Still the Same Guy. But Not Really.

by Many Guisa

Growing up in a very coerced hetero-atmosphere in a low income neighborhood did not make things easy for me, or young kids in general, to roam about the boundaries of sexuality and orientation. The “tough” ideologies and mindsets behind masculinity always permeated throughout the realms of schooling and interactions. It was essentially the purest form of the ‘tough guise’ that inspiring people like Jackson Katz or Jean Kilbourne refer to. If you didn’t embody the macho-type you’d get your ass kicked.
Suspected gay students in my middle school, for instance, were – as it always seems to be – the subject of ridicule and humiliation. From that young age, I understood that to be the epitome of evil.

It was interesting to see how the same did not apply to lesbians at school. They were feared, avoided, or aggrandized through silly rumors. The immature gender norms of kid life did not prepare most of the students at school to “deal” with their existence. Are they just like us? Are lesbians doing meth in the alley behind the cafeteria? It was a perplexing sideshow that diverted from the reality of it all: they were people, humans, students, sisters, daughters, friends, lovers, readers, writers, dancers…. they, like the less-fortunate gay students were PEOPLE.

As much as it seems to be preaching to the choir here, it was important to me to slowly reach an epiphany at age 12 about these harsh, ignored realities.

Fast forward, I went to college and realized that Sociology was my passion. In a course I took (which led me to soc but was not soc), I had a life-changing epiphany that led me to believe the one thing that no one cares to ever talk about or consciously address because they don’t want to sound preachy or clichê:

People are going to believe what they want as they favor their in-group with positive sanctions while discrediting and fearing the “other”. In what we can say is Darwinian, people will naturalize their beliefs as their knee-jerk reactions tell them. They’ll internalize the ideas – as irrational as they are – as the institutions of society tell them they should; hating gays, belittling science, bashing immigrants, and marginalizing minorities…

So why do I write my story this way?

I can say that this error in human thinking and idea-forming, this imbalance in the social justice side of our ever-consuming, ‘politically correct’ society is ENOUGH to want to fight for the one who is treated as second-class. We’re quick to fight for too many frivolous things overseas that deal with financial gain, we’re quick to revile America’s history with the chinese during the gold mine, the slaves in the pre-civil war south, the (straight) women during the suffrage movement, and the irish immigrants in the 19th century……. but we can’t acknowledge a cycle of oppression that’s occurring now.

I am making it my goal, by disseminating ideas through documentary film and political protest, to fight for those who are getting their rights taken away and – most importantly – are still seen in unfavorable light because of WHO they are rather than what they’ve done.

Loving someone should not be jeopardized by the self-righteous institutions that – in ironic actuality – are far more evil and malicious.

My story is one of change. Although I am not gay, not bisexual, nor transgender, I will be on your side until I die.

I love when I see white americans at immigrant rights rallies. I love when I see corporate executives standing against their own. I love when I see Bishops protesting the misdeeds of their Church. I love when I see Californians aiding Katrina victims.

Does this beautiful pattern NOT make sense? Just because the direct effect of the injustice does not touch you, does not mean there is no injustice. We must collectively fight against oppression and do it with a smile.

You don’t need a degree on advance post-modernism with an emphasis on social psychology in queer theory to be smart enough to say: condemning gays/lesbians is wrong.

I didn’t have to get to this point in my life through schooling. I could’ve easily gotten here from a small life experience or – hey – even an episode of The Real L Word.