Where Do We Go From Queer? Peace Corps and the Gay TV Agenda

For a few days this past summer, the sleepy LGB RPCV listserv awoke and a whole mess of megabytes was expended discussing an issue that affects us all. The debate was not spent discussing the war in Iraq or other such trivialities. This was a far more important issue; we were mulling over the relative merits of the latest gay-themed reality television shows. The listserv potboiler ensued because one of television’s gay-themed dating programs was looking for new camera fodder. The producers put out an ad letting RPCVs know they were welcome to apply as contestants. The listserv reactions to this indecent proposal were as varied as PCVs themselves.

Some said the shows were just fun and shouldn’t be taken so seriously while others said the shows break down barriers of misunderstanding between gays and straights. Those opposed to the shows (several of whom said that they didn’t own televisions), said the shows are tantamount to gay minstrel shows, with characters playing up their gayness rather than their basic humanity.

I chimed in with something like, “What the hell difference does queer TV make anyway?” I wrote that we should be discussing real issues—like where Peace Corps was going with LGB issues in the next decade. Later I realized that despite not having a TV today, I am a TV baby. I have logged thousands of slack-jawed hours mesmerized by the tube, and in a way, it matters a whole lot. Queer TV is important because queer TV, or queers on TV, largely determine how John Q. Straighty, i.e. the American public, perceives gay people.

Television is the great synthesizer of American thought and attitudes. TV can influence what we buy, and how we vote. Many issues now being worked out in the courts and on TV’s court of public opinion will affect Peace Corps volunteers worldwide.

Since our hottest President, John F. Kennedy (who only became President because he looked good on TV) asked what you could do for your country, gay and lesbians have signed up to contribute to a more peaceful world. There have always been LGB volunteers; it’s just that in the old days they used to try to kick them out.

Peace Corps has come a long way in its support of LGB volunteers. Officially, today’s Peace Corps is nondiscriminatory and welcomes lesbian and gay volunteers. However, there is that axiom that says that no two Peace Corps experiences are the same. It is equally true that the atmosphere of acceptance and openness toward LGB issues varies greatly between Peace Corps posts. What are some of the things that are going to become real issues in the grown up Peace Corps? Many of the pioneering volunteers of the 60s will be surprised to see that we are at the point of asking about gay partners serving together and immigration rights for host country partners, as well as standardized staff diversity training and volunteer support.

Peace Corps has been training volunteers for over four decades now, but they are still working out the kinks. Training on LGB issues is really spotty at the Washington and post level. Without consistent reminders, LGB issues are often left off long-term training plans. It seems to be a case of benign neglect.

Considering the nature of Peace Corps, staff diversity training should become an integrated part of administrative policy from Washington to the most remote post. A gay Peace Corps employee told me that he gets tired of educating people all of the time. We all know potential allies who are well intentioned, but socially clumsy around gay people. A good example was my straight Honduran APCD who volunteered to be our GLOBE staff liaison. After getting to know LGB volunteers on a human basis, he admitted that it was a challenging, eye-opening and positive experience. Another open mind turned ally.

One of Peace Corp’s central goals is to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served. Exactly which Americans should we be promoting? In training we are taught cultural sensitivity and are encouraged to make personal sacrifices (i.e. be closeted) in order to be safer and more effective in our projects. There is wisdom there, but how far is too far? When does adaptation become subjugation to appease stale social mores? Part of the goal is intercultural exchange and our culture has evolved to the point of accepting or at least tolerating LGB folks. Should Peace Corps stop the clock and forever expect its volunteers to be closeted so as not to upset the local status quo?

People are coming out in their mid teens these days, and the younger generation of prospective LGB volunteers will be ever less inclined to humor old prejudices. Will Peace Corps miss out on potentially excellent volunteers because of their conservative approach to management? I don’t think so. I trust that the good old Peace Corps will lead the way toward progressive change.

Oftentimes married couples are among the most dedicated and effective volunteers. The Peace Corps web site notes that married volunteers make up nearly 10% of the ranks. In fact, the site bragged, some countries have couples only programs. Read another way, some countries have straights-only programs. Which programs are these, and who decided this?

What would happen if Peace Corps decided that a committed and informed gay couple could serve together? What kind of support would they need? What would be the risks? Some believe that gays serving together would threaten local culture and hamper the effectiveness of the work and mission. But would it really? Any LGB RPCV can tell you that local communities have always had and always will have gay people. Is denying that to be culturally sensitive a way of baptizing bigotry?

Sadly, many gay couples will choose not to sacrifice their hard fought for identities for the Peace Corps. It isn’t like this everywhere. In the more socially enlightened Australian Volunteers Abroad Program administered by the Overseas Service Bureau, gay couples do serve together.

How many RPCVs know a straight volunteer who fell in love with a host country national, got married, and returned home as a couple? How many know a gay volunteer who met a host country man or woman, fell in love, and then after 2 years, had to return home alone because there was no way to get a partner visa? This straight entitlement should not be revoked, but revised to include all volunteers. I hear Support our Troops everyday. That same support should be extended to all Peace Corps Volunteers serving our country’s interests around the world.

Immigration policy is not a Peace Corps issue per se, but it won’t be long before PCVs go to the US Embassy asking for spousal visas for their gay partners. If they are denied they can sue, and the State would have to prove that it was providing equal treatment under that law. Sounds like a far-fetched long shot, huh? But what if a volunteer was from Massachusetts where their Supreme Court struck down the ban on gay marriage? Would a volunteer have the right to return home with his/her partner and get hitched?

Kurt Vonnegut once said that our country wasn’t 200 years old in 1976, but that two centuries was the gestation period. Perhaps we should look at America as a developing child, one that does not yet know how to play nice with others. As PCVs we were advocates for sustainable development and now in our own country we work for sustainable social justice. In a twisted way, isn’t Queer Eye for the Straight Guy just a bunch of talented people working on behalf of sustainable social development for straights?

Peace Corps service teaches us that we are all connected and inter-dependent. There is no us and them, only we. Sooner rather than later, American society will evolve to where there is an ‘all men are created equal’ form of government. Then Peace Corps (and the Marine Corps for that matter) will follow in its policies.

The U.S. Supreme Court set the ultimate precedent when it struck down our archaic sodomy laws. Now, like the Berlin Wall, the rest of the unjust laws that limit and stigmatize homosexuals will fall—having been chipped away by the people. At the end of the prom, Peace Corps LGBT policies will echo the law of the land. Lots of negative chi will be devoted toward making it happen, but I don’t actually think that a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage will gain much traction. I don’t underestimate the power of hate or its potential for harm, but greater is my faith in the goodwill of the American people. Bigots are exposed by time and scrutiny, and a sort of truth always comes to light. Despite what poet Gil Scott Heron declared—the revolution is here, and it will all go down on TV. Stay tuned.

A longer version of Chris Mayer’s article is available on our web site. You can contact the author at lgbrpcv-news@lgbrpcv.org.