When talking about the queer community or queer-related topics, I don’t know that I censor much of what I say. Could be my age. Could be life experience. Could just be I don’t care anymore. I’m past the time when gay men were coded as artistic or creative. And well past the point where one brought their “roommate” to family holidays.
Which makes the last few months all the more interesting as the Trump administration falls all over itself trying to eliminate any references to diversity, equity, and inclusion in federal communications, websites, and documents. Any potential word or phrase that might be considered “woke” is in the process of being scrubbed, including any references to the queer community.
However, looking over PEN America’s recent list of the words and phrases (586 at last count) currently banned or being removed, I’m not sure what words are left we can use. Bias. Diversity. People of color. LGBTQ. Nonbinary. Those are easy to understand being zeroed in on. But then we get the more unusual words and phrases. Commercial sex worker. DEIA. Female. Victim. Tile drainage. Gulf of Mexico. (I cannot wait for maps to start reading Gulf of Mexico again.) One must wonder where the administration might stop.
Or where architects are going to stop.
A colleague recently emailed that their local AIA JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, inclusion) committee was looking through conference abstracts to try and avoid words currently being filtered out by the administration. Looking at PEN America’s list, that’s going to take some effort. Their concern was for architecture firms that might work on federal contracts and be flagged for attending sessions that contained one of the no-no words.
Which I understand. However, as one friend noted, if we start forcing ourselves back in the closet and start using coded language, then we’ve lost. An idea that applies not just to the queer community but to the architecture community as well. Our own organizations – from AIA National to the local chapters – have embraced the reality of climate change and the need for sustainability. To censor our discussions around those topics does push us back in the closet.
I spent the last three years on the continuing education committee for the Texas Society of Architects, helping to review and select sessions for the annual conference. The process can be overwhelming when you’re working through 130+ submissions. Not once, though, were we worried about the words being used in abstracts or session titles (unless they were just terrible).
But I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall this year. I can easily see, in a state where the governor is so anxious for Trump’s approval, the possibility of working along the lines of my colleague. As Trump goes, Texas seems to go. That would be enough to make even me anxious about what was ending up on this year’s program.
Except no one should be. Architects have always pushed the boundaries around the built environment. There shouldn’t be a list of no-no words we have to consider when talking about architecture. The same as if we were talking about the queer community. We do ourselves no good when we talk in code not because we want to, but because we are worried about getting our hand slapped.
Plus it’s a really long list, and I have more than enough to do.
