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Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Communities United Kingdom - France - South Africa Canada - Australia |
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| This Web Page: United Kingdom - France - Australia - Canada - South Africa. | |
| United States (Part A) - African-American - Latin American - Asian American. | |
| United States (Part B) - General "Of Color" Issues - Universities / Colleges - The Arts / Films / Books - Initiatives. | |
| Jackson's
"That's What
Rice Queens Study." White Racism / Its Negative Effects &
Associated Masculinity (or lack of masculinity / effeminacy) Issues. |
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Introduction / Contents. |
As with other minorities within minorities, gay Asians face hostility from their own community and from the gay scene they turn to for help... Like gay Christians, gay Tories or even gay football supporters, Rajvir faces ignorance whichever way he turns. Makes you feel proud doesn't it?
It was this
double edged sword that prompted him to launch a new youth group that offers
an alternative to the scene for Asian people coming out. He wanted to provide
an environment where the specific problems faced by gay Asians would be
understood. "Other people rarely even think about at lot of these issues,"
he says, "issues like arranged marriages, the religious and cultural problems
concerning homosexuality and the racist gay scene."
Racism and the Gay Community [no.762] [77]
March 1999 to June 1999
This study aims to explore the expression
of racism within the gay community. Particular attention will be paid to
the experience of using gay venues and services by Black and South Asian
gay men, and other men who have sex with men. This focus aims to highlight
both the ways in which racism inhibits access to services and the attempts
of service providers to address the problem.
Black on White (G News) July 27, 2001 (Australian Gay Youth Resources)
Is racism rampant on London's gay
scene? According to four white gay men who prefer to date black men,
it is. Listening to their stories suggests that although the gay
community has had a long history of opression, very little has been learnt.
Do those men who expose a worrying and hypocritical current which is widespread
on the gay scene, or are their experiences exceptional, and unrepresentitive
of the norm? Gary Kelly, who was brought up in Glasgow and moved to London
in 1981, had always dated white men. His sexual preference was only
called into question when, in 1998 at the age of 35, he began dating black
men. With much anger he recalls this period.... 32 year old Jonathon
Weeb from Norwich moved to London in his twenties was also aware of a prevailing
racism on the scene there. "I noticed that some white men didn't even like
black gay men going to the gay clubs..." When listening to these men, one
gets the feeling that they have all felt like outsiders in the gay community
before they began dating black men. If this is true then the term
"gay community" is a misnomer... For those of you who do not know, chocoholic
is a modern derogatory term, much like dinge queen, for a gay white male
attracted to black homosexuals... When people call me a dinge queen, they're
saying I go out with dirty people. Gay people don't like to be labelled
and stereotyped yet we white gay people do more labelling than any other
group in the world. Dinge queen, rice queen, curry queen..." The
stories we have heard are speclative, anectodal reflections from a handful
of men in a city with a gay population nearing a million, so they cannot
be read as definitive...
Sexuality - Introduction (Lesbian and Gay Swtichboard, West Midlands)
Sex and race have a sullied history
with roots in the oppression of darker-skinned peoples by Europeans. Racism
is an inescapable feature of most cultures (not only white ones) and sex
can be used as a tool to exercise power over one race by another. Sexual
racism has various forms, varying from a repulsion for people of colour
sexually, to an attitude that regards them as ‘exotic’ conquests. Specifically,
the stereotype of black men as being well-endowed and having a virility
that is semi-animalistic is just as common among white gay men as it is
in white society at large; black gay men are therefore presumed to be ‘active’
by many of those who would bed them. (Opposition to this attitude has led
in some cases to the automatic criticism of any representation of black
gay men in an active sexual role.) Similarly, prevalent stereotypes of
south east Asian gay men are also based on sexual objectification; viewing
them as inherently ‘passive’ (an attitude related to the
heterosexual stereotypes of south
east Asian women).
Making a noise by Richard Smith, Gay Times, June, 1995, (No. 202), 10-12.
David McAlmont: "" 'I thought when
I first came out, the gay community would be an enlightened one. But racism's
rife in the gay community. Going into bars with a white person and buying
drinks and watching your change handed back to the white person you're
with. Queens that say they don't sleep with black people. White men who
are exclusively into black men. It rears its ugly head all the time'."
Racism 0n the London Gay Scene (Forum) [88]
In the Pink paper for August 27th
is a letter from a guy who has found in his words 'unrepentant anti asian
antagonism' on the gay scene. He claims to have been called a 'paki' an
'aotola' and a 'dirty arab'... I'm not saying it does not exist, just that
my experience is pretty positive. I am not poor but I am not rich, I'm
just an average guy like most people of most races living in this city.
Perhaps the writer should try some new places to hang out.
Dive into Asian Gays [87]
“Within the black and Asian communities
there is a general assumption of homosexuality being a white experience
and this is intensified by a similar assumption within the lesbian
and gay community,” said a Blackliners spokesman... “They sometimes face
direct and subtle forms of racism and discrimination from both their own
and white communities, and from HIV organisations, said a spokesman from
the project. Blackliners, which is based in Brixton, has launched
a program targeted at black and Asian men. It offers counselling not only
for HIV and AIDS, but also for problems they face with discrimination,
sexually or racially... It was the UK’s first festival of Asian lesbian
and gay art. Its contributing artists hope it will be able to influence
attitudes towards gay Asians in their own community on the issue of homosexuality
in the UK, as well as in South Asia.
