Racism in Predominantly White Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Communities

The United States Black homosexual has faced a tumultuous existence as a human being containing two identities that have been thought, at best, to have irreconcilable differences. Because of the commonplace of such experiences, several authors have written about the rejection and ridicule experienced by Black homosexuals in Black communities because of their homosexuality. Yet, on the other hand, these authors have also discussed the Black homosexuals’ position as recipient of racism, prejudice and discrimination by “gay” (interpreted as White) communities because of their Blackness... Given the exclusivity of the “gay” community, and Black homosexuals inability to contribute to the forming of the “gay” identity and identifier, some Black homosexuals have been ‘forced’ to find an alternative identity and community (apart from one dominant by (White) homosexuals who identify as gay or lesbian)... According to the Same-Gender-Loving Website (2001), it was “in the spirit of self-naming, [and] ethnic/sexual pride, [that] the term ‘same-gender-loving’ (SGL) was introduced to fortify the lives and illuminate the voices of homosexual and bisexual people of color.” In addition, it attempts “to provide a powerful identity not marginalized by ‘racism’ in the gay community or ‘homophobic’ attitudes in society.” Since the time of its inception, this identity has offered Black homosexuals an alternative path to express their sexual orientation... In responding to attitudes of Black homophobia and gay racism, this movement has advanced in creating social clubs—Black Men’s Xchange—and cultural images—the Bawabu—to reflect its commitment to Black communities and protestation of “gay” symbols such as the “rainbow flag” and “pink triangle,” along with discrimination and prejudice based on racism and homophobia...

Those of you who watch gay films or read gay magazines have CERTAINLY noticed glaring omissions. Major gay media almost NEVER feature Black couples. Why?! Research it. Pay close attention as your peruse major gay media. You will almost NEVER see two Blacks loving each other.

Read any glossy gay magazine, like The Advocate or Curve. Notice how few Black couples you see within its pages? Those few black faces which are there are almost always grinning longingly into the faces of their white lovers/friends... I am FURIOUS about NEVER seeing Afrocentric homosexuals like me, my soulmate, and our friends in the "gay" media! I long for gay images that reflect my African reality.

Mays VM, Cochran SD, Rhue S (1993). The impact of perceived discrimination on the intimate relationships of black lesbians. Journal of Homosexuality, 25(4): 1-14. (Abstract)

Results suggested that those who had been in relationships with White lesbians reported more frequent experiences of discrimination that influenced their later decision to seek a Black lesbian partner for their next love relationship. Reactions toward lesbian community events ranged from avoidance to determined participation in response to feelings of alienation and racism.

On the other side, Black queers also suffer from the racism of the dominant white queer culture. As Hill writes, “in the dominant discourse and imagination . . . “gay” [still] means white and male.”[70] Keith Boykin, a Black queer writer and a former staff member of the Clinton White House, has written about how queer Blacks are often “excluded, exploited, or patronized” by white queer culture.[71] For example, Boykin writes about how queer Blacks are excluded from queer

clubs and bars that demand “multiple forms of identification for blacks to be admitted,” and how the “white gay media usually projects Eurocentric images of beauty that transmit messages of inferiority to blacks and others who do not fit into the white stereotype.”[72] The same dynamics are present in the theological realm. In a famous letter to white lesbian Mary Daly, Audre Lorde wrote: “What you excluded from Gyn/Ecology dismissed my heritage and the heritage of all other noneuropean women, and denied the real connections that exist between all of us.”[73] In sum, the queer Christ of color is present in the synarchical experiences of homophobia and racism that is faced by the Brother-to-Brother and the Sister Outsider...

My buddy Leon and other black gay men and lesbians say they sometimes feel excluded at mainstream gay functions, like the Pride events that attract hundreds of thousands of people to Piedmont Park each year. Some African-Americans I talked to say they experience racism in the gay community that's as stark and unsettling as it is in the broader culture. I've seen it in much smaller ways, too...

