An unsent poem from Right Wing America to Gay and Lesbian America

 

Thank you, Gay and Lesbian America!
We are finally winning
And you have been so cooperative

All those years
We hated you, we beat you

We alienated you
But you fought back
You stood up
You stood up for yourselves
For oppressed people everywhere

You fought us at Stonewall
You fought us in the streets
and worked to undo what we have done

You fought poverty
You fought racism
You fought sexism

And you scared us
You were too loud, too strong
And you were getting stronger

But then, then you tackled marriage
And then we began to win

Because now the ball’s in our court
You’ve been tamed

You concentrate on gay marriage as if nothing else exists
You have forgotten your strong roots
You have forgotten your solidarity,
your commitment to social change

Now you want to be just like us
Just like the people who hate you so much
You want white picket fences
You want to fit neatly
into an unthreatening box

This will go on for years
We are winning
And you are whining
And all the while your fire, your defiance, your sharpness
It’s withered to nothing

Please let us assimilate,
you say
Let us aspire to SUVs and soccer games
We don’t care about politics anymore
We don’t care about challenging norms anymore
We get angry about mismatched throw pillows
not about injustices and hate crimes

You don’t scare us anymore.
You want to be us.
And we won’t let you
But we will string you along
And keep you occupied

You used to be everywhere
Fighting everywhere
Changing things, challenging things
But now, this isn’t one issue
It’s your only issue

And you’ve played right into our hands

Thank you

 

- Erin Reed ‘08

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