I lost my parents in 1984 and 1986. Today would have been my mom’s 99th birthday. I still miss them and think about them often. I’m pretty sure that’s true whether your relationship was good, bad, or indifferent; you can never escape from those early, formative connections.
Won’t offer you the usual platitudes or caring voyeurism (“So sorry, how did it happen”), but have been somewhere similar to where you are now (twice), and yes it sucks. Peace to you friend.
I think she’s right to be mad at Daisy, but blaming Joyce and Dorothy for a photo they never wanted taken let alone published is deeply unfair.
Reaver
Radiah doesn’t really care about being “fair” she cares more about causing harm and being right.
Right now she’s right, but it’s amazing how one can be right and yet still a big ol asshole
GholaHalleck
I mean, Radiah isn’t aware of the circumstances leading up to them smooching during a protest. To be fair, there really isn’t *any* good reason to have a big smoocheroo during a protest that isn’t about people not liking smooch’n.
So, her point is still incredibly valid. Those two made a big show of smooch’n (Inadvertently sure, but Dotty WAS on a Dramatic Hill in the middle of the camp) which took away from the actual thing being protested. Now the entire *reason* for the protest is being white washed (Actual term for a cover up, not the racial thing, but the double entendre is nice) to cover them smooching.
There are protesters in jail right now (one from the paper sent her story in from the protesting equivalent of the drunk tank) for trying to bring to light the issues, and the talk of the day is about two girls smooching it up.
Chris Phoenix
But there isn’t any good reason _not_ to have a big smoocheroo during a protest, or almost any other time. They weren’t doing it to get attention. If they were opposite-gender-presenting they wouldn’t have gotten any, and there would have been nothing for Raidah to get upset about. So, what, straight people can express their love at protests, but lesbians can’t?
Yotomoe
If Joyce and Joe made out at the protest and ended up on the front page I think Raidah would still probably be mad.
Random832
The point is that if Joyce and Joe made out on the protest they wouldn’t have ended up on the front page.
Like, even arguably on a newspaper not run by Daisy, but especially with her.
Yotomoe
I mean the statement “straight people can express their love but lesbians can’t” implies that the issue is unfairness towards lesbian couples in lieu of straight couples when that’s like…not at all what Raidah’s mad about. Now maybe Daisy WOULDN’T have but Joyce and Joe on the front page. But what Raidah’s mad about is…y’know…that there’s a kiss on the front page distracting from the point/events of the protest.
Like she’s right to be mad at Daisy cuz Daisy decided to make the protest about them. Against the wishes of even the participants in the kiss!
Random832
I’m not saying that it’s not a valid reason to be mad at Daisy. Just that there are several dynamics that complicate being mad at Joyce and Dorothy. Which Raidah clearly is, even above Daisy.
Decidedly Orthogonal
I give you the international news front page from the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riots. Complete with cops, riot gear, and tear gas.
And a kiss between a man and a woman.
Versen
No one, gay straight or other, should be doing anything at a protest that goes against the parameters and agreements of the organization of the protests and the people marshalling it when it’s underway.
Like the other comment or said, pride protest? Probably expected and fine, but even that’s contextual. Anti Genocide protest? Save that for when you’re back at home and not dodging a tear gas canister to the head.
It’s not about you, and you shouldn’t want the attention anyway. Even if they were dating before this and there wasn’t personal drama, this would still be a lame thing to do.
Raidah may be kinda lame on almost everything, but she hasn’t really said anything wrong about any of this specific plotline.
thejeff
Nah, that’s going way too far. People can still be human at a protest. It’s not like they actually wanted the attention anyway.
Where they were out of line was not evacuating when that decision was made by the organizers, not by kissing.
Anonymous
When the theme is ‘resisting the oppression of institutions’, the perspective
“No one[…]should be doing anything at a protest that goes against[…]the organization of the protests and the people marshalling it when it’s underway.”
comes across as comic irony.
“You may join us to protest against the Man, but only if you submit your wills in unwavering obedience to the Man who’s against the Man.”
(In other words, it sets off warning bells that they only want to take the place of the oppressors rather than than stop the oppression.)
GholaHalleck
I see it as “Don’t do things that will give ‘the man’ something that pulls the focus away from the intent of the protest.”
The whole thing is moot to begin with though. They weren’t there in solidarity with the protesters, they were there to warn Jocelyne, and got Hormone’ed.
