Rainbow Political Theory
Bryan Stacy
How do we see nature?
To some, nature exclusively describes those parts of the Earth which are inhuman, effectively separating human activity from the “natural world.” Others find no such distinction, viewing humans and their perceived concepts as part and parcel with what we describe as nature.
This question has both captivated and perplexed even the brightest of minds. Aristotle turned inward, believing that mankind’s unique ability to reflect and reason is what elevates us from nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson and his transparent eyeball turned outward, believing that truth can only be ascertained through empirical observation. Philosophy does little to help us answer this question, perhaps because the answer is different for each of those it is posed to. Mark Twain suggested that he viewed the Mississippi River as though it were a book, spending years mastering its language by reading it over and over again and losing his ability to gain value from it. In many cultures, there is no possible way to separate the human world from the natural one, like those living in the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico: “We are the land... that is the fundamental idea embedded in Native American life the Earth is the mind of the people as we are the mind of the Earth.”
For those in the LGBTTIQQ2SA+ Community (queer, for convenience,) there is another way of viewing nature. The term queer ecology refers to a loose, interdisciplinary constellation of practices that aim, in different ways, to disrupt prevailing heterosexist discursive and institutional articulations of sexuality and nature, and also to reimagine evolutionary processes, ecological interactions, and environmental politics in light of queer theory.” The theory rejects various “dualisms,” like natural vs. unnatural and male vs. female, reflecting a disdain for emerging discourses about the effeminate homosexual and the lesbian gender invert existing “against” nature. Indeed, queer ecology seeks to shift biology and environmentalism away from human binaries, which were partly inspired by the Foucauldian ideas from History and Sexuality.
Queer Nature is an organization focused on nature-based education for queer folks, public mysticism and scholarship, and theorizing about the queer community in a post-industrial future. It’s co-founder, Pinar Sinopoulus Lloyd, eloquently describes the characteristics of queer ecology:
“The binary doesn’t need to be destroyed, but rather blown open and expanded to reflect the complexity of our ecological and celestial kin. I stand for a queerness that is inextricably informed by interspecies solidarity- by lichen, dusk chorus, swamps, coral and cryptobiotic soil. Our genders are forests full of hermit thrushes, canyons echoing with the canyon wren, plains rejuvenated by native hooves, shimmering galaxies, gurgling streams, bogs fostering rare carnivorous plants and wildflowers – an unapologetic natural phenomena. Queerness is not another venue for the simulation of human exceptionalism and white supremacy that serves the project of settler colonialism. It is a devotional practice of decentering our humancentrism to continually expand our co-liberation and remember that our queerness is a disruptive/remediative fruit of the Earth. Always reminding us that we are constantly becoming – a rattling reminder of the practice of living and dying.”
Put simply, the queer ecology movement advocates for the unraveling of heteronormative notions of nature, and encourages folks from the LGBTQ+ community to involve themselves with environmental activism, botany, and recreational activities. It is a “new practice of ecological knowledges, spaces, and politics that place central attention on challenging hetero-ecologies from the perspective of non-normative sexual and gender positions.”
One example of queer ecology in the forefront of pop-culture is a drag queen named Pattie Gonia. A self-described “professional homosexual” and environmentalist, Pattie Gonia uses their platform to advocate for inclusivity in the outdoors. “Nature can be a part of your lives as queer people. You don’t have to run to a big city to find yourself,” Gonia says.
Another example is Queers 4 Climate, a Dutch Organization that advocates for a livable planet for all communities. Recognizing that marginalized people are those who are most impacted by the negative consequences of climate change, the group works to organize communities in solidarity for solutions to the climate crisis.
Additionally, the Institute of Queer Ecology uses art to create alternative solutions to environmental degradation and the climate crisis while uplifting marginalized voices. The Institute is guided by queer and feminist theory and decolonial thinking, “to democratize the production and reception of artistic research so that marginalized voices are given the space to tell their own stories, and audiences that have been historically excluded from institutions are invited.”
In attempting to define nature in the green future, it is important to recognize that there is no simple black-and-white solution to describing what nature is or how humans relate to it. Rather, we should look to communities that have been historically underrepresented or overlooked in conversations about the environment and humanity. Queer ecology provides just one example of the multitude of ways to view the natural world, and should be celebrated as an emerging field of study for those who are curious about nature and sexuality.