GentriFUKation in Bayview/Hunters Point from class privileged LGBT

p emSeptember 17, 2011/em/p p I let the weight of her words fall on my ears, feel it in my throat before I absorb them fully a breath later. span data-scayt_word="Mesha" data-scaytid="1"Mesha/span span data-scayt_word="Irizarry's" data-scaytid="2"Irizarry#39;s/span words float in the air still: ldquo;For us poor disabled span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="3"LGBT/span [1] people of color, it#39;s a constant struggle to get our needs heard in the queer movement.rdquo; Yes. This is heavy business that must be acknowledged seriously by class-privileged white queers [2] like myself. Since Stonewall we privileged queers have only begun to absorb this information collectively, while before our eyes whole neighborhoods are at risk of displacement in the name of span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="4"LGBT/span ldquo;unityrdquo; and economic rejuvenation. Among those at risk of displacement are queer people of color (span data-scayt_word="QOC" data-scaytid="5"QPOC/span) who are speaking up, while others are failing to hear./p p span data-scayt_word="Mesha" data-scaytid="6"Mesha/span span data-scayt_word="Irizarry" data-scaytid="16"Irizarry/span is the Executive Director of the span data-scayt_word="Idriss" data-scaytid="17"Idriss/span span data-scayt_word="Stelley" data-scaytid="18"Stelley/span Foundation and a disabled queer mixed-race individual. span data-scayt_word="Mesha" data-scaytid="7"Mesha/span points out, generally, when a span data-scayt_word="QOC" data-scaytid="8"QPOC/spannbsp;raises concerns about race or class within span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="11"LGBT/span forums, they are ldquo;deemed as victims or conspiracy theorists.rdquo; This is how race or class privileged span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="12"LGBT/span folks oftentimes shut out what span data-scayt_word="QOC" data-scaytid="9"QPOC/span say, in favor of more ldquo;universalrdquo; interests. Such is the case for various span data-scayt_word="QOC" data-scaytid="10"QPOC/span speaking up about an span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="13"LGBT/span Facebook group#39;s use of the violent and racist language of span data-scayt_word="gentriFUCKation" data-scaytid="25"gentriFUCKation/span./p p It all began this summer, when span data-scayt_word="Mesha" data-scaytid="26"Mesha/span and two other queers (of span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="33"Bayview/span and the Castro) joined a Facebook group called ldquo;Friends of span data-scayt_word="Gayview" data-scaytid="36"Gayview/span/ Homos Point/ Silver Tiaras.rdquo; They were tentatively interested in what sort of community the group had to offer. span data-scayt_word="Mesha" data-scaytid="27"Mesha/span and her allies quickly realized that the group was composed of class-privileged span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="29"LGBT/span folks looking to buy homes and condominiums to get the jumpstart on gentrification in the span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="34"Bayview/span/ Hunters Point area. When span data-scayt_word="Mesha" data-scaytid="28"Mesha/span and others called members out on their unchecked, dehumanizing assumptions about residents of the span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="35"Bayview/span, implied meanings of words like ldquo;saferdquo; and ldquo;gay,rdquo; and disrespectful ways many were span data-scayt_word="unhumbly" data-scaytid="276"unhumbly/span moving to the neighborhood, they were aggressively shut out of the Facebook group./p p The Bay Area Reporter (an span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="38"LGBT/span newspaper) has published stories that demonstrate an aligned perspective with the owning-class residents of span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="42"Bayview/span/ Hunters Point. In an August span data-scayt_word="18th" data-scaytid="52"18th/span article, Tony K. span data-scayt_word="LeTigre" data-scaytid="53"LeTigre/span reports, span data-scayt_word="“Bayview" data-scaytid="54"ldquo;Bayview/span and the rest of District 10 ndash; Hunters Point, span data-scayt_word="Potrero" data-scaytid="55"Potrero/span Hill and span data-scayt_word="Visitacion" data-scaytid="56"Visitacion/span Valley ndash; is in the process of transforming into a safer, more accessible and stylish community, according to a number of local activists, residents, and real estate agents.rdquo; The reporter and many of the interviewees attribute District 10#39;s miraculous transformation to the influx of span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="39"LGBT/span people buying condos in the area. A third of our buyers so far have been gay, which makes sense, since the span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="40"LGBT/span community has that pioneering spirit, a condominium manager tells the B.A.R. ldquo;Buyers are receptive to the neighborhood.rdquo; What is implied here about the nature of span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="43"Bayview/span/Hunters Point as it stands today? Undergirding this