My supporters group for my small local football team already flies pride, anti-fascist, and pro-union flags at away games (we've covered a stand at our home ground already & actually had a bit of a scrap defending them tonight).

A couple of people want to add a straight-ally flag. It's a nice enough flag and nice concept, but as far as I'm aware it doesn't have much actual history and feels a little bit like hedging your bets (like saying "I'm supportive but definitely not queer in any way") but maybe I'm just being overly concerned as a not particularly binary-embracing but mostly boringly cis-het guy.

Thoughts from any queer or otherwise identifying comrades?

UPDATE: as I felt, consensus seems to be that it's cringe at best. I feel like it creates a needless dividing line and reinforces some problematic dynamics. I've also talked to the two openly queer people in our supporters group and while they didn't have strong opinions. One didn't care either way and the other felt a little odd about it although didn't feel strongly. So I'm gonna suggest to our group that we don't fly it and stick with just the more traditional pride flags.

  • charly4994 [she/her, comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I have a fundamental issue with allyship from the getgo and believe that allies should have no voice on internal queer dialogue. This stems from so many instances where people demand you couch your language and make it appealing to allies lest the allies abandon your group, but at that point, did you even want them? Having non-queer people march and stand in solidarity and advocate for queer rights is an integral part of pushing for equality, but do they actually need to be recognized as this special group? I remember in college a few people said that the A in LGBTQIA was for ally and it bugged me even before I had a decade of time to digest other people's opinions on allyship. It centers the feelings of the ally before the community they're supporting, acting as if their simple action of being not a terrible person gives them an identity that includes them. The straight-ally flag feels like an extension of all of this, where it's centering the ally over the community they're supposedly allying with. The ally can drop their flag at any point and walk away with next to zero consequence while queer people aren't able to drop their identities, the flags are a way to represent a group that has been oppressed for generations under a white cis-het power structure that has destroyed queer culture the world over and even if someone drops the flag, they're left with consequences from this power structure.

    • MolotovHalfEmpty [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      This is a great response and thanks for sharing. I asked specifically because I feel similarly.