Dottie in fact tried to use the protest as some kind of… who the hell knows, but her intent was apparently to get arrested for something she doesn’t even care about to get away from her gay thoughts… Maybe?
She wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders there, and it’s snowballed into a clusterkerfluffle that is probably going to be haunting them into at least our time July, if the preview was any indication.
That said, it takes nothing away from anyone who gets mad at them for “upstaging” the protest, or for the people who will think they were attempting to steal the spotlight, or get “the clouts.”
Because smooching at a war protest, let alone one for a genocide, is some tiktoc clout chasing antics without context clues, and even with the background, its still a bad scene.
Dot
No, it means having some discipline and being aware of optics. Protests are not a free-for-all.
Temporaryobsessor
I think Dorothy was trying to prove to herself that she cares.
This type of sword falling activism is not recommended unless you can figure out how it actually helps the cause or the people involved.
S.R.
I mean, it’s not like they decided they were gonna deliberately be distracting. They were full of emotions and acted accordingly, they weren’t trying to make this the Look We’re Kissing Show.
100% there with you. Raidah sucks, doesn’t mean she can’t be right. Or partly right – Dorothy and Joyce didn’t ask for it to be about them.
BadRoad
Dorothy kinda did try to make it about herself when she grabbed a flag and walked into the center of the protest while everyone else was leaving, purely because it’s something she wouldn’t have done while trying to become President. She had no way of knowing that would end with her on the front page of the newspaper, but as Raidah said earlier without enough evidence to justify the claim, it was the wrong reason to be there.
Bryy
Yeah, Dorothy has a bad habit of trying to fit new ideals into her current personality.
Interesting question, is the purpose of the news to inform the public or to lead discussion? I maintain trying to get at least some people to read the article (written by a protester from jail) is the more important job of the front page; Raidah’s complaint is that the picture makes people “talk” about the wrong thing.
I suppose in the alternate world where the headline was “University sponsors mass murder, rewrites laws to silence protest mid-action; police cause riot” people who don’t read anything besides headlines would be properly upset. But I also suspect in the alternate reality where Raidah was more normal about people associating with Sarah she still wouldn’t give any sign that she thought the protest was important.
Y’know what? At least this ignorance of the more major issues by the news is because the editor was horny and not because, like, governmental pressure to not discuss certain issues in anything but a dismissive way.
I feel fairly confident that, as we’re not currently beset by gigantic militant toy stores, that they figured that living with the Soggies was better than living in our hellhole.
reddslym
The Soggies are probably gonna deal with the whole “The Martians Are Coming Back” thing
Gotta wonder if she actually gives a damn, or if she’s just using it as a pretext to be a source of grief in someone’s life to complain about people she doesn’t like.
Just because someone’s shooting in the same direction as you, doesn’t mean they’ll discriminate between your foe and your back. People seem awfully keen to forget Raidah’s past behavior. But it’s my experience, and that of many people wiser than I, that
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
–Maya Angelou
“people seem awfully keen to forget X” is such a fucking dog whistle at this point
Decidedly Orthogonal
Dog whistle? What are the fascists using that for?
Temporaryobsessor
A literal dog whistle is not audible to humans but is to dogs.
A metaphorical dog whistle says something in a way only certain people will hear.
Like intentionally talking about your mom’s delicious cooking around someone who’s insecure about their cooking skills.
Or talking about how great the past was, in such a way that those groups who had it bad in the past, and those agree with you, know you mean you wish things still sucked for them.
Yeah, why would a Muslim character care about totally-not-Palestine, or the cops cracking down on activists rallying against the schools ties to the tech billionaires soaked in blood.
She definitely doesn’t give a damn, she’s just pursuing her vendetta against Joyce.
Dot
How are you getting that from this strip? As far as she knows, she has a legitimate grievance against Joyce and Dorothy for making the protest all about them via an extremely public kiss, which in her eyes was aided and abetted by Daisy making it the front page of the newspaper. More to the point, Raidah expresses frustration and anger that members of her community – a community facing genocide – were not consulted on the coverage of this extremely sensitive event. That’s an entirely different grievance, and it’s not connected to her hatred of Joyce at all – it comes from a place of frustration from being a brown Muslim women, and the genocide of people like her being covered without actually centering them. The newspaper photo is a distraction from the substantive issues of the protest, it is racist in its centering of white women in order to generate circulation, and Raidah has every right to be angry about it irrespective of the fact that she also happens to hate Joyce. I just don’t see how you can say she doesn’t give a damn when she’s here, in this strip, giving a damn.
