Think Queerly

I created Think Queerly to challenge the status quo and to elevate visibility. As a gay man and as a queer person, I do not want to be normalized. Instead, I want to be recognized and accepted for my difference as a humanizing quality.

To that end, I want to state that my podcast and publication of the same name, Think Queerly, will not stand for assimilation of LGBTQ+ peoples. Instead, as I have expressed in the mission statement, Think Queerly supports liberation, i.e. “to improve humanity and equal rights for all”.

The value and importance of criticism

“Whereas “bitchiness” comes from a place of insecurity, critique derives from a desire to better humanity. As feminist philosopher Judith Butler explains: “I bring certain critical perspectives to what I study and speak about. ‘Critical’ does not mean destructive, but only willing to examine what we sometimes presuppose in our way of thinking, and that gets in the way of making a more livable world”. Jeffry Iovannone

My working definition of “Queer Leadership”

"Queer Leadership is not about organizing people. Instead, it's the principle of individuals leading from their difference, their creative uniqueness, not to assimilate into the dominant culture, but to liberate and elevate those oppressed by the dominant status quo."

On the current lack of critical thought and depth across social media

I discuss my observations about social media, the cult of celebrity, and the problem with LGBTQ celebrity endorsements. I share my observations to explain why it is so important to uphold my principles to only publish critical thinkers. I am no longer interested in topics or authors who don’t fit and who are unwilling to take editorial advice. That’s the job of an editor, to make sure a submission meets all the guidelines of the publication.

Looking forward to the next decade

If we want things to change for the better, if we want to solve issues like climate change, fake news, populism, removing Trump from the White House (and locking him up), and if we want to liberate all people from oppression, prejudice, and “normalization” then we must think more critically. We can no longer support platforms that only encourage groupthink, bullying, and personal attacks. We can no longer support pandering to people who take offence to “micro-aggressions” and turn molehills into mountains.

It is time to think more queerly!

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Those are the words of Jeffry Iovannone from his article titled, “Pete Buttigieg is Not the Gay Candidate I Want”, which was incidentally published on January 27th, 2019, a few days after Buttigieg launched his presidential exploratory committee.

Jeff has been a regular guest on the podcast and today he joins me as we discuss Jeff’s follow up essay, “Pete Buttigieg is — Still — Not the Gay Candidate I Want”. We go deeper to consider what we would like to see from someone who is not only gay and out, but someone vying for the leadership of the Democratic Party in the United States of America.

We discuss the following topics:

• What is "Covering"?
• Why Pete Buttigieg is a prime example of "covering"
• "Covering" and Queer Leadership
• Do queer public figures have a different responsibility to "use their difference to make a difference" than the average queer citizen?
• Can one exercise effective queer leadership, or effective leadership in general, if they're "covering"?
• What might someone like Mayor Pete tell us about the state of LGBTQ rights at present?

Guest Bio

Jeff Iovannone is an activist-scholar, writer, educator, and researcher from Buffalo, New York who holds a Ph.D. in American Studies and specializes in gender and LGBTQ studies. He is the creator of the blog Queer History for the People, a columnist for Th-Ink Queerly, a member of the Buffalo-Niagara LGBTQ History Project, and is a founding member of Body Liberated Buffalo, a volunteer-run activist and advocacy group that works for body liberation in Western New York.

Read the complete article on Th-Ink Queerly:

How Pete Buttigieg 'Covers' His Gay Identity. The Way of Queer Leadership Discussion with Jeffry Iovannone — TQ110

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As queers, we live on the margins — outside the status quo.

We are told we do not belong and so we create to be happy, to foster new subcultures in which we feel comfortable, and where we belong. We beautify our spaces and ourselves in such a way that we can identify ourselves to each other in a fashion and style of belonging (yes to the double entendre).

The reason for this almost natural queer creativity is simple, if not obvious: we all seek belonging. We seek a community to which we can belong, participate in or claim to be a part of. We all seek validation for who we are. In these queerer spaces, we seek to belong and to be seen versus trying to fit in with the hegemonic status quo. These safe spaces offer freedom and foster the inspiration for creativity to flourish.

