Token Multi-Culturalism is So Gay!

This makes me angry.

How, in God's name, could New Mardi Gras be so arrogant and insensitive?

Here, in Australia, we have a "little" problem. We had eleven years of a government that was deeply, deeply racist and who worked dedicatedly to more deeply ingrain racist and anti-immigration sentiments in the white people of this country. One symptom of this is a bizarrely nationalistic attitude involving a compulsive embracing of the Australian flag.

Most recently, on Invasion Day (aka Australia Day), people were photographed draping themselves in the Australian flag and writing "fuck off, we're full" on themselves (AND claiming that they're not racist for doing so).

You can also combine this with, since 9-11, a deeply anti-Arab sentiment. This sentiment has been seen in race riots and violent attacks against people perceived to be Arab. I am in full empathy and understanding that Beit el Hob elected not to march as a group this year, given the theme and the very recent and still ongoing hostility towards Arabs in this country. I am angry and disgusted NMG did not heed Beit el Hob's concerns when they were raised, but sadly this IS typical of NMG, which continues to try and preserve the parade as a largely middle-upper class white gay male event whilst pretending to aim for further inclusivity. If this were true, they would never have been so insensitive with the theme. Beit el Hob's concerns for safety are all too legitimate. It only takes one white het asshole in the audience, there to see the lesbians with their tits out, to catch sight of an flag from an Arab country for trouble to start.

Nassim says it perfectly in the above link:

Official suggestions for parade participants, under the theme Nations United, included dressing up as the national flag or other iconic imagery of countries they closely identify with, which Beit el Hob spokesman Nassim Arrage feared would be harmful to many from areas of conflict.
“While we welcome the idea behind this year’s Mardi Gras theme, we’re really uncomfortable and concerned with the nationalistic agenda and overtones,” he told Sydney Star Observer.
“The use of flags in Australia is a highly political and contentious one. There’s this nationalism that is going on that doesn’t recognise that it’s actually alienating, or what celebrating nationality might mean to a queer Arab in the context of the world after 9/11 and anti-terrorism laws.”

Of course, the problems don't end with the issues for queer Arabs. As has been pointed out, queer Arab's still partook in the parade, just not as a united group - a queer Arab friend of mine marched in solidarity with the sex worker's float this year and I was proud to have her with us and delighted she wanted to show her support for our cause even as I was disappointed NMG disabled her ability to march in solidarity with Beit el Hob - the problem is much, much bigger.

I believe that NMG were genuinely trying to be inclusive of the community with the theme, but they came from a place of privilege and narrow-sightedness in doing so. I am not particularly sympathetic to MG these days - it is so far from being a protest anymore it's beyond a joke, it's basically a long stream of advertisements with a few genuine floats thrown in as well.
But didn't they consider how ultimately DIVISIVE separating the parade into different regions actually was? Furthermore, the floats they allocated to regions - for example, the sex workers float was in Asia-Pacific! WHAT THE FUCK? How does that make sense?? But even more insultingly, the HIV/AIDS related floats were allocated to Africa!!! Did none of those asshats even stop for a second to go - hey, this is kinda fucked up?? Really?? NONE of them??

And how is lumping a huge variety of cultures, countries and nations together into regions actually reflective of the dense diversity of those cultures, countries and nations?

Oh, oh and to CAP IT OFF - all the "Australian" floats WERE MARCHED OFF FIRST!!! Yes, there they were, the proud Aussie floats, leading the parade!!! And guess who comprised the Aussie floats? Oh, try the police, for a start! In fact, all the floats for authoritative bodies were lumped in the Australian section.

Give me strength.

How can New Mardi Gras not see how problematic, insulting, reductionist and hurtful this year's theme was and the way in which it was organised and carried out? How can they be so arrogant and insensitive? How can they, as a body of queers, JUST NOT GET THIS ISSUE???

I know, I know, horizontal discrimination. UNCONSCIOUS horizontal discrimination, at that.
STILL NOT OKAY.

NMG HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY to fail better. We all, as queers, know the kind of discrimination and homophobia we are subjected to. GOD, GET SOME GODDAMN EMPATHY. It's NOT okay, NOT acceptable and canNOT be excused.

The NMG is NOT representative of the greater queer community and it will continue to alienate people and become less and less relevant the longer it keeps this up. There's a reason MG hit financial difficulty a few years back and it's NOT because a pride parade is no longer relevant in Australia.

Get a fucking clue.

(oh and also, just reflective of ongoing issues with the SSO, the title to that article is "Gay Arabs" which is inaccurate - not everyone involved in Beit el Hob is gay. QUEER. QUEER is the inclusive word, SSO. Reminds me of the time a few years ago they printed a trans friend of mine's birth name without her permission. It was entirely irrelevant to the issue of the article, she was very upset about it, and when I commented saying so on their website, they refused to publish my comment. Asshats.)