Forgive me if I say submissive, but this was the closest term I could get. Also, this doesn’t apply to all queer folk and the gay community, but just a pattern in general.

When seeing people going on about the “good old days”, I cannot help but notice a pattern.

While much weaker in comparison in the 70s-80s, I noticed how the fighting and defense seemed much stronger and rebellious.

However, once we shift into the 90s-00s, I noticed a change.

While queer people might have been started to get seen more, I also noticed how it’s always in a lesser role (gay best friend replacing magic negro trope), worshipping straight people (a lot of cisgender hetero pop stars being called gay icons just for saying they exist), praising awful caricatures for doing not even the bare minimum and getting religiously offended when someone points out it’s bad (“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT WAS LIKE BACK THEN, IT CHANGED MY LIFE!!!”), a lot of openly gay tv writers attacking bisexual and trans folk in a disturbingly sadistic passion, and so forth.

Overall, there’s this increase in taking respectability politics, and sometimes being full-on self-deprecating, and it’s hard to not notice.

Why was it like this, and what led to its end? And also, how long until we get more people to recognize and call it out instead of defending and being apologists?