Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: HRC looks at race, gender, and sexuality
The Human Rights Campaign has stepped into the hornet’s nest of identity with a new report called “At the Intersection: Race, Sexuality and Gender.” The organization is even having an online conversation about the report today.
The study’s findings are not that earth shattering, especially if you have been paying attention to the “community” chatter since the defeat of Proposition 8. Gays and lesbians of color experience their lives primarily through the lens of race and gender. LGBT people of color are simultaneously accepted and rejected by their communities. Brown and black gays and lesbians see no difference in racism and sexism exhibited by gays or straights.
The report isn’t all downer. It suggests bridges can be built on work against hate crimes and job discrimination. How the HRC study will be received is any one’s guess. I think it will come and go with nary a whimper. Mainly because we would rather talk noise about community which is easy.
To hike my funk meter for a minute, is any one really shocked by this? Gays and lesbians of color have been saying stuff like this for ages, ages, and ages. And precious little has changed. And we all know how it will go here. Some will call me a racist and tell me to get help. Others will wonder why 365 has turned into ghetto news central , and a few will quote nuttiness espoused by a black friend (word to the wise: just because your colored friend says it, it ain’t necessarily so).
Race talk brings out the crazy in all of us ; however, let’s put the crazy down and actually hear each other. One way to start is to let go of the innocence shields that always pop up when the topic is color.
Now this is just me… I may be wrong if i’m not wrong please tell me….Me I am not rasict what so ever.. I believe ALL MEN Where created Equally… Why Can’t the Gay Community of all Races, Stop Fighting amonst ourselves rather it be about race or orientation and Fight together aganist the ppl who are causeing the REAL MAIN fight… The fights that really matter To Make This United States A Great place to live… We (Gay Community) Need to be heard Once and For all…..
Well I definitely think HRC needs to do a lil harder job of trying to reach queer minorities, especially Black men in the U.S. I don’t know too many other minoriteies stigmatized and marginalized more then the black gay community.
Ofcourse, every group likes there leaders or role models, but we have none that are really stepping up to the plate (Still don’t know why the hell they canceled Noahs arc).
The very sad life truth I’ve recently learned though, is that change comes to those who work for and want it.
The “colored” gays may be marginalized, adversly affected by HIV, deeply closeted, and tortured by stoic and negative christian propaganda, and even unaccepted by a lot of the gay community…
But until black gay men moblilize and change our surroundings ourselves, we’ll will continue be marginalized.
Working in the HIV prevention field has made me slightly jaded and bitter. I deal with peoples ignorance of the disease everyday, yet the main source of ignorance, bigotry and hate usually comes from my target population and the men I love, black gay men, (the ones who need testing the most).
Plenty of racism and homophobia is institutionalized, but at the end of the day, its us making negative situations for ourselves.
Im a member of an ethnic minority and I do not feel the need to compare my self to anyone else. Im not proud of being a Mexican American because I believe we are better than any one else, my pride is based on acknowledgement of the struggles my family endured to get me here. Aside from that I really have not witnessed any discrimination within the gay community from members of other races but within my own ethnic group discrimination is a problem. Race is touchy, but I think that the friction stems from acceptance within racial groups in the gay community not from cross racial relations. At least from my vantage point. In the Mexican American community there are people like me that have just migrated north ward and encounter a sense of inertia from local members that are more Americanized and tend to look down at you for a myriad of reasons.
Then we have class issues, European ancestry issues, differences in dialects etc. We can be here all day. Anyway people its all good I genuinely don’t care about race or ethnicity, I just really want to start a family and not have my assets taxed to hell when my boyfriend/husband/domestic partner/amigo especial/ takes it over.
For whatever it’s worth, Withers, I appreciate that you do not shy away from discussing race issues, no matter how silly or ugly that discussion has the potential to be. Or become. Heh. Let’s give it a whirl, eh?
I’ve never really understood racism. Or homophobia. These are intrinsic qualities within people, right? so how can they be indicative of some intrinsic evil? I do think that some people are so frightened of the world and reality that they devise methods of making the world make sense (i.e. all black people carry knives; if I avoid all black people, I won’t get knifed. This is grossly faulty logic, and that is exactly my point), even when those methods are totally absurd.
