Queer politics
The Yale Herald
November 11, 1994

Can the modem homosexual movement
make room for gays who uphold traditional
social norms?
Depends on who you ask. Members of
Beaufort. a newly formed group of conser•

Against the Current
by Neomi Rao
vative gay students. believe that they can
work for acceptance and certain legal righ1s
within the traditional social structure. But at
least two members oflhe Bisexual, Gay, and
Lesbian Cooperative have a different opin•
ion. When Beaufort petitioned for status as
a political organization within the Co-op,
two members blocked the petition, effec•
tivety saying that po.liticat diversity within
the Co-op cannot be tolerated.
Thwarted in its quest for recognition as a
political organization, Beaufort has agreed
to remain a discussion group while the Coop as a whole discusses changes to its

Political diversity
within the Co-op?

I

constitucion and debates the confused reality of the modem gay-rights movement.
Over the past few decades homosexuals
have established themselves as a minority
group fighting against discrimination. ·1ust
observe how the discourse against the
"white mate power structure" has now become a consciousness of the oppressive
"white male heterosexual power structure."
Trendy political movements have only rcq•
cently added sexuality to the standar'd
checklist of traits requiring tolerance.
Yet sexuality differs in important ·respects from gender and race. Sexism, racism. and homophobia all express a certain
hatred and prejudice; homophobia, however, is often more deeply rooted. People
tend to view race and gender as an accident
o f birth, one which should not confer special
status, simply because it is given and unchangeable. But often these same people
who tolerate women in the workplace and
blacks nnd Hispanics as neighbors view
homosexuality as a behavior-and behav•
iors, unlike gender and race, are subject to
change.
When homosexuality is viewed as a
correctable behavior, it can be judged as
being immoml. unrrnturat, and contrary to
religious doctrine. Yet no one knows
whether sexuality is a biological phenome•
non or a social construct. The tnllh may lie
somewhere in the middle.
Because homosexuali ty. unlike gender
and race, concerns a socially unacceptable
activity, many gays have responded to the
demands of normalcy in radical ways. They
want not only equal rights, but they struggle
more fundamentally to alter cullu_re and

society. For most gay activists, the political
has become an intimately linked expression
of the social and the sexua I, because they
must politically assert the correctness of a
particular behavior. Women and blacks had
to struggle just to prove that they were as
human as white males.
Homosexual activism in its most visible
form engages mainstream society io a total
cultural challenge. The "promotion of queer
expression" comes in the form of explicitly
sexual printed material, as well as national
call ies and marches. In other, more grass,
roots forms. gays try to educate people
about homose1rnality by fighting to include
books such as Heather Has Two Mommies
in the required-reading lists of elementary
school teachers.
It is this confrontational stance to
traditional society which Beaufort seeks to
avoid. Founders of the group believe that
many of the tactics adopted by the Co-op
work to alienate the straight mainstream·. In
challenging the conventions of the Co-op,
members of Beaufort assert that there is no
necessary connection between a particular
social and political agenda and being homosexual. The interest gays share, they argue,
has to do with legal rights.
The stance taken by Beaufort correctly
makes sexuality one attribute of an
individual, rather than an all-encompassing
identity which dictates other areas of social
and political life. As the Co-op has tried to
"foster and encourage an environment in
which lesbian, gay, and bisexual people
may express themselves," they hove simultaneously erected definitive identities and
drawn new boundaries. Challengers of these
boundaries lire met with hosti lity.
fn a small community, people feel an
especially strong need for iinity, since fmgmentation means a further diminishing of
"power." Therefore. minority groups often
use homogeneous politicnl goals to support
social cohesion. Those who deviate are considered disruptive to the cause, traitors 10 the
community. In searching for social unity,
the Co-op has tried to exclude dissenting
political voices.
The Co-op demands thot mainstream
society M least acknowledge the existence
and legit imacy of homosexuality- it fights
against what il considers to be an oppressive
unity of sexuality. To avoid charges of

Sexuality is an
attribute- not one s
1

complete identity.
hypocrisy, it would do well to allow d~verse
political views in ilS own community.
Or maybe purity in politics is no tonger
just for the fascistic white male heterosexual
power structure.