Raidah is flat wrong about whether it’s OK for two lesbians to kiss in public, at a protest or anywhere else. They weren’t doing it for attention. If a straight couple kissed each other at the protest, no one would pay attention. It’s not OK to say that lesbians shouldn’t kiss in public because they might draw attention away from some issue.
Raidah’s getting real close to saying it I’m afraid:
“It’s a bad enough situation already without also having to deal with you wrapping it in tone deaf garbage.”
Right now there’s room for interpretation but what Raidah means by “bad enough situation” could be several things. It could be the cops tear gassing protestors, that’s certainly a bad situation. But it could also be gay kissing at a muslim organized protest causing discord between homophobic muslims and non-homophobic muslims.
She hasn’t said it yet, but I think she’s getting close
Doopyboop
I would assume that the “bad enough situation” would be the situation in Bulmeria which seems to be war crimes and genocide. As in “the situation in Bulmeria (and this university funding it) is already bad enough without having to deal with you wrapping it in tone deaf garbage”.
Thecatcameback
I interpreted the “bad enough situation,” to be the, y’know, genocide and violent police intervention in a peaceful protest. Raidah’s character is similar to Mike’s- an asshole, but saying something correct. Dorothy dove back into that protest against protest leaders’ recommendations because she had to “self realize,” not because the subject material was important to her. Joyce dove back into the protest because of Dorothy. Those two kissing is obviously good/gay, but time and place matter. If I stood up at my brother’s funeral, grabbed the mic, and distracted from the funeral by kissing and proposing to my fiancé, it would be inappropriate for the time and place, regardless of being gay. It would probably show a lack of care for the dead. Especially if it wasn’t MY brother’s funeral. This is a part of a larger conversation about white gay people getting large amounts of the media’s protest-attention because their celebration of sexuality is interesting/sexy/fun and white, while glossing over the oppression of being queer, especially for POC and disabled queer people. Or, in the story’s case, overlooking the protests’ outcome almost entirely in favor of a less depressing, “sexier,” or more justice-satisfying and peaceful angle.
The love of queer people is often commodified to signal diversity, inclusion, and rebellion in the media, often against queer people’s wishes. But it’s just love. And college kids doing PDA should be considerate of the circumstances, Goddamn it.
Les
A majority of American Muslims favour rights for LGBT people. In the pre-Trump era, their were similar to American protestants. Young Muslims, in particular, overwhelmingly favour LGBT rights.
This framing of Muslim vs LGBT is not present in the text of the comic. It is also an Islamophobic trope, used by European far-right parties.
471 thoughts on “Engagement”
Doopyboop
I’m sorry for your loss, Willis. I wish you a very peaceful time as you process this loss.
Laura
Same.
My mom always says, you’re never old enough to lose your parents.
(Google decided to autocomplete that to, “You’re never old enough to lose your virginity.” Gee, thanks, MOM!) *SMDH*…
Doopyboop
It’s so true. I’ve already lost my own mom and I dread the day I’ll lose my dad.
darkoneko
Well, it’s true…
Thag Simmons
Don’t have anything to add to that beyond seconding it. Losing a parent fucking sucks
croi
I lost my parents in 1984 and 1986. Today would have been my mom’s 99th birthday. I still miss them and think about them often. I’m pretty sure that’s true whether your relationship was good, bad, or indifferent; you can never escape from those early, formative connections.
Arianod
Oh, no. Sorry for your loss, Willis.
DaveM
Won’t offer you the usual platitudes or caring voyeurism (“So sorry, how did it happen”), but have been somewhere similar to where you are now (twice), and yes it sucks. Peace to you friend.
Needfuldoer
Pressing F to pay respects. 🙁
F
Longshot97
We are all children once more before the loss of our parents.
Thoughts and prayers to you.
Lumino
Where was this said? I feel like I missed something important…
Laura
On BlueSky.
Vulcanodon
So sorry to hear about your dad That is hard Just mourning with one who mourns
Jennifer Bak
So sorry for your loss Willis. May his memory be a blessing.
Yotomoe
Yeah my condolences. I don’t know what your relationship was with your dad but it can’t be easy losing both parents.
Sirksome
Condolences, Willis.
Dot
Oh Raidah, they could never make me hate you.
esolo
They could never make me hate her either, because I already did so of my own free will.
That said, in this instance she’s entirely correct.
