Hi. I鈥檓 Simon Copland. I鈥檓 very excited to start writing at Star Observer.
I thought I鈥檇 start with a bit of a summer post. Every year I love voting for, and listening to, the Triple J Hottest 100. This year many were happy as Macklemore鈥檚 鈥楽ame Love鈥� made it so high in the list. Yet, as 鈥楽ame Love鈥� made it to number 15, I couldn鈥檛 help but think, and cringe, at the bland 鈥榣ove鈥� politics that have started to take control recently. We see it everywhere; a story that 鈥榳e deserve equal rights because our love is the same鈥�. It鈥檚 one that troubles me.
Obviously, the first problem is that sexuality and gender identity is about a lot more than 鈥榣ove鈥�. It鈥檚 about f**king, how we dress, who we kiss, how we identify ourselves, what toilets we use etc etc. There is so much more to our struggle than love.聽 And what a focus on 鈥榣ove鈥� does is hide all of these things; to provide a nice, friendly, heteronormative face to queer people. To remove the 鈥榠cky鈥� queer things that conservatives don鈥檛 want to hear about.
Even when we do talk about love though, I question whether we really want the 鈥榮ame love鈥�. Whilst this is obviously no longer true for many anymore, hetero relationships and love have been built on the power of the patriarchy 鈥� something we certainly don鈥檛 want to gain access too.
Much of 鈥榦ur love鈥� is already different to this. There is the love of monogamous gay or lesbian couples, the love of those in poly relationships or in relationships where couples may sleep around at times.
There are so many forms of love that I can鈥檛 name them all, and it feels like talking about 鈥榮ame love鈥� is a way to ignore this 鈥� to narrow our focus to the type of 鈥榣ove鈥� that fits into a heteronormative society.
We鈥檙e about so much more than love. And even when we鈥檙e in love, whether hetero or queer, so many of us are not like everyone else, and many of us don鈥檛 want the 鈥榮ame love鈥�. We are broader than that and shouldn鈥檛 try and hide it.
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