Read the complete article on Th-Ink Queerly

Why the World Needs Queer Creativity Now More Than Ever.

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Pro-actively using gender-affirming pronouns to indicate the diversity and visibility of identity is important for LGBTQ+ human rights.

Pronouns used to properly recognize gender and sexual identities are a political act that disrupts the status quo.

However, what’s been missing from the ‘pronoun debate’ is the discussion about the nature of language and who or what will have the final say on which pronouns variations endure.

One the one hand, it’s valid to declare that proper pronoun use in favour of one’s identity is nonnegotiable and justifiable from a diversity and human rights standpoint.

On the other hand, this viewpoint is missing an important aspect of linguistics with respect to the efficiency of language.

Specifically, the nature and economy of language provide clues about which pronouns will endure in the Queer Community.

Support the Think Queerly Podcast!

Read the article on Th-Ink Queerly:

Too Many Gender Identifying Pronouns: The Decision Fatigue Paradox.

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Recently, I was a guest on the radio show, Rainbow Country on CIUT 89.5 FM. The creator and host, Mark Tara invited me back for a second show to talk about various aspects of gender identity along with my colleague, scholar and activist, Jeffry J. Iovannone. We discuss the history, definitions, and societal progress for how we understand gender in modern-day terms.

What We Cover in the Episode

Starting at 7m 05s we begin by looking backwards with a brief review of the history of gender identity, LGBTQ — and specifically transgender activism — and how society seems to have changed with the advent of the internet.

We then delve into the definitions, political, social, and linguistic history of terms like biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, cis-gender, transgender, intersex, gender non-binary, genderqueer, and more.

Finally, we discuss where progress is happening in the world, from changes to medical terms at the World Health Organization, some of the simple shifts in certain languages that can make trans and gender non-conforming people feel more welcome in everyday situations, and the different ways we could consider identity that has nothing to do with gender.

Originally aired on Rainbow Country on November 05, 2019

Follow

• Listen to Rainbow Country, Gay Talk Radio Toronto-style, Tuesday's from 11 pm to 1 am on CIUT 89.5 FM in Toronto. Follow Mark Tara on Twitter and Instagram.
• Read Jeffry J. Iovannone’s work on Medium and follow him on Instagram.

Recommended podcast episodes

• Listen to my first interview on Rainbow Country
• My discussion with Jeffry Iovannone: Deconstructing the Ideal Gay Male Body – LOP077
• Deconstructing the Myth of Stonewall and its Influence on Mainstream Society – LOP091

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Blaming LGBTQ and People of Colour for the ills of the world demonstrates ignorance and a lack of critical thinking skills.

This morning I read a tweet by someone I follow referencing Tucker Carlson and another right-wing pundit blaming the forest fires in Los Angeles on diversity programs and LGBTQ people:

"Tucker Carlson and Dave Rubin Blame California Wildfires on ‘Woke’ Public Utilities Focused on Being Pro-LGBT and Racially Diverse."

I had to ask myself, why. Why do people think like this? What is the cause of this? I realized it is nothing more complicated than the various stages of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I think the core issues that are bothering people are a lack of control and a lack of belonging; specifically, how do I feel safe, secure, supported, loved, and respected.

In this episode I discuss:

• When you feel like you have no control over your ability to earn enough income to keep a roof over your head, or when you feel like you have no control of your physical safety as an LGBTQ person, what is life like for you?
• Why belonging is a far more complex issue but still has connections to a lack of control.
• Why the practice in seeking first to understand before reacting is very challenging.
• How you can challenge yourself to be the change you want to see in the world.

Read the complete post: "The Need for Control and Belonging: The Zeitgeist of Social Media."

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If we continue to argue against each other from completely opposite ends of the spectrum, one person firmly on the left and the other on the right — one person on the right side of the equation, the other on the wrong side — we will be forever stuck, unable to affect progressive, evolutionary change to social diversity and LGBTQ equality. We will remain in a stalemate or destroy ourselves and the planet completely.

Seeing the world through a queer perspective helps us understand that there is no real living, breathing binary.

