS: Gay friends and gay relatives must be left at home or worse kept in the closet. (emphasis mine). if keeping 'them' in the closet was a good thing, shouldn't it be "or better yet"? just asking.
Peter Tratchell, whose queer activism TCOOO is half-assedly saying helped inspire this march is of the opinion "meh, full of shit but free speech". (my words not his.)
my stance on free speech has rather shifted, but ..... i don't know.
ps Monday the 1st is the West Indian Pride Parade along the same route, which SP is stealing.
apparently, my neighborhood is "hosting" a straight pride parade. [background: the neighborhood is historically black/african american or caribbean american and jewish (hasidic).] it has become increasingly gentrified in the last 5 years. considering (even if you subtract the 2 weeks i've been gone) i have not seen a single sign about this. anywhere. and it was in Time Out New York Magazine (and Gay City News), i had been rather weary it would be 80-90% queer folks (who will be primarily white) and a handful of straight-identified (who will (ED: be POC).
now, it's just looking more and more like a publicity stunt for Taking Care Of Our Own record label.
either way, i REALLY HOPE that the news cameras don't show up. tv intentionally tells stories and lies. i cringe to think about what might get aired.
the response in the media and their various forms thus far has already been frustrating. (Please, stop conflating "white pride" and "straight pride". different histories. different presents. and, hey, boys and girls, POC CAN BE QUEERS, TOO! so fucking stop it.)
yes, the lyrics for at least one of TCOOO's songs are triggeringly offensive.
Jah Jah gonna hit them hard
All the men who visit men backyard
Leaving all the women to starve
One thunder ball and all of them pause
and, from another song on the same label
Carry life's joy for free
Ladies please, don't you take no abortion
Carry life's joy for free
Let it be, the youths don't deserve no rejection"
but they're also kind of cute in an "oh, really?" sort of way.
(also, most of the articles are reposts of the TONY article and link to myspace, which doesn't even (as of this writing) seem to be mentioning anything about a protest. many of the articles (google is your friend -crown heights + straight pride - state blanketed admonitions against reggae music, in general. Not All Reggae Music is Homophobic. Not All Other Music Lacks Homophobia.
Last I checked, kids were still being shipped off to sexuality reprogramming camps, legally. Transwomen were still at high risk for being murdered - and then blamed for their deaths. Queers were still being harrassed on the street. Psychiatrists were still trying to place labels on those who deviate from gender norms. all In the grande olde United States. So shut it about Jamaica being a bastion of hate. splinter meet 2x4)
although, i'm confused by this quote from the press release: PS: Gay friends and gay relatives must be left at home or worse kept in the closet. (emphasis mine). if keeping 'them' in the closet was a good thing, shouldn't it be "or better yet"? just asking.
Peter Tratchell, whose queer activism TCOOO is half-assedly saying helped inspire this march is of the opinion "meh, full of shit but free speech". (my words not his.)
my stance on free speech has rather shifted, but ..... i don't know.
ps Monday the 1st is the West Indian Pride Parade along the same route, which SP is stealing.
