Are all Black Lesbians Smart?

Uhm- cuz this one is!!

I was chatting with someone earlier today about my thinking and experience being invited to facilitate other people's thinking about oppression. Oddly, it looks like the space where I have devoted the least amount of formal training/thinking is where I have the most impressive resume to go out and facilitate other people's thinking about oppression and liberation.

Heterosexism/Homophobia

Now, it may be that Queer Theory, much like Womanist Theology, is intersectional in its analytical lens. Right? Since queer folks are a portion of every human community, what is liberative to queer people must necessarily take on a complex analysis of oppressive systems and the interplay of racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, men's oppression, ageism, (I'm feeling pressure to name every kind of oppression I can think of- either because my internal analytical lens is multidimensional and I want tic off all of the things I think about- but the more likely story is that I feel pressure to prove that I understand different oppressions, and that proof will come in the form of being able to name them. retarded!)

So, it may be that my formal training in these other area is a component of my training in queer spaces, because to do it well I must call upon those resources. Could be.

Also, I wonder if it has something to do with this being the only space in my life where the implicit assumption is that I'm intelligent. Black? Nah. Woman- uh, nope. Did you know that she's a black lesbian? Well, damn! Why didn't someone tell me!?! Call her over here and ask her what her political analysis is.

I'm a black lesbian, so people are ALWAYS asking me what my political analysis is, what that speaks to movement building, and how that translates into a possible action plan. What are the hidden systems at play influencing the situation, people's perceptions, and who benefits? I didn't get asked these questions as a black person. (I get told from time to time; particularly by older black men who think that they are schooling me on some shit!) I certainly don't get expected to know this as a woman. (Hell, women are even expected to know that these conversations occur, much less understand their content!) But, as a Black Lesbian, people assume that I know my shit!

I don't know what that is, I just know that it is. So, perhaps all of my queer liberation experience (particularly as I have not sought it, have not marketed myself, but have been invited (sometimes with lots of pleading) to take on roles to facilitate and inform other people's thinking) is a function of that being the space which is least hostile, most inviting of the complexities that constitute my identity.

I don't know? Who the fuck knows? All I know is that I just led a workshop and it was great.

Also, some sour-grapes lesbian tried to sabotage my several times, and in some creative ways. She called all of the panelists last minute, and told them it was rescheduled. She called some guitar-playing poet that she'd never met, and asked her to show up and perform. This woman even had the nerve to show up (late of course) just to see how fucked up everything would be when all of the things she assured me were taken care of were not, and that she'd thrown in some strange last-minute snares. (Uhm- trick please!) I've been doing this far too long to be tripped up by your silly games.

Actually, she's helped me to realize that the answer to my question is, "uhmerah... nope."