The Wild Reed: Kadeem

Since 2009 I’ve shared at this time of year a series of what I call “Queer Appreciation” posts.

Each series is comprised of a number of informed and insightful writings to mark Gay Pride . . . or, as I’ve preferred to call it since 2011, Queer Appreciation.

I usually try to include in each series a diverse range of writers and topics, and in general the writings I share are positive, proactive and celebratory.

This year’s Queer Appreciation series will be comprised of just two posts, both focusing on the British dancer Kadeem Hosein (known as Kadeem En Pointe).

I love this guy as a dancer . . . and his mission to confound expectations and disrupt conventions, which is what queerness is ultimately all about.

I understand that to be “queer” is to attempt to expand or go beyond (in thought, word or deed) the parameters of gender, race, heterosexuality, patriarchy, and other socially-constructed (or manipulated) concepts. Laurence Coleman, in discussing vocalist Dusty Springfield as a queer icon, says that embracing this understanding of queer “denotes a spectrum not only of identity and practice but also inquiry.” Accordingly, to be queer is to be a questioner and subverter of what Michael Warner has called “regimes of the normal.” And, as I've already noted, not just in matters to do with sexuality and sexual expression, but also in matters of gender, class, and race.

Now, don't get me wrong, my sexuality is a very important aspect of my life, but I'm more than my sexuality. To my mind, “gay” refers to sexuality, whereas "queer” encompasses sexuality and all the other aspects of one's life and experience, aspects that may well have been shaped in profound ways by one's sexuality. For example, my perspectives on religion, spirituality, politics, economics, and issues of racial and social justice have all been greatly influenced and shaped by my experiences as a gay man. For me, the term “queer” acknowledges this reality, this journey; one that has taken me beyond a solely sexuality-based (i.e., “gay”) understanding of myself and my place in the world.

Also, my understanding of myself and my journey as a seeker and embodier of the Divine Presence is always evolving, which is another reason why I'm drawn to “queer.” For as Annamarie Jagose suggests, “queer is always [a multi-faceted] identity under construction, a site of permanent becoming.”

Actor and singer Alan Cumming shares a similar view when, in a 2009 piece in Rolling Stone, he advocates replacing the word “gay” with “queer” when talking in broad terms about our evolving collective experience.

Cumming expresses concern that the creation of “gay culture," a culture based on identities defined solely by sex and sexuality, has “led gay people to self-ghettoize" and to lose the status quo-challenging creativity and individuality that were once associated with being “different."

“Queer isn't just about same-sex wedding tackle,” Cumming writes. “Queer is about sensibility. You don't need to be gay to be queer. Indeed, some of the queerest people I know are straight. . . . I think if more people embraced their queerness, we'd all be the better for it.”

I have absolutely no doubt that Kadeem would agree! . . . As evidenced by the following inspiring series of memes he recently shared on his social media platforms.