Rather, the binary is a way for us to describe something that we observe, to articulate something that is not exact. Exactness in and of itself is an intellectual construct, a product of the mind in an attempt to describe what the mind observes. The binary is a relation, neither a finite description or something that takes form in existence.

Read the complete post,

"LGBTQ Diversity Demonstrates that Dualities Are Artificial Constructs."

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How does internalized homophobia in gay men affect other LBTQ individuals?

We are taught that we are other, that we don’t belong, that we can’t cross the gender divide. To do so is a form of weakness. Straight-acting gay men are struggling with self-acceptance and personal forgiveness, but they are trapped on the surface level of both physical appearance and mannerisms.

I don’t believe that straight-acting gay men don’t have the desire to be authentic, instead, they are ignorant or fearful of that possibility. They haven’t been given the freedom to let themselves fully out, to express what scares the crap out of them and wholly own it without shame or compression of self-expression.

Diversity may be initially uncomfortable, and that’s okay.

Discomfort means you are challenging the status quo, which is paradoxically never fixed, as much as hegemonic ideologies would prefer it be stuck in time and place.

Read the complete post at ThinkQueerly.com.

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In today’s show, I explain the reason for changing the show’s name from the Living OUT Podcast to the Think Queerly Podcast. Then I continue with my on-going discussion/living document about the “Way of Queer Leadership”. I ask the core question,

How can we create communities of LGBTQ leadership, which includes our allies, to work together to improve humanity – a humanity of belonging?

Brené Brown defines a leader as,

“… anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential.”

While traditional leadership is often framed within the container of one person at the top leading or directing others, or people choosing to follow a single leader for the leader’s teachings or philosophy, a queer leadership seeks to be self-serving for the betterment of humanity.

By self-serving I do not mean selfish or self-centred in a negative sense. I mean that you lead yourself first, which requires deep self-awareness so that you can create the potential for the changes you wish to see in the world. Queer leadership seeks to demonstrate a collective self-leadership that reinforces a community and a politics of belonging.

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The Way of Queer Leadership Series -- Listen from the beginning:

1. How Otherness Empowers a Queer Leadership – LOP099
2. Queering Leadership: An Evolutionary, Humanitarian Approach – LOP101
3. The Problem of LGBTQ Division and Eating Our Own – LOP102

Or read the posts of the podcast on Th-Ink Queerly:

1. What Constitutes a Queer Leadership?
2. The Way of Queer Leadership Is Never a Straight Path
3. Queer Rage is Valid But Weakens LGBTQ Leadership

Image credit: “Collective” by keizer keizer

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In-fighting only strengthens those who seek to silence us.

Have you ever seen this happen? Queers come together at a large event like Pride where everyone wants to have their voice heard, their opinions honoured and recognized as having value. Sometimes this leads to division or in-fighting within a specific group, like gay male “bitchiness” or one part of the community against another.

There are many reasons for the causes of such division. It may involve personal emotions, shame, not knowing oneself well-enough, or something situational. Within the politics of leadership and working to improve humanity and make the world a better place, we may have conflicting needs as a group or a collective of LGBTQ people, but not necessarily conflicting values.

In this episode, I share a story from my early foray into leading (or my inability at that time) and my involvement with Queer Nation in Ottawa, Canada. I talk about the relationship between leadership and influence, and it’s opposite – recruitment and persuasion. The later is the very human challenge of the ego unchecked, blinded by our fears and defensiveness, which leads to many of the challenges we are facing in the world today, including climate change, toxic capitalism, neoliberalism, the demise of democracy, populism, and the silencing and scapegoating of the “other” in society.

If everyone were taught to understand that power is an illusion and a complete disconnect from humanity, human beings become more aware of their need to take care of the thing that supports their life in the first place – the planet.

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More Queer Thought Leadership

• How Otherness Empowers a Queer Leadership – LOP099
• Read the post, What Constitutes a Queer Leadership?
• Queering Leadership: An Evolutionary, Humanitarian Approach – LOP101
• Read the post, The Way of Queer Leadership Is Never a Straight Path

Image: “Division” by Peter Dekkers

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