Queer Gnosis

by Troy Williams

I just started reading the new anthology, Smash the Church, Smash the State! The Early Years of Gay Liberation, edited by Tommi Avicolli Mecca.  I was hooked on page 1 of the introduction.  I’ve always held the romantic notion that queers were to be social tricksters, challenging the social order and disrupting the establishment.  Contemporary gay politics has become safe, suburban and boring.  We’ve become inoffensive.  Camp is marginalized, marriage is objectified and the structures of privilege coveted.  But it wasn’t always this way.

Queers once shared a grand creative imagination.  And they shared that imagination with Freedom Riders, feminists, peace activists and environmentalists.  I know nostalgia for the past (which often romanticizes history and elides realities) is not always the way forward.  But it’s inspiring to read the voices of people who dared to dream big and imagine that another world was possible.  It’s nice to read LGBT writing and feel truly fired up.

Everything today feels like accommodation.  Everything feels like we are moaning and reveling in our own victimhood.  Political leaders are so afraid to offend the pious believers and their tyrant gods.

I was conceived in the summer of the Stonewall Riots.  I was gestating in my mother’s womb when drag queens, queers of color and mad-as-hell dykes tore up the police of Greenwich Village.  And though I don’t have the perchant for camp and genderfuck that my tranny friend Princess Kennedy enjoys, I admire it all.  And I love to see folks stir up trouble. Kennedy gets the reality that so many of the politically earnest miss — it’s all a show.  Gender is performance.  Orientation is bent.  Deviance is spectacle.

Chill the fuck out — have a sense of humor — raise the curtain!

I hope that anthologies like Smash the Church will inspire a new generation of queer tricksters to take to the streets.  Not just to riot and protest — but also to inspire and expand the spectrum of social justice politics.  Queers today owe a debt to those who came before.

I’m excited to continue reading and imagining…

by Troy Williams

Okay — I’m coming out.  As a prankster.  I co-conspired with several upstanding straight and LGBT folks on a little hoax at the Capital.  The local queer blogosphere went bonkers when Patriots for a Moral Utah announced their “Fair Solutions” initiative.

“Nora Young”, portrayed by the fantastic Tamara Howell, is a composite of all those who fight against the LGBT community.  Her words were crafted together by the outrageous statements of Chris Buttars, Gayle Ruzika, Sutherland Institute and of course the Mormon Church.  She was a parody of all these right wing, state’s rights ideologues.  Her words exposed the never-ending parade of inane message bills from the Utah Legislature.

The fact that so many believed this could happen speaks volumes to the climate of ignorance and fear in the state.  I’m sorry that my friend Jesse Fruhwirth from the City Weekly got so riled up.  I think he’s a great journalist and an asset to our community. But I’m also glad that others in the alternative media, like Brandon Burt, saw what we were going for.

And just for the record, the good folks at Peaceful Uprising, who work on direct action for climate change, did not orchestrate the prank.  The names of the organizers, as well as the mission statement are all available here.

Have a watch and enjoy!

In the dawn of the 21^st Century the human civilization faces a crisis of limits.  Life ways that sustain our species are strained beyond capacity. In the dark of uncertain futures we ask: could collapse actually save humanity?

Check out this space for details about the forthcoming premiere of eco•gnosis.  I am collaborating with several artists to create a memorable art installation that explores the themes of “collapse and renewal”.  Film artists include Ryan Gass, Matt Mateus and Mary Catrow.  Art exhibits by Sandy Parsons, photography by David Newkirk, sculpture and desire by Nolan Reddick.  Hair and fashion by Matthew Landis.  And many more.  Watch this space!