“You always told me it takes time…How much time do you want for your ‘progress’?” – James Baldwin, interviewed
Nazis unwelcome: here’s my post about moving this blog off of Substack soon. I might put this stinger on every post until then to try to irritate Nazi Sympathizer Hamish McKenzie. I might forget/get bored and stop. Not today though!
It’s Cotton Xenomorph’s last ‘Cryptids and Climate Change’ pieces! What fun it’s been editing this issue and seeing these pieces roll out. I hope, if you’ve clicked on any of these links, you’ve found some cool writers you liked. Check out “Lakebed” by Rabbitfeet and “A Girl Activates God Mode” by Ruth Joffre. I saved two absolute bangers for the end, I promise.
CX will reopen for submissions in July, so get your writing fingers twitching!
It would be nice to say it’s a settled issue that being LGBTQIA+ is not a choice. But it’s only a settled issue in my mind because I’m not in Youth Group anymore and don’t talk to people who think it is a choice anymore. 20 years after a man who also thought the theory of evolution was bunk was trying to convince me “the queers could repent any time they wanted,” it’s a mainstream debate about just how many people who go on HRT later regret it. Something like three or four people, if I understand correctly.
What I’m getting at is: it’s been long enough, and you don’t have to have patience with queerphobes. David Lynch has already told them to fix their hearts.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox has declared this year’s Pride month to be a “month of bridge-building.” This comes after his 2023 declaration, which omitted all use of the LGBTQIA+ acronym (that’s an Axios link, I understand if you don’t wanna click it). Here’s the 2024 declaration, followed by a few of the choicest cuts of Whereases:
Whereas, we understand the shared human need for connection, kindness, understanding, and friendship;
Whereas, we recognize that a pluralistic society with differing ideas, people and personal beliefs is foundational to the American experience;
…
Whereas, we recognize that there are many Utahns, including those who do not identify with, celebrate or support Pride celebrations, who nevertheless share the experience of being marginalized, rejected or isolated;
…
Whereas, in Utah we love our children and we hope to live in such a way that our children will forever love us even if at times we may disagree over deeply-held personal views or beliefs;
As far as Governor’s declarations go, it’s a far cry from BRING YA ASS LET’S GO WOLVES.
Anyway, it’s that last one that gives away the game for me. We want our children to love us forever please just come to Christmas this year, I’m not asking for Thanksgiving, just Jesus’s birthday, please one.
I prefer to be a peacemaker (that’s the Christian way my mom puts it, anyway, I might argue I’m paralyzingly conflict-averse). But let’s be serious.
Look, there’s a parallel dimension somewhere that is ruled by civility and actual friendly disagreements where all these statements about bridge-building are good faith, face-value statements. But the country founded on genocide, built by slave labor, and currently experiencing ascendant fascism ain’t it. Double-talk is in the US’s blood.
Right now, the Supreme Court—an illegitimate and outdated institution full of seditious suburbanites that will destroy countless lives for a generation thanks to the Federalist Society and Donald Trump—has rolled back voting rights protections. They have rolled back discrimination protections, leading to white people successfully suing programs for Black people into pointlessness. They struck down Roe and seem to be chomping at the bit to outlaw abortion entirely, hell, maybe contraception, too. Do you feel confident Obergefell could survive a second Trump presidency? Do you feel confident Loving could? We need something light, where’s Freddie?
There is no “bridge-building” with bigots. There is no “bridge-building” with people who want you dead. There is no “bridge-building” with people who think God’s on their side, and He’s sending you to hell.
So if you’re one of those people whose family isn’t talking to them because you think being gay is a gateway drug to bestiality and being trans is all that’s standing between humanity and Mars? Or even if you read that sentence and thought “I’m not like that, but I do believe in the Bible tho,” well—it’s not on your LGBTQIA+ relatives to reach out to you. It’s time for you to call or text or email or write or whatever and make amends. It’s time for you listen to David Lynch. Or hey, let’s get that full Baldwin quote in.
Because, yes—a pluralistic experience is foundational to the US experience. As anti-colonial as I am, I do in fact believe that a United States that lives up to its liberty-focused founding principles can be a force for good. But a pluralistic society cannot exist when huge swaths of people feel threatened. Right now, huge swaths of people in the US feel extremely threatened, and white men, you are not a part of this. “Nevertheless share the experience of being marginalized,” GTFO of my face with that. I know it’s a white man’s favorite pasttime to invent things they are being persecuted for—I was in Youth Group—but I promise you: Pride Month is not taking anything away from you.
You can still ride your bicycle, but you do have to let Freddie ride his bicycle, too. He’s been asking so politely (and frankly kind of urgently).
Next week we’re doing positive stuff. Maybe NBA Finals stuff, I’m not sure yet. But at least positive stuff. It’s never too late to fix your heart.
Sorry you got an email,
Chris