Discussing race and sexual orientation is a discussion of Us and The Other. And we are ALL guilty of segregation of some type, whether we segregate ourselves or whether other people ostracize us. As long as people identify as straight or as GLBT, there will ALWAYS be an Us and The Other. As long as we choose to identify ourselves and our fellow man as black, white, brown, red, yellow, or any color, we are choosing to be either Us or The Other. Racism, like homophobia, is a choice.
Caitlyn made an interesting point: “…the idea of the “post-racial” world, which seems like a ridiculous fantasy to anyone of color.” I know it’s not a popular opinion to hold, but maybe there’s something to the idea of color pride, meaning that people who belong to ethnic minorities (races) hold their status in high esteem. Nothing wrong with that, right? Not until that pride gives way to a sense of personal superiority. Thus we have racism, which is STILL racism, no matter who or what source the sentiment is coming from.
JohnnyBoy: Caitlyn, like all of us, is entitled to her opinion. Telling her that valuing her racial identity is contributing to the conflict is, in itself, a contribution to the conflict. So you seem to think that you have transcended your racial background to the point that it doesn’t matter for you. Good for you. Seriously. Lots and lots and LOTS of people haven’t reached that point. So what are you going to do? Belittle them, or open yourself up to discussion with them? So far, you have demonstrated only the former.
I’m one of those darn liberal, white-looking gay folk, and I think that the “post-race” world is a great idea. However, due to people who view the concept as “ridiculous”, and who sees their race as more important and having more history than their sexuality, the utopia of post-racial anywhere is not going to happen any time soon.
I am a mixed race male, half hispanic and half white. One set of grandparents denied their Mexican heritage due to the claim of being “Spanish” and my other set were comfortable speaking to the plight of the “negro” in America. Having had been raised with a solid understanding of my background, filled with bigots on both sides, I am uber aware of the impact of racially-motivated denigration implicit to my racial makeup. While I am comfortable embracing both sides of my racial identity, along with the positive and negative historical elements linked to it, I also embrace my sexual orientation. I am comforted that my current situation in the world is not as negative as the EXTENSIVE historical and cultural elements of the homosexual lifestyle throughout the ages point that it could be. I also embrace my American roots, and my small town roots, and my educational roots, and the other myriad of elements that make up me.
The true reason that there is bigotry in any form is that there are people who focus in on one specific part of their makeup, such as race, or sexualual orientation or religion or what-have-you. They do not envision themselves as whole people and use their identity-centric view of the world to classify everyone into “like me” and “unlike me.” Finally, they designate those unlike themselves as “bad”. Thus is the source of the conflict that we experience.
Go ahead, Caitlyn, find your race more important than the other parts that make up you. Contribute to the conflict.
I think the results can be partly explained by the fact that race, at least to me, is also a more important part of one’s identity; it has a shared history, and also a personal history, in the way that sexuality doesn’t. You can’t exactly trace your family tree back to when the gays left the old country and moved to America. And especially when they’re being discriminated against by a majority, people have a tendency to hold their history close and be proud of it. So it seems pretty obvious to me that people would view their lives through the lense of race rather than of sexuality.
But of course no one likes being classified as discriminatory, so whites are more likely to embrace sexuality as their main status rather than race, because race makes them feel guilty. And being mainly liberals, gays are much more likely to embrace the idea of the “post-racial” world, which seems like a ridiculous fantasy to anyone of color. And therein lies the disconnect.
So no, I’m not terribly surprised by the results either.
i think as a society there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of race relations. but honestly we lgbt are no better or worse than our straight counterparts, so why is anyone even expecting race relations to be different within the lgbt “community?” we’re just a microcosm of society at large.
I keep hearing about rampant racism in the white gay community, but I’ve never seen it.
Maybe I have my white privelege blinders on, but still, I just don’t see it in the circles I’m in. I see it all the time in the straight world, even in my own family, so I think I know what to look for.
It’s crazy not least because skin is only a cue. It’s culture. I hate the racism in my city–from all sides to all sides–but it’s impossible not to be drawn into it, in some way. Blacks who don’t trust whites and whites who’re afraid blacks will ruin the neighborhood. Both look at hispanics like “Who invited YOU?” but then many whites have fewer issues with hispanics. It’s not easy to really let go of preconceived notions and receive what another person is willing to share with you. Doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort. In order to rise above it, everybody involved has to be willing and ready to let go of what they think they know, find out what’s true, and learn about each other as we are.
Why does race talk bring out the crazy in people? Are people that obsessed with someone being a different skin color than they are?
I really don’t understand racism. :\