Hello, I'm Over Here......and I'm Asian - by Arthur Chen.
Being Asian in a predominantly Anglo environment is often difficult
enough, but for an Asian gay man the pressures of being accepted are even
harsher. Arthur Chen shares his experience about being a double minority
in London.
Identity and Representation - by Pratibha Parmar
I came to the making of videos and
films from a background in political activism and cultural practice, not
from film or art school, writes Pratibha Parmar... When my family, like
many other Indian families, arrived in the UK in the mid-60s, anti-black
feelings were running high, and Paki-bashing’ was a popular sport amongst
white youths. It was in the school playground that I first encountered
myself as an undesirable alien, objectified in the frame of ‘otherness’.
All those of us perceived as ‘marginal’, ‘peripheral’ and the ‘other’ know
what it is like to be defined by someone else's reality - and often someone
else’s psychosis. I do not speak from a position of marginalisation - but
more crucially from the resistance to that marginalisation. As a filmmaker,
it is important for me to reflect on the process through which I constantly
negotiate the borderlines between shifting territories . . . between
the margin and the centre . . . between inclusion and exclusion .
. between visibility and invisibility. For, example, as lesbians and gays
of colour, we have had to constantly negotiate and challenge the racism
of the white gay community, and at the same time confront the homophobia
of communities of colour.
7th UNISON Gay and Lesbian Conference - Summary of Decisions and Index.
Conference notes: 4) that the Macpherson Report acknowledged what black communities have always known - that racism and other forms of discrimination are institutionalised within Britain; 5) that lesbians, black lesbians and gay men and disabled lesbians and gay men face layers of oppression and as such are more often the targets of hatred...
Conference applauds UNISON’s support for the anti-racist football campaign ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ which is starting to have an impact on racism in football.
[Note: Other references to racism
are made, but none with respect to 'institutionalized racism' also existing
in gay and lesbian communities and that related issues should maybe be
addressed.]
National
UNISON Conference: Black and disabled lesbian and gay members -
UNISON is committed to fair representation
in all its structures and work. To make sure the concerns of black and
disabled lesbian and gay members reach the conference agenda, there will
be national pre-meetings for these two groups. A national meeting of disabled
lesbian and gay members will be held on 8 September and a national meeting
of black lesbian and gay members will be on 9 September 2000.
Out
of the closet, into the unions.
National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism:
"True Colours" is a two week programme
of events focussing on how Irish society can be more inclusive of ethnic
minorities including Travellers and refugees and asylum seekers.
Event: "Racism in the Lesbian
Community", Seminar examining intersection of racism and homophobia - Organisation:
Cairde Corcaigh - Contact: Orla Egan 021-316449 - Venue:
14 George's Quay Cork. November 20, 1999.
‘You would have to be blind not to
see examples of racism on our streets every day.’
Developing a shared language - in Somewhere to go: Developing Guidelines for Detached Outreach Work with Gay, Bisexual and other Men who have sex with men who cottage andcruise. - in Regional msm Project (West Midlands):
That racism exists in gay communities comes as a surprise to those who assume that a people who experience prejudice and discrimination will not discriminate against other groups. This is far from the truth. Racism in gay culture takes many forms: from the physical and sexual stereotyping of men of African and Asian descent to the failure to recognise and take into account the life-experiences of individuals and communities who have been discriminated against.
The term is also more loosely used
- particularly as the derogatory word ‘racist’ - to describe any negative
or destructive action precipitated by prejudice against another person’s
race or colour. In this sense, it is stripped of its political meanings
derived from shared histories of oppression and becomes an adjective of
antipathy used by anybody, regardless of their power-status. Thus it is
possible for a black man to be racist if he attacks a white man y because
he is white.
"Black gay men do encounter racism in the gay community very similar to black men in the heterosexual community," asserts Quinones of stereotypes and prejudice and a responsibility the gay scene has yet to face. "It's interesting to note that many black gay men want white partners for the same reasons that black straight men do: because they see it almost as a prize. And many gay white men - or those I've met - hold equally stereotypical views of black men: that they have huge dicks and fuck like donkeys!"
Le malaise face au racisme larvé
qui s'exprime dans certains cercles gays est aussi fréquemment évoqué.
"On se trouve en permanence confronté à un rejet ou à
la fascination exotique de notre spécificité maghrébine",
explique un medecin membre de l'association qui dit ne pas supporter" le
cartésianisme et la rigidité" de la communauté homosexuelle
française. Certains affirment se sentir "pris au piège du
tout sexuel et utilitaire, avec l'image de l'Arabe inferieur...Etre utilisé
comme objet sexuel dans une société frustrée, n'est,
en aucun cas, une forme de reconnaissance."
Black, blanc, beur (Tetu):
La place qui leur est accordee dans la fantasmatique est inversement proportionnelle a la reconnaissance sociale qui leur est refusée. A l'heure ou resurgit un discours qui fleure son Gobineau sur l'inegalite des races, comment peut-on être black ou beur et homosexuel ? Enquete sur une minorité dans une minorité...
