Being seen, heard, and able to talk publicly

 

Flying a colorful 'non-binary' flag of sexuality, gender, and sex

Over and over a similar pattern can be seen in expanding civil rights customs, laws, and attitudes. This was true in the 1960s experience of African-Americans, parallel with women's rights, and a few decades later for disability rights, and most recently for refugees and asylum-seekers, as well as with regard to same-sex marriage laws and protections against discrimination and violent hate speech or actions of (domestic) terrorism. 

Advocates for a previously suppressed, persecuted, outlawed, or maligned group of people begin by raising up the visibility: celebrities, symbols, public protests and marches and teach-ins, for example. With more frequent visibility, it is natural to react and respond to the subjects that come with the subject. In other words, after increasing the visibility comes increasing the listening and speaking by prominent people as well as ordinary residents. Once a topic is visible and part of public discourse among authority figures and in popular culture (entertainment, education, consumer thinking) and non-governmental organizations (civil society), then it becomes an established and ever-present social fact, no longer mute or invisible. It becomes part of normal life; it is non-threatening, non-marginal, non-exotic or strange.

The reverse is also true. In the example of six months of invasion and war crimes by #PutinWarCriminal, making invisible and silent the awful disaster is a big part of the foundation for social control within the Russian Federation and in metropolitan Moscow in particular. Without outlawing independent journalism and blocking foreign sources of documenting and discussing the military invasion of #SlavaUkraina, it would be impossible to perpetuate the lies of Putin's insanity.

What begins in small acts and visual expressions, like the flag flying in front of this downtown Grand Rapids house, leads to normalizing the cultural landscape filling one's eyes. From there it is public discussion that engages individuals and allows personal reckoning with the subject matter. Back and forth the reactionary forces push back against the advocate forces in all sorts of lifestyle of culture wars. In 10 or 20 years, perhaps, there will be no need for this front-porch flag and instead the matter at hand will be Carbon Footprint excesses, habitat destruction, #ClimateChange reparations owed to the world contributing least and for the shortest number of years can be compensated for harm to livelihood and life itself. Until that day comes, though, it will continue to be important for advocates to inject visual reminders of the subject and not to be afraid, shy, or hesitant about talking up their subject, too.