It’s Not LGBTQ People’s Duty to Come Out and Change the World
Have you ever been tasked with a responsibility that is objectively bigger than what you’re capable of?Maybe you were left alone to babysit a group of rowdy infants at the pool because you’re the only adult who can swim, or your grandma volunteered you to make the entire Thanksgiving dinner because you once casually mentioned a desire to get back into cooking. A responsibility you didn’t ask for, nor do you necessarily want, but one for which people believe you’re the most fitting candidate so you effectively get nominated on everyone’s behalf.That’s how it feels when, as a queer person, straight people expect you to rectify the state of society by educating the homophobia out of it.
That’s also how it feels as a person of colour expected to turn the tides of racism. Or as a woman expected to scream and cry hard enough to lower the rates of femicide. And a long et cetera, no doubt.
It’s like standing at the start of the ultramarathon with half a packet of energy gel and the beginnings of a blister forming — sure, you can attempt it, but it’s going to be painful and exhausting and you’re going to bleed. I came across this YouTube video by Farha Khalidi earlier today that really resonated with me.
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