Still, the social outlet is important. The same racism that permeates American society doesn't miss the gay community, he said... Local gay nightclubs used to use Jim Crow-like tactics to keep black patrons away, he said, and some still do what they can to discourage a large, black crowd... At the larger, general Pride events, it's the white standards -- of beauty, fun and values -- that are held up, "and we have to stick in there and accept your standards," Leon said. "So we have our own little event -- so we can celebrate those things that we find to be beautiful -- black music, black men, black culture."

In recent weeks, comments by an African-American AIDS activist about the spread of HIV among ethnic minorities sparked similar discussions about race within the gay community. That incident made clear that, while it will be a challenge to bridge the "great racial divide" in America, scaling the great Lavender Divide among gays will also be tricky...I’ve run into racism on the black side of the divide, too... But we have a unique opportunity to move forward in a dialogue of healing because we have a more unique understanding of discrimination and its pernicious effects on the human mind, heart and soul. We have seen discrimination damage our hearts and souls, and this should give us more empathy than the average American, who might be tempted to view any discussion of race as whining... If you don’t have a trusted friend of another race, you can still examine your own consciousness, understanding that the effort helps bridge the Great Lavender Divide, which is an important step
toward our quest to achieve liberty and justice for all.

Shockley, Ann Allen* (1927) Writer, editor, critic, librarian. Shockley was the first writer to feature an African-American lesbian as its major character, Loving Her, 1974. Shockley was also the first black author of a collection of lesbian short stories, The Black and White of It, 1980. Shockleys articles have raised the issue of Black lesbian invisibility and racism within the lesbian community.

Visitors to the Blackstripe were far more vocal about gay racism than they were about Black acceptance... What surprises me is that it seems folks would rather devote their energy to fighting gay racism, than they would to working to make the Black community a more accepting place for all of its members... Whenever the topic is racism in the gay community, it is inevitable that someone will bring up a case where he was asked to produce 20 picture IDs before being allowed entrance into a gay club. Here’s where I get into trouble; Who cares! Yes, it is discrimination, yes it’s hurtful and degrading but it hardly rates as an important civil rights struggle. Winning the right to spend money to be in the company of people who would rather not associate with you is no great victory. Yet, we waste energy on this, while efforts to heal the Black community are put on the back burner.

The characters in Donna Allegra’s book of short stories and a novella Witness to the League of Blond Hip Hop Dancers are most alive while taking dance class. And Allegra’s writing is at its most vibrant when describing different dancers’ bodies, and how they each move and interpret music... The main theme of Allegra’s work, aside from the search for human connection, is the sting of racism. "Race is probably the biggest taboo in American society," she says. "It’s at the bottom of everything that goes on in this world, as far as I can see. White people are in denial; they just ignore institutionalized racism."

I am a 43 year old white male who is sharing his life, hopes, and dreams with a 37 year old black male. It greatly disheartens me to discover that the gay community has broken into several racial groups each apparently pitted against the other under the guise of racial bigotry, diluting the overall influence of the gay community. As an inter-racial gay couple we have faced all kinds of bigotry. There are white bigots and black bigots that express there opinions that we should not be together because were are gay and there are gay white and gay black bigots within our own gay community that do not want us together. This kind of mentality splits the gay community along racial lines... As a gay community how can we possible hope to achieve any goals for equality if we promote and maintain racial bigotry within our own community? United we stand, but divided we will fall.

A week ago, while in New York City gleaning over the New York Times, I noticed a front-page article entitled "Killing Shakes Complacency Of The Gay Rights Movement." The article covered a local demonstration staged in reaction to the killing of Matt Sheppard - a 21 year old, gay [White] college student from Wyoming... As I read about the [White] gay/lesbian community's swell of reaction to Matt Sheppard - who has since become the poster child for hate-crimes in America. - and complacency and "success" in that community, I acknowledged my strong reaction to this report and how it marginalized the lives and experiences of people like me, who are same-gender-loving (SGL), bisexual or gay/lesbian identified Black Americans. Every year of my life Blacks, regardless of gender and sexuality, have experienced murderous hate-crimes executed by White civilians and law enforcement. Violence also occurs in the community as a result of Black-on-Black contempt for Black life, but that is not the focus of this writing. Acknowledgement of it is important - these are also hate-crimes generated from the fabric of America's brutally racist legacy. During the New York City rally [White] gay/lesbian protesters displayed pictures of past victims of hate-crimes, the majority of whom were Black and Latino. Yet, the issue of hate-crimes against "gays" did not reach prominence until one person died who was prototypical of most at the rally - Matt Shepphard - a White, homosexual male...

