queer theory: a continuation of heteronormativity

The reading of “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?” by Cathy J. Cohen comes at a rather interesting time. Two nights ago I was watching an episode of MTV’s True Life. In this episode there was a discussion of couples of different races. The couple of particular interest was a male gay couple, one man was white and the other man was black. Throughout the show they were searching for an apartment so that they could live together. However, they never accomplished their goal due to discrimination. The black male on the show attributed their inability to find an apartment to their interracial status, not to their homosexuality. While watching the show I said to me, "that’s not it”. I believed that if there was any problem with their relationship it would be in their homosexuality and not their races. My treatment of this situation is clouded my heterosexuality. And that is what Cathy J. Cohen discusses in the article. Too often we look at heterosexuality as normal and queers have challenged this. However in the same process they manage to ignore other areas of intersection.

Queer activist in turn manage to privilege themselves based on their master status. For example, a black homosexual may not only be concerned with gay rights but black gay rights. But from my understanding of the reading, queer theory focuses primarily on the differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals. In this passage contains a good description of one of the aims of queer theory:

In addition to highlighting the instability of sexual categories and sexual subjects, queer activists also directly challenge the multiple practices and vehicles of power which render them invisible and at risk. However, what seems to make queer activists unique, at this particular moment, is their willingness to confront normalizing power by emphasizing and exaggerating their own anti-normative characteristics (Cohen 3).

This process of dichotomization is not helpful because it further alienates people who are marginalized at different intersections in life. By focusing on heteronormativity, queer theory reinforces and recreates dominant institutions (Cohen 1). The primary focus on sexual orientation disregards the struggles that black gay men, black lesbians, transgender, and transsexual people experience. Because of the privileges heterosexuality has in our communities, the major problem I could see in the relationship mentioned above with the couple from MTV was their homosexuality, in regard to public reception (I don’t mean it’s a problem for me, I am saying that the landlords may looked at their sexual orientation as a problem). The way I look at their sexual orientation as a defining difference is directly connected to the reason queer theory falls short of success in transforming “the basic fabric and hierarchies that allow systems of oppression to persist and operate efficiently” Cohen 1). It ignores and fails to address other issues like economic status, race,etc. Until these other aspects are addressed, queer theory will continue to work in the same oppressive manner that heterosexuality does.