Dear NADQ (National Association of the Deaf Queers)

Dear NADQ (National Association of the Deaf Queers),

I apologize for my tardiness in the coming but I was able to catch a whiff of what has just developed over at NAD on the subject of queer deaf people.  I thought it was rather interesting because I didn't know that NAD had a vested interest in people's sex lives or people's sexual lifestyles.  I've read some of the pro-active queer advocates who wrote letters to NAD, encouraging them to recognize and support their sexual lifestyles.  I read them with an open mind and heart but I could not connect the two.  The logic was simply not there.

I'm not sexist. I do not discriminate against those who prefers a different sexual lifestyle.  The choice is theirs but does that mean I have to be a conformist and approve their lifestyle?  No, it does not. I can disapprove their lifestyle but yet respect their choices.  I see queer people's desperate effort to confuse the two. If you don't approve their lifestyle then you're a sexist...  if you don't approve then you hate them... if you don't approve then you are against them.  This is far from the truth.  I don't hate them and I do not disrespect them.  It's just that I do not agree with practices of sodomity.  So, kindly do yourself a favor and don't take my comments out of context.

By recognizing deaf queers NAD has just invited quagmire and basically dug their own grave.  Allow me to explain why.  When we were born, we came in the form of human beings before we were anything else.  This much is assured.  It mattered very little whether we were males or females. When a new human being is being born, there was a great cause for celebration. And then human nature would kick in and we'd become piqued about the sex of the baby.  Male?  Female?  It was no longer sufficient being a simple human being. People's quest for power would kick in almost instantly and seek baby's second identity, that of male or female.  This is done for the sake of power hungry society.  Although their initial intentions might be good but it actually pits down the female as the less superior being and the male as the superior being. Worse yet, it became some kind of 'male over female' tradition. That is where and how we have shamed ourselves and our beings. Later on in life we begin to feel insufficient and powerless with our original identity as a human being and then we begin to feel insufficient and powerless with our second identity as a male or a female.  So, what do we do next?

People would begin to seek their third and fourth identities in search for greater power that would make them something more than the rest of human beings. It was no longer sufficient or satisfactory being a simple human beings and no longer sufficient being a simple male or a female.  That's where deaf identity kicks in for some people who could not hear.  Aha... now they believed that they were something special and that it would separate them from the rest of human beings. They formed advocacy based organizations to protect their civil rights as deaf people as if they lacked their first and basic rights as human beings.  Remember, they didn't feel that being 'human beings' were satisfactory enough. And then they didn't feel that being a male or female were satisfactory enough.  They staked a claim on "deafness" and called themselves "deaf", as in their third identity because they wanted something more. They saw it as a form of 'new power' that was up for grabs.  Now that they have three identities, what next?

They develop their skills and talents.  They get their education and then they become specialists and professionals in their own rights.  Let's say this 'power hungry' human being turned into a female being, turned into a deaf person became a teacher.  She is now a teacher and prefers to be seen as teacher because it represented greater 'status' in the society.  Such notion lead people to think and believe that a simple human being is now a lesser being.  It also lead people to think and believe that male and female beings are also lesser beings.  It also lead us to our quest for deaf identity when we were younger.  But it didn't stop there.  We became culturally and linguistically Deaf people who think and believe that being a simple deaf person is a lesser being. And yet this pursuit and hunger for greater status and power does not end there.

That is when, where and how we've become destructive and done more harm than good for our beings.  It's becoming a competitive world where dogs would begin to eat dogs. You see a lot of this in the deaf community these days.

This begs the question.  How far do we really want to go with our never-ending hunger for greater status and power?  NAD was never about anything else but civil rights of deaf people. It has nothing to do with their race, age, gender or sexual lifestyle. Not long ago I could walk into NAD if I choose to and participate just because I was deaf.  That would have sufficed.  It may not be sufficient today.  I almost have to be culturally and linguistically Deaf.  NAD hosts this mentality that it's better to be culturally and linguistically Deaf. Otherwise you are not deaf enough. This brings me to the underlying point... the term 'deaf' is now seen as a lesser being than 'Deaf'.  In this power-hungry society one has to be something more than the rest of the crowd. So what comes next after being culturally and linguistically Deaf?  Deaf Queers!  The birth of Deaf Queers made possible by NAD.

NAD's message is, Deaf Queers are something even more special.  Pretty soon, if not already, Deaf people in general will be seen and noted as a lesser beings due to influx of new identity, that of Deaf Queers. Oh, how special they are. All the more power to them. Congratulations. Apologies to Deaf people in general but you are no longer special.  No longer the focus of NAD because your sexual lifestyle do not promote or practice sodomity. If you wish to be recognized and respected in a special way by NAD then you need to reconsider your sexual lifestyle.  

Am I supposed to walk into NAD and say I'm a Deaf (culturally and linguistically deaf) Great Basin Buckaroo? Does that give me a greater power and footing within NAD?  Does that give me a greater status than the rest of the Deaf, deaf people and Deaf Queers?  How many Deaf Great Basin Buckaroo are out there?  None according to my knowledge.  That makes me extremely special!  Even more special than Queer deaf people. I believe I deserve the recognition from NAD for being the only Deaf Great Basin Buckaroo in this nation.  I deserve the civil rights protection as a Deaf Great Basin Buckaroo and I demand it now.  Recognize me!

I mean, where does it end?  Is it not sufficient to say we are human beings first before we're anything else?  Is it not enough to recognize ourselves as deaf people whether we've been culturally and linguistically raised?  Why do we continue to marginalize ourselves as Human Beings?  Why do we marginalize deaf organization and reject deaf people that were not linguistically and culturally Deaf?  And especially now, why are marginalizing Deaf people in favor of Deaf Queers? I mean, what does NAD have to do with Deaf people's sex lives?

In short, everybody's world just became smaller.  It will become even smaller when the Deaf Queers begin to find it unsatisfying with their so-called "queer" identity. What identity will they seek next?  It won't matter because whatever they decide to do they are going to continue to marginalize themselves.  This is a recipe for self destruction.

And NAD did not see this coming?  Pretty soon, if not already, NAD is turning into NADQ.  Who knows what the future has in store for them. All the more reason for me not to join and become a member. I know I won't be treated fairly there because I'm not queer. Heck they may even start "not queer enough" saga in the future.  This whole thing is so unfortunate.  We lost NAD when they meddled with Deaf people's sex lives.  I just don't see what our ears, our deafness, our deaf culture and language might have to do with our sex lives.  This is beyond stupidity.  No pun intended.