Ever felt sick of English-language LGBT journalism that, no matter how many times we radical queers around the world denounce it, continues to portray and represent queers in non-English-speaking regions in often racist, ethnocentric, colonial, progressivist, and quite shallow ways with a hint of Messiah Complex? I have. Like, numerous times. They see our fellow mainstream, assimilationist LGBT locals struggling to be like them, but not us rad-queers who question capitalism, prison, marriage equality, and non-profit industrial complex. After nearly a year since the launch of its Facebook Page, The Rad-queers Speaking English For You Project has taken its way to Tumblr!
The project is intended to be a repository of blog entries, scholarly papers, news articles, videos, music, poetry, etc. etc. available in English but created by (mostly radical) queers from non-English speaking regions, to provide a collection of rad-queer voices in non-Western, non-English speaking worlds that are often overlooked by English-language LGBT journalism.
Of course, English-language journalism isn’t and shouldn’t be the only kind of journalism that counts. There are news outlets and activist presence available in other languages and that is just great. English-language journalism, however, is nonetheless in actuality the most used means by which most of us queer non-native speakers of English learn about fellow other queers around the world. That is why journalists who write in English have a certain responsibility as someone who relays information from one place to another, as a hub of queer voices around the world. And we hold them responsible, by providing this repository of rad-queer voices available in English.
Crappy journalism is often a result of insufficient research. So we let them have the information in English, and they’ll no longer have the excuse to ignore rad-queer voices saying they don’t read our languages.
At the moment the contents are scarce. I will try to post lots of stuff, though. And I am considering sharing the Tumblr blog with collaborators in some future. Meanwhile, follow the Tumblr and stay tuned!
