#to explore their identities without fear of judgement or ostracization | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

roidespd-blog · 5 years

Text

Chapter Twenty-Seven : QUEER & RACE

If you recall yesterday’s article on the Equality Act (June 26th), the Gay Liberation Movement and it subsequent attempts at protecting Queer people under the Law took a page at the Civil Rights Movement that culminated (but did not end) with the signature of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The fight of minorities have always mirrored one another through the last century of our History but today, we’re exploring how race is being handled inside the Queer community. And since I’m a white cis man, I’m perfectly qualified for the job.

A WHITE MAN EXPLAINS RACISM

Fuck no. 1. You’re perfectly aware of what racism is 2. I ain’t whitesplaining this situation 3. Next.

RAINBOW IS NOT THE ONLY COLOR

In the United States, Queer Black People had the hard challenge to face two major fights in the 1960s (three for Queer women of color) : Right to exist as a black person and right to proclaim their Queer identity without serious consequences. The New York Times published an article on June 22, 2019 called ‘Queer People of Color Led the L.G.B.T.Q Charge, but were denied the reward”. Very instructive if you have a second. In this article, it is stated that the same thing happened to Transgender people, Drag Queens, Blacks and Hispanics during this period of time “(They) played outsized roles during many of the earliest milestones of the Gay Rights Movement (but) have been denied many of the benefits of the revolution they sparked”.

As a matter of fact, many of the first major push backs at the Police and the Law were led Queer people of Color. Logical when you think of how badly black people were treating in America since… always. If on top of that, you throw homophobic attacks for being a transvestite or a homo, well someone might snap for good. As the article states “the LGBTQ community owes a huge debt of gratitude to the ones who really didn’t have that much of a choice, who were out there taking the beatings and taking the verbal abuse”. Basically Trans women of color. Didn’t you hear, Marsha P. Johnson threw the first brick at Stonewall ? Well, more on that later (PLOT TWIST : She probably didn’t).

You can’t deny all the good and sacrifices Marsha achieved during her short lifetime though. An outspoken advocate for gay rights and founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, she was known as “the mayor of Christopher Street” (location of the Stonewall Inn). Marsha was a black individual. Many of them were. Without the hardship and strength that they accumulated in a country where they were never considered equal and couldn’t hide their identity — because think about it, you may have the possibility to pass as straight, but you can’t pretend to be white, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

And what do we have today ? A total ignorance of the pain and struggles are our brothers and sisters of color.

DOUBLE STANDARDS

Queer individuals of color may find themselves in a double minority, in which they are neither fully accepted nor understood by (mainly) white Queer communities nor their own ethnic group.

If you are an Arab person (especially if you are Muslim), religious backgrounds and crowd mentality are clear obstacles to your own acceptance of Queer Identity. Meanwhile, you’ll have a hard time finding people to relate to as you will inevitably be consider a sex object by the community (more on that later).

Some Asian family traditions will hold you back to marry the person you love. One study found that 90% of Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) who self-identified as Queer thought homophobia and transphobia to be an issue in the later API community. Amy Sueyoshi, an Historian specializing in sexuality, gender and race, said : “Voices from the queer left, though opposed to homophobia in cultural nationalism, have picked up the protest against the feminization of Asian American men in the gay community. While coming from drastically different perspectives, both groups find common ground in supporting a phallocentric standard of Asian American Male sexuality”. And on the Queer side, people of Asian descent are mostly ignored (more on that later).

Gay Latino Men report experiencing Ostracism from their friends and families as they are not considered truly “men”. Latina lesbians are considered traitors who have forsaken their roots (they are perceived as “Malinche” figures corrupted by foreign influences who contribute to the genocide of their people). More than in any other community, rigid gender roles, patriarchy and religion give a sexuality judged ‘abnormal’ and hard to accept. Queer communities, meanwhile, created a toxic environment for Gay Latinos and Latinas (more. on. that. later)

In Black communities, homophobic attitudes are mainly the reason why there’s a disproportionately high incidence of HIV/AIDS amongst African Americans (that and poverty). Those overtly homophobic standards in that community gave way to a subculture called being on the “Down-Low”, in which black men who usually identity as heterosexual have sex with men without anyone else knowing shit about it. In many cases, those sexual acts are unprotected and create a space of danger for the individual and their future sexual partners (male and female). Finally, in the Queer community… Well, you get my drift (more on that right now).

