Houston has always been one of those places where everyone could clearly see The Good Ol’ Boy’s foot on all of our necks. If you were queer in any sort of way, you knew it on a visceral level. When cops began joining us in Pride, that was a huge WIN for us because the cops used to assassinate queer people and cover it up when non-cops did the same. There was a time when brand names didn’t want to be associated with Pride because so many people wanted us to cease existing, they feared a boycott of their goods & services.
OutSmart Magazine, April 2017
If you want to know why it’s a good thing that we have cops in our Pride parade or that corporations want to sponsor us, you first need to know your Houston history. Frankly, is a PRIVILEGE that we are now at a point where we might want to talk about what “corporate Pride” or “Pride, Inc.” means because, if our biggest issue is that we have too many people wanting to give us cash, that’s a huge improvement over having to carry umbrellas so that we’d have a shield to block the rocks & bottles that onlookers might get thrown at us.
OutSmart Magazine, June 2017
Hearing about other Pride events where people stopping Pride in order to protest guns, etc. sounds, to my ears, like a bunch of people who have it so fucking good that Pride is the issue they’re willing to go to jail over.
Frankly, I’m glad that’s not Houston right now because that level of infighting would mean nothing more than providing aid to the people who wish me and the people I care about harm. Frankly, I’m glad that the Houston queer community remembers that we lost HERO.
Frankly, I’m glad that Houston knows who our political enemies are because they’re actively trying to wipe us off the map, right now.
Frankly, I’ll be glad when I live in a queer community that’s so privileged that our big issue is that someone claimed to be “triggered” by seeing a Jewish symbol, or that several queer people are willing to go to jail over the issue of gun violence1. If I, as a trans person living in the Deep South, ever live to see a time when that is the height of my oppression as a member of Houston’s queer community, I’ll know that things have gotten damn good. Seriously, if you live in the Deep South and you think that this is the big problem in your life…
Houston Pride, 2017
… you’re either very new to the Deep South or you’ve never bothered to talk to a trans asylum seeker –arguably the most vulnerable part of our trans community– here in Houston; you’ve never hugged the parent of a trans kid who has to go to a public school, and/or you’ve never tried to find shelter of a trans or intersex person down here in the South.
The Houston Intersex Society, 2017
In Houston, a scene like this is what Resistance looks like:
Trans Latinx, 2017
While some communities are so privileged they have the luxury of fighting with each other instead of the people who want them wiped off the planet’s face, there are places where it’s an act of Resistance to be a trans Latina who’s willing to openly walk where there are cops present and for those cops to not act to oppress them. In the South, it’s fucking awesome to be an openly Jewish queer. In the South, it’s a Revolutionary act to be openly Intersex and invite people to ask you about it.
Houston activist culture is shaped by its very specific history that, judging by its activist style, derived its approached from the Houston Black activist community.
NOTES:
1.) In the South, for better or worse, gun culture is part of Southern Culture. If you look at where the Pink Pistols are located, you’ll note that it’s largely a Southern aspect of queer culture.
Tags: Pride South