vulcangirlfriend:

enoughtohold:

this post amazes me every time i see it because almost every single thing in it is wrong. blatantly wrong, even. but everyone passes out around as fact because no one on this site knows a god damn thing.

• there were genderqueer people in the ’90s but the “genderqueer movement” isn’t really a thing people talk about from that time? google it and you’ll get people talking about the last ten years. they’re probably thinking of queer nation, whose chant that actually was
• they probably have no clue ACT UP was founded and was most effective in the late ’80s
• they got the fucking chant wrong, it’s “get used to it” for fuck’s sake
• decontextualizing the chant, which was of course aimed at straight people, and the word “queer” which was used along with “gay” and “lesbian,” but don’t take my word for it
• neither queer nation nor ACT UP nor the “genderqueer movement” made the fucking AIDS quilt. that’s the NAMES project. many ACT UPers hated the quilt
• i’m almost certain this user thinks die-ins were mass suicides which they absolutely were not no matter what tumblr tells you
• neither queer nation nor ACT UP nor the “genderqueer movement” were about same-sex marriage, again for fuck’s fucking sake! the demand for same-sex marriage did grow largely out of the need for relationship protections in the wake of AIDS, but that doesn’t mean it was ACT UP, read a fucking book!
• total lack of awareness of the ACTUAL accomplishments of ACT UP because that would involve like ACTUALLY learning shit about AIDS activism and not just using ACT UP as an empty name you can attach to your petty tumblr bullshit to give it radical cred
• the word queer was definitely popular in ACT UP but i doubt everyone used it. not every ACT UPer uses it now. it’s not required. why? because these internecine terminological squabbles are KIND of beside the point of an organization dedicated to ENDING AIDS.
• actually, historically, ACT UP has been much whiter than it should be! this is an odd case where someone’s desire to make themselves look good by associating themselves with a renowned group leads them to give that group MORE credit than it actually deserves. ACT UP’s racial makeup did change over time; its latino caucus and majority action committee did important work, as did other groups ACT UP worked in coalition with. ACT UP is currently working to preserve the relatively forgotten history of people of color (and women) within ACT UP, and people of color have been CRUCIAL to the fight against AIDS. honestly, in my opinion, it’s inappropriate and frankly racist for this white user to erase the actual experiences of people of color within ACT UP and to pay lip service to the many heroic AIDS activists who were not white, not out of real respect or knowledge, but out of shameless ignorance in order to make THEMSELVES look better and lend a radical veneer to their, again, personal, petty, non–AIDS-related tumblr bullshit.

the people who spread shit like this should be ashamed and should channel that shame into actually going and learning something about HIV/AIDS and AIDS activism.

a quick addition re: act up members being comfortable with the word queer:

larry kramer visited my university last year to talk about his new book and his activism history and stuff, and afterwards the moderator read him some student questions that had been written down beforehand. the first question used the word queer and when the moderator read it, larry kramer immediately cringed and shook his head, saying that he hated that word, that “queer” had been a valuable rhetorical tool for act up but that it had also been the word that accompanied screaming and violence.

i honestly think it’s deeply fucked up how people pushing this narrative try to wash over the horrible violence of the way “queer” was used against act up, just because it’s politically convenient for them