History is about you

by Amanda Kerri
Trans Issues Columnist

It’s LGBT History Month. Time to remember things which have already happened, often years or decades before you were born.

Let’s drag that well-worn golden oldie of Stonewall out because we haven’t whipped that part of our history to death enough as it is. Because as we all know, LGBTQ history began and ended at Stonewall, right? Literally, nothing else interesting in the entire expansive timeline of the universe, from its explosion in light and energy billions of years ago and this exact moment we are in, is worth remembering as far as LGBTQ history goes.

Nope, can’t think of a single other thing that might be worth remembering, celebrating, or writing about. Just Stonewall. Yep. Just that one thing.

Okay, real talk.

If I have to write another article about Stonewall, I’m throwing a brick at someone.

Seriously. I can’t stand writing another article about Stonewall. I don’t even want to write another article about Harvey Milk, Lawrence vs. Texas, the AIDS crisis or anything else like that.

Let’s be real, those dead horses have been whipped into glue at this point.

Yeah, there’s always going to be some gay person who doesn't’t know the history, but there’s also always going to be a person who needs the warning label on the toaster that says not to take a bath with it plugged in.

Sometimes, you just need to talk about other things.

Being a person who loves history and has read a ton of it, I get a little fatigued by the constant rehashing of history because it’s popular and tugs at the heartstrings. Like, I love military history of course, but if I see another shaky cam rehash of The Battle of the Bulge or D-Day, I’ll scream.

There’s something else about loving history that I’ve noticed we actually don’t do enough of, and that’s to realize the history we’re making in the moment. I mean, every new first that happens is a big history thing we should all pay attention to, but at the same time, we forget we’re the history that’s happening.

It first dawned on me that we don’t realize this when I was in the military in Iraq back in 2003. (Now you see why I thematically tied LGBTQ month and war movies together?).

No, I wasn’t the hero of the story, but I was living in a great historical moment. I, myself, was making history.

That, to me, is what we need to think about during LGBTQ history month; how we’re the ones making history.

Every time we vote for a progressive candidate who supports us, we’re making that history. Every march, every protest, every time we are part of what moves our community forward, we’re the history being made for the future.

We can always keep looking back on the past for guidance, but when we recognize that we are the history that will be written, we recognize that our greatest moments are not all behind us and that we too can be the things that people write about in decades to come.

So, let us do history a favor, and for the love of god, give them something to write about other than Stonewall.

Copyright The Gayly. 19/6/2018 @ 12:34 p.m. CST.