Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 2, August 2001 | Page 88

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Popular Culture Review

fire” (1992, 15-26). The import of this narrative resistance strategy is that if society
labels homosexuality as a deviant activity—that is, when sexuality has to be ex
pressed in hidden and foreboding spaces— it deliberately places lives in jeopardy.

The One-Tribe Nation
Along with his homosexuality, Wojnarowicz was also deemed a deviant
because of the anti-establishment political ideology that informed his writings and
art. His work was often the target of criticism by various conservative forces who
interpreted Wojnarowicz’s messages as anti-American and blasphemous. Of course,
applying a deviant label to activists who challenge the political status quo is not a
new phenomenon, with scientist Linus Pauling serving as a prime example. As
long as Pauling worked solely within the realm of scientist, he was lauded by the
media in the 1950’s as a hero. But once he spoke out against the threat of nuclear
warfare and urged other scientists to sign a nuclear test-ban petition, Pauling’s
loyalty toward the government was questioned to the extent that in some circles he
was referred to as a Communist sympathizer (Lentz and Russell, 1994, 1-12).
Wojnarowicz was not a Communist, nor did he espouse any specific po
litical affiliation; still, he was characterized as a political deviant because he bluntly
accused the American system of using all means possible—even violence—to
marginalize and subjugate homosexuals, people of color, the poor, the disadvan
taged. Wojnarowicz described America as a one-tribe nation controlled by rich,
white, heterosexual males who live in fear of diversity and thrive on perpetuating
a code of silence designed to stifle and punish oppositional ideas, lifestyles, and
points of view. According to Wojnarowicz, the fear of diversity exhibited by the
one-tribe nation is characterized by the following symptoms: “sweating palms,
angry outbursts, hysteria, the discharging of handguns, the passing of certain leg
islation, the invasion of foreign countries, the burning down of homes, the running
out of town, and ultimately the legalized murder of those who are diverse in their
natures” (1991, 153-154).
For Wojnarowicz, America was actually a nation of many tribes (that is,
diverse cultures and subcultures), but the tribe controlling the reins of money and
power has long sought to trivialize the other tribes to the point of making them
seem invisible. Wojnarowicz wrote of feeling invisible because of his homosexu
ality. He would read magazines, watch television, look at billboards, view movies,
and listen to politicians, yet find no representation o f his sexuality in any of them.
And Wojnarowicz insisted that this marginalization of homosexuals has created a
dangerous climate for gays in America:
I can leave this room and step outside and be shot dead by a
person who believes in the moral code as set down by politi-