It’s funny how after all the soul searching, character finding experiences we can have in one lifetime, there is always one thing that we constantly search for: someone to fall in love with who will love us back. We spend our lives searching for that one person who will “make us complete”. That’s right people, I’m taking on relationships.
Whether you are part of the LGBTQ community or straight as a pole, we (as humans) tend to have this need to be in a relationship. Even the most independent of individuals have those moments where they wake up in the morning, are alone in the car, or had some sort of experience where they think to themselves: ‘I wish I had someone who I could share this with’ (and we aren’t talking friends here). This dependency is something that can be considered a nature and nurture issue. Biologically, we are born to mate/survive (plus, we are all a bunch of horny motherfuckers) and therefore we want that someone so that we can experience life with. Socially, we are brought up to believe that we are worth nothing if we don’t fall in to the norm of having a partner.
Members of the LGBTQ community are constantly drawn into this hetero-normative social structure in which they should settle down with one partner and try to fit the gender binary that would apply to the 1950’s ‘straight heterosexual happily married couple with 3-4 kids and a dog’. Truth be told, we are all guilt of wanting to somehow fit into a state of ‘normality’ within society. We all want to be happy and we (deep deep down – yes even you liberated ones) all have a passing thought every couple of days that being in a relationship will somehow help us reach content. This dependency has to stop. We should encourage people to be happy whether they are single or taken. One’s relationship status does not and should not define their self worth. Let us all try to look at our lives through a new sort of looking glass, the kind that does not place such a pressure on others simply because of their relationship status. And who said relationships were that great anyways?
Friday, February 12, 2010
Relationships. What Gives?
Exploitation of the LGBTQ Community
Exploitation is an easy weapon used by many corporations, fraternities, societies, governments, and institutions to control the masses. If I were to use Lebanon as an example I could say that the tool of exploitation was running rampant around the country. The corporate virus has reached social level and has hit epidemic status. Let’s zoom in a little closer shall we?
Let’s examine the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) community for a second. In Lebanon, people within the LGBTQ community are not accepted into society. Seeing as society in general tends to be exclusively ‘hetero-normative’ then we must keep in mind that in a country like Lebanon, there are very few places that people in this community can publicly (and privately, but that’s a story for another time) hang out. These are the places that I have a specific problem with. These so called ‘gay-friendly’ places that exist in our society add to a segregation, abuse, and myth/misconception within/of/and about the gay community.
These four ideas can be interlinked with one simple word: money. Due to the fact that ‘gay-friendly’ places in Lebanon are the main locations for LGBTQ members to frequent, these ‘corporations’ (if I may be so bold) take advantage of this fact and use it to overcharge their loyal customers. Almost all of these pubs/restaurants/clubs have doubled their prices in comparison to normal places. This is a direct abuse of their customers and to people within this community. Also, this creates segregation and reiterates a common myth/ misconception about the LGBTQ community: WE ARE NOT ALL RICH. Although individuals in the gay community do not have (the option) to raise children, or marry this does not mean that we can all afford the absurd prices (because we are not paying for that extra hetero-normative dream) that these places expect us to pay just for allowing us to have a seat in their ‘humble’ abode. This also creates a huge split in the LGBTQ community between the middle/upper class and the lower class. Instead of targeting the community as a whole and giving the majority the option to have this so called ‘privilege’, they leave this option only for the tiny window of upper class citizens.
This dependency that we all have towards these ‘gay-friendly’ places has to stop. Just because a place markets themselves as ‘tolerant’, ‘accepting’, and ‘friendly’, doesn’t mean they actually are. We have to realize that we, as a community, are being exploited and abused for our money. Places like ‘Life Bar’ (for example) have a clear history of discriminating against members of the LGBTQ community and also charge absurd prices for the cheapest of drinks. Are we really ready to allow a place market themselves on our behalf and then rip us off while they are at it? Im not. Let the revolution begin now.