Do you need to talk about Trans people of color ? Really ? Don’t you know that by now ? Have you ever considered what they were going through ?

This creates multiples minority stress inside one individual, with consequences of internalized homophobia and poor mental and physical self-care (drugs, alcohol, sexual risks, suicide).

SEXUAL RACISM

Sexual Racial Preference is the individual’s sexual preference of specific races. Is is an inclination towards potential sexual or romantic partners on the basis of perceived racial identity. In a way, it all depends on your point of view. There’s the blind point of view where we present this situation as a matter of preference and there’s the “put your fucking glasses on” point of view of we need to characterize this as racism. It’s been going on for hundreds of years, especially with the world’s dark past with slavery. In the last ten years, online dating has overtaken previously methods of meeting potential partners. The number of dating sites (gay, straight, bi, etc) has spiked to a uncountable level. Some are even created especially for an ethnic background OR for people in search of a different ethnic background. Along with this, there has been a rise of online sexual racism. Racial discrimination is everywhere. ESPECIALLY in Queer dating apps.

Take the case of Asian men. In other gay men’s minds, they are being represented as feminine and desexualized. The term “undersexed” has been used. Without even mentioning the stereotyping of size for an Asian male, gay pornography often depicts Asian men as submissive to the pleasures of white men. The way Asian men have been treated in the Queer community is close to “symbolic castration” according to Gilbert Caluya. Gay Asian Men experience constant racism on dating apps, where it is common for profiles to state “NO ASIANS” or “NO FATS, NO FEMMES, NO ASIANS” (the holy trinity of what Asian Men are represented as). They are being “relegated to the bottom of the attractiveness spectrum”, reflecting the position of the Asian individual in the world (and as always, with WHITE MALE on top). And if somehow, a Gay White man will get an interest in an Gay Asian man, it’s often part of a fetish or sexual racial preference based only on appearance and race. The objectification of someone’s race is in no way better than pushing that someone away because of this race. Those “rice queen” need to stop taken Asian people for objects to play with and then throw away. Same thing for Asian women in the Queer community. They are not deemed “Gay enough” due to their traditional Asian descent and at the same time, “passive but exotic”, mirroring the way Straight white males view Asian women.

Do you think it’s better with other ethnicities ? Sure, keep dreaming. Where Asian men are desexualized, Black men and women, cis and trans, are overtly sexualized, on top of the deepest form of racism born out of centuries of slavery and fear. As I said, the rise of the two movements made life twice as difficult for Queer Black folks. John Wilder said “Now that it is becoming unfashionable to discriminate against N*****, discrimination against homosexuals will be on the increase”. Furthermore, Keith Boykin said “the dirty little secret about the homosexual population is that white gay people are just as racist as white straight people”. It’s a truth that you can see everyday in our community. It has been predominantly led by white people for white people. Just as what ? The rest of the world. So if Black people are rejected as individuals by their Black communities and by the Queer community, what’s left for them ? Yes, I digress from the sexual stereotyping I was supposed to talk about. Here it goes. Those discriminations are reflected into their sexuality in constant judgement from all parts of both communities. For example, Black men who have a sexual preference for White men are accused to suffer from “insidious legacy of white racism”. They are also rejected by other Black Gay men opposed to interracial relationships with White folks, as it is a sign of lack of roots into their enslaved history and a oblivious blind eye to racism. Otherwise, Black Gay Men are supposed to be “tops” with enormous dongs (something that is explicitly demanded by dating apps users of all races) who are “urban”, “ruff” and gonna treat them like “lil’ bitches”. Some White men unofficially think that being sexually attracted to Black people automatically proves the lack of racism in them. But if you are only fucking and dating Black people, you have a sexual racial preference and… you racist.

And did you know that Trans Black Women are four times as likely to be sexually attacked, raped or murdered than the rest of the Queer population ? Uh ?

Have you noticed that in America, there’s a lot of Gay Latino bars and nightclubs, not so much Asian or Black gay clubs ? Do you think it’s because Latinos are better club dancers ? You racist fuck. No, it’s because Queer hispanics and Latinos have one of the greatest level of discriminations, both within and outside the Queer community, prompting the creation of the first Latino gay bar in San Francisco in 1979. Many more will follow.

