Queer it Down a little bit

I thought I'd add this to my Blog - It is a wonderful CLAIM your Identity expose... Inspirational for those that may not yet be free....

Re Blogged from Pinebark

By Kimothy Shaughnessy

I get choked up. I want to cry. I want to scream and cheer. I want to run into the schools and plaster the walls with photocopied sheets bearing these words. I want to hijack every crackling PA system and broadcast Kimothy Shaughnessy’s voice to every kid within earshot. 

Text:

He asks me what material I’m thinking of doing.
I tell him that my best option for a grade 10 environment is a poem about discovering your sexual and gender identity.
He says that while my participation in this project is valued, we don’t want to get in any trouble.
He is basically asking me to queer it down a little.
He is basically asking me to be a little more invisible for the sake of intolerance.
He is basically asking me to look my own teenage suicidal thoughts in the eye and dismiss them.
He is basically asking me to tell the next generation we’re too obscene to be heard.
He is basically asking the wrong fucking person.

I am not here to queer it down for anyone.
I’m here to queer it up for the dykes, sissies, faggots, tomboys and trannies.
I know you’re in here, and I’ve got a message for you from the other side of freedom.

When people tell you that being queer is not a choice, we were born that way-
they’re not telling the whole story.
Some of us did choose, we chose not to lead heteronormative lies-
Going to bed every night dreaming of Cindy in Archaeology class
so that our sex lives feel a little less like rape.
Some of us chose not to stay in the closet, trying on our wife’s clothes when she’s not home
cuz we know she’d get the kids and all the compassion.
Some of us chose to fail Tuesday morning English tests cuz there’s a bar 20 minutes out of town that has cheap Kokanee on Mondays and lets in underage sissies like a safe haven from hallway torment.
For some of us-
being ourselves, speaking up, coming out for the sake of resisting oppression is a choice.

I am not here to queer it down for anyone.
I’m here to queer it up for the dykes, sissies, faggots, tomboys and trannies.
I know you’re in here, and I’ve got a message for you from the other side of freedom.

You are not a victim.
This isn’t hopeless and you’re not getting my sympathy.
You have been blessed with having something worth fighting for.
Even though your identity might sometimes feel like a liability-
some people say that being queer is what saved them.
It gave us a safe reason to be subversive-
taught us early that social rebellion satisfies our basic human need for validation.

So, this is your chance to be a bad-ass.
When someone else calls you a name- take a stand and reclaim it.
If it’s been written on your locker with cherry scented marker-
say “sissy!”
If other girls have refused to sleep over at your house like you’re some kind of predator-
say “dyke!”
If you’ve been walking down a back country road with a group of good ol’ boys behind you and had to restrain yourself from running cuz that will only make things worse-
say “faggot.”
If you’ve been kicked out of public washrooms in the name of someone else’s false sense of security-
say “tomboy.”

And if you’ve been in any of these situations and thought
“oh fuck, I hope they don’t hear my voice, see my adam’s apple, find my vagina”-
say “tranny!”

Sticks and stones may break our bones,
But, names can’t break our spirits.
These are your words now and you can use them to your advantage.
Dyke March, Happy Tranny, Fag City, Queer Nation.
Some people won’t like the sound of it- but they’re just not ready.
Rising above other people’s put downs is now a part of your family history.

Life never gives us anything we can’t handle,
consider the enormity of this challenge a testament to your strength and beauty.
You are not a victim.
You are lucky.
So don’t you ever
queer it down a little
for anybody.