Capitalist, colonial culture generates a binary between human and non-human, along with an ever-contested boundary between them. Those of us deemed not-fully-human can get preoccupied with seeking enfranchisement. Queers have been made to dwell outside the margins of “humanity”, alongside other two-leggeds deemed not-human, and all our biological elders, including birds, plants, fungus and frogs, the planet and the stars.
Perhaps if we get less preoccupied with the binary, and make space to feel into who and how we might be without its harmful impacts, we could be resourced by knowing that universe itself is queer and counternormative. According to the laws of physics, it should not exist. Nor should the biosphere. In claiming our queer ancestors, we can join with the more-than-human world in its wild wisdoms. We can seek the companionship of others, lovers, stars and ancestors, in the web of life and death.
I’m hosting a “Queer Ancestors” ritual here next weekend with Daka Ziji What a delight to deepen together into an ancient inquiry: “What is queerness?” “Where do we come from?” Beyond the human-centric, heteronormative imagination of what is possible, there is a whole wide universe to explore.