i think what originally struck me about your comment was the serious lack of love and aggression i sensed from it. and one thing i learned about myself over the years is that whenever i send that kind of energy out into the world i tend to have some deeper issue with myself as opposed to the person i am directing the lack of love and aggression toward.

that said, i truly appreciate your insight. if only it was a little less intended to bite…

I might be alone in my opinions here, but I thought this article was poorly written, needs heavy editing, misrepresentative, and all over the place, and has no real point.

What about your split identity? What about overcoming your shame? Fighting against what “internalization”? What didn’t matter? Fighting against future waves? The last paragraph particularly is a clusterfuck of question marks over my head. Chose? Resisting what? Decay? Decay of what? You live your life in a non-linear fashion? How is that possible? Etc.

It’s even more surprising that people call this article “straighforward” and “clear.”

P.S. I’m a queer Armenian woman. I’m elated that more Armenian queers are coming out of the woodwork and writing about it. I just wish someone would write something worth reading instead of “I’m gay and oh my god I’m Armenian and it’s so hard and I have a split identity and my parents hate it.” We’re limiting ourselves!

I am not gay, but boy do I understand where the hell you are coming from. I am a proud Armenian, but I reject every single little ounce of the Armenian diaspora which I save seen, felt, lived with, been judged by and accused of since my day of birth…

Despite that I love Armenian culture, traditions, history and proudly take on that identity, I cannot see how we can survive as people with closed minds, and judgemental attitudes towards the kids, especially the girls (especially the creative/queer girls).

My armenianness is mine and no other living armenian, except for a feminist professor I had the privilege to meet, has made me feel wholly good about being a woman, being armenian or being human (maybe partly, but never in a complete way). talk about homogenization.

Good luck.

Anyway — I think gay women are more accepted, err…less threatening to Armenian society than are gay MEN. Gay men, I’ve discovered, bring out a sort of disgust in people. Gay women are a little more tolerable. When I bring out the issue of gay men, the first response Armenians of the older genreation have is “yekh!” or ew. Gay women we can actually discuss.

There was a great article on this “repulsion” issue in the new American Prospect.

Anyway Maralik jan, bloget lavikna =), inchpes gites, mek mek kartumem. Apres.