HELIOLITH

Here I am, trying to make a dent in my Easter candy (it somehow lasted longer than Halloween’s), and cleaning up my desk. I found a business card I’d almost forgotten about. Weeks ago, while I was waiting tables, a customer left the card with his cash on the table when he left. He left it for me. It said www.GayConspiracy.com on one side, and on the other: “Love Thy Neighbor or We All Will Die.”I tucked it in my pocket and forgot about it. Until now. The Gay Conspiracy is Jeff Whitty’s beautiful response to the anger that dominates both the antigay rhetoric of the right and, crucially, the protest movement of the left. According to Whitty, who created this site only three weeks ago,

Anger is no longer the answer. The conservative elites have stolen its power, and their role, now, is to forever whip people into a froth. And whether one gets into a liberal froth or a conservative froth means nothing to them. As long as we’re frothed, they’ve won, because through their vicious sleight-of-hand, discussion is dead. The shrillest one wins, and it’s always them. A closed heart is unassailable, while an open heart must take its arrows.

His manifesto strikes different chords for me. One thing that resonates is the idea that our anger is a tool, a target. I used to be drawn to protest movements; I am reluctant to be a part of them now. I am resistant to the group rage. It’s sometimes just as hard to talk to an activist as it is to a republican: If you don’t agree wholeheartedly, if you aren’t just as ‘frothed up’ as they are, you either don’t get it or you’ve bought the other side’s story. Whitty’s way of looking at the issues neatly sidesteps these problems. There is no attempt to convince or persuade or draw in. It’s just about love and love’s strength.

He queers politics by letting anyone claim gayness. He harks back to some of the oldest and most effective anti-establishment movements by including not only straight people into the gay world, but by allowing all issues into the issue of pride. Not only does he stand for the full cultural enfranchisement of gays, but also for feminism, for environmentalism, for the peace movement. He also has a very clever explanation of the name he has chosen.

It will be interesting to see where he takes this idea. He acknowledges that it’s a brand new idea, and that parts of it are vague. He’s comfortable with that right now. It’s also a bit contradictory–some of the manifesto comes across with anger and explosiveness. I’d be interested to hear what he thinks of the Pink Pistols, for example. I’m curious about how far his pacifism goes. It will be interesting to see in what direction he takes this concept, and how he incorporates the rage that many people feel with his wonderful ideas of love’s power and place within the protest movement.

I love the Gay Conspiracy. Are you loving as much as you can?