Race in the LGBT Community: A Cycle of Prejudice

The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community is often viewed as a liberal community, fighting for the civil rights of sexual minorities and therefore tending to support progressive politics and social justice. Because of the many ways in which issues of race and sexuality intersect and the problems both minority groups have in common, one might expect various racial groups and LGBT communities to align themselves with the same causes. However, despite its reputation as a relatively progressive community, LGBT individuals often experience as much racial and sexual prejudice from within the LGBT community as is reflected in the rest of society. Racism permeates the structure and customs of our society so deeply that it presents itself in even the most liberal of communities. Combined with the homophobia coming from various racial groups, this adds to a cycle of prejudice that causes tense race relations within the LGBT community, a problem that becomes obvious upon examining the visibility of people of color within that community.

Since minorities are defined in relation to the majority, it is important to understand what exactly makes up the majority and how it is presented as the norm within society. Certain differentiating characteristics that are considered average or normal define 'unmarked' individuals. People who are 'marked' by other characteristics fall outside of what is considered generic, and therefore qualified by certain adjectives. A person can easily be described without the adjective "white" thrown into their description, whereas people of minority races would be marked by their race, described as "a black man" or "a Latina woman." Whiteness has become an "unchallenged hegemony" (Alcoff) in society that is seen as the default. This idea that whiteness represents the absence of color or the absence of anything exotic makes it seem normal and unnecessary to explore; however, by establishing what exactly whiteness is and examining the privilege that comes along with it, we can avoid the misconceptions about race relations rooted in this notion of whiteness as the default.

Much like whiteness, heterosexuality goes unnoticed in society, making it another default. Those who identify as queer are marked in the same way that people of color are, typically described by their sexual orientation because they do not fit into the generic category of "heterosexual." This makes people who fit into both racial and sexual minority categories double minorities, marked by both characteristics and therefore considered 'marked' whether they are with people of their own race or people of their own sexual orientation. Basically, groups of 'marked' and 'unmarked' people exist even within 'marked' communities. Although marked in relation to the rest of society, gay white men are the unmarked norm within the LGBT community, with every other individual being marked by either their race or gender.

This idea of the unmarked norm and those who fall outside it is reflected in language itself, with specific labels created to apply specifically to those who do not fit the generic, male-associated label "gay," a term often used to describe the entire queer community. Gay women are rarely described as "gay" unless it is in the context of a larger group including gay men, although oftentimes, homosexuals are referred to as "gays and lesbians" in an attempt to be slightly more inclusive of gay women, but these terms still leave out a large portion of the community and seem to add women in as a secondary category of people. On one hand it seems necessary to use a separate label considering the aforementioned idea of unmarked individuals, but on the other hand, the term seems even more exclusive in that it distinguishes two particular categories by sex. Because the word "gay" can apply to both sexes, tacking on "and lesbian" should be seen as unnecessary. If, for example, a group of men and women were instead addressed as "persons and women" instead of as one, unified group, people would generally find that to be an extremely sexist and exclusive term to use. "Men and women" is seen as acceptable, but only because "women" are clearly not included in the word "men."

Furthermore, the LGBT community itself is often referred to as "the gay community," as though the label "gay" can apply to anyone who identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. By considering the term "gay" to be generic but then creating labels that refer to groups of people not considered to simply be "gay," the language itself seems contradictory and problematic. It is natural for language to reflect a certain degree of prejudice in a society or community that contains prejudice, but it becomes more problematic if we consider how language not only reflects but also affects society and the way it functions. As Robert B. Moore writes, "Language not only develops in conjunction with a society's historical, economic and political evolution; it also reflects that society's attitudes and thinking. Language not only expresses ideas and concepts but actually shapes thought." (Moore, 310) In his article, he goes on to explain the ways in which our language reflects bigotry, which is very much relevant to the slang commonly used within the queer community. Beyond words like "lesbian," many more specific labels exist to distinguish people within the LGBT community. Transgender individuals, for example, have separate categories of male-to-female and female-to-male, and distinct labels for black and Latino gay men, such as the slang term "banjee," (West) are also used to differentiate them.

While it is an obviously accepted fact that racism exists within society and is reflected in the very way we speak, what makes it any different when we examine it with respect to the LGBT community? As previously mentioned, people often expect racial and sexual minorities to align themselves with the same issues, understanding discrimination and the importance of civil rights. However, exclusion and prejudice seem to come from both sides. Historically, for example, gays faced discrimination even from the civil rights movement. Bayard Rustin, a gay, black man was heavily involved with activism in the 1960s, most notably acting as the principal organizer for the 1963 March on Washington. (Pace) He also counseled Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on nonviolent resistance, having observed the Gandhian movement firsthand. Clearly an instrumental figure in this movement, his efforts have gone largely unrecognized. He was attacked during his career because of his sexual orientation and his later involvement with LGBT activism, and today there is almost no mention of his name alongside King's in history textbooks or classrooms. This exclusion of gays is not all that surprising during an era where homosexuality was far from accepted, but the disconnect between these communities is very much rooted in the history of racism in this country as well as the values and priorities of minority races in such a racist society. Double minorities like Bayard Rustin are often criticized for seemingly abandoning one identity for another, even seen as halting the progress of the black community by not having a strong, traditional family and producing black children for the future.

