Queers Read This!

    Hi, racers! Finals are a reading period away and the end is bittersweet. Bitter because we have to lock in at the trenches (Rettner/iZone or the PRR if you’re a freak of nature). Sweet because of the exciting summer possibilities (idk what i’m doing other than going onstage with Madonna for her ongoing world tour). Anyway, below there’s a call for summer plans, gay stuff, and my last queer highlight! 

    P.S. Senior design has struck once again and delayed this newsletter, but it’s ok because it’s time for oSTEM to get its lick in via Design Day, but more on that also below! 

This Summer

    This is our last Spring ‘24 newsletter, so ofc we’ve got a few action items for you! Firstly, got any fun summer plans? Share what you’ll be up to this summer to update the oSTEM queers through our summer newsletter. Summer newsletter? Yup! Expect one (1) newsletter over the summer that’ll include updates/interest forms for the oSTEM National Conference later this year, extra resources & opportunities, a status update from you, and a slay queer highlight from Sree (the proud insurrectionist/incoming secretary)!

Coming Up

In the News

Queers Read This: Queer Wrath & Inheritence 

I hate Jesse Helms. I hate Jesse Helms so much I'd rejoice if he dropped down dead. If someone killed him I'd consider it his own fault. I hate Ronald Reagan, too, because he mass-murdered my people for eight years. But to be honest, I hate him even more for eulogizing Ryan White without first admitting his guilt, without begging forgiveness for Ryan's death and for the deaths of tens of thousands of other PWA's --- most of them queer. I hate him for making a mockery of our grief. I hate the fucking Pope, and I hate John fucking Cardinal fucking O'Connor, and I hate the whole fucking Catholic Church. The same goes for the Military, and especially for Amerika's Law Enforcement Officials --- the cops --- state sanctioned sadists who brutalize street transvestites, prostitutes and queer prisoners. I also hate the medical and mental health establishments, particularly the psychiatrist who conviced me not to have sex with men for three years until we (meaning he) could make me bisexual rather than queer. I also hate the education profession, for its share in driving thousands of queer teens to suicide every year. I hate the "respectable" art world; and the entertainment industry, and the mainstream media, especially The New York Times. In fact, I hate every sector of the straight establishment in this country --- the worst of whom actively want all queers dead, the best of whom never stick their necks out to keep us alive. I hate straight people who think they have anything intelligent to say about "outing." I hate straight people who think stories about themselves are "universal" but stories about us are only about homosexuality. I hate straight recording artists who make their careers off of queer people, then attack us, then act hurt when we get angry and then deny having wronged us rather than apologize for it. I hate straight people who say, "I don't see why you feel the need to wear those buttons and t-shirts. I don't go around telling the whole world I'm straight." I hate that in twelve years of public education I was never taught about queer people. I hate that I grew up thinking I was the only queer in the world, and I hate even more that most queer kids still grow up the same way. I hate that I was tormented by other kids for being a faggot, but more that I was taught to feel ashamed for being the object of their cruelty, taught to feel it was my fault. I hate that the Supreme Court of this country says it's okay to criminalize me because of how I make love. I hate that so many straight people are so concerned about my goddamned sex life. I hate that so many twisted straight people become parents, while I have to fight like hell to be allowed to be a father. I hate straights.

    My final queer highlight. Even though I’ve known what I wanted to highllight today for months, I’ve gone back and forth on its theme & direction and ultimately decided on several so I hope the threads/messages aren’t too muddled!

    Queers Read This is the title of a political zine written and distributed by anonymous queers during NYC’s 1990 pride parade. While some of the terminology it used has since been updated by the community, its powerful message expresses the timeless emotions shared by the community as the AIDS/HIV epidemic ravaged queer populations. Radical queers shared this zine as a call to action for their queer siblings who they felt grew complacent with society’s conditional tolerance, increasing rates of queer bashings, and urge to assimilate for survival.
    Admittedly, I was a little shocked during my first reading by the visceral wrath ingrained within QRT, but after learning about the historical context in which it was written (and risking sounding like Wendy Williams talking about the Spears family), I see their point. Senator Helm introduced the bill prohibiting the CDC from funding AIDS programs that “promote, encourage or condone homosexual activities.” and I’d join them in dancing on his grave. Their fury was a defense mechanism for survival in a world perverted only by the hyper-ignorant fucks insecure of the fragility of their shitty social constructs like capitalism, gender, and ethos. 
    Why base the oSTEM newsletters on this political/controversial/violent/radical zine? I wanted to establish queer radicalism into our student org. Yup, call Fox News. Either through reminding the university that low-income students are entitled to eat during conference trips or furthering disability visibility, oSTEM is intrinsically political because queer existence is made political. The fight for queer authenticity won’t be over until this institution recognizes its part in perpetuating violence and neglect, until the state can distinguish life from capital, and until we have nothing less than collective liberation.

    Recognizing that the invocation of QRT can also fall under the umbrella of appropriation, it’s been important to me that we actively avoid hijacking their message(s) as a martyr for ours.  I know we’re not living through the same state-sanctioned violence and surrounding hostile spheres thanks to the work done by the radical queers of our past. So as our correspondence to the community, it's only appropriate that we honor the queers whose shoulders we stand on, echo their calls to action, and continue their- our fight.