Anti-Fascist. Armed to the Teeth

[SpankMe]

10. "If the queer community is viewed as an armed community, they'll be safer."

Absolutely true.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about a "libs can be armed, too" ideation to counter the right.

To those who say this is a disappointing development, I say the progressive side of this issue has been bringing knives to gun fights and will lose out against anti-LGBT oppression in the long term. The cons are gathering adherents every day with their out-of-context, bigoted and violent rhetoric. The "velvet response" from the liberal and LGBT community isn't working to curtail the attacks.

Anti LGBT assholes will continue to oppress the LBGT and wider liberal community - with oppressive laws and armed protest at LGBT events - until that community is back in the closet. This has already started with all of the drag show cancellations that have occurred against the backdrop of armed right-wing "activism". Our side is losing ground and we'll be back in the '50's very soon. Married same sex couples in red states are saying they feel less safe today than they were twenty years ago. That's fucked up.

We cannot continue to fight fire with glitter and expect to win. We have to bring an equivalent level of force to keep the equation balanced.

Gay acceptance is declining among young people. There's an uptick in anti-gay bullying and rhetoric at high schools and colleges nationwide. Until recently, young people were the more accepting and open-minded ones. The youth was going to be our savior.

No longer. At our local high school, the teacher who sponsors the Gay-Straight alliance has had to remove a rainbow flag from the window of his classroom. He did this voluntarily due to threats and the changing environment. The school district did not order, or even suggest, that the flag be removed. The district even supports - somewhat strongly - gay students. But the teacher unilaterally removed the flag - and a couple of other signs in his classroom - out of caution due to increasing vandalism and other non-acceptance acts committed by students...a trend he says he hasn't seen in 10 years. The flag and other symbols he took down had been there for 15 years.