Trae Dorn
I think she’s right to be mad at Daisy, but blaming Joyce and Dorothy for a photo they never wanted taken let alone published is deeply unfair.
Reaver
Radiah doesn’t really care about being “fair” she cares more about causing harm and being right.
Right now she’s right, but it’s amazing how one can be right and yet still a big ol asshole
GholaHalleck
I mean, Radiah isn’t aware of the circumstances leading up to them smooching during a protest. To be fair, there really isn’t *any* good reason to have a big smoocheroo during a protest that isn’t about people not liking smooch’n.
So, her point is still incredibly valid. Those two made a big show of smooch’n (Inadvertently sure, but Dotty WAS on a Dramatic Hill in the middle of the camp) which took away from the actual thing being protested. Now the entire *reason* for the protest is being white washed (Actual term for a cover up, not the racial thing, but the double entendre is nice) to cover them smooching.
There are protesters in jail right now (one from the paper sent her story in from the protesting equivalent of the drunk tank) for trying to bring to light the issues, and the talk of the day is about two girls smooching it up.
Chris Phoenix
But there isn’t any good reason _not_ to have a big smoocheroo during a protest, or almost any other time. They weren’t doing it to get attention. If they were opposite-gender-presenting they wouldn’t have gotten any, and there would have been nothing for Raidah to get upset about. So, what, straight people can express their love at protests, but lesbians can’t?
Yotomoe
If Joyce and Joe made out at the protest and ended up on the front page I think Raidah would still probably be mad.
Random832
The point is that if Joyce and Joe made out on the protest they wouldn’t have ended up on the front page.
Like, even arguably on a newspaper not run by Daisy, but especially with her.
Yotomoe
I mean the statement “straight people can express their love but lesbians can’t” implies that the issue is unfairness towards lesbian couples in lieu of straight couples when that’s like…not at all what Raidah’s mad about. Now maybe Daisy WOULDN’T have but Joyce and Joe on the front page. But what Raidah’s mad about is…y’know…that there’s a kiss on the front page distracting from the point/events of the protest.
Like she’s right to be mad at Daisy cuz Daisy decided to make the protest about them. Against the wishes of even the participants in the kiss!
Random832
I’m not saying that it’s not a valid reason to be mad at Daisy. Just that there are several dynamics that complicate being mad at Joyce and Dorothy. Which Raidah clearly is, even above Daisy.
Decidedly Orthogonal
I give you the international news front page from the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riots. Complete with cops, riot gear, and tear gas.
And a kiss between a man and a woman.
Versen
No one, gay straight or other, should be doing anything at a protest that goes against the parameters and agreements of the organization of the protests and the people marshalling it when it’s underway.
Like the other comment or said, pride protest? Probably expected and fine, but even that’s contextual. Anti Genocide protest? Save that for when you’re back at home and not dodging a tear gas canister to the head.
It’s not about you, and you shouldn’t want the attention anyway. Even if they were dating before this and there wasn’t personal drama, this would still be a lame thing to do.
Raidah may be kinda lame on almost everything, but she hasn’t really said anything wrong about any of this specific plotline.
thejeff
Nah, that’s going way too far. People can still be human at a protest. It’s not like they actually wanted the attention anyway.
Where they were out of line was not evacuating when that decision was made by the organizers, not by kissing.
Anonymous
When the theme is ‘resisting the oppression of institutions’, the perspective
“No one[…]should be doing anything at a protest that goes against[…]the organization of the protests and the people marshalling it when it’s underway.”
comes across as comic irony.
“You may join us to protest against the Man, but only if you submit your wills in unwavering obedience to the Man who’s against the Man.”
(In other words, it sets off warning bells that they only want to take the place of the oppressors rather than than stop the oppression.)
GholaHalleck
I see it as “Don’t do things that will give ‘the man’ something that pulls the focus away from the intent of the protest.”
The whole thing is moot to begin with though. They weren’t there in solidarity with the protesters, they were there to warn Jocelyne, and got Hormone’ed.
Dottie in fact tried to use the protest as some kind of… who the hell knows, but her intent was apparently to get arrested for something she doesn’t even care about to get away from her gay thoughts… Maybe?
She wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders there, and it’s snowballed into a clusterkerfluffle that is probably going to be haunting them into at least our time July, if the preview was any indication.
That said, it takes nothing away from anyone who gets mad at them for “upstaging” the protest, or for the people who will think they were attempting to steal the spotlight, or get “the clouts.”