Because of this prejudice and the resentment shown towards gays within the black community, queer people of color are less likely to come out of the closet. This furthers the problem of visibility and gives the impression that all LGBT people are mainly white, and so the community is reflected as such in the media. Unfortunately, this allows for the cycle of racism and homophobia within both groups to continue in this cycle. While people of color feeling uncomfortable coming out because of their present lack of visibility within the LGBT community, the LGBT community continues to present as mostly white because LGBT people of color face more obstacles when coming out. As Meredith Moise, a field organizer for Equality Maryland, explained, "many black gays and lesbians are not out because we would rather be with our family than cast out in this racist world." (Melze) Basically, because black gays and lesbians rely on their families for support in a world that already ostracizes them because of their race, they are left with the decision of whether or not to be abandoned by their families as well.

Unlike queer people of color, white individuals who identify as LGBT do not face the difficulty of rectifying one's race with one's sexuality, a privilege that goes unnoticed within the white LGBT community. In Peggy McIntosh's article, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," she lays out many of the privileges white individuals take for granted, ranging from job opportunities to the ability to find band-aids that roughly mach the color of their skin. Despite facing discrimination and oppression in many areas, white LGBT individuals have many privileges of their own. One of the privileges McIntosh says she has as a white person is that when she learns about our national heritage, she sees that "people of [her] color made it what it is," (McIntosh) and the same is true of the LGBT community and what it has become. Most popular gay activists throughout history and still today have been white, dating back to the first homophile organization in the United States: the Mattachine Society, founded in 1950 by Harry Hay. (Keehnen) Even many of the heterosexual figures who have become icons for the gay community, like Judy Garland and Madonna, are white.

Other than white gay icons, the issue of visibility is also reflected in media coverage of hate crimes involving LGBT individuals and the extent to which race and racism play a part in this. The murder of Matthew Shepard received a vast amount of media attention, prompting proposals of new hate crime legislation, responses from prominent members of the LGBT community and their allies, as well as the creation of several narrative films and a popular stage play dedicated to his story. Sakia Gunn, a black lesbian from Newark, was the victim of a similar attack in 2003, but the incident received much less media coverage than the one involving Shepard, a white male. Research done by Kim Pearson, a journalism professor at the College of New Jersey, has shown that there were 659 major newspaper stories about Shepherd in the seven-month period after his attack, while in that same amount of time, only 21 stories covered Gunn's murder. More recently, a documentary about Sakia Gunn has been filmed, but it only reinforces the lack of media attention that has been given to her death by depicting it on film. The film also describes her as an "aggressive," which the film's description explains is a gay slang term for "a homosexual woman of color who dresses in masculine attire." (The Sakia Gunn Film Project) Like "banjee," this word is mainly used within the LGBT community and although many women, like Sakia, identify with and are proud of their aggressive status, the term also helps to marginalize queer women of color.

In addition to the difficulty of coming out, this low visibility for queer people of color plays an important part in the same-sex marriage debate, something recently represented by the passing of Proposition 8 in California. Largely backed by black voters, the ballot amendment restricts the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman under the California state Constitution. In addition to the 70 percent of black voters who reported voting "yes" on Proposition 8, 53 percent of Latino voters and 49 percent of Pacific Islanders also voted "yes." (Palmer) The exit polls have therefore caused a great deal of concern amongst queer people of color, particularly because of the blame they have been faced with. Giving her perspective as a black lesbian, Jasmyne A. Cannick says the white gay community needed to emphasize the importance of this amendment to the black community, but that did not happen. "White gays often wonder aloud why blacks, of all people, won't support their civil rights...the black civil rights movement was essentially born out of and driven by the black church." (Cannick) Proposition 8, on the other hand, was very much supported by the church, which opposes homosexuality.

The passing of Proposition 8 has clearly not helped race relations, and the backlash of the white gay community is entirely too destructive to the goal of advancing civil rights and equality for both LGBT individuals and people of color. With the two groups at odds, those who feel connected to both communities continue to face the problem of how to stay true to both parts of their identity without feeling as though they are abandoning either community. Race relations are not a simple matter to begin with, and when complicated by sexuality, they can be difficult to deconstruct. Overall, though, furthering equality and civil rights depends heavily on visibility, as do race relations in general. The lack of visibility in all areas, whether historical representations of the LGBT community or current media representations of the community, furthers the cycle of prejudice and blame that keeps queer people of color in the closet.

Works Cited:

Alcoff, Linda. "The Whiteness Question." 2006. Visible Identities: Race, Gender and the Self. Oxford University Press. New York.

Cannick, Jasmyne A." No-on-8's white bias." Los Angeles Times. 08 Nov 2008 .

Keehnen, Owen. "Interview: Harry Hay, 1992." glbtq. 7 Apr. 1992. glbtq, Inc. 24 Jan. 2006 .

McIntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." 1988.

Melze, Eartha. "NAACP chair says 'gay rights are civil rights'" Washington Blade. .

Moore, Robert B. "Racist Stereotyping in the English Language." Cultural Institutions and the Production of Ideas. 310.

Pace, Eric. "Bayard Rustin Is Dead at 75; Pacifist and a Rights Activist." The New York Times. 25 Aug 1987. .

Palmer, Margie M. and Joseph Pena. "Race relations." Gay & Lesbian Times. 28 Nov 2008.

The Sakia Gunn Film Project. .

West, Tim'm. "Deconstructing Banjee Realness." Brave Soul Collective. 25 May 2006. .