Q&A not Q&A: “I think opression is a determining factors for the LGBT+ community…”

anonymous said:

I think opression is a determining factors for the LGBT+ community, isnt the opression we shared what ended up bringing us together

(re: this post)

…this response started out short, but then it turned into me venting. sorry, anon.

sure, for some it is a major– possibly even a determining– factor of their personal identity as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. but like i said, imho, it isn’t the determining factor. even if one person does feel like it is the determining factor of their personal identity, it is a mistake to then assume that that holds true for everyone. not everyone’s identity is determined in part or entirely by their oppression.

on top of that, oppression isn’t even something one can measure to determine whether someone is “oppressed enough” to have the right to identify as a part of the community. if someone was to try and measure it, what would they even be measuring it against? the oppression a lesbian or gay person faces isn’t the oppression that a trans person faces isn’t the oppression that a bi person faces, etc etc. who’s oppression are you going to use as a yardstick to compare everyone else’s to? and how is that comparison even fair? it’s not. even two gay men do not necessarily face the same oppression from being gay because oppression is really complicated.

furthermore, the LGBTQIA+ community is not a club. members of the community do not get to vote on who gets to be a member of it, nor do they have the power to veto someone else’s identity as a member of it.

while everyone is certainly allowed to have an opinion on whether X, Y, Z people are members of the community, at the end of the day someone’s opinion does not trump someone else’s self-identity, imho. it most certainly doesn’t give that someone license to go harass or police someone else based on their opinion.

not saying that that’s what you do, anon, but that seems to be a common practice of people who insist on arguing “but X, Y, Z aren’t oppressed (enough)!!” it suggests that oppression is a contest, like the Olympics: only those who make it to the qualifying round get the right to identify as Olympians.