Hello Freedom. Goodbye Identity.

Pieter Tolsma

In a staggeringly short course, the LGBT community recently achieved a milestone of progress with the universal enactment of marriage equality and the expansion of government recognition of sexual orientation as a protected status. The news has dominated numerous cycles and uplifted the spirits of advocates on the ground as well as the community as a whole. Underlying these historic victories, however, might we discover a hidden cost associated with this newfound social acceptance? If we increasingly become part of the norm, will our identity disappear?

In the US, the LGBT community first started gathering publicly in bars. These spaces catered specifically to our kind and we were able to express our culture and identity openly. These establishments sprung up in the neighborhoods where we flocked in order to escape the crush of a society that did not value us or our identity. These places birthed that culture — unique among those of the entire world. It is there we created our own systems of values, dress, and sexual identity, forged in a kind of isolation and obscurity.

These values are ones we still carry today, informing some of the contemporary tastes we enjoy. I recently ran into a friend who was a fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race and I suggested he watch the epic documentary of queer ballroom culture in the late 80s, Paris is Burning. I asked him what he thought of the film, and his eyes lit up as he replied, “Everything! We are still saying all the same things!” He was amazed that the language and behaviors we use today are based on those created by others of whom he had never heard.

There is a risk, though, that our culture which thrived under pressure will disappear without it. Each year, more young LGBT persons are graduated into a mainstream society that allows them to express their gender and sexual identities without pushing them away. There is no need to cluster together for collective protection from the rest of society. On the contrary — LGBT culture is a hit in popular society, and what used to be a hidden identity is now commonplace. The behaviors and norms of Paris is Burning are watered down and adopted in the media, and ballroom walk-offs are celebrated. We have never been more accepted, and consequently more invisible.

I have been told that gay and lesbian culture will thrive as long as individuals want to meet and date each other. But here, technology has caught up with the community as well. The convenience offered by dating apps, meetup groups, and Facebook has seriously cut into the need for the physical plant of local establishments. There are apps and sites that cater to the full range of emotional connections, from hookups to desires for more enduring connections. Gay-specific social groups thrive online for those who want gay camping trips, cruises, or coffee hangouts. All of this is available without needing to set foot in gay neighborhoods or businesses.

What makes this change so visible is the speed with which it happened. Academics and politicians are impressed by the rapidity with which the LGBT community has achieved marriage equality. One of the suspected causes for this velocity is the lack of outward differentiation of our population vis-à-vis the rest of society and the fairly even spread of that population throughout. LGBT folks are born and exist at all levels and in all geographies and backgrounds. Our acceptance hinges on our openness and humanization. To say, “We are just like you,” is true, but this also means the cultural system that was created in the pressure cooker of the 40s–90s — which thrived on our inward difference — dies away. LGBT people no longer need to seek out historical LGBT values to feel a sense of acceptance or belonging; they can keep the ones they were raised with and still find welcome.

Does this mean the end of a discernible, specifically LGBT culture? Not necessarily.

LGBT folks will still gather together, and our culture will live on in those meetings. However, the ferocity of demand for shared values will ease. LGBT people will bring more of their own identities and adopt fewer of those common to the LGBT community of days past. Gay neighborhoods and venues will have a greater mix of sexual orientations. Some establishments will fold as demand decreases while other places that dispense the LGBT cultural experience to wider audiences will thrive. As LGBT find greater acceptance and integration into mainstream society, gay culture will live on, grow, and change as social norms themselves change. In the end, it appears that our own unique cultural revolution has given way to a quieter, homogenized evolution.