the whole "closeted people shouldn't be able to write about being queer" thing is kind of the inevitable result of a refusal to rigorously think through the reasons why, say, many books about queers by straights are bad and harmful.

it is not because their authors are straight. it is because straight life encourages straights to have beliefs and ideas that are stupid and make for aesthetically and philosophically weak writing, particularly if that writing tries to be about lives straights don't understand.

it is also because the publishing world rewards straight authors for being so enterprising and interesting as to write about queer people, while queer people are still discomfiting to have around and have to take a backseat.

the whole thing is so boring. you should read Tacit Subjects by Carlos Decena. "outness" is a category with limited use and the broad, flat enforcement of it is racist and colonial. have a nice day

the straights are perfectly capable of doing better; queers are perfectly capable of homophobia. what if we just believed that there was value in queer fiction and in anyone writing it, and we also made sure everyone had enough money from their art to eat.

this is basically where you bump up against the fact that all of this is about money and who can afford to write for a living and how. alllll of this.

I'm muting this thread because it's a lot! just so you know, I am primarily an experimental poet and understand very little about what is happening in this particular world, so if you try to talk to me about it I will be super confused.