The New Queer Conscience (Pocket Change Collective)

by Adam Eli

Queerness only exists in opposition to what’s perceived as “normal.” When it comes to gender and sexuality, our society’s “normal” is defined by one cisgender man and one cisgender woman who experience opposite-sex attraction and live comfortably in their gender roles.

One of the reasons being in the closet is so painful is that it seems like you’re the only person in the world feeling what you’re feeling. How are you supposed to know that something is normal if you can’t talk about it or don’t hear about it from other people?

We do not qualify, deny, or question a person’s belonging to the queer community. No one queer experience is more valid than another.

Showing up for other marginalized groups by going to protests, donating money, and sharing resources is not a selfless act or charity. It is the key to our continued survival. A world that is less racist, less Islamophobic, and less ableist will be less queerphobic and vice versa. Hatred and intolerance are nothing but the fear of people who are different from you. By combating one type of hatred, you combat all types of hatred.

Showing up, applauding, and supporting queer people is a radical and vital act of self-love in a world that constantly tells us we are not enough.

Today, we have members of the queer family living in every single corner, community, and country in the world, all fighting for the same cause. Only now we have the means to communicate with one another, and members with actual privilege and leverage to lift us. Our generation has the liberties and tools no generation of queers has ever had before. We have the opportunity to unite and create a New Queer Conscience.

Queer people anywhere are responsible for queer people everywhere. Queer people anywhere must fight for queer people everywhere.