Because smooching at a war protest, let alone one for a genocide, is some tiktoc clout chasing antics without context clues, and even with the background, its still a bad scene.
Dot
No, it means having some discipline and being aware of optics. Protests are not a free-for-all.
Temporaryobsessor
I think Dorothy was trying to prove to herself that she cares.
This type of sword falling activism is not recommended unless you can figure out how it actually helps the cause or the people involved.
S.R.
I mean, it’s not like they decided they were gonna deliberately be distracting. They were full of emotions and acted accordingly, they weren’t trying to make this the Look We’re Kissing Show.
Lysbeth
100% there with you. Raidah sucks, doesn’t mean she can’t be right. Or partly right – Dorothy and Joyce didn’t ask for it to be about them.
BadRoad
Dorothy kinda did try to make it about herself when she grabbed a flag and walked into the center of the protest while everyone else was leaving, purely because it’s something she wouldn’t have done while trying to become President. She had no way of knowing that would end with her on the front page of the newspaper, but as Raidah said earlier without enough evidence to justify the claim, it was the wrong reason to be there.
Bryy
Yeah, Dorothy has a bad habit of trying to fit new ideals into her current personality.
Amelie Wikström
Interesting question, is the purpose of the news to inform the public or to lead discussion? I maintain trying to get at least some people to read the article (written by a protester from jail) is the more important job of the front page; Raidah’s complaint is that the picture makes people “talk” about the wrong thing.
I suppose in the alternate world where the headline was “University sponsors mass murder, rewrites laws to silence protest mid-action; police cause riot” people who don’t read anything besides headlines would be properly upset. But I also suspect in the alternate reality where Raidah was more normal about people associating with Sarah she still wouldn’t give any sign that she thought the protest was important.
Sirksome
Hmmm. Maybe just don’t trust the IU paper specifically for as long as Daisy is in charge?
Tan
Don’t trust wristwatches, tbh.
Arianod
What did wristwatches ever do to you
Mr D
They made me late for my first ever job!
StClair
Should have stuck with the old reliable pocket watch.
Also not eaten your lunch in the park that day.
Versen
We need this like, 10 more times and then maybe we’ll be getting somewhere.
Astariel
Somewhere incredibly tedious.
IntangibleMatter
Y’know what? At least this ignorance of the more major issues by the news is because the editor was horny and not because, like, governmental pressure to not discuss certain issues in anything but a dismissive way.
Raidah’s right but she still sucks
IntangibleMatter
Also oh my god I’m so sorry Willis, dads dying fucking sucks and I wish you the best with it <3
Staszu13
I think in this universe You Know Who wasn’t elected yet
BorkBorkBork
You’re right. That universe – our universe – was briefly visited by the Shortpacked! crew in searching for a way to defeat the Soggies.
https://www.shortpacked.com/comic/it39s-the-biggest-toy-store-there-was
I feel fairly confident that, as we’re not currently beset by gigantic militant toy stores, that they figured that living with the Soggies was better than living in our hellhole.
reddslym
The Soggies are probably gonna deal with the whole “The Martians Are Coming Back” thing
Lysbeth
Then again, they may rule.
Thag Simmons
Raidah being someone who sucks but is right is when her character is most compelling
anon
i wonder if the gov would’ve bothered but i half expect some kinda ‘rival’ newspaper to post about it
or hell, even roz (not that she went to the protest this particular time) to talk about it on her livestream to horny fans
yak
Agent X, assigned to ruin Daisy’s chances with the ladies and thus keep her eternally horny: “good, they suspect nothing.”
apricot
Never thought I’d be cheering Raidah on but here we are
apricot
Also, Willis, condolences for your loss and strength to your family as the usual proceedings unfold
Decidedly Orthogonal
Gotta wonder if she actually gives a damn, or if she’s just using it as a pretext to be a source of grief in someone’s life to complain about people she doesn’t like.
The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy, no more, no less.
Just because someone’s shooting in the same direction as you, doesn’t mean they’ll discriminate between your foe and your back. People seem awfully keen to forget Raidah’s past behavior. But it’s my experience, and that of many people wiser than I, that
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
–Maya Angelou
Taffy
“people seem awfully keen to forget X” is such a fucking dog whistle at this point
Decidedly Orthogonal
Dog whistle? What are the fascists using that for?
Temporaryobsessor
A literal dog whistle is not audible to humans but is to dogs.
A metaphorical dog whistle says something in a way only certain people will hear.
