From the Take Back Boystown controversy to Windy City Times' own Generation Halsted youth spotlight series, LGBTQ youth are increasingly visible in the queer community.
Youth are forming Gay-Straight Alliance in high schools across the country. So-called "at-risk" youth find support in outreach and prevention programs thanks to shifting government understandings of HIV and violence intervention. LGBTQ youth are the subjects of research by both large-scale educational institutions and small-scale community organizations alike.
LGBTQ youth have more opportunities to get to know one another earlier and come of age in an environment where they can question with, organize with, and date other LGBTQ young people. I'm just old enough to have not known students who were out in high school much less to have had an organized presence, and I see myself at the cusp of a new generation of LGBTQ upstarts challenging the status quo of racism, classism, and transphobia in established gay and lesbian communities. As I officially age out of the "youth" category, I look back on seven years of working with and participating in youth movements, and I am proud.
I firmly believe in the capability of youth and plan to be a youth advocate for life; however, the youth-obsessed nature of our community is disconcerting. From dance party floors to non-profit offices, there is a pervasive attitude that youth is what we all should aspire to. We promote youth leadership as "full of potential" while implying 30-somethings are past their prime. When I'm involved in a successful project, older folks approach me to extol how proud they are of what I'm doing. Too often, the conversation includes a self-effacing preface about how they are irrelevant or unimportant, about how they know that I don't need their support or validation. Reality couldn't be father from the truth.
I embrace coming of age in a community that those before me built, a community that spent time teaching me how to be an activist, educator and youth worker. I can only be who I am because generations of queers laid a foundation I could build from. That work may have seemed small, but it was laborsome, slow and dangerous. Thank you to people who facilitated support groups I came out in, who started conferences where I developed my worldview, and who took me in when I had nowhere to go. In our collective enthusiasm for youth, let us not forget to create intentional spaces for youth to talk with, learn from, and share experiences with elders.
When was the last time you attended an event with 50-year-olds and 18-year-olds represented? In five years of seeking out intergenerational spaces, I've found only a few one-off eventsan intergenerational mixer hosted by Genderqueer Chicago, a storytelling workshop by About Face Youth Theatre, and Broadway Youth Center's former mentorship program. I challenge us all to be more inclusive of older folks in our organizing. As I open up to older queers, I hear from many folks who feel left out of and unappreciated by the queer community.
Let's embrace this moment where change is accelerating, but let us also make room for our elders even if they think differently than we do, use different language, and make choices we don't understand. One of the most dynamic people I know is Alexis Martinez, an older trans woman who is willing to make a space for herself at the table even when people don't make it easy.
But let's make it easier for them just like they made it easier for us. Join me in greeting elders when they come to an event for the first time, changing wording on a flyer, and committing to advertise our events not exclusively via Facebook. When we die, the work will not be done, and I hope we will pass on a sense of pride in where we came from, along with our optimism for the future.
André is the founder of the Trans Oral History Project, co-founder of Project Fierce Chicago, and a working board member of Orgullo en Accion. When André is not rabble-rousing, educating, or building community, you can hire him to photograph events and portraits by contacting him at andrealanperez@gmail.com .