When the personal is explicitly political…

by Maria

January 3, 2009

Jamaal Young over at NYPress reflects about the holiday season, and the confusing politics of family and “out-ness.” Good times!

Quotes from the post:

The holidays are upon us and that means we’re all prepped to spend some quality time with the fam. In my case, this requires that I hop on a southbound flight and head to the milder climes of the Carolinas. As with all things holiday-ish, it can be a little complicated: who has to sleep on the couch in the family room (me); who gets to wrap all the last-minute presents (me); and who gets to avoid talking about his homosexual lifestyle in front of his younger siblings? Yep, you guessed it…me! It’s not like I’m in the closet; my parents have known just how gay I am for almost a decade. It’s just that Mom and Dad prefer that I keep my 18-year-old brother and 11-year-old sister in the dark when it comes to my sexuality (as if in the age of Bravo TV they can’t spot a gay boy a mile away). The fact that I am not allowed to tell them definitely speaks to the discomfort my sexuality still causes my parents.

That I acquiesce to their unreasonable demand suggests that I may not be entirely comfortable with it either. I mean, here I am, someone who has organized and trained volunteers to fight for gay and lesbian rights in four different states; yet in my own childhood home, I tolerate losing the right to be honest.

http://www.nypress.com/article-19044-on-a-scale-of-1-to-5.html

Related posts:

1. Gendered holiday expectations?
2. Edgeworks Dance Theater — Community Collaboration and Genderwork
3. Brokeback Boys
4. Versions of equality
5. The “consent” conversation

Posted in Real Life on January 3, 2009 Tags: Activism, Discrimination, News and politics
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