That's right, I forgot to post today. I've got more stuff planned for Snark Week (and a half, maybe?), but in the meantime, check out this classic David Bowie video. Not to sound like a hopeless cynic (it is Snark Week, though), but this one video is more transgressive than every "gay music video" (though I do love this one) I've seen, combined. It's creative, sexy, unmistakable without being sophomoric or pedantic.
One of the problems with having a "gay identity" is that it's by definition, limiting. If gay is this, then it's not that. Culturally, the idea of sexual "orientation"-- straight, gay, bi, whatever--is brand-new new. For most of history, there were just sexual "acts". Now, I'm not advocating returning to that time, but I think lately I've been very aware that my idea of what being gay is, isn't necessarily the same as other gay people. Put more simply, my values and outlook are not the same as every gay man out there, and vice versa.
The problem is, I think the gay community is too narrow in its vision of what it means to be gay. I don't think it's internalized homophobia to not want to be associated with a community who regularly demonize those who don't agree with them and who show a provincial tendency to fight voraciously for their own rights, but who casually segregate themselves racially and economically all the time. It's frustrating to be told by straight people that being gay means liking Madonna, feather boas and loving musical theatre. It's downright infuriating to have other gay people tell you that. Its not that there's anything wrong with those things, it's just self-limiting to say that's all you can be. It's something I've tried to do as an editor at Frontiers; I understand that these things are important parts of what is historically the gay identity (hell, I like my share of musicals), but I think it's vital to punch holes in that identity: To not just state who we are, but to ask what else we can be.
Bowie is a great example. He went from being an iconoclast who changed the world by shattering it, to a bland self-parody of all that. I look around parts of the gay community and I see people who are afraid to venture into new territory, to leave the safety of their own comfort zones. Identity is a tricky thing: it can be the glue which binds you and gives you resolve, but it can also be a trap, limiting your vision--and thusly, your reach.
