history hide in your bureau drawer? interesting stuff from days gone by, don't hide it. Frame Our certified framers will preserve your valuable ephemera in archival frames for permanent enjoyment. lf is creative habitat‘ I: at Ben Franklin If you have a collection of out in the mountains kiwi We frame old magazines. movie posters, old ads. theater and concert programs 8: tickets, record albums, baseball cards. buttons, autograplis... it’ Views: Queer Delusions any queers woke up on November 3 feeling like they had been stabbed in the gut. As pundits rushed to submit their analyses of the latest Democratic pany crash and burn. the media frenzy began to resemble a morbid competition to see who could pour more salt in queer peo- p|e’s wounds. Without Ralph Nader to scapegoat for this election cycles thumping at the polls. it became clear that pushy queers ~ who had the audacity to seek equal marriage rights — would be the new Naderites. publicly reviled by Democrats for their candidate's loss. Sure. a strong majority of queers marched in lockstep behind the Kerrycrats. but how could they be so selfish as to don those tuxes and bridal gowns and dance around like a bunch of fairies on the steps of San Francisco's city hall’? Couldn‘t they see they were mining it for the Dems‘? We deserve your votes. they say. and you should be grateful for the cmmbs we might just throw you. Here's our ‘friend’ Senator Dianne Feinstein‘s (Dl post-election analysis of the strug- gle for gay marriage in her home state of California: "it gives [con- servatives] a position to rally around. The whole issue has been too much, too fast, too soon." in typical self-loathing queer modc. Representative Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts opined about the gay marriage movement. “l think it hurt.... I wasn‘t willing to pay a price for a lot of hoopla that didn't accomplish anything." Too much. too fast? Hell no. This is not the moment for apologies, nor to let this scapegoat- ing demoralize us. Here's the news that those playing the queer blame game won't emphasize when telling you to sit down and shut up. CNN exit polls showed that while only 25 percent of voters expressed sup- port for gay marriage, a further 35 percent supported civil unions. Now we here in Vermont know well that civil unions fall far short of full equality, but 60 percent of people expressed support for extending more rights to queers. One certainly doesn't find this in the mainstream discourse, as commentators remind us repeatedly that voters cited “moral values" as their top concern (chosen from ailist by a whopping 20 percent of people. while a measly 80 percent identified things like the economy. Iraq. the ‘war on terror.‘ and education as their main priorities). It's a delusion to think that had a Democrat been elected president. the trajectory of queer rights would have been much altered. Remember Bill "don't ask. don't tell" Clinton and the Defense of Marriage Act.’ But Kerry voted against DOMA. right’? Newsflash from Kansas. l)orothy: someone While hanging out with them was slightly preferable to being mocked by the football learn. must of us exentually realize that this isn't a productive way to ll\C. As adults. howey er. we still flock to the lesser I bully come poll time. As queers discuss how to proceed now. here are a few things I hope we keep in mind. First. it's a w aisle of energy to campaign for candidates \\ ho won't support our 4 Issues In hopes that they will V change their minds once clcctcd. Politiciaris almost always give us less than they promise. not m()lt.'. Second. victories rarely come with- out strong social mmcmcnts. This is not the time to play dead. but to organize to protect our recent gains and to push for more. Otherwise. our position will be even further eroded. Third. now more than ever. quccr actiyists need to align them- selves with other struggles for social and economic justice. While marriage equality can be one goal of many. we should This is not the moment for apologies, nor to let this scapegoating demoralize us. who repeatedly says. “This is a matter for the states" (isn't this what apologists for slavery used to say?) is not your friend. And while Republicans will continue pushing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Kerry was never going to work too hard to oppose it. and certainly wouldn't have fought for federally recognized civil unions. lt sccms to me that many queers’ lcmming—likc march behind the Democrats is symptoniatic of how queer people have been condi- tioncd since birth to accept the less- cr bully as their friend. As young. closeted queers. many of us quickly learned to accept any situation that didn't involve getting pounded into the locker room lloor. I knew that many of my high school friends harbored homophobic views, but as long as I stayed closeted and kept quiet, they didn't call me ‘l'ag.‘ and I thought that was good enough. also remember that if we had a uni- l vcrsal health care system. marital status wouldn’t matter when allo- cating the right to be healed. We wouldn't have to worry about win- ning access to our deceased pan- ner.s' social security bcnclils if we had a system that adequately sup- ported all eldcrly people. And we niustn't forget that the culture of war feeds the cult of masculinity that seeks to oppress queers. control women's bodies. and generally puri- ish the weak. 'l‘herc's zero evidence that our rights will be cxlcndcd through unwavering support of either major party — it's tiriie to ‘ think hard about the altcriiativcs. 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