Being Queer in Public Space

We've been talking a lot about public space throughout the class, and last week we really honed in on the implications of public space and how it affects different groups. For example, in Mitchell's article, the author argued that public space legitimizes and delegitimizes the public that inhabits the given public space. Mitchell focused mostly on the homeless, and how they are seen as an involuntary public, thus inept to be considered by definition, "legitimate citizens" (p. 118). The author explains, though homeless people are almost always in public spaces, they are rarely considered part of the public.

This made me think about the public as a cisheteronormative space, and how often queer and gender non-conforming individuals have to adjust their mannerisms or performance of identity in public space to not be the target of slurs, violence, stares, or other uncomfortable situations. I thought about how queer folks are often delegitimized in society, let alone in their experiences in public space. I found a great article that talks about these experiences of LGBTQIAP+ individuals' in their first times holding hands in public; some of the excerpts from the informants are endearing and overcoming, but others demonstrate perfectly the danger that queer folks tip-toe around in public.

For example, one lesbian respondent states, "I was 21 in Lincoln, Neb. It was 1996. In a moment of affection, I grabbed my girlfriend’s hand and was promptly threatened by an angry young man who fantasized in great detail about blowing my head off with a shotgun" (Phillip, 2018).

Another informant recalls, "...we really try to refrain from touching too much and rarely kiss in public. Not to say we aren't affectionate in public, but we stay very conscious of what is too much and what might offend people. Less than a year into my relationship with the woman I am now married to, we were walking into a Walmart holding hands. We were talking to each other and paying no mind to anyone else. A man was coming out of the store with his daughter (probably 3 to 4 years old) and made a face at us and then said, very loudly, 'That's disgusting'" (Phillip, 2018).

In my own personal experience, I was closeted in high school when I was dating my ex-girlfriend, and we never touched or stood too close to one another in public. We didn't want to call attention to ourselves, we were uncomfortable and scared, and had to press pause on our affection whenever we were out in public. This is a mild experience. Black and Brown queer individuals face racialised, intersectional discrimination as opposed to white queer folks, and I am privileged as a white, cis-presenting genderqueer individual in my experiences in public as gay.

This privilege is incredibly evident in this breathtaking spoken-word poem I have found on Youtube. It is titled, "To the Transphobic Cis White Gay Men at Pride." The speaker explains, "Did you know that pride was birthed from a [Black] woman with a penis? But most of us still can't call 9-1-1 when we are assaulted; when we are called a tr*nny n***** in the streets. When we are followed home with catcalls and fear lodged in our throats--I wonder, do you still think about the death toll when you come? [...] How there was never a flag to stop us from being murdered?"

I found this poem wildly powerful. I have linked both the Phillip article and the poem below. I hope both sources spark some thought or insight. Thanks all.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/reader-center/pride-month-gay-queer-expressions.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnXhH5yWoG8&ab_channel=ButtonPoetry