L’Arabe, c’est une autre civilisation, redoutable: l’Islam. Autant de clichés mal digérés gisant dans des profondeurs si infréquentables que même les bonnes intentions ont du mal à faire disparaître. Voyons la langue, cette autre vitrine. On ne dit plus “nègre” - et Dieu merci. On ne dit plus “noir”, mais “black”. Est-ce parce qu’on choisit un mot anglais qui recouvre la même notion que l’on se lave de toute accusation de racisme ?
La langue, qui est censée nommer la réalité, s’acharne ici à la recouvrir et à la rendre plus lointaine encore, en prétendant rendre bienveillant celui qui parle. Ne pas être raciste, ce n’est pas dire “black” au lieu de “noir” - le procédé serait bien grossier et trop facile. La même chose vaut pour le mot “beur”, trouvaille de Djemila, l’une des figures de la nuit des années 80, verlan trafiqué du mot “arabe”. C’est vrai que dans “arabe”, se profilent tous les clichés du Sarrasin et tout l’univers déplaisant évoqué plus haut et qu’il est sans doute plus rassurant d’utiliser d’autres mots.
Ainsi, lorsque je dis “black”, j’évacue
tout un pan de la question : le noir n’est plus noir, puisqu’il est black
et moi, je ne suis donc plus raciste. Et en disant “beur”, j’ai nié
toute une spécificité et anéanti toute une civilisation.
J’ai blanchi le noir comme on se blanchit d’un soupçon et j’ai européanisé
l’Arabe. Belle victoire...
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Asian Men in HIV Social Research in Australia. Unpublished Thesis, Dept of Sociology, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Murdoch University, 2000 by Carl Gopalkrishnan (Home Page) Page
for Thesis Download. - Or: Download Directly as PDF Files!
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AVP calls for local action to address racism & sexual racism
The AVP marked the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
(Sunday 21st March 2004) by calling for local GLBT action to address racism
and sexual racism which Co-Convenors Jilll Wood & Greg Adkins said
"excludes people & forces some of our brothers & sisters to be
invisible - almost like forcing them back into a closet all over again".
Over and out: anti-gay Malaysian culture sent doctor to Sydney - by Brigid Delaney, Sidney Morning Herald, March 6, 2004
He says Asian gay males face prejudices on a number of levels.
"Many gays in Asian countries lead a double life because there is no visibility
of a gay scene. And in Australia, there is prejudice in the gay scene itself
towards a lot of Asian men. They are treated as being submissive and there
is quite a bit of racism." Dr Mahat hopes to counter this through projects
run by the Asian Marching Boys. "It's not just dancing on a float," he
said. "We have fund-raising and social events to support Asian gays in
Sydney and promote their visibility. There are many of us. We no longer
want to be a hidden community."
Wayne King: A Life in Progress: Interview - by Crusader Hillis (Screaming Hyena, August, 1998): [5]
Wayne King's book Black Hours
describes his life as a boy in Ipswich, one of 14 children, and his growth
into adulthood... "I was seventeen when Charles Perkins was doing
his freedom rides throughout the New South Wales outback towns. We had
always known there was racism, and when this was brought to the fore, all
these people were sitting behind their walls at home in total denial, saying
'isn't this bad, tut, tut. But it's not us." ...Wayne King encountered
as much racism in the gay community as in the general community, which
he describes as a "double whammy for me as a gay man and as an Aboriginal...
"Growing up gay was a dreadful time for me. The [gay] community was smaller,
but in some ways it was more nurturing. Your sexuality is a part of who
you are. To deny a part of you the whole cannot be healthy. It was easier
for me to come to terms with being gay than with being Aboriginal...
Un-Ghosting
the Gay Asian Male - by David Lim, Amida
Magazine, 5(2), April / May. 1999: [53]
Within the gay community, stereotypical thinking can be quite problematic such as the common belief that Asian men are passive and feminine. Cultural ignorance and Anglocentrism are problematic... Many NESB MSM also experience racism within the gay community: "This man cornered me in the toilet and demanded I suck his dick, when I said no he punched me in the face and told me to fuck off and go back to my commie homeland where all you nips belonged." ...On occasion, the racism may become overt with some men, particularly Asians, being the subject of minor physical assaults and threats of physical intimidation...
Objectification and exoticisation
are also concerns... 3. A power dynamic exists between Caucasian and non-Caucasian
men in the Australian gay community, which is detrimental to the social
and sexual situations many Asian gay men are in. 4. This leaves many Asian
gay men with fewer options regarding sexual partners and behaviours and/or
less able to be assertive than many Caucasian men.
Race, Sexuality and Education. What does it mean to be Aboriginal and gay in education in Australia? Project Summary - by John Holmes: [52]
Addressing issues of Aboriginal gayness means challenging reductive framings of Aboriginality without co-opting the struggles named from within. It means supporting Aboriginal gay men across the site of the struggle. It means doing work on racism in the gay community. These are challenges for educators at all levels of schooling and in all aspects of adult education. These are challenges that must be met by teacher educators...
