prairie_girl

I think one really important thing in LGBTQIA+ mainstream culture is knowing which arguments need to be elevated to national prominence and which issues are important and included but not the things that need to be socially imparted right now.

I am all here for "normalizing" queer families right now, because queer families face serious social problems still. We also need to maintain fury about the deaths of trans women of color. Both of those things are pointing towards "people cannot live basic lives because of discrimination."

I think an argument can be made that there's a level of discrimination against kinky people, but that it is not in the "I can't live because of this" category at the moment. Not on a national level. Which means kink has a place at pride! I really believe that! But at the moment I would pick family inclusive as a more important national discourse.

Damian - your Wikipedia page describes your formal education as having a specialty in "Art Semiotics." I've long been fascinated with that description and really curious what it meant in terms of practical study. What did you read? What projects did you work on?

Now as a professional rock star do you find that experience was formative or challenged the work you really wanted to be doing?

Your question has maaaaaany layers going around it. I agree with what others said about the difference between celebrating kink and sexual openness and the ability to not have to hide who you really are. But anyone who's smart about their kink knows that other people didn't consent to participating or even witnessing it. If you want to talk about there not being enough outlets for kinky people to do that safely, that's a reasonable conversation! But it doesn't mean forcing it on people at pride.

There's a broader issue of gatekeeping in the lgbtqia+ community, a pretty serious one. I have deep sympathy for people who had to fight for rights in ways that some of us didn't have to. I believe in remembering our history, especially the awful pain and death that led to their being more rights and acceptance today. I also believe in keeping anger in pride - there are so many things to stay angry about.

At the same time, no one can be angry all the time. Sometimes we do need spaces to just be happy and celebratory and to show people that this isn't just an ok way to be, it's a great way to be.