I can't say that I would've always noticed it but there's this shitstain of a mag. called Queer Majority I keep (unfortunately) bumping into that's clearly an attempt to siphon off more moderate Queer people towards more orthodox conservative ideas but covertly with the guise/trappings of Queerness.
It describes itself itself as covering "issues related to the gay community with a classically liberal perspective" and perhaps the editors are sincere in that (though I do think the option of writing for an American audience and opting to use the phrase "classically liberal" is absolutely an attempt to pull one over) and it's not an overt psyop. But it's a lot of introducing "LGB without the T" crap (framed as "just asking questions!" and like, "Gee wiz, I dunno…; those other members are just so, gosh, extreme;" 🙄) and clear appeals to capital sympathy but trying to frame it as a concern actually always present in Queer culture, from the earliest of day. Like, imagine arguing for classical gender roles on the basis that a lot of gay artists throughout history draw "classically" masculine men and it's an indication of the way Christian-influenced gender roles are, actually, beneficial (and natural!) for us, too; that kind of propaganda. In one of the latest issues, the editor-in-chief argues for "the importance of the gay community in having a positive relationship with police".
Just; utter drivel.
And it worries me, with the general dissatisfaction people have been having around the world that's been building to a head over the last decade, and the general isolation a lot of Queer people still have to a sense of stable community.
But that's a very extended conversation and not what I was recently struck by.
It's mentioned that the editor-in-chief is also assistant director at The Bi Foundation and lead organizer of amBi, a bi social group; I was curious and clicked through to both.
And Queer Majority already had this aesthetic but they both also just as…vapid.
Just, like, empty. I mean, The Bi Foundation's website has an advice column which can always be really helpful both for the marginalized writing in and because hearing our real stories and difficulties are the easier ways to humanize us but most of it is retrofitting bi-ness into pop culture media and "famous bis" which often are based on uncertain historical verasity.
Like, maybe that worked 2 decades ago when we needed to ease the rest of the society in but (perhaps in light of the Queer Majority project and its aims) it's like eating junkfood.
There's so much Queer history and activism you could talk about but I think having to veer that clearly outside of blessed normativity would cause a crisis of identity for it.
And it's all so slick and conventional in its site's graphic design; which isn't inherently bad: The Advocate looks like your usual news site/mag. But it actually covers Queer issues and points out when transphobia happens.
And amBI is even more of that: a slick, professional looking website (à la MeetUp) with pop culture references all over the place and not really offerring much more than "Bi people are in this location". Like a book club oriented around everyone having the same tastes in books.
Just…the bar is so low and you, somehow, managed to offer something even less substantial/nourishing.
I get the impression that the creator isn't much interested in his sexuality beyond its label and has only come to terms with it because, well, you can't change your sexuality. So all the other characteristics about himself take so much more importance, for him.
Perhaps that's less charitable than I ought to be for someone I hardly know but he's also trying to astroturf conservatism into my community so color me unconvinced.