Regardless of my forthright critique of [White] gay/lesbian racism, them not showing up to protest murder by hate-crime of Blacks, especially, Asians, Native-Americans or Latinos and prioritizing themselves is not my primary concern. My concern is how Blacks are still complacent in the wake of tragedy that effects us so severely. Though it is the epitome of White insensitivity, racism and arrogance for [White] gays/lesbians to make Matt Sheppard an icon of hate crimes, without being straight-up about that they prioritize the lives of Whites, I admire what White skin privilege and White power legacy inheritance in America has provided them...

Gay pride doesn't erase racism. - by Curtis Lawrence (Chicago Sun-Times, June 28, 1998 - not available anymore from Autralian QRD): [40]

To Kelly, the willingness of politicians to speak at the event demonstrates the emerging political power of the minority gays and lesbians... "Kelly said issues important to African Americans are sometimes lost in the general discussions about gay culture. "The racism we have to face being black and male is one thing, but to be black, male and gay [we face] the most discrimination even within the gay community,'' he said." ..."We are asked to be in the pride parade for that one day, but we are not included over the entire year,'' he said. "Just because you're gay doesn't mean you can't be racist, sexist or classist.''

Once in the United States, many gay Latinos face new problems, such as racism, alienation, and sexual objectification, says Diaz, adding that 80% of the men he surveyed reported bouts of depression, 44% suffered anxiety, and 17% had thoughts of suicide. "The gay community isn't very hospitable to immigrants, who come into a world of sex and drugs but don't have the same access and connections" as other gays, says Diaz. "Too many Latin gays feel excluded from the more participatory aspects of the larger community." Raul Aguilar, 30, who moved to the United States from Mexico City in 1985, has had to confront racism from straight and gay U.S. natives... When he came out, Aguilar says, "some folks in the commumty at large ignored me or just saw me as an exotic fuck. I was called `stupid' because I have an accent. I have been the only gay Latino in a roomful of gay white men on many occasions. I felt I had to work really hard to make the `scene' my own."

March 27, 1998 -- When performance artist Luis Alfaro talks about his life's calling... Alfaro has conducted drama workshops with gang members in his native Los Angeles and commissioned dramas for the tony Mark Taper Forum... As a gay Chicano, his work addresses homophobia in the Latino community and racism in the gay community. But labels and issue-speak aside, Alfaro is really a poet of the people.

Largely ignored by conventional studies and services that are often the result of such reports, Latino gay men have long depended on each other for emotional support and advice.

A new study, however, promises hope for this underserved group. Dr. Rafael Díaz, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, recently completed a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative study dealing with the issues of racism, suicide and abuse among gay Latinos.

...surveyed a representative sample of 912 gay Latino men. Three major ethnic subgroups were chosen: Mexicans in Los Angeles, Cubans in Miami and Puerto Ricans in New York. “The study was specifically designed to target oppression among gay Latino men,” said Díaz. “It was designed to study the impact of oppression.

Approximately one-fifth of gay and bisexual Latino men reported thoughts of suicide at least once within the last six months; Los Angeles had the highest rate of suicide ideation. The study also found a high correlation between suicide and poverty.

"The impact of racism, homophobia and risky behavior are really good factors in determining suicide rates. I was surprised that 62 percent of the men felt sexually objectified. I was saddened by the fact that the men who wanted to commit suicide were the ones who had dealt with the most homophobia.

