dana shugar

“To(o) Queer or Not?” (1999)

“But does our need to incorporate queer theory come at the cost of ‘community’ itself? Perhaps I date myself with such a concern; perhaps the need or desire for a specifically lesbian community is a relic of the past, as the growing popularity of queer organizations among young lesbians in particular might suggest. Yet so much still works against lesbians in their various manifestations, specifically because we are marked as both female and homosexual, as well as African, European, Latin, Asian, Native, working class, middle class, along with a variety of other social identities. And the cultural forces that devalue lesbians will not disappear any time soon, even if HIV/AIDS funding finally matches the need, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is repealed, or the military grants the same rights to its gay/lesbian members as it does to its heterosexual ones. Nor will they disappear even if ‘queer’ becomes thoroughly ensconced in popular culture; indeed, the commodification of queer is fast removing any transformative power it may have had. If queer outrage continues along this path, it – as has rap before it – will become only of use to those who have the most effective marketing strategy. At least as long as les- bians find ourselves besieged in mainstream society, the social, private, and public functions of lesbian communities will remain valuable to many of us.” (18-19)

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