Racism in gay community

Please share stories or comments you have about racism or how race functions within the gay community. Or how you think race affects the gay community. This is for a school report on the subject. Please share anything you think is relevant. Thank you very much!

 

I've never encountered racism in the local gay community. The gay people I know tend to be very, very open minded... and see racism and homophobia to be basically the same thing (which i agree with). I have seen people of all colours and races practice extreme homophobia, which has never made any sense to me.... both are all about hating someone because they are different, right?

 

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Racism exists in the GLBT community.

It's sometimes hard for a minority to place their oppression as gay and Black (or Asian, Hispanic, etc.) I heard a Native American speaker talk about the problem of feeling doubly isolated. He said the perception of most folks is that you only get one oppression per customer. So, folks will relate to him as either NA or Gay. But rarely both, even in the gay community.

In the gay community you find more tolerance than in the general population. By that I mean you find more individuals who are tolerant. I believe because most of us (GLBT) have early memories of intolerance. However there are gay bigots, for sure. (See the report by the San Francisco Independent Media Org on Gay white supremacist Bill White.)

From listening to my non-white Gay and Lesbian friends, I understand there is a frustration because the gay community is perceived as being welcoming to all; so when racism is present at an LBGT coffee shop, public event, or social service, it seems disingenuous and sometimes overwhelming. They've expressed an anger, which isn't rage (like over historical racism) but grief because of the hypocrisy.


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this is an interesting topic I would like to bring back for us to reflect on
S

 

racism is definitely found in the LBGT community, as much as it is found in the straight world. You can't really escape it. Just because someone is gay doesn't mean they don't have their own thoughts and opinions on other people, including their orientation and color. I've met several black gay guys who wouldn't date me simply because I was white, and I've met several white gay guys who bash the black ones. Racism is an individual problem, not a group one. It stems from each individual's own thoughts, and even though a certain group of people can certainly influence one's thoughts of someone else, if you aren't naturally racist, then you aren't racist. In fact, I've found a pretty much equal amount of racist gays as I have straight ones.

 

you'd think that two groups with experince of being repressed would be moore accepting of each other, but i'm probably being very niave
S

 

I would agree as far as the 'gay scene' of pubs and clubs goes, however there are smaller areas of the gay community that are a bit more open.

do you think that a community that places focus on looks would tend to be more racist?
S

 

I've met a lot of gay guys who see absolutely no problem hating on other races. They literally don't make the connection between racism and homophobia. I tend to avoid talking to them, but couple of times I've been drunk and kicked off about it. I don't think we should have to tolerate that crap.

 

It's not shocking, really. There's no reason to think gays are more or less racist than the average person.

 

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eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwww bike shorts?! gross!!


I have found the meanest racist queers to be ones that never felt a true gay bashing, a proper gay bash is so painful.

 

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That kind of makes sense when you think about it. However, I think that all gay people--especially us youth--suffer most from the marginalizing force of heteronormatively than any form of active homophobia. So it's not so much a form of active prejudice, but a whole different kind of problem, one consistent with the very distinct natures of race and sexuality. Any solidarity between the two stems from similar circumstantial and not similar intrinsic properties; it's plausible, though not actual or supportable, that the racists are as non-homophobic as the non-racists, or even that demographics render racism irrelevant.

 

This is an interesting question and it's fascinating to ponder possible answers. On one hand, attraction is not uniform across the gay community, and there seems to be an inordinate proportion of miscegenation in the gay community. This can be attributed to two main causes -- (1) the demographics of areas in which homosexual activity can be assumed to occur most frequently (cities, which tend to be more diverse), and (2) interracial attraction and/or allophilia. And this all makes sense in today's society, especially because if one is ready to deal with homosexuality, one should certainly be able to deal with miscegenation.

Yet I see absolutely no reason to make exception to the general trend that, in a partner, people tend to favour those who are more like them. This mostly means a statistically higher incidence of intraracial relationships and even intra-ethnic, intra-religious, and intra-cultural relationships. If looks and other such factors are overly considered, it's not an unwarranted leap in judgment to posit that racism and xenophobia are more acute.

Of course, I'm not talking about the real world... more or less a more default one. In the real world there also exist intellectual sentiments and convictions, which tell us that hatred is hurtful and wrong. That we tend to at least superficially follow such sentiments in lieu of more primal impulses is a very important discriminating disposition between us humans and animals.

Though I admit that I am more sexually and emotionally attracted to my own race, I do not by any stretch of the imagination attempt to carry these standards out of my sexual realm and into other realms. I assume that most like me do the same.

 

I should qualify this to say that it applies only if the attackers are of the same race. If not, then the opposite effect would probably be seen to occur.

 

why do you gays like the same sex?

 

i don't understand you guys.

 

lol. Oh boy...

The feeling is mutual. How you could like women when your own physical and psychological constitutions differ so acutely truly transcends the realm of my intuitive understanding.

But most of all, I take solace in the fact that I will never be obliged to come in contact with a vagina in my life. I cannot imagine a more repulsive body part.


But on a more serious note, you're only fourteen and most gay guys don't really understand it at that age either, not to insinuate anything about you.

Let's put it this way: I presume that you can accept and understand that heterosexual women can like guys, right? Well, what is the essential difference if instead of a girl, it's a guy? Would you be so crass as to presume the ecumenicalism of your sexual inclinations and feelings as a male?