The Capitalist and the Queer - A Love Story?

This blog entry was also inspired by a conversation with a certain man in my life who made the shallow assertion once that "capitalism loves us," referring to our brotherhood of homosexuals. And I was stricken, biting back my ardent protests, and was forced to think on the not inconsiderable ways that this was indeed true, and the many more ways that this assertion was false.

Freed from the reproductive constraints of the heteronormativity that our community, by its very nature is wont to defy, homosexual (men, for the purposes of this article) are in a position to be, on a whole, wealthier. No extra money is spent on larger living space for offspring, food for offspring, clothes, accessories, presents, doctor's visits or schooling for offspring. Since being Queer is an invisible identity, there is the added advantage for homosexuals to continue to rise in the ranks of their respective industries and make the same money at the top as the married heterosexual man with children. Consequently, we tend to be
afforded a greater deal of financial affluence.

With these factors in mind, a great number of businesses, industries and financial ventures are marketted to be "friendly" to the gay community. The reluctance of even the most conservative business empires to (quote) "piss off the homos," even at the risk of the dissatisfaction of their traditional family consumers, is testament to the discourse of gay financial power in capitalist society.

Between the factual circumstances that bring about this change to the ways in which businesses operate in order to capitalize on this percieved wealth of gay males, I can see where one would make the assertion that "Capitalism loves us."

Hmmm. But if only that were really the case. Firstly, the survey of the homosexual community is skewed by the overrepresentation of already well-to-do, able-bodied, white gay males as the face of homosexual community. These people have the money, class/race/gender privelege and subsequent access to resources to establish themselves as the only face of homosexuality. So if capitalism did in fact "love" homosexuals, this elite subclass is the population that they would love.

Now, more relevantly, I point to the historic relationship between capitalism and Christian hegemony. The infamous and long-standing campaign against homosexuals by traditional Christianity is inextricably linked to the need for the reproduction of capitol and the labor force. You can't have a successful capitalist economy that produces an unrivaled GDP if people aren't popping them out like rabbits. Period. Homosexuality is a threat to that. God forbid (no pun...) people refrain from reproduction because of the sexualities. The "Christian" (read: capitalist) population would wane and failure (of what? you ask) would be inevitable. The discourse of compulsory reproduction still continues to saturate Christian sermons in many traditional denominations that aim to (as my pastor put it once) "expand God's kingdom, one way or another."

Now that the world population is insanely out of control and Christian-Capitalism has reached so far across the world, the homosexual threat is barely consequential. Instead, now that there is increased "acceptance" (a foul word) of the overrepresented white, bourgeous gay man, they can be seen for what truly matters: their money.

Capitalism doesn't love gays. They love our money. And we--or SOME of us rather--have it. The corporate spirit operates like a temptress--or, more appropriately, temptor--who seduces us out of our money for "Gay Cruises," "Gay Day" at Disney Land, even "Pride Week" (yeah, I said it!). It is, however, empowering to know the value of our (whoever that may be) spending power, but as a Queer anarchist, I encourage us to question the powers at work that aim to "capitalize" on our spending power.

--TAHS