I had a harder times finding specific prejudices against Latinos and Latinas inside the Queer community than for others, I’ll admit. Then I remembered that I just needed to search inside of my own prejudices, those that came with growing up inside the system. The first thing that comes to mind is big butts. Latino Men are targeted for the specific proportions of their bodies, especially if they are bottoms. Who doesn’t like a big ass ? They’re trendy. What else ? What else ? What else ? Well, just like any other races, your shade is uber important. I mean, are you darker skinned ? light skinned so you can almost pass as white ? Are the physical traits on your face obviously Mexican ? Spanish ? Brazilian ?

Arab men faces another type of stereotypes : the THUG.

Here’s the situation : you’re a young white bottom with a really big urge of being mistreated by someone with a bad attitude. White boys don’t scare you, it doesn’t turn you on. Latinos ? why not but it’s gonna be enough ? A Black man ? Well it could hurt (because big dicks, right ?). So you turn your attention to Arabs. They wear street clothes, sneakers that you can worship. They will insult you, spit on you, fuck you like the whore that you are. Maybe even in a basement ! And with some of his thug friends ! You’ll end up cover in spits and jizz, the rose bud blooming like never before. Who said Arab men were all thugs ? What makes you think every time you objectify a Arab sex partner, it’s gonna end up like this ? Wouldn’t it be… SATAN ? (that was a SNL reference) Nop, it’s Society.

Gay Arab women are non existent, Asian-Indians of all sexes as well, Native Americans don’t even mention it !

And don’t think that ethnic minorities are totally off the hook on this one. The fascination of some for white partners are just as racist as the rest of those examples.

In BBC Three’s documentary Series Queer Britain, specifically episode 4 called “Preference or Prejudice”, the host skypes the author of the book “True confessions of a Patato Queen” (apparently, it’s Asian male who are only attracted to White men). When asked why is he only attracted to those, he responded : “I believe the white race is a superior one and I love being with a white guy primarily because of that and also because he’s got a powerful big cock that I love. Once you go whish (white), nothing else seems rigsh (right) ! (laugh)” Staggering. But who made him think that ? Could it beeeee…. ?

VICTIMS OF OUR SOCIETY’S PREJUDICES

At last year’s Paris Pride, a collective called Qitoko called for an assembly of Queer and Trans people of color (I don’t know why Trans is not part of the Queer but whatever) to go up front of the march, part of the “Cortège de Tête de la Pride — Stop au Pinkwashing!”. It is a reflection on the way Queer people in general are not properly considering Queer people of color inside the community, very much the way Society has never viewed people of color at an equal level as white are.

The article I found on Irrecuperables goes on to talk about the country’s politics, lack of support, the act of parking different races together, pushing minorities to the outer limits of the Capitol. They also speak about feeling and being “indesirable” as part of the march.

What this recent example shows, as it is something I’ve said a few times already in previous articles, is that Queer people are making the same mistakes as the rest of the world always had. For an outside perspective, it seems like the Queer community is super inclusive and ultra liberal. I tend to disagree with that. As we were all raised in the same heteronormative white society, we have, in our DNA, the same principles of white superiority and race hierarchy that History and the way that we live today openly shows us just that. The fact that you are Queer doesn’t change that fact or erase those mistakes from your beings. Off course, I’m not saying we are ALL racist. Off course not. But it’s time, as a society, to recognize our prejudices and take ownership of our errors. The same goes for the Queer community. Why does a Black Lesbian have to feel so abandoned in a Lesbian bar ? Why does she think that she have to straighten her hair and act less masculine in case girls get scared of her attitude ? Can’t you just look and appreciate the person for who he/she/they is, regardless of the stereotypes life force-fed you ? It doesn’t take much to step back, reflect and correct. You mostly need to silence your ego. Silence that bitch now.

It is extremely problematic to use racialized desire as personal preference as “it constructs ‘preference’ and identity categories as equitable, which ignores the fact that Queer men and women do not choose their Racial identity”. This also reduces Queer men and women into a category of an object or ‘kink’ that can be adopted or cast aside at will. In France, we’ve let people in our country in waves, as someone reminded me not so long ago. Then, we parked them, used them and now are just plainly ignoring their sufferings. We, as Queer people, have to do better than that. We can’t go from victims to executioners and not even blink on it. I’ve barely scratched the surface of the Race problem inside our community. And honestly, it took me long ass time to come up with something to say, as I didn’t feel like I could legitimately talk about it. Well, I did because it’s just as important as the rest of this month’s projects.

Stop hiding behind “preferences” and “white blindness”. Document yourself, talk to people. Make a change. Be inclusive all the way.

Check yourself before you wreck ourselves.

0 notes