Gay Aboriginal men, Aboriginal men
who identify as homosexual, are beginning to tell their stories. Through
an analysis of the intersections of race and sexuality, and through the
personal stories, gay Aboriginal men are empowered to confront racism in
the gay community and homophobia in the Aboriginal community. There is
a challenge to confront the invisibility of Aboriginal men who are gay,
for as Black American Joseph Beam writes: "Very clearly, gay male means:
white, middle-class, youthful, and probably butch; there is no room for
Black gay men within the confines of this gay pentagon. There are many
reasons for such Black gay invisibility. Hard words come to mind: power,
racism, conspiracy, oppression, and privilege - each deserving a full-fledged
discussion in gay history books yet unwritten." (Beam 1986, pp. 14-15)
Gay and homosexually active Aboriginal men in Sydney: Racism. (Alternate Link) [32]
It remains a general fact that there is a racially exclusive image of gay reality... Michael and all the other Aboriginal and Tones Strait Islander interviewees and informants spoke about their experience of racism and sense of exclusion in the Sydney gay community... It would be nice to go to a gay dinner party without sitting there and explaining the fuckin' Aboriginal culture to them . . . you know . . . go and fucking find out yourself. They always put that Aboriginal thing first before you become a 'friend' or a 'person'. You know you're Aboriginal first and then you're whoever you are... ust because you are gay doesn't mean that you are not racist . . . it is something I learned about when it came to the crunch . . . I've come across a lot of racism within the gay community...
The racism in the Sydney gay community
was an issue with most of the Aboriginal interviewees. Although recently
some steps have been taken by gay community bodies to combat this, and
Aboriginal gays and lesbians themselves have increasingly raised their
profile in community events, it remains an issue that requires further
gay community response. Many interviewees felt that apart from the racism
they experienced 'on the ground', there was a general failure on the part
of gay community organisations to promote dialogue and confront their concerns.
Some felt that any initiatives had to start with an acceptance of a culturally
appropriate 'Aboriginal way' of doing things.
A special 1999 issue of the "Journal of Homosexuality" reports on GLBT people of colour in Australia. References to racism (in some cases, in the abstract) are made in many of the papers published in Volume 36(3/4) of the journal. All papers published are listed below. Also published as the book, Multicultural Queer: Australian Narratives - by Hawworth Press:
Dong TB (1999). Multicultural queer: Australian narratives. Foreword. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 1-28. (No Abstract)
Sullivan G, Jackson PA (1999). Introduction: ethnic minorities and the lesbian and gay community. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 1-28. (No Abstract)
Chuang K (1999). Using chopsticks to eat steak. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 29-41. (Abstract) ""Rice queens," "small dicks," and "Asian take-aways," are just a few of the stereotypes that Asian gay men are faced with in Sydney's gay culture. Even though the author grew up in and quickly assimilated to the general Australian society, he felt like an outsider when he came out and moved into the gay community, where race-based sexual perceptions appear to dominate. This article is a personal exploration of how one Asian gay man came to find a place for himself within the predominantly white-oriented gay community. For the benefit of linguistically challenged readers, a glossary of Australian terms is provided at the end of this very serious article."
Ridge D, Hee A, Minichiello V (1999). "Asian" men on the scene: challenges to "gay communities". Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 43-68. (Abstract) "This article examines common assumptions behind the notion of "gay community," contrasting these views with the experiences of homosexual men originating from Southeast Asia on the commercial gay scene in Melbourne, Australia... While all men who look for a place to belong on the scene generally feel pressure to assimilate to a predominantly white middle-class gay culture, Southeast Asian men generally had more cultural distance to cover. Men who are not well assimilated face exclusion, invisibility and discrimination.
Sanitioso R (1999). A social psychological perspective on HIV/AIDS and gay or homosexually active Asian men. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 69-85. (Abstract) "the existence of stereotypes of Asians in the gay communities and their consequences on individual Asians"
Ayres T (1999). China doll - the experience of being a gay Chinese Australian. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 87-97. (Abstract) "This article is a stylized blend of personal history and polemical essay which investigates the relationship between race and sexuality. What starts out as a history of the narrator's experience of being a "banana"-yellow (Chinese) on the outside and white (Caucasian) on the inside-becomes a complex exploration of the various ways in which male homosexual desire is constructed and how race is both included and excluded from western constructions of homosexuality."
Chua LY (1999). The cinematic representation of Asian homosexuality in The Wedding Banquet. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 99-112. (Abstract) "Over the last decade, there has been an increasing number of western films which represent both homosexuals and Asian people. However, the homosexuals depicted in these films are often white, and the Asians are almost always heterosexual."
Goldflam A (1999). Queerer than queer: reflections of a Kike dyke. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 113-34. (Abstract) "racist policies in queer venues"
Yue A (1999). Interface: reflections of an ethnic toygirl. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 135-42. (Abstract)
Burstin HE (1999). Looking out, looking in: anti-semitism and racism in lesbian communities. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 143-57. (Abstract) "This article is based on a speech which I gave at the "Sappho Was A Wog Grrrl" conference organized by the Interlesbian group in Melbourne in 1995. I discuss how racism and anti-Semitism are reflected in lesbian communities, examining issues of privilege, invisibility and exclusion from both personal and community perspectives." [Note: Reference to this conference were not avialable on the Internet.]
Kizinska R (1999). A love letter from NADIA (non-anglo dykes in Australia). Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 159-68. (Abstract) "This article is a revised version of a paper I presented at the "Sappho Was A Wog Grrrl" conference in Melbourne, 22 October 1995, which was organized by "Interlesbian," a Melbourne-based political and support group for lesbians from Non-English Speaking Backgrounds (NESB)."
