{"id":7826,"date":"2013-10-16T08:45:15","date_gmt":"2013-10-16T15:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=7826"},"modified":"2013-10-15T09:46:53","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T16:46:53","slug":"open-space-gay-shame-not-all-rainbows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2013\/10\/16\/open-space-gay-shame-not-all-rainbows\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Space<\/em>: Gay Shame not all rainbows"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, in a haze of rainbow flags and sparkly confetti, I participated in my very first gay pride parade. With a big smile and a multicoloured parasol, I hid my urge to vomit while waving to all the people lining the streets enthralled in the extravagant floats and outrageous costumes. I was uncomfortable, and I\u2019ll tell you why.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to be part of a queer community enshrouded in corporatization and fuelled by capitalism. I don\u2019t want to share my queer space with Royal Bank, Coca-Cola, or political parties aiming to get the gay cut of the electorate.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to be part of a movement whose idea of equality is a monogamous engagement ring, and I definitely don\u2019t want to be one of those guys salivating over the next sweatshop fashion fad. I don\u2019t want my queer identity to merge into an assimilated, quasi hetero-normative one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Camosun College Pride at the 2011 pride parade (photo by Rowan Epp).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instead, I want to be part of community that sees equality as something more profound than marriage. I want to be a part of a movement that not only recognizes the connections between systems of oppression and positions of power, but also stands in solidarity with marginalized identities within the queer community.<\/p>\n

I want to be part of a parade that flips the finger to the likes of Coca-Cola for their role in the exploitation of people and environments. I was at the gay pride parade, but maybe what I was looking for was Gay Shame.<\/p>\n

Gay Shame is a radical queer movement that came about as a result of the gentrification happening in New York in the \u201990s and the role that mainstream queers played in it. In addition, it came as a response to the consumerist nature of gay pride parades.<\/p>\n

Like author and member of Gay Shame Mattilda Sycamore writes, \u201cNew York\u2019s Gay Pride had become little more than a giant opportunity for multinational corporations to target-market to gay consumers.\u201d Gay Shame created a space for queers in the periphery of mainstream pride, the ones who saw queer liberation as a multilayered, intersecting movement.<\/p>\n

As we have seen in recent media reports, queers everywhere have been boycotting Coca-Cola for their endorsement of the Sochi Olympics in Russia, a nation known for its homophobia. The irony is that Coca-Cola is a major sponsor for many pride parades across the world, including our very own in Victoria.<\/p>\n

So, drop the pride and bring on the Shame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year, in a haze of rainbow flags and sparkly confetti, I participated in my very first gay pride parade. With a big smile and a multicoloured parasol, I hid my urge to vomit while waving to all the people lining the streets enthralled in the extravagant floats and outrageous costumes. I was uncomfortable, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-views","category-october-16-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t