Ideas of the normative that aren't so normal....

Lately I’ve been on one of my many “introspective trips” where I consider my own identity and how it fits into the “space” of places like Carleton. For those of you who don’t know me, I come from the Jicarilla Apache reservation. Born and raised in Indian Country. For those Natives reading this, you understand what I’m talking about. I grew up without running water, electricity; in one of the few states in the U.S. where the minority is the majority and finding someone who speaks English, as a first language is rare. Hard to believe for some I know, but this is the social framework that I come from. I grew up in an extremely traditional Jicarilla background, which for some, is even harder to believe because majority rumor has it that all Indians died when John Wayne killed them in the movies. My first “real” interactions with people, cultures, and ideas of the majority culture have only recently occurred in my later teenage years and a lot of that has come during my time at Carleton.

Now here, you may be wondering what this has anything to do with my “American Queer” class and even more, why am I mentioning all of this now. For those of you who remain puzzled, here’s why: I come from a very different culture than mainstream American majority culture. Yet I am still American. My culture and language also addresses issues of gender and sexuality and if you want to talk about ideas of the “normative”, perhaps you should also consider that your perspective of the “normative” may not be that normal to many.

Discussion of language, cultural interpretation, socioeconomic differences do pertain to LGBT studies. I do acknowledge that as an LGBT community, we do need to consider the impact of the “majority,” but as a community, we should also acknowledge the wonderfully diverse groups within what encompasses LGBT. Just as we demand the majority community to acknowledge, respect and affirm issues sexual/gender diversity, to overcome “heteronormativity”, we too should ease on the side of caution and also not develop a “homonormativity” for ourselves.

Not every person of the LGBT community enjoys the same socioeconomic privilege. Not every person of the LGBT community functions in majority culture. Not every person in the LGBT community enjoys certain privileges of race.

Yet silencing the minority within the LGBT minority by not acknowledging, affirming and respecting our difference is parallel to the oppression that the whole LGBT undergoes in functioning in a stifling heteronormative world.