These kids are running away from their home or committing suicide. That’s why organizations to help Latino gay youth are so important... When you’re Latino, your not only facing homophobia, you're often facing racism. Also, most services are for gay white youth, they don’t think about Latinos.

On the other side, Latino/a queers also suffer from the racism of the white queer community. For example, Juanita Ramos, a Latina lesbian writer and activist, writes that “Latino . . . people [are] reluctant to work in lesbian and gay organizations because of the racism and class oppression they had confronted whenever they tried to participate in decision-making.”[78] One Latino queer wrote “I hate the Castro, I can’t stand it . . . . Financially well-off white, it is so closed!!! If you are male and white yes there is a gay community.”[79] Indeed, Rafael M. Díaz has written about the Latino/a queer experience as “social alienation, of not belonging to either the Latino or the gay community” and as the “triple oppression” of being “poor, brown, and gay.”[80] One significant way in which queer Latino/a history has been erased by the white queer community is that few recognize that the Stonewall riots for queer liberation in 1969 was started, in large part, by Sylvia Rivera, a queer Latina drag queen. Rivera left the gay movement in 1973, due to opposition over her right to speak at Gay Pride Day that year.[81] Once again, the queer Christ of color is present in the synarchical

oppression of the maricón and the compañera.

In the other part of my life, the gay community, I feel excluded. When I open a gay magazine such as OUT or The Advocate, or watch gay news shows such as "In the Life," all I see depicted are gay white men. I honestly can not relate to them; they grew up in a different culture. I feel the same way when I visit the large gay bookstore, A Different Light. Except for a few anthologies about people of color, I never see any books specifically addressing the issues of queer Asians. If I didn't live in New York City and was exposed to other gay Asians, I would even question if gay Asians even existed. I feel alienated and alone -- I am gay, but I am not represented. Obviously, the voices and faces of my gay Asian brothers are deliberately being ignored.

"It's hard when you stand at the intersection of race and sexuality," Royce Lin says. Society is no friend of those who in their habits and nature differ from the mainstream... But for Lin, who is the president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Bisexual Gay Lesbian Students' Association, and for all Asian-American gays, the cross borne is doubly heavy: he is rejected by other gays because he is Asian, and by other Asians because he is gay...

Filipino immigrant Joel Tan immigrated to the United States at the age of eight, and has known his demons for most of his life... Beyond his father's intolerance, much of the discrimination Tan must endure, ironically, originates from his fellow gays.... For a community that shares the common affliction of intolerance, gays are themselves, according to Tan, unduly bigoted. "I've heard everything,'' Tan says. "From `I've never dated an Oriental before,' to `you wouldn't be right for the job,' to `you're so exotic.'''

A bisexual, Korean-American and African-American perspective: ...Roddy experiences prejudice from the gay community as well. "Bisexuals are regarded as sellouts,'' he says. Other gays say, `He's just going through a phase, why doesn't he accept reality?''' Thus in many ways the gay community is just as intolerant as society at large - there exists the same pressure to identify with the majority...

Too often, people obsessed with differences between individuals ignore the similarities. The attendant prejudices are central to the plight of the Asian-American gay. Nonetheless, some progress has been made to break down intolerance... "I consider myself to be a part of both the gay and lesbian community as well as the Asian-American community. For me to truly achieve personal happiness I must recognize both parts of myself, and hope that the two communities will acknowledge the difficulties in such a project.''

When gay Asian males are portrayed in the alternative media, their characteristics are often wrought with gross stereotypes. These misperceptions play a major role in how gay Asian American males are perceived, says Alex. The common conceptions of heterosexual Asian men being weak, timid, unassertive, and not masculine likewise apply to gay Asian men. “As in any community, stereotypes thrive. It’s funny—gay or straight, Asian men face the same problems. Certain people may or may not want to date Asian men because of these stereotypes. And these stereotypes can over time contribute to unspoken racism,” he says. Alex details one incident particularly upsetting. During his junior year in college, he dated a white guy for a few weeks before being casually dumped when the relationship was about to get serious. The person’s only excuse: “I don’t date fortune cookies.” “I was completely shocked that he would reduce my whole existence into the equivalent of a cookie. I thought he had more sense than that,” says Alex. “I think the only reason he dated me was because he was intrigued by my ‘exoticness’ and when I didn’t fit the stereotypes he expected, he lost interest.”

