Homosexuality as Political Identity

Homosexuals as a collective are set apart by the fact that they include “everybody.” As demonstrated in Anzaldua's Borderlands/La Frontera, individuals are comprised of a multiplicity of identitiesThere are gay, or “queer,” individuals of every race, gender, social class, religion, etc. Homosexuality represents such a multiplicity of identities, it seems like nonsense to reduce a person down to their sexual orientation. This is especially true when “sexual orientation” is a fluid concept in and of itself. Of course, this same idea of multiplicity can be applied to virtually any collective. Is it really possible to reduce someone down to their race (a term as fluid as sexuality), social class, religion, or anything else at all?
All of these identities carry weighty political implications as well. To "come out of the closet” is to assume a politicized identity. Opponents love to reference the “gay lifestyle,” but what is this supposed gay lifestyle exactly? Is a gay man who gets up in the morning, goes to work, comes home to do chores, watch TV, and goes` to bed living the “gay lifestyle?” Echoing Judith Butler’s article, “Imitation and Gender Subordination,” does it make any sense to say that a queer individual is “more queer” when they’re at Gay Pride than when they’re at Wal-Mart? It is true that we can “perform” our identity more overtly in certain spaces while downplaying it in others. Nevertheless, the fact that gay/lesbian/queer identified individuals encompass so many identities (Mother, Father, Son, Daughter, Black, Iranian, “White,” Jewish, Man, Woman, Transgendered, Activist, Humanitarian, Politician, Citizen, etc.) emphasizes the injustice of persecuting or marginalizing any individual simply because of their sexuality. No matter what stance a person takes on the issue of homosexuality, there’s no denying that discrimination against someone for one portion of who they are is discrimination against the individual as a whole.