Duruz A (1999). Sister outsider, or "just another thing I am": intersections of cultural and sexual identities in Australia. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 169-82. (Abstract)
Pallotta-Chiarolli M (1999). Diary entries from the "teachers' professional development playground": multiculturalism meets multisexualities in Australian education..Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 183-205. (Abstract)
Offord B, Cantrell L (1999). Unfixed in a fixated world: identity, sexuality, race and culture. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3-4): 207-20. (Abstract)
Information & Excerpts related to:
van der Meide, Wayne (2001). The Intersection of Sexual Orientation & Race: Considering the Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered (GLBT) People of Colour & Two-Spirited People. (A Research Paper prepared for EGALE Canada) (Full Text) Excerpts.
van der Meide, Wayne (2001). Carrefour De L’orientation Sexuelle Et De L’Origine Ethnique. : Comprendre La Vie Des Personnes Gaies, Lesbiennes, Bisexuelles, Transsexuelles Et Transgenres (GLBTT) De Couleur Ainsi Que Bi-Spirituelles. (Document de recherche préparé pour ÉGALE Canada) Rapport complet.
van der Meide, Wayne (2001). La Intersección de la Orientación Sexual y la Raza: Considerando las Experiencias de Personas Gays, Lesbianas, Bisexuales y Transgénero (“GLBT”) de Color y de Personas de Doble Espíritu. (Documento de Investigación Preparado por EGALE Canadá.) Informe completo.
van der Meide, Wayne (2002).
The
Intersections Of Sexual Orientation, Race, Religion, Ethnicity And Heritage
Languages: The State Of Research. (A Literature Review & Research
Backgrounder Prepared for: Canadian Heritage, Multiculturalism Program.)
PDF
Download. Excerpts.
Black
Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Identities, and the Activist Role of a Postmodern
Sensibility Grounded in Dialogism -
by Richard S. Telfer
University of Western Ontario (Canada)
(50)
Conerly maintains that many 'African-American
lesbigays' experience conflict between their two identities because 'they
perceive racism among white lesbigays and homophobia among heterosexual
blacks' (1996: 136). (2) As a consequence,
many black gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals do not feel fully accepted
in either community. Moreover, the conflict between their identities is
often intensified by a lack of overlap - or sometimes by an overt antagonism
- between 'mostly white lesbigay cultures' and 'mostly heterosexual black
cultures' (1996: 137). Conerly explains that this separation leaves black
gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals in a dilemma: they may choose to
move between the two cultures (and thus between their identities) or to
choose a primary affiliation with either culture (thus emphasizing one
identity at the expense of the other). (3)
Andy Quan: A Collection of Reviews, Press, and Feature Articles. (92) Andy Quan Web Site.
Andy Quan: Inspiration comes in different forms and at different times. For many of the stories in Calendar Boy, they are simply about observing and understanding the world, finding my place in it, and telling my story since others weren't telling it. Many stories were written to tackle not only prejudice within the gay community, but to tackle simplicity. To counter all the ways that society expects individuals to either be all the same, or to remain with a particular identity or construct. So, I want to raise issues that people might not have thought about--racism in gay culture, sexual prejudice--in a way that makes people look at how we form communities, how we identify ourselves and how we value ourselves.
I also want to shape gay culture
so that it is not a uniformly gay white urban existence dripping in camp
and Bette Davis movies. I don't think being gay or straight is a particularly
"natural" thing. We learn how to act accord ing to the codes of the worlds
we line in. So, I want those elements too, not just a celebration of a
gay culture, but a challenge to it as well: how do we make it more diverse,
more accepting. I also want to show a particularly gay or gay Asian experience
and let people place that within universal stories--friendship, jealousy,
loneliness.
Minority homosexuals invisible to their world: Gay men and women in Canada's ethnic communities feel surrounded by homophobia, marginalized by gay culture - by Paulette Peirol (1997):
...Rahim Chunara is a Muslim who
was raised in East Africa and moved to Canada when he was in his teens...
"It wasn't until I moved to Canada that I was able to put it into a context,"
he said. Yet even then, he found that minorities were not represented in
the gay and lesbian press, and gays were not represented in the ethnic
press.
It's your body, it's your call - by Peter Ho, Asian Community AIDS Services Newsletter, Summer, 1999:
Moreover, as people of colour in
Canada, ACMSM has to deal with the systematic racism in the general
society and gay community. For example, in North American gay media,
positive gay Asian images are usually under represented. However,
when it is presented, Asian men are portrayed in a stereotype, such as
subserviant and helpless. This myth is very harmful because if an
individual internalizes these messages, it will prevent him from
asking what he needs when negotiating safer sex with his partner...
Becoming Ourselves: Healing Erotic Prejudice (Alternate Link) - by Shawn Mooney (Times.10, Edmonton, Alberta)
This month's rant has four key premises:
(1) racism is a pernicious problem, (2) the voices of those affected by
prejudice need to be heard, (3) white folks must also participate honestly
in the healing dialogue, and (4) I can most helpfully elaborate on premise
number 3. Race prejudice is one of the greatest obstacles to a true community
of queer folk. Sadly, our collectivity can be as marred by discrimination,
stereotyping and outright hatred as society at large. Same-sex community
gets formed--or thwarted--largely on the basis of erotic desire; racism
needs to be tackled here,
on the level of our core libidinal
scripts... Erotic disinterest in an entire race reveals the deep psychic
imprint of prejudice; the good news is that sexual racism can be unlearned.
