Queer Theories Challenges Assimilation

by Julia Jones

The first ever Queer conference to be held in Nevada took place over National Coming Out weekend, October 10 and 11, at the University of Nevada, Reno. Entitled "Queer Theories: a National Conference on Gay and Lesbian Studies," the conference drew 25 presenters and over 100 attendees from across the US to engage in discussions of a wide variety of topics. For example, Maureen Travis of St. Joseph College in West Hartford, CT, led a session on, "Racial Differences in the Coming Out Process," while Kristina Wolff, activist from Syracuse, led a discussion, "How Safe Are We?…," on the Anti-Violence Project in Minnesota. In a workshop called "Contributing Factors to Gay Youth Suicide," Michael Coyner addressed various issues that gay teens deal with on a daily basis which often lead to greater tendency towards alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness, physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse as well as suicide; and Anthony Avery explored "Queer Theory and the Cultural Politics of Knowledge," to mention just a few.

This was one of the most enjoyable conferences I’ve ever attended. Right away I noticed a real eagerness among attendees to discuss Queer politics and identity in a way which challenges the social order of heterosexism, capitalism and patriarchy. People were especially interested in radical alternatives to the assimilationist trend among Queer activists evidenced in the "Gays in the military," and gay marriage movements as well as the proposed march on Washington in the year 2000. In one workshop I attended entitled "Build More Stately Closets…," the presenter, Don Doub of SFSU, suggested that the assimilationists are simply building a new kind of closet and, "sanitizing what is Queer." "If you don’t access your power and creativity, you are still in the closet," he said.

A similar perspective was presented in the "Identity Theory within Ecological Perspective," workshop, led by Danne Polk of Villanova University, PA. Danne asked, "is it good enough to secure rights or privilege in this system?" He went on to point out the devastating effects of capitalism and patriarchy on the environment, and related his radical environmentalism with Queer theories of identity. He urged the audience to consider, "radically different concepts of human subjectivity which open us up to creativity." In the discussion period following the presentation, audience members discussed socialism’s relation to post-modernism, Marx’s environmentalism, Hegel’s dialectics, and the relation of nature to sexuality.

In the workshop entitled, "That Queer Word," Dean Pierce of University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) explored the "conversational closet," that wants us to be blend in to conventional society. This workshop was inspired by conference organizer Kendall Stagg as a response to the UNR administration’s objection to use of the word "Queer" in the title of the conference for not being "polite." Dean showed how use of the word "Queer," not only covers a range and fluidity of sexuality, but uncovers the radical nature of our "deviant" sexualities. He encouraged participants to practice a radical social discourse which not only challenges the conservative morals of the heterosexist society, but creates a Queer positive ground for social change.

My favorite workshop was led by Mitchell Halberstadt, an activist from San Francisco. Entitled, "Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Queer Experiences: Distinctiveness and Assimilation," this workshop explored a number of vital questions facing queer activist/theorists today. Rather than giving a lot of answers, Mitchell (who led the workshop in exquisite drag) opened up the workshop with a series of inquiries. He asked such questions as how experiences of gender differ between people of varied classes, whether "drag" supports or challenges gender stereotypes (or both), how to move forward from the failed revolution of the 60s, and to what degree notions of gender can be changed. Mitchell asked each participant to explore the relationship of sexual orientation to gender identity, and gave everyone an opportunity to express themselves.

There were many other workshops covering the intersections between queer theory and police violence, the history of laws addressing homosexuality in France, theology and the role of the church in supporting heterosexism, feminism and the relation of sexism to heterosexism, education, psychology, and more. Pamela Schlenker of UNR led a workshop called "Stereotyping Bodies," where she, a non-gender bound bisexual, challenged the audience to re-examine constructs of what defines males and females. This theme was also touched upon in a session on trangendered Queers, Mitchell’s workshop, as well as in numerous discussions in the hallways of the conference.

Some conference attendees were critical that though Matthew Shepard was lynched only a few days before, this was not given the attention it deserved. It was discussed in several of the pre-planned workshops, but additional workshops could have been created spontaneously to discuss the lynching and possible actions/responses to take. Still, all in all it was a dynamic and diverse conference which showed that the assimilationist shift in the Gay/Lesbian movement is being radically challenged by Queers, even in Nevada!

Several new friends we met expressed interest in continuing the dialog at a mini conference entitled "Queer Revolution: To the Left and Over the Barricades" we are planning for April 17, 1999 (featuring a keynote address by Harry Hay) in San Jose. Many new alliances were forged and conversations among attendees extended well beyond the close of the last session, and, we hope, well into the future.

For more information on our proposed mini-conference, write to Queer Notions, c/o Graphic Girlz, P.O. Box 5654, Berkeley, CA 94705, or email queerevolution@hotmail.com.

Email Queer Notions: qnotions@graphicgirlz.com