No, not like that. By KISS I mean Keep It Simple and Stupid. Anybody else notice that we're getting a little verbose?
I'll be called out as a hetero-normative cisgender supporter of the patriarchy for saying this, but it would be nice if we could use English to talk about our issues.
Maybe it's a bit quaint to advocate simplicity, but it seems to me that the LGBT elite have created an entirely new language made up of six syllable words. I'm currently counting seven letters in the acronym LGBTQIA, but who knows, maybe I'm missing a few. It's gotten so intense that I'm pretty sure being an ally is a part time job.
Now, instead of sticking to clear language and making strong arguments for equality, in the last couple of years the LGBT elite have devolved into writing gigantic moralizing rants calling out allies and fellow LGBTs based on who has it the worst (black transgender women in prison -- duh!) We're all so busy stabbing each other in the back that everyone has forgotten a large portion of the country still needs convincing on this equality thing. We've got too much work to do to be getting into this nonsense, but the LGBT elite have more important things to talk about, like whether or not you're a bad ally (Would a bad ally read that blog? Hm.)
So let's drop all the cats out of the bag: Just because you can write a 1,000-word rant about how white gay men are privileged because we sometimes say "gurrrl" doesn't mean you should. Replying to that with a 2,500-word response probably isn't great, either. And just because you don't like explaining transgenderism to ignorant people, doesn't mean you should write a 1,300-word screed about how you'd prefer people to ask Google instead.
If we don't communicate better to the outside world then we're going to cut ourselves out of it. LGBT activism is about engagement with other people and breaking illusions about who and what we are, it's not about letting out your anger or proving your intellectual superiority. Many LGBT persons on Twitter and Facebook are spewing venom towards anyone who isn't experiencing life the same as them, or who doesn't have the same intellectual grasp of minority issues. Posts like these spread LGBT superiority-through-victimization attitudes. The end result is that people turn off, emotionally and mentally.
We need to be able to tell the difference between genuine ignorance and bigotry. We need to take advantage of "teachable moments" with people who want to understand our community better. Be patient, correct the misconceptions and move on. If they don't get it, or go low-brow, move along and pay no heed. That's activism 101 for you.
And for those of us who write, blog, tweet and Facebook post about LGBT issues, let's keep away from the rants. I'm pretty sure anyone who reads this sentence will go insane:
Compulsory heterosexuality, however, still has use for queer men's feminine virtuosity, employing them well outside the spotlight, funneling their expressions of femininity into representations of gender normative women, a process of appropriation which allows you to claim ownership and authority over a gendered culture.
Did you get that? I didn't. And no joke, somebody actually wrote that. So let's KISS the complex, abrasive language goodbye and Keep It Simple and Stupid, folks. Activism is about making friends and allies, not putting them to asleep.