The Gay Agenda
Image Description: Three goats stand behind a wooden wall with painted cutouts for people or animals to stick their heads through. Each goat’s head comes through a different painted body: one in red overalls on a green background, one in a yellow dress with trees and fruit behind, and one dressed as a cowboy holding two pistols. Above them is a green sign that reads “Hole-in-the-Wall Goats.” The ground in front is dry grass and dirt.
This farm set up posters so their goats look like they're wearing human outfits. While this may seem adorable to all of us, I feel that this can also represent some of the ways society pressures us into being who we are expected to be rather than being ourselves. These goats look through the cutouts to socialize with the people visiting the farm, and in hopes someone will come along with a nice snack for them. But when they stand there, they are being dressed up and don’t even know it. We all find it so cute but they have no idea the image they have put together for us. Likewise, many people conform to typical gender roles without ever realizing it.
Growing up most girls are given dresses and makeup and dolls, they pretend to be princesses or fairies or mothers. And boys are given dinosaurs and cars and they pretend to be pirates and fighters and race car drivers. Eventually many children grow to love all of those things since they have never known anything else. And then they grow up and continue to follow these stereotypes without ever realizing it. And for some people they might follow typical gender expectations simply because they actually like those things. And that’s great. But other people, especially queer individuals, feel trapped and held back from who they actually are. It can feel like your whole life is a lie. From the time I was very little I have always rejected many objects and activities that were considered “girly” simply because I did not like them. But as I got older there have always been things I’ve done not because I like it or it feels right but because I feel a need to fit in. And that can be a very suffocating feeling that many in the community face.
Also, I meant for the title to be satirical because so many people think that people of the LGBTQ+ community are forcing queerness onto them when in reality we are the ones who feel pressured to conform to their ways and want everyone to feel comfortable with who they are. I find some irony in the idea that they created this term for queer people without realizing they were the ones doing that thing. Almost as if they are too scared to admit to it so they accuse someone else.