depiction is an intensely homophobic, violent, and dehumanizing set of assumptions about the people living in these neighborhoods. span data-scayt_word="Mesha" data-scaytid="44"Mesha/span and other span data-scayt_word="QPOC" data-scaytid="360"QPOC/span in the area are being erased from the equation altogether in such discourse, rendering an image of homophobic people of color blindly resisting the progressive advances of the span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="41"LGBT/span community as a whole. The conversation set up by real estate developers is one that pits the interests of policednbsp;span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="757"Bayview/span/Hunter#39;s Point residents against those of span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="895"LGBT/spannbsp;people, thereby erasing the existence of span data-scayt_word="QPOC" data-scaytid="997"QPOC/span in span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="1006"Bayview/span altogether./p p span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="59"LGBT/span real estate ldquo;pioneers,rdquo; like earlier colonizers of the West, are sweeping into the area on claims of superior social values, asserting that the span data-scayt_word="gentriFUCKed" data-scaytid="64"gentriFUCKed/span residents do not know how to foster the land or treat each other (especially span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="60"LGBT/span people), that these folks are just criminals and don#39;t deserve the budget crumbs they get, anyway. Members of the problematic Facebook group claim that Black people have always had an inherent tendency toward self-destructive behaviors. On the span data-scayt_word="po'lice" data-scaytid="65"po#39;lice/span murder that incited the legendary 1966 span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="61"Bayview/span uprising, one leader of the Facebook Group writes, ldquo;Itrsquo;s a shame that the young man was killed, but he was committing a felony and ran when he was caught. Anger at his death might have been appropriate, but destroying the healthy environment for the neighborhood was just insane. Such is the world when reason is gone and people refuse to take any responsibility for their actions.... This mindset is a sickness, and the part of the African American community that wallows in this has no chance of improving its lot and poisons the environment around them.rdquo;/p p I would dare to counter that the span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="67"LGBT/span folks moving into span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="68"Bayview/span/ Hunters#39; Point are participating in the destruction, more than the invented pathologies proposed above. Rather than further criminalizing young Black men in the span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="69"Bayview/span (i.e. Kenneth Harding, rest in peace), accusing folks of wrong-doing and advocating punitive backlash, white queers need to step up and say ldquo;nordquo; to violent Capitalist philosophies of imminent domain. Privileged queers need to advocate anti-violence as anti-colonialism, to stop laying claim to the totality of span data-scayt_word="LGBTQI" data-scaytid="75"LGBTQI/span culture, and to stop equating Black and other non-white expressions of gender and sexuality with criminality. This is an important step toward healing the wounds of homophobia and span data-scayt_word="homonormativity" data-scaytid="76"homonormativity/span [3], to name and question the assumptions we hold about what it means to be ldquo;gay.rdquo; As indicated by the ignorance people have shown about the very existence of queer folks in span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="70"Bayview/span/ Hunters Point, there is a lot of reworking to be done around how we define queer community and safety./p p As Tyrone Boucher, who writes the blog Enough Enough, writes in an article entitled ldquo;In Defiance of All That Splits Usrdquo;, part of creating whole communities means ldquo;every one of us gets to determine for ourselves when we are #39;well#39; and when we are #39;unwell#39; and to then ask for what will support us.rdquo; This is what span data-scayt_word="QOC" data-scaytid="77"QPOC/span from the span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="79"Bayview/span are attempting to do, and we need to support their efforts. span data-scayt_word="Mesha" data-scaytid="81"Mesha/span span data-scayt_word="Izarry" data-scaytid="88"Izarry/span asks that these privileged queers ldquo;don#39;t get so defensive...we#39;re asking for you to be responsible along with us. Let#39;s create forums to talk, so we can work out among ourselvesrdquo; the issues that have arisen. span data-scayt_word="QOC" data-scaytid="78"QPOC/span from the span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="80"Bayview/span are not trying to be divisivemdash;they#39;re trying to expand span data-scayt_word="LGBTQI" data-scaytid="82"LGBTQI/span community, which I think is a really beautiful and positive step!