The link between racialized eroticism and more blatant forms of racism
have recently been brought home for me, in light of my young black friend's
experience. "Damien" is 19 and Caribbean and looking for a boyfriend. He
wasn't having much luck going out to the bars..
Being Asian and being Gay - by David Tsang (2001, Simon Fraser University, B.C.) [88]
What about support from the gay community? Now you would think that other gay people, being oppressed and all, would be open-minded and accepting, right? Wrong. Here's where it gets ugly. Although there are lots of wonderful queer people out there, I've probably experienced the most racism from the gay community. I've heard some of the most amazing things like Asian men were never meant to be fashionable, they are ugly, they're all too skinny, Asian women rule but Asian men suck, they all have bad breath, they should go back to their own country, they are too passive, their dicks are too small. They say this to my face, not meaning to hurt me, but to say "you're different." The last time I heard something like that it began with, "I'm not homophobic, but...."
I don't like the clubs, which really limits my options in terms of meeting other queer people. A friend of mine told me to try the Internet, and I did-for two days before I found out that the only way I could get any decent conversation was to describe myself as white and hung like a horse. If I mentioned the word "Asian" it was like, oops sorry gotta wash my hair. The worst thing is, it's never talked about because it's uncomfortable for gay people to admit that as oppressed people, they themselves can be oppressors.
It gets worse. Most of my gay Asian friends refuse to date anyone who is Asian; they have fallen into the same trap. When I was single, my friends attributed it to me being Asian. If you were white, you'd have men all over you. Asian gay men can literally be called a brotherhood, since nobody dates each other. When I asked for an image of a perfect man, I got all kinds of shapes and sizes, but only one colour-white. Having a white boyfriend, they don't have to look into a mirror, reminding them of what they are. They try to pull a Michael Jackson, but they do it to their minds. The Asian identity is being bleached. I myself have not been immune to this kind of thinking. When I first came out, I learned very quickly that being white was an advantage. The benefit to that advantage was just trying to find people to talk to, just for support. Everyone wants beautiful friends I guess, and I just wasn't it.
Bombarded by the ideal image of beauty, thanks to GQ and the plethora of other "fashion guides," I hated the way I looked, I hated my hair, my nose, my eyes, and my skin. It took years of deprogramming to get the "white was better" idea out of my head, and I had to do that by myself because there aren't a lot of people out there who are gay and Asian and proud.
As a result of all this, I never felt like I fit in anywhere. I am a minority within a minority. But my situation has allowed me to see more points of view than just one, to see three-dimensionally. I can see that if we don't acknowledge the diversity of the queer community, then the queer community will follow the pattern of another much larger group that were once (and in some places still are) oppressed themselves and now seek to homogenise their own following. I cannot be homogenised. Acknowledging that humans are diverse is why we need Queer Awareness Week.
Significant Other - by LilDragn (2001)
"Then there's the notion that gay men are so much less racist because they "know what it's like to be oppressed." Yeah. Right. That's like assuming all people of colour are queer-friendly. There are plenty of gay men who think that racism's not so bad as homophobia. Whatever. Let's not compare the size of our oppressions, shall we? That's rather divisive.
I'm not trying to say that all gay white men are racist or misogynist. What I am saying is that the community is fragmented, not because the marginalised want to fragment the community, but because they've been marginalised by it. All the major gay organisations are white and run events mostly for those who are white. All the advertising towards the queer community is directed at the men in that community. Women, disabled, people of colour, we're all invisible in our own community.
And you're all thinking to yourself: "Why the hell is he on his high-horse?" Well, it's because I'm sick of people saying that the gay community is so tolerant and inclusive when it patently isn't. I say this not because I want to jump up and down and talk about the sky falling. I say this because something needs to change.
Watch Queer as Folk sometime. Tell
me I don't know what I'm talking about."
At this site section
on racism, see: Diversity,
Division, and Racism in Calgary's Gay and Lesbian Community
- by Leland Hall - and - Liberating
Ourselves by Kevin D'Souza.
Unmasking
our struggle - by Wendy Isaac
The aim of this article is to provide us with and opportunity to reflect on some of the issues we have since discarded and believed to have been dealt with and hence no longer a priority. Simply, to promote a healthy discussion of homophobia and racism... For many black lesbians and gay men, an article of this kind is long overdue. Black lesbians and gay men have been put in the position of challenging both homophobia and racism within communities that are meant to provide support, nurturing and love. All too often individual black lesbians and gay men have complained about particular examples of racism or homophobia and have been subjected to personal attack and ridicule. One should be praised for being brave, but instead black lesbians and gay men find themselves fighting on two fronts and being shot by both sides... There is a belief that "homosexuality is a white disease". It is not an overstatement to say that many members of the black community think that black lesbians and gay men have "caught" this disease from white people. Thinking that homosexuality is a "white thing" is partially based on the fact that most of the images of lesbians and gay men in the media are white...
