Kristina Boerger Oral History Part 5

Kristina Boerger Oral History Part 5

Heteronormativity

Gay Liberation

Diversity

Kristina Boerger closes her interview discussing the infiltration of mass media. She explains the reason why she believes the gay liberation is the most successful liberation struggle.

Kristina Boerger

2021-04-16

Liv Borawski

In Copyright

.mp3

English

Sound

Champaign, Illinois

Urbana, Illinois

00:02:02

Kristina Boeger: I mean, we attained sort of critical infiltration of mass media. So people talk about how Ellen and Will and Grace you know, really open their eyes or whatever but there was that effect that you know the rest of us didn't grow up with everybody's now going to grow up with that. But then the biggest. The biggest thing really that accounts for this rapid and strong change in possibilities for us, which isn't to say that we've vanquished all the resistance, it's to say that we've carved out wider places of our own safety. Again, I have to say that it's because, among queer people striving for that those changes, were so many white people and so many men. So many white men. So why is this the most successful liberation struggle I've seen in my lifetime, the fastest one because of that. Because of the power that white men have, the credibility that they have as human beings in our society and the resources that more of them have than any other demographic to put towards you know lobbying politicians or whatever. That also is why the thrust of the gay movement mainstream, has been so heteronormative really, like for them, it's it's success if they can get married and get a house in the suburbs and raise children, you know. Meanwhile the drag queens on the streets who you know through the first brick at Stonewall are saying wait, you know we're still saying that you need to draw your attention to poverty and to and to racism and to a wider diversity of gender and sexual expression and behavior instead of. You know, if you consider it a success that you can assimilate and be just like the other white men and make as much money and have as much respect that still leaves everybody else in the sh*tter.

Liv Borawski

Kristina Boeger

Virtual