Happy (Belated) Angry Gay Month

By Jeannine Erickson, Writers’ Room Manager, in conversation with Xochi de la Luna and Cynthia J. Zapata

Navigating queerness in a White Supremacist world is often daunting for those of us who carry multiple intersections of marginalization. As I asked two queer artists to reflect on their own experiences with their journey and thoughts about PRIDE month and queer culture in general several themes came to the surface. The role White Supremacy plays in shaping culture, the erasure of queer history, the erasure of transgender folx especially, transwomen of color, more explicitly Black and Brown transwomen and their contributions to the movement, and performative activism towards or tokenization of queer people. I interviewed two artists Xochi de la Luna (they/them| she/hers) and Cynthia J. Zapata(they/them| she/hers). Both were kind enough to give me some insight into their own lived experiences. 

My first interview was with artist and organizer Xochi (zoh-chee).  They talked about how they were conflicted with the term “PRIDE'' because they have pride and are trans all the time, not just when it's in season. Xochi also refers to PRIDE month as Angry Gay Month (hence the title) in reference to the performative nature of corporations and certain organizations only celebrating queer and trans folk during PRIDE month. They also spoke to how the origins of PRIDE month and the transwomen that started it often go unmentioned. And how even when folks pay homage to Marsha P. Johnson and/or Sylvia Rivera their contributions to the movement are overshadowed by those of White cis gay men such as Harvey Milk. The queer community, like others must contest with the consquences of Whiteness and the vestiges of Colonialism and Imperialism.

Xochi goes on to talk about the importance of intentional spaces for queer and trans Black and Brown youth, such as the spaces they’ve created in partnership with Uproar Performing Arts and Lake Street Truth Collective. They share that although no space is truly “safe”--art and artists can act as bridges or interpreters to help us define and process the world we are living in. How in doing so we can create communities where queer and trans youth have the room to define their experience for themselves. Xochi explains that “art is another medium that ancestors, spirits use to communicate with modern people...artists are the people that interpret what is happening.” They also touch on how the arts and academia community, although an often healing and essential community, can also perpetuate the same tokenization and “woke-policing'' it attempts to condemn/disrupt.

The second artist I interviewed was Cynthia, who spoke on their relationship with being nonbinary and queer and not seeing themselves refelcted or represented by the labels made available by White-dominated queer culture. They also touched on how even the act of coming out is a White Supremacy thing. In the sense that even the act or need to come out is a product of colonization. Because being queer in indigenous and other cultures was respected, even celebrated. Their observation also speaks to the use of labels in the queer community such as bisexual, pansexual, gay, lesbian, trans, etc. How the labels all communicate or define what you are not. But their identity as a non-binary person and a queer person is not about being “not straight” but about being something sacred. I especially appreciated their words on how the personal is often politicized against the will of those of us who have been constructed as “other'' in this society. “There’s not an aspect of my identity that is not experiencing violence...My personal has been politicized. My existence has been politicized. It was imposed onto me. I am not my trauma. I am not my struggles. I am not my political identity. I am more than those things.”

So although this years’ PRIDE has come to a close, and the rainbow capitalism put on hold for now, I hope that that doesn’t stop you from intentionally and genuinely supporting, uplifting, and fighting for the wellness and joy of queer and trans folk. Because much like with other heritage, pride, or history months, we carry these identities even when it is no longer trending or in season.