10 | OutBoise Magazine | NEWS
OutBoisemag.com | Issue 20 | June 2016
DIVERSITY: Celebration or Repression?
OMG, There’s a half naked man on the cover!
That’s a HUGE stereotype that perpetuates a
“negative image” of our community.
Seriously? There’s an amazing man celebrating his
identity as a performer on the cover. And he has a
6-page spread inside the magazine. He is our feature article. From a publisher’s perspective, I find the
picture of Big Dipper on the cover to be PERFECT.
It is beautiful, exciting, and, yeah, a little sexual.
What is wrong with that?
NOTHING.
And how about the great picture on this page? It
celebrates members of our local community celebrating Pride. Well. That’s not “cool” enough.
Who, really gets to make the decision of what is
the right representation of our LGBTQ community?
Who gets to decide that something is too sexual or
too “inappropriate” for Boise?
When it comes to OutBoise, that decision lies
purely with the publisher.
Taking a look at the history of our culture throughout the world, it filled with sexual innuendo, people
dressed in nearly nothing, expressing their identity in
the most extravagant way they possibly can.
Why? When Gay Pride parades began, they
started as a protest. To give our world a visibility that
we needed. And, it was always “In your Face” when
you saw it. Pride was meant to be a way for us to
show the world who we are.
When you look back at shows like Queer as Folk,
you are taken into a world that shows the dark sides
of our culture, as well as interpersonal relationships,
love, hate.... EVERYTHING. You saw it all. The
bears, the leather daddies, the twinks, the lesbians,
the drag queens. EVERYONE was represented.
When you take a look at the way Hollywood
represents our community, now, often times, they
want to show LGBT people who look just like regular
people. They’re married couples, adopting children,
and living happy lives.
This is great, but it leaves SO many people behind. Not everyone wants a white picket fence. Not
everyone wants to show that side of themselves.
At what point does it all become too toned down
to the point where we no longer express our true
identities?