Latest news with #CharlotteGoldenblatt

National Post

Opinion: Please, no more straights who call themselves 'queer'

Back during the second season of the first iteration of the Sex and the City series, prim and proper Charlotte — then York, now York Goldenblatt — unexpectedly finds herself caught up in a circle of wealthy, stylish 'Power Lesbians.' Fed up with Manhattan's heartless heterosexual dating pool, she's drawn to the Lesbians' autonomy and elan — their #wedontneedaman bravado paired with a strong dose of sisterhood and fun. Article content Article content The trouble is that Charlotte is straight — the Lesbians are not and they're not too keen on posey interlopers. By episode's end, Charlotte is sent packing by the group's queen bee who makes clear that only actual homosexual women can be Lesbians, let alone the television-worthy 'power' variety. Article content Article content Article content What a difference 25 years makes. Today, Charlotte would not be dismissed as hetero, but welcome as #queer — much like her two children on the SATC rebook 'And Just Like That' currently streaming its third season. Her daughter, Lily, is dating a hunky male ballet dancer —— but he also has a boyfriend. #queer! Meanwhile, her second child — Rose — is now Rock, who came out as non-binary in the series' earliest episodes. Also #queer! As a straight mom-friend of mine who had a son with a gay man would say, the Goldenblatts are living a #queer lifestyle. Article content Indeed, nothing epitomizes the shift in LGBT liberation and politics like the rise of the word 'queer.' I first encountered queer during my coming-out days in the '90s and then — like now — I loathed it. Queer was a tool for liberation, I was told, to be reclaimed from the centuries of homophobia that had sent actual queers to prison, exile and often death. Article content Article content But I never bought it. Along with being Gay — plain, old gay — I am also Jewish and African-American. No Jew is 'reclaiming' the slurs used again us — same with Black folk (the popular 'n—a' that so often appears in rap songs is very much not the same thing as the N-word). Article content Because even in my 20s, I instinctively understood that rather than a tool of liberation, queer is a tool of timidity, confusion — capitulation. Straight people like Charlotte and Lily can be queer — the married (to a man) female curator at the LGBT art museum whose board I once served on was also 'queer.' Hipster hetero dudes who once drunk-kissed a fellow fraternity brother call themselves queer. But ultimately, it's a word that means nothing — a verbal vehicle for those seeking the benefits of minority status with none of the backlash. It's transitory and ephemeral — a sensibility rather than actual identity or orientation. Article content Black people can't opt out of being black when it suits them. But queer can be discarded quickly and conveniently. There's little risk to calling yourself queer — scant cost nor consequence. With little concern for commitment, let alone discrimination, queer isn't brave, queer isn't noble. Queer is a tool of privilege.