Welcome to a Queer Future!
“To be truly visionary we have to root our imagination in our concrete reality while simultaneously imagining possibilities beyond that reality.”
-bell hooks
Content warning: this article discusses the current state of affairs for LGBTQ+ people, mental health, suicide, and violence. It does discuss these things through a lens of hope and love, and not in graphic detail.
It is safe to say that we do not currently live in a world that is friendly to LGBTQ+ people. While we have come a long way since even a few decades ago, Queer folks still face violence, discrimination, and ridicule on a daily basis. It can be frustrating and traumatizing to see how many areas of our world operate from an anti-LGBTQ+ standpoint, or at the very least- do not condemn such behavior. Our concrete reality in 2022 shows a lot of room for improvement, especially when we consider how many LGBTQ+ folks also hold any combination of other marginalized identities. It’s not just Queer folks under attack right now, so many also experience other layers of marginalization in their lives too. It can be difficult to imagine a world that operates with the needs and wants of Queer folks at the center of how things are done, but the practice of imagining a future where this is possible is itself revolutionary. When things are stacked against us and the odds are not in our favor, it is a radical act to look to the future and believe that something better can be built there. bell hooks reminds us to imagine possibilities beyond our current reality. One of my favorite Radical Emprints postcards reads: “build a horizon to dream towards” - and I believe firmly in this idea is critical to the success of social justice movements, including Queer liberation.
So, when we look to the future- towards a Queer future- what do we see? What kind of world would we like to live in? I don’t have all the answers, but I know that for me, a Queer future includes the following things:
Abandoning hierarchies and systems that promote oppression and violence.
This first vision for a Queer future does not just impact Queer people, by design. Lila Watson famously said “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” A Queer future that still allows for violence and oppression of other identities is not any better than the current state of the world, and would not be revolutionary or liberatory whatsoever. We have to work together to remove all barriers, all hierarchies, all forms of violence- and build alternative systems to turn to instead, so the work is sustainable. And since EVERYONE has a gender and a sexuality, no matter your race, religion, age, language, ability status, or the amount of money you have, the work for Queer liberation must also include liberation for everyone- otherwise, it really serves none of us.
Everyone has full control and autonomy over what happens to their bodies and lives.
At present, only a small subset of the American population has actual control over their bodies, and the rest of us must either have decisions made for us or navigate lots of legal and medical red tape to make choices to improve the quality of our lives. In a Queer future, everyone would be able to stand in their own power and be trusted as the expert in their own experiences, and would be able to decide for themselves what they need to be happy and healthy. We already see the benefits of allowing young people to self-determine their medical and social paths when it comes to gender- a 2022 study by Tordoff et. al. found that “in this prospective cohort of 104 transgender and nonbinary (TNB) youths aged 13 to 20 years, receipt of gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones, was associated with 60% lower odds of moderate or severe depression and 73% lower odds of suicidality over a 12-month follow-up.” This and other studies are finding that people feel better about themselves, their lives, and are less likely to make permanent decisions when they are trusted and given access to the tools they need to care for themselves.
In a Queer future, all gender-affirming care (including the types that cisgender people receive very often, such as breast augmentation and reduction, hairline replacement surgeries, supplements to increase muscle mass, tattoos, and piercings) would be available without costly and frustrating hoops to jump through, and folks would be able to easily get what they need to feel better about themselves in their bodies.
Change is embraced as a necessary and exciting process in a person’s life.
One of my favorite parts of Queerness is that it has invited change into my life in a very big way. My identities and the language I use to talk about them have changed quite a bit over the years. When I was younger, I felt like that was a bad thing- like I had to have everything figured out and declare something about myself definitively, but I found as I got older that embracing complexity, paradox, and both/and thinking are major parts of a happy Queer life.
Our heteronormative, cisgender world would have you believe that you will be one thing across the span of your whole life (as assigned to you at birth by a total stranger…), and any change in how you think, feel, or communicate about yourself is a threat- something to be ignored or avoided entirely. In reality, none of us are entirely the same as we were when we were young, and how we understand our gender and sexuality has likely evolved over the course of our lives. How many of us thought we were attracted to one “type” of person in high school (“I’ll only date emo kids!”) but found in adulthood that we could actually find many “types” of people attractive? Even outside of gender and sexuality, it is rare that someone’s sense of self is completely unchanging throughout their entire lives.
In a Queer future, we could seek change in our lives and take advantage of someone close to us going through a change in their life as an opportunity to get to know them better- to build authentic connections with the new person they are becoming, while still honoring and holding space for the person they used to be.
No limits to what you can do or be based on arbitrary categories!
Queer folks, especially those of us who exist outside the binary of gender and sexuality, really call into question the roles and rules of our society. There are a lot of “do’s” and “do not’s” that we run into as we move through the world, which makes it hard to explore our options and live as our full selves. Movements for gender equality have often focused on challenging those arbitrary roles in our society- making sure women had the right to vote, own land, hold paying jobs, and navigate themselves through the world as whole people- because who is to say that they can’t do these things?
Queer folks also challenge these roles and rules by simply existing. When gender and sexuality are just aspects of a person’s sense of self and don’t come with firm rules about what you can and cannot do, it is much more difficult to oppress and control people for their differences. I want to live in a future where everyone is welcome to see their gender and sexuality as expansive, opening doors rather than closing them, and as creating new possibilities in their lives. Roles can still exist in a Queer future, but they can be delegated by people’s skills, talents, and interests, rather than what their “biology” demands of them to do.
In a Queer future, all folks would be encouraged to experiment freely with who they are, what they like to do, and be themselves fully in whatever life path they choose.
Your Queer Future
In addition to my thoughts, I asked you on Instagram what it would look like to live in a Queer future, and here is what you said:
Less hierarchy, more community
Elimination of binaries
Mutual aid
Affordable access to education and healthcare
Predicted decrease in violent/deadly crime
A day where it’s not a joke to have two boys kiss
I love all of these responses, and I also would like to live in a world where these things are aspects of our everyday life.
By dreaming and visioning what our future can look like, we can start to take steps in that direction. I challenge you to ask yourself: what would it look like for me to live in a Queer future? What does my place in a Queer future look like? How can I help us get there?
Having a clear vision is the first step to making meaningful change, and it helps guide your movement to a new world. We aren’t living in a Queer future- yet- but I believe it is possible if we are committed to the transformation, together.
