Queer people offer a glimpse into the future

Written by Jack McGovan / Edited by Libby Langhorn

When conservatives say that queer people are a threat to traditional values, they’re right. As a community, we’re largely unburdened by the shackles of gender norms; for us chains are more indicative of a healthy, exploratory sex life than anything restrictive. Living so freely allows us to experiment with our gender expression in unique ways and explore different forms of platonic, sexual, and romantic relationships. We are absolutely a threat to traditional values—and that's why we’re invaluable in the fight for a better future. 

Life for most people in the West follows a typical blueprint: you find a partner with whom you maintain a monogamous relationship and settle down around the beginning of your 30s—at the latest—with the aim of having children. Usually, there will be some kind of gender divide in household labour, with women doing almost twice as much housework as men. You dedicate yourself and your time to a nuclear family, and, unfortunately, there will probably be a gender reveal party at some point. 

Queer people, on the other hand, are significantly more likely to live in a non-monogamous way than cis-heterosexuals. We're also less likely to have children: 59 percent of married same-sex couples expressed no interest in rearing their own offspring, and one of the benefits of being gay is that accidents never happen no matter how hard you might try. That’s not to say that being in a non-monogamous relationship or not having children are objectively better things to do—it’s pointing out that when people are freed from societal norms, they aren’t restricted to a specific blueprint.

It goes beyond sex, relationships, or reproduction, too. Queer men in the past have challenged conventional masculinity by strutting through streets in a skirt or a smokey eye, often choosing their desire to live authentically over kowtowing to threatening behaviour. Thanks to their bravery, cis-heterosexual men in today’s world are now able to present in similar ways without the same level of judgement, even if some of their fashion choices can be questionable at times. 

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Queerness is a story of being at the forefront of bodily autonomy and freedom of expression, and that’s why conservatives want to eradicate us. Their entire ideology is based upon a foundation in which there are immutable differences between men and women, that there is a natural hierarchy where straight (white) men “rightfully” reside over others. If a man can willingly give up his privileged spot at the top of the patriarchy by leaning into his femininity or even completely transitioning to a woman, it’s living evidence that those immutable differences are a work of fiction—more Atlas Shrugged than Cloud Atlas.

The collapse of the patriarchy would ultimately mean the complete breakdown of the current world order, too; and that's not just me threatening you with a good time. Fossil fuel companies and billionaires were found to be funding 80 percent of far-right groups pushing anti-trans sentiment. Charlie Kirk, the far-right activist murdered last year who stirred up hatred against queer people, admitted to taking money from the fossil fuel industry. Why would these wealthy, powerful entities spend money on hate campaigns if they didn’t think it would help them achieve their aims?

Conservative ideology and extractive capitalism echo one another. They’re both systems based on domination which seek to extract as much value as possible from nature, women, and other marginalised identities. In a world where hierarchies between humans are challenged and broken down, so too would the supposed hierarchy between humans and nature come into question—affecting fossil fuel executive profits.

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Although queer people should be protected based on our human dignity alone, we’re a map towards emancipation. We demonstrate that to be human is more than your biology on the day you're born, that change is an inherent part of the human experience, and that it’s possible to resist the rigidity that is enforced upon all of us from a young age. We show the power of solidarity with those whom you don’t share blood or bodies with, that care, community, and coexistence are the values that must be prioritised.

Existing outside of the dominant structure in society offers us fresh insight into the effects our system is having on the world. If you want a liveable future, one with clean air, community spirit, and equality for all, standing up for queer people is non-negotiable. Without queer people living the values we need to build a better tomorrow, conservatism would win. Not only would that be insanely boring, a beige world without colour, it would mean being trapped in the backseat of a car headed for a cliff face with no chance of escape or survival.