And to begin…
A few photos and blurbs by and about
lesbians of color.
They’re women,
They’re lesbians,
And they’re African-American, Korean,
and Latina. So far!
Audre Lorde
1934 - 1992
“As I have said elsewhere, it is not the destiny of
black America to repeat white America's
mistakes. But we will, if we mistake the
trappings of success in a sick society for the
signs of a meaningful life. If black men continue
to do so, defining "femininity" in its archaic
European terms, this augurs ill for our survival
as a people, let alone our survival as
individuals. Freedom and future for blacks do
not mean absorbing the dominant white male
disease. . . As black people, we cannot begin
our dialogue by denying the oppressive nature
of male privilege. And if black males choose to
assume that privilege, for whatever reason,
raping, brutalizing, and killing women, then we
cannot ignore black male oppression.
One oppression does not justify another.”
--Black Women Writers at Work
From the “Voices from the Gaps (VG)” website:
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/lorde_audre.html
Walker, Alice
b. 1944
In her explorations of the
damage done to the
individual by racism and
sexism, Alice Walker
depicts lesbianism as
natural and freeing, an
aid to self-knowledge and
self-love.
From “GLBTQ: An Encyclopedia of Gay Lesbian Bi Transgender & Queer Culture”:
http://www.glbtq.com/literature/walker_a.html
Margaret Cho
b. 1968
Mathew St. Patrick (Six Feet Under) and Margaret were honorees at the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force "Honoring Our Allies" fundraiser.
http://www.margaretcho.com/audio_visual/audio_visual.htm
Marga Gomez
I am a filthy pig or as my people say I am a Cochina. Some of you
studying Spanish think I am a kitchen but that is pronounced
cocina. Cochina is filthy pig. Cocina is kitchen. Unless you're in a
Cochina's apt then what's the difference. Because our Latina
mothers taught us world is a dirty place. Don't touch anything don't
put anything in your mouth. For instance if I found a brand new
soccer ball rolling on the sidewalk and I wanted to pick it up and
taste it. Non-Latina mothers would say "Sweetie we don't know
where that's been. Let's have a time out in a healing yoga posture. "
But Latina mothers would say "Put it down Cochina! Don't touch
that it's ca-ca!!" Everything we saw, touched, or wanted was ca-ca. I
didn't know where ca-ca began or ended. That's how I was raised.
And I was taught to respect my elders. Every Christmas my Tity
came to stay with us for the holidays. For those of you just learning
Spanish, Tity doesn't mean titties. Those are tetas. Tity means aunt.
Teta is tittie. Unless they are your Tity's tetas. But why go there? I
remem- ber her visits. I can still hear her calling me. "Cochina!
Come here. I have a Christmas present for you. Come and see what
your Tity got you all the way from the old country. I said come
inside the house! You are going to catch pneumonia. Didn't your
mother, my sister, tell you never to play outside? If you were mine
you would
stay inside and pray. Only cochinas play outside. If
you were mine I would make you kneel on uncooked rice. You are
killing your mother, my sister, soon she'll be dead and then you will
be mine!!! And I will sell you to a factory. Now come get your
present. Don't touch that snow it's ca-ca! Merry Christmas Cochina.
Open it. See, it's your first black dress. Just like mine. Nice and
long to protect your hymenia. There is nothing like a heavy black
dress to say DEATH TO ALL WHO ENTER HERE."
b. ???
“This is more than unflattering hair...this is a hate crime!”
How does identity form?
• Most identity theories have a sequence
of stages that a person goes through in
developing identity
• The chapter by Janis Bohan uses
Atkinson, Morten, and Sue’s Minority
Identity Development Model
The Minority Identity
Development Model
• Five stages:
– Conformity
• What was the question again? Something about
identity?
– Dissonance
• Wait a minute…
– Resistance and immersion
• I’m all about my culture! As in, my culture!
– Introspection
• How much does my culture fit me as my individual
self?
– Synergetic Articulation and Awareness
• I’ll continue to evolve and evaluate on a case-by-case
basis, now that I’m more comfortable with myself!
