A Love Letter to Queer Love
By Gabrielle Gunter, Fashion Editor
Against the backdrop of an increase in transphobia and homophobia across the United States and attacks against Obergefell v. Hodges, there is a foundational aspect of the queer community that is more important than ever: queer love. Be it platonic or romantic, queer love is an essential part of the community as it is an act of resistance against the cis-heteronormativity and prejudices that attempt to tear the queer community apart.
This article seeks to uplift queer voices and acknowledge the power of the queer community in the face of adversity. Unfortunately, adversarial forces can be found in one’s own family as shown through Lauren Hotchkiss, a recent graduate of The University of Alabama. Hotchkiss’s bravery in the face of this homophobia is exemplified through her courage to be who she is.
“As a lesbian, I have been called slurs by my own family. My own way of dealing with homophobia is being honest about who I am. When I find love someday, it is going to be rubbed all up in their faces,” says Hotchkiss. “We don’t care if you don’t like it. We are just existing as we are. We will exist alongside you and exist against everything. Even if laws disallow us, we will exist and be true to who we are.”
Living under the constant fear of the current homophobic and transphobic legislature, the queer community must maintain its support for each other as a way to fight back. Queer love is resilience.
“It is important to show love and support during trying and dangerous times for the queer community with all the negativity and legislature against us, and I see queer love as an act of resistance since it’s fighting back against those who want to silence us,” says Orion Lewis, a senior studying social work at Middle Tennessee State University. “It’s like showing how they will not stop us no matter what.”
Within the queer community and queer love is beauty, a beauty that cannot be censored. This beauty shows that the queer community is not a sin or a political talking point.
“I’ve been thinking about queer love and it power so much in light of the election,” says Andy Coleman, a sophomore computer engineering major at The University of Alabama. “So many people think of queer people as a political talking point, an argument, or at worst, perverse sinners, so demonstrating what it means to be queer by being unafraid to love who you love and to present as you wish to share the truth and beauty of the movement.”
Furthermore, the love within the queer community can even be lifesaving in its radical existence.
“Being in a transgender for transgender relationship has genuinely saved my life,” Coleman says. “Finding someone who understands you fundamentally and is unafraid to love you for who you are is everything. Queer love rejects the standards of heterosexual relationships and the binaries they often fall into. It is a radical, beautiful way of loving that is rarely acknowledged but has always existed.”
Contrary to a somewhat popular belief, queer love is natural, and to understand that queer love is natural is to resist homophobia and transphobia.
“To love is the most natural thing in the word,” says Sammy Bignault, a sophomore studying political science at UA. “To determine one love as normal and another as strange just because of gender and sexuality is nonsense. Everyone may tell you it is wrong or a sin, but when sharing space with a person you love most, nothing feels more right. To embrace that rightness is resistance.”
Ultimately, this is a love letter to queer love. For a queer person to love is to resist transphobia and homophobia. Queer love is not a sin; it is not wrong. There is nothing more natural than love. Forgive me for the journalism transgression of using first person, but I must end this article by saying this. Queer love is our way of resisting, and we will hold onto our love regardless of what others and the government say.
