Fort Worth Councilman talks about gay youth suicides

[Red Commissar]

This video (11 min) was recorded during a meeting of the Forth Worth city council. One councilman, Joel Burns, is openly gay and gives his thoughts on the harassment and discrimination that gay youth go through growing up and beyond.

He describes the cases of other youth recently in schools, and discusses his own issues growing up. His main message at the end to the youth is that they must be strong in the face of hatred:


But the number of suicides in recent days have upset me so much, and it just tore at my heart. And even though there may be some political repercussions for telling my story, the story is not just for the adults who do choose to support me. This story is for the young people who might be holding that kind of thought, or the rope, or the pill bottle.

Give yourself a chance to see just how much life -- how much better life will get. And it will get better.

You will get out of the household that doesn't accept you. You will get out of that high school. And you never have to deal with those jerks again if you don't want to. You will find and you will make new friends who will understand you, and life will get so, so, so much better.

....

To those who are feeling very alone tonight. Please know that I understand how you feel. That things will get easier. Please stick around to make those happy memories for yourself. It may not seem like it tonight, but they will. And the attitudes of society will change. Please live long enough to be there to see it.

While being a mainstream politician, it's not many politicians who would be very frank and open with this topic, especially considering the political climate today.

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[Queercommie Girl]

But apparently people like Invincible Summer would completely write-off such speeches because they were not given by revolutionary socialists, just like they would write-off any kind of anti-homophobia campaign that is "within" the current capitalist system.

Obviously some people have no grasp of transitional strategies and how to attract queer people to the socialist cause at all. To reject every "reformist" queer movement is like rejecting every "reformist" strike action. How the fuck can you ever win the hearts of any queers or workers in general in such a fashion?

[The Censored Woman]

But apparently people like Invincible Summer would completely write-off such speeches because they were not given by revolutionary socialists, just like they would write-off any kind of anti-homophobia campaign that is "within" the current capitalist system.

Obviously some people have no grasp of transitional strategies and how to attract queer people to the socialist cause at all. To reject every "reformist" queer movement is like rejecting every "reformist" strike action. How the fuck can you ever win the hearts of any queers or workers in general in such a fashion?


Well I would completely write this off, because it doesn't really do anything -- regardless of if its "inside" or "outside" the capitalist system.

But secondly, filling young people up with false hope is really cruel and disempowering if anything. Telling them "it gets better" without putting the tools or resources at their disposal to MAKE IT BETTER, reeks of ageism and nationalistic "American Dream" nonsense.

Things may magically get better one day, if you're one of the few privileged queer people out there... but for most queer people, things do not simply get better once you grow up.

"It Gets Better... It Did for Me," coming from the lips of gay politicians or gay celebrities is meaningless. How about, "It'll get better once you fight back against homophobe at your school" or "It'll get better once you cut unsupportive family members out of your life" or "It'll get better if you work to break down the heterosexist society we're stuck with".

[Queercommie Girl]

Well I would completely write this off, because it doesn't really do anything -- regardless of if its "inside" or "outside" the capitalist system.

But secondly, filling young people up with false hope is really cruel and disempowering if anything. Telling them "it gets better" without putting the tools or resources at their disposal to MAKE IT BETTER, reeks of ageism and nationalistic "American Dream" nonsense.

Things may magically get better one day, if you're one of the few privileged queer people out there... but for most queer people, things do not simply get better once you grow up.

"It Gets Better... It Did for Me," coming from the lips of gay politicians or gay celebrities is meaningless. How about, "It'll get better once you fight back against homophobe at your school" or "It'll get better once you cut unsupportive family members out of your life" or "It'll get better if you work to break down the heterosexist society we're stuck with".

Obviously I'm not being uncritical of speeches like this at all, that's just common sense for a socialist. What I oppose is the ultra-leftist notion that any kind of "establishment-based queer movement" has absolutely no value what-so-ever, like how many anarchists refuse to participate in "mainstream" pride marches.

I prefer the approach of Trotskyists like the British SWP, they certainly don't support pro-establishment LGBT organisations like Stonewall, but they don't completely write it off either, because strategically they could still use it as a kind of platform for mobilising more people.

Similarly, I wouldn't just write-off a worker's strike just because it has an explicitly nationalist slogan such as "British jobs for British workers" and "Chinese jobs for Chinese workers" and is explicitly anti-immigrant and racist, even though obviously I'm against both nationalism and racism.