...Although Gavinlertvatana believes race-specific groups are a positive inclusion in the gay community, he observes that many people who are involved in these organizations are not involved with the greater gay community as a whole. “That is a sad result, but understandable,” he says. “It is unnecessary, because I feel that an inclusive gay community can coexist with race-specific groups.” He adds: “I think there has been recognition [that there are stereotypes and] racism and that is the first step. The next steps would be to be more inclusive, sensitive, and oriented toward racial minorities.

A broken deal with the organizers of a gay circuit party in Atlanta has left Asian American gay and lesbian community leaders in Atlanta and across the country incensed. n fact, many activists said it's not at all surprising that the Hotlanta River Expo, the organizers of a controversially themed "Year of the Dragon" circuit party, backed out of an agreement it struck a month ago (click here to see our earlier story). "Hotlanta unfortunately is probably just one example of how people of color within the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered community are affected by racism and racial insensitivity," said longtime queer activist and organizer Lisa Chun...

Still, activists like Chun and Hector Vargas, an attorney with the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, have been able to appreciate the attention the Hotlanta controversy has fastened on an oft-overlooked issue--racism within the queer community. "I don't think you can call this an isolated incident," said Vargas. "I think that there are many instances where there is at best racial insensitivity within the queer community. And at worst, outright racism, whether that's intentional or not. "My hope is that we get beyond this specific incident of Hotlanta, and begin to address some of the overarching issues of racism within the gay lesbian bisexual community."

Fight and flight - by Joneil Adriano (New York Blade News N/A, Sept. 4, 1999. (Not available online anymore.) [15]

Last Monday, I had to plead with the membership of ACT UP not to delete from an outreach flyer a reference to people of color being disproportionately affected by HIV. While I was eventually successful, the floor fight left me exasperated and disappointed. Looking at the faces around me, only two of which were not white, I realized that I had been forced, yet again, to justify the need for the group to explicitly address people of color... I left the meeting with the not-so-comfortable realization that had I not objected, the deletion would have passed without any comment. It was one of the few times in my life that I felt decidedly non-white, as opposed to Asian American...

There was a time when I naively believed that marginalized groups have a natural affinity for each other. That didn’t last very long in my short, politicized life. And I’d like to say now that racism in the gay community doesn’t happen in such virulent forms, that racism mostly manifests itself in complex ways compounded by class differences. I’d like to say that most people are sophisticated enough to know that racism is not simply a matter of derogatory stereotypes, but of a whole system of epistemological erasures.

But I can’t say any of those things anymore. Over the weekend I was reminded just how naive I still am. In trying to understand racism from an intellectual perspective, I had forgotten about the thing that makes it such a powerful force in my life; I lost sight of its sheer brutality. And brutality is something that can’t be theorized...

At 24, I already feel too old and tired to be taking the streets in the name of leftist causes. I am sick of constantly having to convince my "allies" that my life is worth fighting for, that all people of color deserve to be mentioned in their discussions, that we merit being placed on their list of priorities.

In the other part of my life, the gay community, I feel excluded. When I open a gay magazine such as OUT or The Advocate, or watch gay news shows such as "In the Life," all I see depicted are gay white men. I honestly can not relate to them; they grew up in a different culture. I feel the same way when I visit the large gay bookstore, A Different Light. Except for a few anthologies about people of color, I never see any books specifically addressing the issues of queer Asians. If I didn't live in West Hollywood and was exposed to other gay Asians, I would even question if gay Asians even existed. I feel alienated and alone - I am gay, but I am not represented. Obviously, the voices and faces of my gay Asian brothers are deliberately being ignored...