Like intentionally talking about your mom’s delicious cooking around someone who’s insecure about their cooking skills.
Or talking about how great the past was, in such a way that those groups who had it bad in the past, and those agree with you, know you mean you wish things still sucked for them.
Strain Of Thought
“Just because someone’s shooting in the same direction as you, doesn’t mean they’ll discriminate between your foe and your back.”
This is a great line! I can’t find it elsewhere online with a search, did you just make it up?
Decidedly Orthogonal
Yeah, foe or back is me (if I’m not forgetting hearing it elsewhere.) Enemy of my enemy is Howard Taylor.
Versen
Yeah, why would a Muslim character care about totally-not-Palestine, or the cops cracking down on activists rallying against the schools ties to the tech billionaires soaked in blood.
Nymph
I think it is fairly obvious at this point that Raidah cares about this issue. People who are assholes still do care about things.
Astariel
She definitely doesn’t give a damn, she’s just pursuing her vendetta against Joyce.
Dot
How are you getting that from this strip? As far as she knows, she has a legitimate grievance against Joyce and Dorothy for making the protest all about them via an extremely public kiss, which in her eyes was aided and abetted by Daisy making it the front page of the newspaper. More to the point, Raidah expresses frustration and anger that members of her community – a community facing genocide – were not consulted on the coverage of this extremely sensitive event. That’s an entirely different grievance, and it’s not connected to her hatred of Joyce at all – it comes from a place of frustration from being a brown Muslim women, and the genocide of people like her being covered without actually centering them. The newspaper photo is a distraction from the substantive issues of the protest, it is racist in its centering of white women in order to generate circulation, and Raidah has every right to be angry about it irrespective of the fact that she also happens to hate Joyce. I just don’t see how you can say she doesn’t give a damn when she’s here, in this strip, giving a damn.
Chris Phoenix
Raidah is flat wrong about whether it’s OK for two lesbians to kiss in public, at a protest or anywhere else. They weren’t doing it for attention. If a straight couple kissed each other at the protest, no one would pay attention. It’s not OK to say that lesbians shouldn’t kiss in public because they might draw attention away from some issue.
Yotomoe
Raidah isn’t saying that and HASN’T said that.
fridge_logic
Raidah’s getting real close to saying it I’m afraid:
“It’s a bad enough situation already without also having to deal with you wrapping it in tone deaf garbage.”
Right now there’s room for interpretation but what Raidah means by “bad enough situation” could be several things. It could be the cops tear gassing protestors, that’s certainly a bad situation. But it could also be gay kissing at a muslim organized protest causing discord between homophobic muslims and non-homophobic muslims.
She hasn’t said it yet, but I think she’s getting close
Doopyboop
I would assume that the “bad enough situation” would be the situation in Bulmeria which seems to be war crimes and genocide. As in “the situation in Bulmeria (and this university funding it) is already bad enough without having to deal with you wrapping it in tone deaf garbage”.
Thecatcameback
I interpreted the “bad enough situation,” to be the, y’know, genocide and violent police intervention in a peaceful protest. Raidah’s character is similar to Mike’s- an asshole, but saying something correct. Dorothy dove back into that protest against protest leaders’ recommendations because she had to “self realize,” not because the subject material was important to her. Joyce dove back into the protest because of Dorothy. Those two kissing is obviously good/gay, but time and place matter. If I stood up at my brother’s funeral, grabbed the mic, and distracted from the funeral by kissing and proposing to my fiancé, it would be inappropriate for the time and place, regardless of being gay. It would probably show a lack of care for the dead. Especially if it wasn’t MY brother’s funeral. This is a part of a larger conversation about white gay people getting large amounts of the media’s protest-attention because their celebration of sexuality is interesting/sexy/fun and white, while glossing over the oppression of being queer, especially for POC and disabled queer people. Or, in the story’s case, overlooking the protests’ outcome almost entirely in favor of a less depressing, “sexier,” or more justice-satisfying and peaceful angle.
The love of queer people is often commodified to signal diversity, inclusion, and rebellion in the media, often against queer people’s wishes. But it’s just love. And college kids doing PDA should be considerate of the circumstances, Goddamn it.
Les
A majority of American Muslims favour rights for LGBT people. In the pre-Trump era, their were similar to American protestants. Young Muslims, in particular, overwhelmingly favour LGBT rights.
This framing of Muslim vs LGBT is not present in the text of the comic. It is also an Islamophobic trope, used by European far-right parties.
Donovan