Jackie Beat Rules!

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TAKING A STAND, FOR YOURSELVES

I recently read about a physical attack on a drag queen in L.A., and it’s gotten me to thinking about how gay people respond to attacks outside of their homes. The drag queen was Jackie Beat. She fought back and won, so I’d like to say “You go girl!!!!!!”

But beyond the attack on Jackie lie countless verbal and physical attacks on LGBT people, attacks lacking any form of provocation except for the extreme hatred wormed inside of the attackers.

The main question is, should LGBT people ignore attacks, or should they vigorously fight against them?

I’ve heard people say that it’s wrong to lower oneself to the level of the insulters, that one shouldn’t respond to them at all. But I condemn that approach. I believe that the homophobes who today ejaculate verbal insults against LGBT people are the ones who have the potential to physically attack tomorrow. If you give them the idea that it’s OK for them to insult you to your face for the mere fact of your being gay, you are psychologically empowering them to physically attack either you or another LGBT person at a later time.

Not only does ignoring anti-gay verbal attacks encourage physical attackers, it encourages homophobes to think they can continue not granting us full legal equality in society. Don’t forget that a gay-rights fence sitter like Mrs. Clinton was raised in a virulently anti-gay culture and that all signs are that she has not purged that hatred from herself. She grew up hearing anti-gay epithets constantly spewed and her behavior as a lawmaker demonstrates that she absorbed anti-gay hatred and at some level still nurses it. If that weren’t true, New York would likely already have joined Massachusetts in offering gay people the rights, responsibilities, and legal benefits of marriage.

The whole idea that you shouldn’t respond to attackers because they operate on a lower level is preposterous and idiotic. Islamic terrorists are manifestly behaving in an uncivil and therefore low manner but we don’t ignore their attacks, because we can’t afford to ignore them. The same holds true for GLBT people when they are under attack. I mean, should Matthew Shepherd’s attackers be set free? If you take the “don’t stoop to their level” argument to its logical conclusion, you would free Matt’s killers out of concern for not “stooping to the level” of taking away their freedom as they took away his. And it was, after all, the whole social mechanism that encourages and/or ignores insults against gays that made possible the murder of Matthew Shepherd. Never forget that “protestors” came to his funeral with signs saying that he would go to hell.

I don’t just talk the talk, either, I walk the walk. Without giving you all the gruesome details, on more than one occasion, right here in the gay heart of Chelsea, I have heard homophobes shouting anti-gay insults at passers-by. On those occasions, I’ve confronted the bastards, and believe me, they’ll think twice before they ever again insult gay people.

You have to understand that the stereotype of gay people is that they are weak and cowardly. If you don’t confront verbal attackers and let them know you won’t stand for their shit, you reinforce the stereotype, thus emboldening homophobic assholes to attack more gays in the future.