While perusing the gay bookstore, I noticed a porn magazine with only Asian male models. However, unlike Caucasian porn magazines, these Asian men obviously appeared to be in their teens with very effeminate bodies. In contrast, most white guys in porn have muscular men. Though some may argue that this is a very trivial detail, one must ask why the difference is consistent each and every time. It is evident that the negative stereotype of the "delicate, submissive slut" is being carried over from the straight "China Doll" model into the gay community. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that all interracial relationships are based on stereotypes. People should love each other for who they are. What I am saying is that when one person expects his partner to play a racist, stereotypical role ("China Doll"), the partner is putting himself at high risk for getting hurt. That is not love, it is disguised racism...

For the [Asian American] subject to operate efficiently as an instrument of white supremacy, he is conditioned to accept and live in a state of euphemized self-contempt. This self-contempt itself is nothing more than the subject’s acceptance of white standards of objectivity, beauty, behavior, and achievement as being morally absolute, and his acknowledgment of the fact that, because he is not white, he can never fully measure up to white standards.[8] ...Silences Within Silences: The suffering that arises out of the above silencing of the Asian American community and the queer community is compounded for queer Asian American people. Not only do we have to face most of the issues that were outlined in Part I above, but we are further silenced at the intersexions of a homophobic Asian American culture and a racist queer culture.

For many queer Asian Americans, [this event] simply reinforced what we have always known -- that the white queer community just doesn’t give a shit about queer Asian Americans and other queers of color.[29] This silence is particularly troubling in light of the ways in which queer Asian Americans have contributed to the modern queer liberation movement... Despite the richness of this queer Asian
American history, much of it has been erased by the white queer community. Indeed, I had never heard of my “ancestors” until I began doing research on queer Asian American history for this essay... In the end, I continue to suffer from my own “self-hate” that arises out of the “limitation of the power and presence of people of color in mainstream gay communities.”[31]

Being Asian and Gay can be construed as ironic. Racism in the gay community is quite obvious. The mass media showers us with images of whiteness as the standard for something that is beautiful. I'd like to believe that my identity as an Asian doesn't hinder me from further exploring my identity as a Gay male... Surely, attraction to someone of the same sex means one is gay--but there has to be a lot more to this so called "gay community" than the churning that takes place between the legs, the music that "we" listen to, the clothes that we wear, the things that we are conditioned to find pleasure in.

"Most of the Asian men that were going to those places were looking for white men, and willing to be subservient, and I just got tired of walking out on people; they would say something stupid and I would just leave." ...As word spread, informal, biweekly meetings gave way to large forums and workshops that tackled issues like coming out to family, the state of Asian political organizing in general, and racism in the gay community. But, members say, the importance of the topics took a second seat to the simple fact of having a venue for discussing issues with a focus on the intersection of gay and Asian identities...

GAPIMNY’s first moment in the limelight of the gay community came when the group, along with sister organization Asian Lesbians on the East Coast, wrote a letter to Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund protesting Lambda’s use of the musical Miss Saigon as a fund-raiser.

The Broadway musical is an adaptation of the opera, Madame Butterfly, set in Saigon at the end stages of the Vietnam War. An American soldier returns — with his American wife — to Vietnam to find the woman whose child he fathered in a brothel during the war. The woman kills herself so that the American couple can leave Saigon with the soldier’s child. Calling the show racist and sexist, GAPIMNY held communitywide forums, and a series of demonstrations that coalesced into the Heat Is On Miss Saigon Coalition. The months-long demonstration highlighted racial rifts in the gay community, and when GAPIMNY members forced their way into the office of Lambda’s executive director, Tom Stoddard, a shouting match ensued...