/p p Queers know that space is important. We know it and define our own for survival. It takes work to make spaces feel and do right by us. My mom#39;s living room, a straight friend#39;s music practice space, the restaurant where I work, these all need to be nurtured to grow their potential as safe for myself and my queer community. With the right combination of communication and luck I#39;ve managed to feel good being my span data-scayt_word="genderqueer" data-scaytid="94"genderqueer/span self within them, while others still need work. span data-scayt_word="Mesha" data-scaytid="90"Mesha/span tells me that ldquo;homophobia was intended for indigenous land,rdquo; and there is a long history of gender non-normative people on this continent holding fast to their space. It is sacred. Spaces in span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="91"Bayview/span/Hunters Point have also been nurtured by span data-scayt_word="QOC" data-scaytid="92"QPOC/span, for as long as each span data-scayt_word="QOC" data-scaytid="93"QPOC/span has survived there, too./p p Some span data-scayt_word="LGBTQI" data-scaytid="99"LGBTQI/span folks have wide mobility to move from a space that doesn#39;t work out, while others have more limited options. It#39;s a question of what resources you have access to. Lots of span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="100"LGBT/span people (perhaps like members of the span data-scayt_word="Gayview" data-scaytid="102"Gayview/span/Homos Point group) might use money to get away, and others, especially poornbsp;span data-scayt_word="QPOC" data-scaytid="1160"QPOC/span, do not often have this luxury. This is why it#39;s such a tragedy that the tenuous spaces queers have set up in these neighborhoods are at the risk of destruction, rather than being honored and respected. Savannah Janenbsp;writes, in her essay ldquo;Is the Bay an Island?,rdquo; ldquo;Neighborhoods and other spaces created around identity are managed and policed, and span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="101"LGBT/span organizing has often mobilized concepts of place and space in ways that rhetorically map whiteness onto gayness.rdquo; What#39;s happening is a complex mixture of cultural appropriation, colonization, racism, and classism, in the case of this Facebook group, even if these effects are unintended./p p This is happening all around the Bay Area, all around the country and the world, too. Poor communities of color, and span data-scayt_word="QOC" data-scaytid="109"QPOC/span, are being colonized. Savannah wisely writes, ldquo;We need to create a new politic around space and place. One that does not conflate lsquo;The Bayrsquo; with radical queer movement culture, span data-scayt_word="cuz" data-scaytid="112"cuz/span for many folks living here, that just isnrsquo;t their/our experience. How do we both hold that The Bay Area has been a generative site of resistance and movement building, and of powerful queer and trans communities, while also holding the complexity of who has access to these communities (or wants to)?...Space is something we do. We construct it, and I think we have some shit to grapple with.rdquo; For white and span data-scayt_word="otherly" data-scaytid="113"otherly/span privileged queers like myself, there is plenty opportunity to recall rich histories of collective resistance to change our tack!!! span data-scayt_word="Mesha" data-scaytid="110"Mesha/span tells me, ldquo;White folks put their lives on the line during the liberation of slaves, even during the Civil Rights Movement, not just at Stonewall.rdquo;/p p We can mobilize against gentrification in span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="115"Bayview/span/ Hunters Point, and continue by expanding space for disabled, poor, and/or migrantnbsp;span data-scayt_word="QPOC" data-scaytid="1205"QPOC/span who live there. We can all be nurtured by this experience, all our lives can be made richer and brighter./p p emRo is a queer identified graduate of the mentorship program @ Race, Poverty, Media Justice Institute @ span data-scayt_word="PeopleSkool" data-scaytid="120"PeopleSkool/span/em/p p nbsp;/p p emSome terminology Un-Packed:/em/p p br / em[1]: span data-scayt_word="LGBT" data-scaytid="121"LGBT/span or span data-scayt_word="LGBTQI" data-scaytid="122"LGBTQI/span encompasses these terms: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, span data-scayt_word="Intersex" data-scaytid="125"Intersex/span. The acronym can be expanded infinitely to include other queer identifications./em/p p br / em[2]: Some people use ldquo;queerrdquo; to imply politically aware, counter-cultural, or shifting identifications associated with ways of being span data-scayt_word="LGBTQI" data-scaytid="126"LGBTQI/span. There are lots of other uses of the term out there too, but this is mine./em/p p em[3]: The span data-scayt_word="neoliberal" data-scaytid="132"neoliberal/span assimilation and normalization of span data-scayt_word="LGBTQI" data-scaytid="129"LGBTQI/span into more ldquo;respectable,rdquo; ldquo;nicer,rdquo; or digestible social categories for a straight or homophobic public. Many people argue that span data-scayt_word="homonormativity" data-scaytid="131"homonormativity/span has hurt the radical advances of span data-scayt_word="LGBTQI" data-scaytid="130"LGBTQI/span/queer activism./em/p