OutCasting Overtime; Appropriation of LGBTQ culture

[Dhruv] This is OutCasting Overtime, a special feature from OutCasting, public radio's LGBTQ youth program. Hi, I'm Dhruv, a youth participant in OutCasting's main studio in Westchester County, New York. On this edition, OutCaster Andrea talks about the appropriation of LGBTQ culture or how straight people trivialize queerness and the spaces and communities surrounding it. This can be either intentional or unintentional through the use of certain words or phrases or through direct invasion of spaces designated specifically for the LGBTQ community. While allies are welcome in the community, they should be aware of their role in the movement and should not try to use it for their own personal benefit or to appear trendy or cool. OutCaster Becca provides a cameo. [Andrea] "Yeah, so excited to go to PRIDE this weekend with my girlfriends. Just some gal pals ready to party. We kissed once but that was just to impress this totally hot guy. I could never do that with a girl, oh my god." We LGBT people are tired of hearing this. Some people say things like this without even realizing that there's anything wrong with it.

But regardless of intent, phrases like these undermine the legitimacy of our hard-won community. Let's break apart what's wrong with the phrases you just heard. They make references to many LGBT ideas and images, but that's not the real problem. Rather than speaking of these ideas in terms of the actual LGBT community, it uses them to express aversion, even disgust, towards the idea of being LGBT. Terms like gal pals trivializes queer relationships since a straight woman referring to female friends as girlfriends otherizes the idea of being queer. Women in particular often use romantic terms to refer to other women and assume that they will be interpreted platonically. This perpetuates heteronormativity, the assumption that heterosexuality is the only normal and natural expression of sexuality. Men can be even more restrictive in this belief. Many people use slang like "yass" without having any idea where it comes from. The expression originated from the queer people of color community, but it is now

commonplace in popular culture. Unaware of the impact of their words, straight people are at once appropriating and delegitimizing queer culture. Unfortunately sometimes queer culture becomes more popular than acceptance of us. Popular culture can capitalize off of the fun that we have while ignoring our humanity and the hardship we face. For example the stereotype of the gay best friend reduces queerness to a mere personality and a form of entertainment, rather than a sexuality or an important part of self identification that can be difficult to accept. Straight people do more than repeat problematic phrases. Some of the biggest problems and annoyances faced by the LGBT community have to do with the invasion of our space. When did PRIDE, a historically significant event celebrating LGBT culture and pride become a party for straight teens and why do straight women enter gay bars only to get creeped out when women hit on them? We have to keep our spaces for our own because it's already hard enough to find others like us outside of them. Beyond that, it's offensive to treat us as nothing more than a

curiosity to gawk at. Straight people aren't unwelcome in the LGBT community. Perhaps more than any other minority group, we hold an important place for our allies. However, there is a difference between being an ally who offers acceptance and support, and being someone who taps into our culture only for self-benefit. [Dhruv] Thanks for listening to OutCasting Overtime, a special features from OutCasting, public radio's LGBTQ youth program. OutCasting Overtime is a production of Media for the Public Good, a nonprofit organization. Visit us at outcastingmedia.org to get information about OutCasting, watch OutCasting videos, access our social media links, and listen to the show. Thanks and thanks for listening.