We're Here. We're Queer. Get Used to it!

Even living in Washington DC, you never realize just how white you are. For me, it always takes a trip to Jamaica or somewhere in Africa to feel the full impact of my easy-to-burn skin. Well... for the past 13 years or so I've been in and out of my uber-pale feeling - always knowing in the back of my mind that it was not only my skin color that made me stand out, but also the privilege of being an American. (Yes, even with all the ugliness of being an American overseas these days it is still a giant privilege.)

Well... now it is all white, all the time. And there is never any forgetting that! As we drive by the roadside stands and the down the muddy streets we stand out like a sore thumb - not in the sort of way that I feel threatened at all - because I don't. But, I wish I could hear the thoughts of the people we pass... the assumptions they are making about us... the privileges they are assigning us... It is strange to be so queer, here. I guess I just have to get used to it.