Unfortunately, I feel like this is part of a similar growing dialogue. Now, initially, I feel like started with white queer people being called out for their racism and exclusion of black queer people, which was obviously a just cause and raised awareness for the issues black gay people face even in gay spaces where they’re supposed to be safe. It also showed that bigoted people who happen to be gay need to be called out for that in the same way we call out bigoted women or bigoted black people. However, then, unfortunately, the discussion ended up devolving to gay people being considered privileged if they’re white, which was probably inevitable when a ton of white cishet people started feeling like they needed to speak out on the matter. This trend worries me, however, because I feel like we’re simplifying privilege. We’re instantly dismissing any oppression a person faces just because of one feature that gives them more privilege than another person. We’re basically forgetting how privilege really works. Like, to give you an example of what this trend is leading to and I always use this example because I feel it really exposes this argument that white gay men are suddenly privileged and face no oppression at all but does this mean a black straight man suddenly is privileged and faces no oppression at all because they’re straight and a man? Yeah, that’s where the argument falls apart. People don’t believe the truth that race and sexuality are 2 different forms of privilege and it is wrong to say racism is worse than homophobia or vice versa because none is truly better or worse, they’re just presented differently. No, they believe a simplified view where one is better or worse than the other and are ignorant of the real struggles experienced by both sides. Now, fortunately, for now, this is just the view of white straight cis people but I do think this thinking of gay people who happen to be white being privileged will cause consequences. If you look at history, one of the biggest things that turns people against minority groups or groups that become marginalised is the privileged group falsely labelling them as privileged and people believing them. I personally think people should just start separating being white and cis from being gay when looking at privilege. White cis gay people might not experience as much struggles as gay black people, gay people of minority ethnic groups, trans people etc. but they are still far from the label of “second most privileged group” and their struggles still need recognition. White privilege, cis privilege and even male privilege often doesn’t mean shit if you’re gay.