Hierarchies of oppression: a highway to nowhere

Xtra.ca
Gareth Kirkby
7/16/2008

The numbers of gays and lesbians far outweigh those of trans. And gays and lesbians pay for our community's struggles as volunteers and donators and we've still got a lot to do. Trans issues are also important, and perhaps they should be included in the overall agenda (though it seems this has become an assumption of our leaders without there first being a genuine debate about it.)

It's a good argument, that "degrees of oppression" one, helped out by the fact that this fellow doesn't seem to feel oppressed at all.

So, I'd presume he's just another middle-class male going about his day with the full knowledge of everyone he meets that he's gay. Right.

I love the way gay-males can be so damned 'big' when it comes to understanding oppression and how others should work their butts off to help them, but then they seem to feel like the job's done after they get legally married, can't be fired for who they are, etc. "O, you lot, you need to sit there and shut-up until we decide we should actually care about what you might have to undergo."

Dominance does indeed seem to equal ignorance. This being a case-in-point.

N~