liberation and/vs equal rights

by Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano

this piece was originally posted April 16 on his wonderful blog - God is Brown


I was recently invited to be a part of a panel on queer marriage. The panel was organized by the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Queer Student Alliance with the intent of creating the space to think/talk critically about marriage. The panel was comprised of UT professors and representatives of various organizations in town. The discussion was pretty engaging, with half the table talking about the role of marriage in pursuing equal rights.. while the half was thinking a little more critically about what marriage means and could mean to our communities.

As the conversation was moving along I noticed that yet again, half of the people at the table were having a completely different conversation than the other half. I began thinking that either my A.D.D. had kicked in or the reason we kept getting stuck in the conversation was because one group was talking about equal rights while the other was talking about liberation.

I do not mean to imply that only two perspectives exist, or that either perspective is shared among either group. I think there are more than the two perspectives of equal rights and liberation, as well as more than one perspective within both frameworks. But, to elaborate a little more... when I think of the LGBT (I know, the L&G have yet to really do their part in including the B&T, but I wont start that fight here, just yet) movement’s pursuit of marriage, I think of it as an equal rights movement. With this in mind, it makes sense to me that much of our energy and resources go toward education and lobbying. By pursuing equal rights the LGBT movement is seeking to reform the institutions that govern us. This movement is playing the game to expand our civil rights.

– – – Please note that by civil rights I mean the rights that exist within the civic arena. I do not mean to compare (or not) LGBT equal rights to the Civil Rights Movement. That’s another conversation. – – –

When I think about liberation, however, and the other conversation taking place at the table, I think of our energy and resources going into thinking critically about everything. Now, thinking critically isn’t about being cynical, pessimistic or just plain bitchy. Thinking critically is essential in moving us forward as humans, period. I’m a strong advocate of critical thinking as it provides the space to look at what we know (or have been told) to be true as well as a space to imagine other possibilities.

Thinking about liberation does not necessarily involve pursuing equal rights. Particularly as liberation is not about playing the game, it’s about saying the game is fucked up and we want it to end. Pursuing marriage within a liberation framework doesn’t quite make sense. Why would we want to be a part of an institution that has not been kind to women, that has not always been accessible to people of color (for some it is still not accessible), and doesn’t necessarily have a great success rate (I know, there are more/other reasons, but I’ll leave it at this for now).

I’ve seen tension growing within the LGBT movement over the years. Perhaps part of what is fueling this tension is that we have somehow assumed that all of us working around LGBT issues are a part of this movement. We also seem to assume that we all know what this movement is. I believe part of the challenge is that some are interested in working within the traditional governmental framework we have, while others are looking to re-think the framework in itself.

So now we have one group of people saying that marriage is our ticket to protecting our families. With marriage we will have inheritance rights, hospital visitation/decision-making rights, health insurance coverage through our partners’ employee coverage, the right to sponsor our partners from other countries, etc. At the same time, another group is questioning both marriage and the institutions that govern and restrict the very rights the pro-marriage group is saying we’ll get when we marry.

For one, the above argument used to pursue marriage is based several class-based assumptions. Having the right to be covered under our partners’ employee insurance plan implies that our partners have a job that provides insurance. Actually, it implies our partners have a job. It implies that we want our partners to be the ones that have access to us as well as the right to make decisions for us when we are hospitalized. What happens when our partners are the reason for our hospitalization? (Yes, I just implied domestic violence exists in our relationships. But, shh!)

However, I’m not saying that conversations about liberation have been entirely thought-out either. When I’m engaging in a conversations on liberation, I always think about México and its independence. Here’s a country that pursued its independence from Spain (some of us think the Spanish never really left), and when independence was declared, they went out and named an emperor (who wasn’t even Mexican!). I have to wonder, what will we do? If liberation efforts succeed and the oppressive/repressive institutions are overthrown, what will we do then? Are we ready for a world without an IRS? Are we ready for a world without a ‘criminal’ ‘justice’ department? Call me conservative, regressive and closed-minded… I don’t think we are.

My concern and critique of pursuits of liberation is that most of what I hear and see is about changing the external systems that oppress/repress us. Where are the efforts to change the internal systems that oppress/repress us? I find it difficult to imagine a world where everyone is free without first shifting the paradigms that exist within our own bodies….

Meanwhile I’ll keep supporting the marriage movement with the hope that some rights will be relevant and helpful to more people in our community than those we assume will benefit. At the same time, I’ll support efforts to challenge problematic immigration policies, narrow partner structures (i.e. only two people = relationship), unemployment, etc.

I’ll also keep thinking about how I can shift the paradigms instilled in me over the last centuries. Perhaps one day I will be liberated as a human. Perhaps then I can be useful in working toward world liberation. Perhaps being liberated myself is world liberation. Perhaps.

"I change myself, I change the world." - Gloria Anzaldúa

Lorenzo's bio
Pues el Lorenzo was born in Califas. He lived 6 years in Chihuahua. He’s been in Austin since 2001. He’s Xicano. He’s a poet. He works at allgo. He’s getting another masters. He’s not all there. He loves men. Sometimes men love him.