City of hypocrisy
Lesedauer: ca. 5 Minuten
City of hypocrisy
truth and lies, pride and profit
Special menus in restaurants or free drinks on march 8th, flags all over the city in june. And in the case of a hotel here in vienna, they don’t even pretend to care enough to buy the right flag, (as seen in the picture). Maybe this ignorant giant international chain of hotels (not naming any names but it rhymes with milton), wanted to save some money and saw this great discount on the website of this fascist-supporting conglomerat, (again, not naming any names but they called themselves after a river in south america, hint: it’s not orinoco), and thought, well who will even notice?
And that is when I show up.
A f*cking marketing concept, that is all that our fight is to them. A real poor one too, if you’d ask me. A few weeks ago I did some research about new headphones and stumbled across a pair of over ears in a “pride edition”. Well only 50 bucks more expensive than the normal version? Also with bad design, that clearly someone straight did? Of course I had to. Close the tab and say f*ck (insert name of the german manufacturer). I don’t know one single queer person that would buy stuff like that. Also, I don’t know any feminist woman that is exactly that so she can get a discount on the 8th day in march.
It is who we are. It is what we do, no matter the day, week, month or political landscape that we find ourselves in. None of it is easy. Not a trend neither. I heard the other day, I guess a phrase that said that there is a tendency for vienna to not be a safe place for queers anymore. I thought that was bs. Because it never has been and it isn’t safe. Did you ever have to worry, during an elevator ride in what condition you are going to get out of it?
Well I did and saw three different possible outcomes:
- Uninjured just enraged and disgusted
- Heavily injured
- In a body bag
It was scenario number 1.
This time.
You might think that I exaggerate or that I am being a little dramatic.
I am not.
I go out in the morning and walk to the tram station. As the tram arrives, it is here again. The sickening feeling when I see the lgbt+ flags on on the tram. The feeling of disbelieve, anger and despair. This city that systematicly oppresses my community and then has the audacity to use our flags that supposed to represend what we and generations before us fought for.
And just gets away with it.
Why actually change things, when they can just pretend that they already did? They fake it so they don’t have to actually do the work.
Do you really believe the lies they tell you? Do you go through the museums full with art, stolen either from jewish people in the 30s and 40s or from BIPOC during the colonial times? Or the ones with murdered and stuffed (often endangered or already extinct) animals in it? How about the countless buildings from the time of the K.u.K. monarchy filled with paintings of gross white people that build their welth on the backs of minorities, grew it through colonialism and held it together with tyranny, did you go to see them? Or did you go to the aquarium that once was used as an air defence tower by the nazis but where you can now see animals being trapped and suffer in real time?
Well I don’t. And I didn’t. Not since I am not a child anymore. Because I see it. The unconvinient but obvious and undeniable truth. And I choose to. Because,
Apathy is a virus.
Denial is manifesting evil.
Ignorance is poison.
Are rainbow streetcrossings going to get trans women an income? Are the traffic lights in the 1st district going to stop queer children from commiting suicide? And are the flags on the tram going to keep me save?
No. No. And No.
The only thing that these things do is prove that vienna is still a city of hypocrisy. I am writing these lines and honestly, I dont know what to do. Vomit or cry? Maybe my heart is simply going to explode. What I know is that it is the struggle we maybe didn’t choose, but the one we have to carry on. And I find hope in beautiful people like Sylvia and Marsha¹, two women that I have so much to thank for. Still, I feel pain when I think about them. They fought and they didn’t give up. And I feel closer to them, when I feel despair. And when I keep going. And when I am living for the cause.
For the liberation.
For women and queer people of color, for people outside of the binary, for people that refuse to be labeled, or used as a token. For the woman that is living on the street, which heartfelt smile lit up my world, for the bisexual women that wants to help pay the check even though she is broke, too and for the non-binary person of color that pathed the way, and keep doing so.
Maybe one day,
The sun will rise upon mother earth, where we as women and queer people can live freely, in safety, peace with nature and thrive. Where we can for the first time ever really heal, learn from each other and be connected by the air we breathe and empathy. By the tears we had shed at night, the blood we lost before we won, and the sweat that we needed to build that new world.
One that we finally all could call home.
written by Thea Vera-Vaquitas
Further information and sources:
(The author wants to state that she is aware of her white priviledge and can’t, doesn’t and won’t ever try to speak for BIPOC at all, neither does she represent all queer people.)
¹ Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson were activists that fought for queer rights since day one of the movement and also participated in the stonewall riots. In a time where especially trans women (of color), have been discriminated and excluded even by the queer community and gay liberation movement, they marched in the front line to fight for the rights of all queer people.
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