And while I’m at it, I can see how the oppression I
So Imagine That Times 2…
• LGBT people of color go through this process in two
ways at the same time, with sexual orientation as well
as culture/ethnicity/race
• This is super complicated
• There are often conflicts between one’s
culture/ethnicity/race and one’s sexual orientation
– These conflicts often are inextricably linked to the
history of one’s culture/ethnicity/race and oppression
– Conflicts thus vary by group (though there are
similarities between some groups)
Multiple Oppression
• This is officially called “Multiple Oppression” (and this is not to
discount the upside, as José put it, being “doubly blessed”)
• It often makes people feel caught in the middle between
loyalties and identities
• There is an important difference between racial/ethnic identity
and LGBT identity:
– Discredited identity is obvious and immediately elicits prejudice,
which one has to struggle with…
– Discreditable identity is hidden unless disclosed, and thus the
struggle is around disclosing or not…
• Having both types of identity means to struggle between them in
different groups, but actually being both
Which is an Impossible Place
•
Bohan quotes Audre Lorde:
“As a forty-nine-year-old Black lesbian feminist socialist mother of two,
including one boy, and a member of an interracial couple, I usually find
myself part of some group defined as other, inferior, or just plain
wrong… I find I am constantly encouraged to pluck out some aspect of
myself and present it as the meaningful whole, eclipsing or denying the
other parts of self. But this is a destructive and fragmenting way to
live.”
•
•
•
There is racism in the LGBT community
There is “homonegativity” in communities of color
There is sexism in both, and women in communities of color may find
the only power accorded them is in being straight (heterosexual
privelege).
Religion plays a big role in many communities of color, and traditional
Judeo-Christian-Islamic attitudes are heterosexist/homonegative
•
Being LGBT & African American
• African Americans
– Are a diverse group (with regional and ethnic, and
cultural, variations within)
– Suffered “some of the most virulent” racism in the
Americas, and this elevates the role of community
– The real threat of genocide increases the
importance of the heterosexual family and of
childrearing
– There is a “shortage of marriageable men” in the
community, due to AIDS, homicide, incarceration,
and other effects of institutionalized racism
Being LGBT & African American
• LGBT identity in the African American community
may be seen/felt as a threat to these values
• African American people are often stereotyped as
sexually promiscuous, and so are LGBT people-- and
LGBT African American people may be perceived by
the community as holding up the stereotype
• In turn, African American LGBTs may be perceived in
terms of stereotypes in the queer community
• “The Down Low”: Because it’s easier, and safer, to
be unidentified with a LGBT identity in the African
American community, some men may keep their
sexual relationships with other men secret, identifying
as straight or bisexual
But “It’s Not Just a Black Thing!”
• As Keith Roykin says in Beyond the Down Low:
Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America (2005),
after describing many stories of white celebrities “on
the down low”:
– “For years, both black and white America convinced each
other that homosexuality was merely a ‘white thing’…Then,
as white gays and lesbians emerged as public figures, we
assumed that black openly gay and bisexual public figures
would never emerge because homophobia was too
widespread among blacks, as if homophobia did not exist in
the rest of America…Homosexuality, like homophobia, is
widespread in the black community and the white
community. White men do not live in a parallel universe
where homosexuality is widely accepted…White men are on
the down low just like black men, and since we live in a
country with far more white men than black men, it stands to
reason that there are far more white men on the down low
than black men. They, too, are secretly sleeping with men
while they plan their lives with their wives.” (pp. 72-73)
Being LGBT & Latino/a
• The term “Latino/a” includes a wide variety of
cultures, languages, regions, and ancestry
– Family is of central importance
– Clear gender roles, including machismo (strong,
masculine, providing) and marianismo
(submissive, virtuous)
– To be LGBT is seen as threat to family and
possibly as selfish
• At the same time, same-sex behaviors (affection
between women/anal intercourse when the inserting
partner) may not be perceived as indicating nonheterosexual
– “Don’t ask don’t tell”: silence may mean tolerance
Being LGBT & Asian
• “Asian” is a designation that represents
many, often widely divergent, ethnicities
and cultures
• “Don’t ask don’t tell”: silence may mean
tolerance