Isabella Levin

18/01/05
Queer Feelings
Stephen Dillon

In Abram J. Lewis’ work, “We Are Certain of Our Own Insanity” he discusses the

societal ramifications of homosexuality being expunged from the Diagnostic and Statistical

Manual of Mental Disorders, effectively deeming it free from its prior mental illness status. The

fact that this was the societal understanding of homosexuality just a few decades ago is

frightening, and as Abram cited, while those of us living in the present perceive this as a basic

acknowledgment of human rights, at the time it was renowned as “the greatest gay victory to

date.” If we heeded such a basic acknowledgment of our existence to in fact be the ​greatest

victory, perhaps we are too accustomed to our own oppression to recognize when we deserve

more, rather than settling for something so trivial. As activists, it may be useful to take a step

back and reconsider exactly how significant of a victory, for example, gay marriage is to us

today, compared to what the victory might be for the next generation. We must not get lost in the

illusion of progress.

It is the fundamental thinking of our oppressors that the picture of health is

heteronormative and cis-centric, and anything that doesn’t fall under that purview is wrong. It is

viewed as an illness that is painful to the individual, because neurotypical straight white cis men

clearly​ have an understanding of what miserable lives us queer folk lead. To them, they are

simply trying to help us better our quality of life and escape our sinful, impure lifestyle, rather

than speaking from a place of hatred or bigotry, or even fear of what they don’t understand. I’m

sure this is a big misunderstanding, and that all of those centuries of oppression were committed

by honest, well-meaning individuals.

However, the APA continues to repeat the same flawed line of thinking to this day.

Queers are still suffering under the guise of receiving medical aid, and it remains unseen in the
Isabella Levin
18/01/05
Queer Feelings
Stephen Dillon

public eye. The diagnosis of “transgender” is still present in psychological texts around the

world, with the exception of Denmark, which only reversed that diagnosis this year, 2017. Even

after the events following the reversal of homosexuality as an illness, many reduced it to being

semantics, having no effect on reality; “it’s meaningless that they’ve done it, cause like, who

cares what category the American Psychiatric Association puts us in?” (Lewis, 84) Although, I

am arguing that, what we often fail to realize is that labels are power. As long as queerness is

labeled as a problem in need of fixing, corrupt organizations will continue seizing opportunities

to capitalize on that and utilize it to justify the literal torture of children in the form of conversion

camps.

This excerpt from Rise Against’s song “Tragedy + Time” portrays the illusion of

progress. “And sometimes you have to go back, to know just where you have been. But we’re

old enough to know that what has been will be again, and again.” We accept the small victories

offered to us by the patriarchy, but lest we forget in our celebration that we are in fact, still where

we always were. Tragedy, as time progresses, becomes further and further ingrained in us, and

while myself and my transgender colleagues that have survived long enough to escape the

notorious statistic that 75% of transgender youth attempt suicide, and were fortunate enough to

go to college, many of our trans brothers and sisters are still suffering and dying every day.

Although we have a long road before us until we reach something truly worth celebrating, we

will head the chorus of “Tragedy + Time”: “There will be a time to crack another smile, maybe

not today or for a while. But we’re holding on to laugh again someday.” For all the time that has

passed, we all still share the label of “transgender”, whether one was a modern day trans youth or
Isabella Levin
18/01/05
Queer Feelings
Stephen Dillon

in the 13th century, and it is up to us to change the meaning of that label, rather than the label

itself.