“As a condition of equal treatment, we homosexuals are expected to conform to the straight system, adopting its norms and aspirations. The end result is gay co-option and invisibilisation. We get equality, but the price we pay is the surrender of our unique, distinctive queer identity, lifestyle and values (the important insights and ethics that we have forged in response to exclusion and discrimination by a hostile straight world). […] Meanwhile, all the sex-repressive social structures, institutions and moralities remain intact, and the "bad gays" remain sexual outlaws.
This nouveau gay reformism involves the abandonment of any critical perspective on straight culture. In place of a healthy scepticism towards the heterosexual consensus, it substitutes naïve acquiescence. Discernment is abandoned in favour of compliance. We trade our souls for the 'gift' of equal rights.”

— Peter Tatchell

Equality is not Enough http://www.petertatchell.net/lgbt_rights/equality_not_enough/equality_is_not_enough.htm, Official Website

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "As a condition of equal treatment, we homosexuals are expected to conform to the straight system, adopting its norms an…" by Peter Tatchell?

Peter Tatchell 6

British gay rights activist 1952

Related quotes

“I expect one of the prices we pay for democracy is there are going to be differences. We pay a price but we get something very important in return.”

Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) American politician and brother of John F. Kennedy

Speaking on his support for President Johnson in the upcoming presidential election (17 March 1967), as quoted in "I'll Campaign For Johnson," Says Kennedy" http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1967/03/18/page/39/article/ill-campaign-for-johnson-says-kennedy

“If we value independence, if we are disturbed by the growing conformity of knowledge, of values, of attitudes, which our present system induces, then we may wish to set up conditions of learning which make for uniqueness, for self-direction, and for self-initiated learning.”

Carl R. Rogers (1902–1987) American psychologist

On Becoming a Person (1961)
Source: page # not specified

“We Scots derive a strong sense of identity from our nationhood. Scotland has always retained a unique culture and character - not defined in opposition to our neighbours, but by ourselves and our basic values. We Scots have made great contributions in the world of philosophy, economics, science and letters. We were the first country in the world to adopt free education for all. And our legal system is a unique hybrid of the civil and common law traditions.”

Alex Salmond (1954) Scottish National Party politician and former First Minister of Scotland

Vision for Scotland in the European Union (December 12, 2007)

“We are Muslims and we have an ethical tradition. We believe that the Quran is universal and one of the essential doctrines of it is to ensuring equality and justice without any discrimination between poor and rich.”

Hamza Tzortzis (1980) public speaker

"Tzortzis: Islam can cure the inequalities in the world" https://www.worldbulletin.net/islamic-world/tzortzis-islam-can-cure-the-inequalities-in-the-world-h137218.html, World Bulletin.net (May 24, 2014)

“We understand the mentality Taiwan compatriots have developed under special historical conditions. We respect their identification with the current social system, values and lifestyle and we know that some friends still harbor misgivings on the development of the cross-strait relations.”

Yu Zhengsheng (1945) Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference

Yu Zhengsheng (2014) cited in " Top political advisor vows understanding on Taiwan http://english.cntv.cn/2014/06/15/ARTI1402811332174644.shtml" on English CCTV.com, 15 June 2014.

“We brought those cases because we realized that the truth is the engine of our judicial system. We didn't get the straight story, and we had to - had to - act.”

Patrick Fitzgerald (1960) American lawyer

Cheney Aide Charged With Lying in Leak Case New York Times (October 29, 2005) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/29/politics/29leak.html?pagewanted=all

“Would it not have startled the old economists to hear that the secret of the most efficient system of wealth production was conformity on a national scale to the ethical idea of equal treatment for all embodied by Jesus Christ in the golden rule?”

Edward Bellamy book Equality

Equality (1897)

“One area which shows how unknowingly predictable we are, is the way we decorate our houses. We all feel we make unique and distinct choices, yet we all conform to a cultural standard.”

Derren Brown (1971) British illusionist

TV Series and Specials (Includes DVDs), Trick of the Mind (2004–2006)

“The straight world didn't end. The straight world and the other world had bled into one another and produced the world that we live in today.”

William Gibson (1948) American-Canadian speculative fiction novelist and founder of the cyberpunk subgenre

No Maps for These Territories (2000)

“This is not a Kingdom but a Republic, in which we are all free and equal citizens, with — and this is the important thing — responsibilities.”

Philip Pullman (1946) English author

Surefish interview (2002)
Context: A sense of belonging, a sense of being part of a real and important story, a sense of being connected to other people, to people who are not here any more, to those who have gone before us. And a sense of being connected to the universe itself.
All those things were promised and summed up in the phrase, 'The Kingdom of Heaven'. But if the Kingdom is dead, we still need those things. We can't live without those things because it's too bleak, it's too bare and we don't need to. We can find a way of creating them for ourselves if we think in terms of a Republic of Heaven.
This is not a Kingdom but a Republic, in which we are all free and equal citizens, with — and this is the important thing — responsibilities. With the responsibility to make this place into a Republic of Heaven for everyone. Not to live in it in a state of perpetual self-indulgence, but to work hard to make this place as good as we possibly can.

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Peter Tatchell 6

Related quotes

Related topics