Sylvia Rivera outside the Stonewall Bar
For all of our talk about “community,” LGBT people rarely achieve anything resembling a community unless faced with oppression and injustice. Even under these circumstances, much energy is wasted searching for the “right” messenger: one who can allow heterosexuals to forget that the messenger doesn’t share their sexual orientation.
While this makes perfect sense for marketing a media-friendly LGBT movement, it also undermines efforts to build authentic communities.
