I wish that we would collectively actually engage with the problematic aspects of queer history instead of demanding they be disposed of.
I think it’s a result of a carceral system that removes criminals from our communities that people think in these black-and-white terms. Either a queer person from history was perfect and can be pinned to any argument to legitimize it, or they were evil, and we aren’t allowed to talk about them or acknowledge their queerness.
In general, I believe it is so much more useful to engage with the messy and uncomfortable things people from history did. I also think this engagement shouldn’t start with mentioning the harm the people caused and then end with disposing of said people.
Some alternatives I like:
- Educating people about the problematic nature of the person while not distancing from them
- Looking into the specifics of what harm was caused and doing opposing things (i.e. an author writing antisemitic tropes can be combatted with intentionally finding and uplifting a Jewish author taking down the tropes)
- Take an inner inventory of ways you may perpetuate harm to the same community that the person in question did, and learn how to stop and repair that harm
- Be an active ally to the people in your life who exist within the marginalization that the person in question contributed harm to
I suppose I am just tired of having a historical figure’s problematic nature being used as a “gotcha moment” in response to even mentioning their existence (often in posts that link to articles that mention and sometimes discuss in depth the exact problematic decisions said person made).