Racism in the white lesbian and gay communities.. Despite frequent calls by black lesbians and gay men to have our issues recognised, too often they have been ignored, and if taken into consideration at all, they have been marginalised. This racism is all too apparent in both the political and cultural activities of the lesbian and gay community... When black lesbians and gay men turn to the lesbian and gay community, they are often met with racism from their white counterparts. They may be met with white lesbians and gay men who do not understand their cultural background, find them sexually "exotic", cannot be bothered to spell their names properly and have no understanding of how racism has affected their lives. In extreme cases, they are not made to feel welcome at cultural or political gatherings... This means that often black workers are put in the position of always having to prove that they are worthy of the job. They have to be better than their white counterparts. This is because racist attitudes in white people tell them that black people are stupid, lazy and generally inferior. Since the advent of equal opportunities and affirmative action, many white people assume that black people are only employed because they are black... Recommendations... Many lesbian and gay organisations and groups are not welcoming to black lesbians and gay men. These groups should look whether black lesbians and gay men are represented in all levels of the organisation, as users, volunteers, workers and management members. If black people are not there then they should find out why they are not participating.
"Gay Apartheid" in South Africa: by Mubarak Dahir (2003)
Almost ten years after South Africa adopted a constitution considered to be the most gay-friendly in the world, there is still a huge divide between official legal rights and the dangerous homophobia some people face daily, particularly in black African communities. Indeed, while white gay and lesbian South Africans have created burgeoning communities that rival gay life in Europe or America, black South Africans find that a mix of prejudice, tribalism, economics and geography continue to deprive them of being part of the new gay South Africa, and of seizing the benefits of their remarkable constitution... Now, she says, her family is quietly supportive, but never actually speaks about her being a lesbian. Kheswa is thankful even for that subdued support. The prevailing attitude, she says, "is that homosexuality is not African, that it is a white thing." Many men believe that raping a lesbian will "cure" her, says Kheswa. Male rape is also a danger, she reports, and says that Soweto's gay and lesbian community has suffered 5 rapes in the past two months. However, few gays or lesbians report rapes or beatings because "the attitude of the police is that we either provoked it or we deserve it."
While white gay and lesbian South Africans fight for things like parental rights and marriage rights, black gay and lesbian South Africans are still struggling for the basics. The top two issues for black gays and lesbians, says Kheswa, are physical safety and finding comfortable places to meet socially. While Johannesburg has a plethora of gay bars and gay-friendly restaurants, most of those venues are hard for black gays and lesbians to frequent. Just getting to them is a chore... She also said that many bars ask blacks for their "membership cards." When they can't produce these non-existent ID's, they are denied entrance. "There is still a lot of racism against blacks from whites," she says. "Black and white gays live in two different worlds. It's almost as if there is gay apartheid." Even white gay and lesbian activists acknowledge the divide. Evert Knoesen of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Project concedes that integrating whites and blacks in the community "remains a big issue."
And Nodi Murphy, the director of
Out in Africa, South Africa's gay and lesbian film festival, concedes that
the audience for the film festival is "largely male, and almost exclusively
white." She attributes that to economics and transportation issues, but
says she is "working on reaching out" to black gays and lesbians by packaging
groups of films and sending them to local communities where they might
be shown, even possibly without charge. A significant stumbling block,
she says, is that many local black gay and lesbian communities don't have
a place to show the films... Most gay and lesbian people socialize in their
homes at private parties, says Kheswa. In all of Soweto there is only one
"gay-friendly" establishment, a place called Wandee's... "For the first
few years after apartheid, there was a huge push forward," she says. "But
now, I worry that we [in the black gay and lesbian community] have stagnated.
We can't afford to be content with things. We still have so much more to
do."
Not
all SA's gays enjoy greater freedom - by Stuart Graham (2004).
Some
SA's gays enjoy new freedom after apartheid - by Stuart Graham
(2004).
South Africa's gays are enjoying
a new era of freedom in cities 10 years after the end of apartheid, but
black and coloured homosexuals in townships and villages are still victims
of discrimination and hate attacks... the lot of poorer homosexuals had
not changed much.... how gay rights in South Africa translate into real
life for people living in rural areas and townships. "Many black people
are accused of being un-African and are victimised when it is found out
they are gay. Life has not changed much for them in the past decade." ...However,
the new legislation does not translate into reality for many. Dawn Betteridge,
a member of the Triangle Project, which provides counselling to gays, said
most hate attacks take place in rural areas and townships and are never
reported... However, the well-heeled urbanites are basking in their new
freedom... In stark contrast to its neighbours, Namibia and Zimbabwe, whose
leaders have accused homosexuals of being "worse than pigs" and "un-African",
South Africa has actively tried try to attract gay tourists to its shores...
"About 10 percent of tourists who visit Cape Tours are gay and the city
actively encourages this," she said. "Gay people know they are welcome
here and that they can have a peaceful visit."
No light at the end of the tunnel of racism -by Ishmael Ngozo Mduduzi
February 17, 2003: The lightning of racism within the black and white LGBT community struck right to my heart this afternoon... The black and white LGBT community has successfully pretended to solve the problem of racism by convincing black LGBT people they are just the same as white people. Just because there are some mixed-race couples does not mean that blacks and whites are equal in the community. In social spaces black LGBT people still suffer today and are constantly working to assert themselves in the Apartland. Even though racism was made illegal, it still exists in the mouths and minds of people in our community. Black queer people are completely discriminated against, not only by whites but by other non-whites in social spaces, and on top of that we are hated by the straight black majority which rules the country...
