of-praxis:

sinidentidades:

Lately, I’ve been getting asks asking me to detail why some of the more radical queers are so “anti-marriage equality”. Well, first off, I can’t really speak for everyone in the community, so I’m just going to give my perspective on it. A lot of radical queers aren’t the biggest fans of marriage equality for a number of reasons. Some aren’t seeking state sanction of their lives. Some aren’t interested in what is perceived as a perpetuation of a capitalist, sexist institution under the guise of a union. Some don’t see much legitimacy in marriage equality when there are a number of other issues affecting queers that marriage equality won’t fix.

For me, I think a lot of the issues with the excessive promotion of marriage equality is when people try to make it the main issue of the queer community. It’s when people think that our happiness or our struggle as a community ends when we achieve marriage equality that it becomes a huge issue.

Why?

It implies that achieving the right to marry will somehow erase all of the other struggles we face. It implies that we’re a one-issue movement, which is not the case. I think that’s where the issue arises, which is something I agree with because it’s a foul assumption to make that the right to marry will be the panacea to all of the prejudices we face as a community. 

dez-ray, this might help.

I’m not a big fan of the whole marriage institution in general, but I want marriage equality simply because straight marriage isn’t going away any time soon.The fact that gay people can’t have that privilege is annoying and another way to emphasise the idea that love between people of the same gender is of less worth or legitimacy than love between people of the opposite gender.

I agree though, some people see it as the end goal of the gay rights movement when there are many other issues that marriage equality alone isn’t going to solve. Marriage equality tends to eat up a lot of discussion and energy when there are so many other issues to focus on.