Throughout history, queer culture grew from being publicly nonexistent to a vibrant aspect of society. Sexuality didn’t suddenly emerge with subdivisions but was always naturally present, yet only recently are the LGBT community immersing themselves into societal norms. These people have struggled to be accepted for differences they can’t control still yearn for equality and understanding.
However along with the division of the queer and non queer, there lies a natural separation within the queer community itself. For example, drag queens and drag kings have very different presences in society and are perceived differently, one more favored than the other. Drag kings are typically, but not limited to, outlets for butch women who walk the line between transgender and female. Similarly drag queens allow men to express their feminine desires. Each reflects a need to bend gender definitions in a career in entertainment, however through a double standard of humor and expectations it’s the men in drag that attract the most attention and admiration. They’ve even raised their own underground drag culture with families of queens competing and surviving off each other since the early 80s. Their unofficial association include gay, transgender, transsexual, bi, and just about anyone queer. But nowadays, you may even see a biological woman performing at a drag show and a growing immersion of queer women in their community. The separation between queer men and women is apparent even in modern society. On television and other media more and more gay couples are being represented but the focus is on men. Even the times of early theater when men would play female roles, women, when they started playing male roles, were performing as a feminine young boy. As women were forbidden to perform authentic masculinity on the stage, they now deal with underrepresentation in society and unequal cultural perception of sexuality and gender preference.
Another consequence of lack of social knowledge of diverse communities is the misunderstanding of what it means to have a sexual and gender identity. For years, American culture viewed being gay as a mistake and made efforts to prevent or reform this trait, however unlike a disease or a new hairstyle it cant be cured or chosen. Similarly, gender isn’t limited or determined by the physical body. It’s a predisposed perception of the mind that dictates preferences with or without coinciding with biological obstacles. A boy can be a girl if that’s what the mind decides it is, and this is not a choice of the conscious mind but of the personal and untouchable region that naturally defines itself. However, sexuality is a more common variance. Sexuality only deviates from social norms while gender identity is a conflict between mind and body. Sexual orientation is also a predisposed desire in everyone regardless of genetics or their environment. Everyone has a sexual and gender identity, but ideals in place disfavor deviations from the norm, so there comes backlash with these differences from ignorance and misunderstanding.
Overall, queer culture remains, as it always has been, as a controversial aspect of modern society. As times change, it further implements itself into the mainstream culture and gains acceptance as awareness continues to grow and a mutual understanding and support develops. Anyone involved in the LGBT community are just average people once outcasted for who they are and without equal treatment and opportunity, this division of American culture will continue to strain society and weaken national unity.