I Want to Drs Gayer — But Not, Like, Too Gay

Contents:

• AM I GAY ENOUGH? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT QUEER INTY
• 'BEG GAY IS NOT ENOUGH': BUTTIGIEG'S NDIDACY DIVIS LGBTQ DEMOCRATS
• S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T-GATE SNDAL: FURY AT MANCHTER’S G-A-Y BAR OVER ‘DO YOU LOOK GAY ENOUGH?’ DOOR POLICY
• LOOKG GAY

AM I GAY ENOUGH? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT QUEER INTY

By now, you may have heard that some queer people thk that Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a current ntenr for the Democratic Printial nomatn, is not gay enough.

'BEG GAY IS NOT ENOUGH': BUTTIGIEG'S NDIDACY DIVIS LGBTQ DEMOCRATS

” I am here to notn that some of thk Buttigieg is not gay enough has an intifiable relatnship to the facts, which are that, for the purpos of this discsn, people who grew up queer this untry fall to two distct tegori of experience.

And then there is the other experience, the life of blendg , only to surprise your classmat—or, more likely, former classmat who follow you on social media—wh the revelatn that you are gay. Recently, a iend mentned that, after thirty years of teachg, she had mentned her wife class for the first time, surprisg her stunts wh the revelatn that she was gay—and I found myself momentarily marvellg at havg the optn to e out to one’s stunts or part of his mpaign, and velopg his polil persona, Buttigieg has repeatedly told a pellg story about his g out. He also waed until after attus toward homosexualy had changed and same-sex marriage had bee legal more than half the stat and was regnized by the feral ernment—all thanks to the urage and work of people who me out before Buttigieg did.

Buttigieg embodi the send kd of gay experience and the send kd of gay polics.

S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T-GATE SNDAL: FURY AT MANCHTER’S G-A-Y BAR OVER ‘DO YOU LOOK GAY ENOUGH?’ DOOR POLICY

It’s offerg the promise that our first gay first fay might actually be a straight one.

”What mak Buttigieg an easy and reassurg choice for the olr, whe, straight people, and a disturbg possibily for the queer people who seem to be cricizg him for not beg gay enough? He is an old polician a young man’s body, a straight polician a gay man’s body.

)Sce I started acceptg that I was queer and havg queer enunters, I have been told numero tim that, as a super femme cis woman, I'm "not gay enough. —Devan, 26It sounds like you already know this, but let me say loud and clear: There is no such thg as not beg “gay enough. ” Many people the LGBTQ muny feel the same way you do, whether they’re fellow femm who don’t “appear” gay, bisexual people hetero relatnships, gay men who don’t f stereotypil standards, and so many others.

LOOKG GAY

In fact, gay people who don’t exprs their gayns wh an explicly “queer athetic” often experience what some psychologists ll “queer imposter syndrome.

A uple of lumns ago, Kira, a “femme-prentg queer, ” told me about her “extremely awkward ‘look, I'm gay! What do you do if you don’t want to bee a Profsnal Femme Gay Woman?

Reachg beyond your lol muny and fillg your social feeds wh queer folks who look all kds of ways n serve as a daily affirmatn that you are gay enough, exactly the way you are.