Clubpitch draft

It is well documented that 40 years ago, things were shit, and had to get better. People decided to get together and fix it. Some of the things they did were very hard, but this story is about what was easy. It was easy to see who the “people” were, because everyone else singled them out, and it was easy for people to get next to each other because they could talk about being singled out. And it was easy to focus all of your extra energy into the people you chose because you were forced to interact with all the other people (who were not as fun but made you stronger for having to deal with them) in all other aspects of life.

Then 20 years passed. The people picked up names like Queer and habits like dyeing their hair and baggage like a persistent blindspot for black people. The Queers also picked up some skills through necessity: we learned how to get universities to give us a department, we learned how to get media companies to put some of us on the screens, and we learned how to get the liberals to never openly speak ill of us. This all was probably genuinely a good idea (there is not enough data to say either way), but there are also skills that we didn’t develop. We didn’t learn how to walk down the street with the power of our own confidence, not relying on the state goons. We didn’t learn how to grow our communities as part of ourselves, not relying on an individual identity. We didn’t learn how to get everyone to shout our achievements, rather than helping us paper over our failures.

Then 20 years passed, and we are failing. The universities are defunding our departments, the media companies are quietly canceling our shows, and the liberals haven't done anything but say “at least we aren't killing you” for the past three election cycles. There is something to be said for closing ranks, making sure we hold on to our safe spaces, and sticking to what we know works; I only ask you to understand an alternative before deciding that that is your project.

If we want to escape (not just band-aid) the problems that seem to be intertwined with the extant Queer institutions, we must make a not Queer institution. If we want to get in front of as many eyes as possible, we must advertise. If we want to grow, we must focus on what we can do rather than what we are. If we want to change everything, we must be willing to change ourselves.

I will create a space for people to demonstrate their skills to an audience with as many diverse skills as possible. I will force people to practice defining themselves to people who don’t just get it, and I will make people come wanting to get it (you included!). I will encourage people to meet a person who will become a “hey, I know a guy…” who will become a best friend. I will find a space that is boring but for the people filling it, and I will cultivate a people who will fill any space to overflowing. I know that I can’t do this alone, so I need people that will these things as well.

That is my pitch.