In the absence of our own spaces, black queer, gay and lesbian people have to conform to white gay stereotypes or to go to straight clubs - either way they cannot express themselves as black and gay. We have only just begun to deal with the issue of racism and hatred but there are other issues in the black gay community too. Gay and lesbian people continue to be beaten, abused and stripped of their rights. Other gay and lesbian people who think they've "made it" support that abuse and champion hatred against black queers by spending their money with the racist clubs. Many of the laws have changed so that, legally, it is not permissible to discriminate against anyone on the basis of race in South Africa. Racism among LGBT people still exists however and despite what the law says, can I really make the police force them to let me in? ...
I am very tired of my so-called "rainbow community" deserting others in need. The moral of the story? There is no light at the end of the tunnel of racism. There is no "making it." So listen up you white snobbish queens, you Pink Agenda book editors, you religious mis-leader's, you safe sex educating campaigns, you elitists, you prudes, you traitors, you homophobic politicians and you white racist bar owners.
As long as one person is discriminated against because of the colour of his/her skin in this LGBT rainbow flying flag, that you carry on Pride, as long as a black young gay man is being turned away at Venom or any gay club for that matter; as long as lesbian women are being raped, beaten or oppressed in this so-called "new" South Africa, the struggle is not over.
As long as
we cling to our dompas club membership cards for affirmation, we have not
"made it" and we are not free, don't let history repeat itself and remember,
what goes around comes around.
Quantifying queer currency - Daily Mail & Guardian: June 2/22, '99: [56]
Nel completely disagrees. "Networking
is not happening," he says, and puts it down to "total racism in the gay
community".
No light at the end of the tunnel of racism - by Ishmael Ngozo Mduduzi.
The black and white LGBT community
has successfully pretended to solve the problem of racism by convincing
black LGBT people they are just the same as white people. Just because
there are some mixed-race couples does not mean that blacks and whites
are equal in the community. In social spaces black LGBT people still suffer
today and are constantly working to assert themselves in the Apartland.
Even though racism was made illegal, it still exists in the mouths and
minds of people in our community. Black queer people are completely discriminated
against, not only by whites but by other non-whites in social spaces, and
on top of that we are hated by the straight black majority which rules
the country...
The gym-toned, coiffed gay cliche - Daily Mail & Guardian: June 2/22, '99: [57]
Networking is not happening not because of "total racism in the gay community" (that word again), but simply because there is little or no desire on the part of gay white South Africans to embrace (literally or metaphorically) their black brothers and sisters.
Sisters of any type, incidentally,
as the majority of gay men have little or nothing in common with gay women.
If this is racism and homophobia, then I suspect we are all more than a
little racist and homophobic. Sad, but nonetheless true, I fear. Incidentally,
I suspect that a majority of gay people take wholly for granted our constitutional
protection, for which so few fought so hard.
Johannesburg, Gauteng: Brief introduction [89]
Racism in the gay community is not a new problem and in the mid 1980s
South Africa was kicked out of the International Gay and Lesbian Organisation
(Ilga) for that reason. Simon Nkoli stepped forward as the mediator and
South Africa was allowed back into the global organisation in the early
1990s... It was however not until the forming of the National Coalition
for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE) in the early 1990s, however,
that a truly non-racial, non-sexist queer organisation was born. The NCGLE
still largely relies on foreign donors to survive and has found very little
support among the economically powerful white gay community. The local
white community remains deeply racist.
UTHINGO CHAT Volume 2 No 7 Nov/Dec 1999. [86]
The existence of racism, sexism and homophobia in society has meant that the experiences of black lesbians are rarely articulated. The 'herstory' of lesbians which has been uncovered, recorded and celebrated is predominantly about white middle class women. It is important for black lesbians to begin documenting their own contribution to the movement before it is lost. In South Africa it is an important one, albeit invisible at present due to an inherited past of racism and homophobia.
The lesbian community encompasses many minorities, complicating still further a question of identity. Many African lesbians have concluded that they must subordinate their lesbian identity to their racial or ethnic loyalty; other still feel unwelcome in white lesbian communities. Working class lesbians often do not identify with the ideological and feminist preoccupations of their middle class sisters...
Moreover, a problem for African lesbians is the issue of racism in the lesbian community itself. Black lesbians are oppressed on both an institutional and personal level. The racism which comes from other lesbians is often the hardest to deal with. White lesbians, regardless of whether or not they define themselves as feminists or socialists, often cling to the privileges they have due to being white. This racism is present everywhere: at political gatherings, nightclubs and even in the bedroom. White lesbians often have the same racist stereotypes of black women as the rest of the white population. In the gay community in Pretoria there have been incidents of racism at clubs and at conferences where white people tend to dominate discussion. Many organisations that are meant to represent lesbians essentially ignore black issues. In South Africa this is changing rapidly, although there are still a disproportionate number of white lesbians represented. This was evident in the focus group done for this research - with only 20% of the group being black. Often black lesbians do not feel comfortable speaking up in a predominantly white group, and often experience problems of language and translation as well. Because the focus group was held in English, black respondents were expected to express themselves in a second - or third - language. This definitely places restrictions on the degree to which black lesbians can participate.
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