Justin Anantawan — Ode to Benchwarmers

by: Justin Anantawan By definition, a “bench warmer” is a sports player who does not get selected to play – a substitute who is left out of the game. When Beacon Quarterly called for submissions for this issue, I had to reflect on what that term meant to me. I do not play sports at all (in fact I am horrible at sports and have some not so fond memories of kicking soccer balls out of bounds or into the bloody noses of classmates in high school) so I had examine the symbolic rather than the literal meaning.

To me, “bench warmer” represents the people in our society who are marginalized – based on their sexual orientation, religion, race, social class, disability, mental health, gender identity, etc. These are the people who are not given the same basic human rights, media

representation, protection and dignity afforded to the majority. As a gay man living with HIV, I have experienced this discrimination. As a photojournalist, I have bared witness to the struggles experienced by societal “bench warmers”, such as LGBTQ folks, Deaf people and people living with albinism. I believe art and publications such as Beacon Quarterly have the power to share the stories of these communities, uplift them and mobilize action against the forces of social oppression and fear – in this current world climate of right wing extremism, I believe this is more important than ever.

I believe “bench warmer” can be an empowering term. Bench warmers are left out of society – however, they have the inner heat that is slowly warming the seats to which they are chained... at any moment they will burst into flames and burn down the prisons of homophobia, transphobia, capitalism, sexism, racism, rape culture, mental health stigma, ableism, religious discrimination, etc. that hold them captive. From the ashes of these structures we can build a new world full of love and beauty