imreallybad:

bisexual people passing as straight when they’re in a straight relationship is not “passing privilege.” it’s erasure. it’s assimilation. 

that’s like saying that femme lesbians have privilege over butch lesbians. invisibility might keep people safer on a micro-level which is fucked up, but it’s all based on people thinking they can tell who’s queer & who’s straight just by looking at them, which is infinitely problematic and painful.

don’t alienate queer people who are assumed to be straight. invisibility is a symptom of hetero-normativity, not a privilege. 

right yes okay but this is not assimilation – because that is not what assimilation refers to.

being queer is not in and of itself a separate independant culture (subculture, sure). you cannot assimilate into a culture you are born and raised into. the pressure to conform to the norms of your own society is not assimilation (or any other form of imperialism). The pressure to conform to the norms of someone else’s is. so if you are white (and then particularly if you are western/live in a place where your cultures norms are also the societal norms/etc) what you are experiencing is not going to be assimilation.