On the other side, Asian American queers also suffer from racism in the white queer community. Asian American queers are either excluded or fetishized by the dominant culture. One example of this exclusion was the refusal of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund to cancel its annual fundraiser in 1991 at the Broadway musical Miss Saigon, despite numerous protests and sit-ins by Asian American queers over the musical’s “damaging fantasy of submissive ‘Orientals,’ self-erasing women, and asexual, contemptible men.”[85] When several queer Asian American activists disrupted the actual performance, many white queers criticized the activists. One of the activists responded that “when lesbian and gay people of color criticize the white gay male establishment, they are ‘gay-bashing’ . . . . [which] implies that one must be white to be gay.”[86] Asian American queers are also often fetishized by the dominant queer culture. One Asian American queer writer has noted that “[i]n the fantasies of gay, white, male culture, the role of servitude is more often than not assigned to Asian men.”[87] Another writer put it: “At best we’re a quaint specialty for exotic tastes.”[88] Asian American lesbians suffer particularly from the “Lotus Blossom Baby” stereotype of the “passive and compliant” Asian American woman who exists solely “to serve men.”[89] Thus, the queer Christ of color is present in the synarchical oppression of the gay-loh and the Lotus Blossom Baby...

Thus, to communicate coherently about the Asian-American Queer Experience, I would have to possess intimate knowledge of Indian-American queers, Cambodian-American queers, Pakistani-American queers, Thai-American queers, Sri Lankan-American queers, so on and so forth. You understand the complication...

But even the gay community has tiny, hidden rules that sneak up on me. All of a sudden, I discovered that many non-homophobic people are racist. Now, I have experienced overt racism before in my life... The racism I have experienced in the gay community is not the overt color of red but the subtle, unwavering tinge of blue. It is the blue in eyes that forget to see you, that sweep over you during a mainstream GLBT function. It is the default belief that gay America is gay white America. It is the lack of concern for you and your issues. It is the blue color of neglect and ignorance...

The issue of Asian exoticism and eroticism - the so-called "Rice Queen/King" or "Curry Queen/King" exoticism of race, such as newspaper advertising a "Slender, Asian Beauty" - is a dangerous phenomenon. Like discriminating against a person based on the color of skin, exoticism sees only color and culture instead of individuality and personal truth. Exoticism perpetuates racial stereotypes and draws a lock box around the person. And since stereotyping is a wonderful tool for social control (i.e., All gay people have AIDS) exoticism also reflects and
reinforces a hierarchy of power.

In the meantime, cheekily deemed "Potato Queens/Kings," many Asian-American queers vie for white partners. It is a concept that rides on the other side of exoticism and carries a heavy dosage of internalized racism. I am guilty of internalized racism. I have been guilty of feeling grateful when someone displays interest in my skin color. I have been guilty of wanting white so that I could be white...

L. Ramki Ramakrishnan, one of the founders of Trikone-Tejas, says that, "When I asked some of the gay organizations on campus why there weren't more racial minorities at their meetings, they quickly replied that it was because those races were more homophobic and less inclined to speak up." ..."The gay community needs to actively reach out to queer people of color," Ramki says. "They need to include people of color in the planning process and in positions of power so that other minority queers feel welcome and safe."

Not only is race the primary dimension of self-commodification in Hong Kong gay personal ads, but the characteristics offered by and sought from members of particular racial groups reveal a number of prevalent stereotypes and expectations about the roles individuals in inter-racial pairings are meant to assume, stereotypes and expectations that mirror both reports of racism in Western gay communities and the relationships of dominance in Hong Kong’s colonial history.

Western authors seeking Asian partners, for example, tend to be older men looking for younger companionship, and in describing themselves they often use words denoting social, economic or sexual dominance like ‘mature’, ‘caring’, ‘professional’ and ‘well-endowed’. In their descriptions of their Asian targets, on the other hand, they are more likely to use words denoting dependence or passivity such as ‘slim’, ‘young’ and ‘boy’:...

	This Web Page: United States (Part A) - African-American - Latin American - Asian American.
	United States (Part 2) - General "Of Color" Issues - Universities / Colleges - The Arts / Films / Books - Initiatives.
	Other Countries - United Kingdom - France - Australia - Canada - South Africa.
	Jackson's "That's What Rice Queens Study." White Racism / Its Negative Effects & Associated Masculinity (or lack of masculinity / effeminacy) Issues.
	Introduction / Contents.

Visitor Numbers	Tracker	Total Hits
Yahoo DSL		Cell Phone Reviews