Verified Document

Human Sexuality Glbtq The Glbtq Term Paper

.. A young (GLBTQ) person of color faces multiple 'identity' issues that teams from the dominant culture do not" (p. 215). Indeed, racism within the GLBTQ community has long existed, exacerbating the conflicts between different constituents of this group. For example, white-run gay bars and clubs often excluded African-American gays and lesbians in the 1950s. Today, people of color in the GLBTQ community note that such racism still exists, often in the form of the exclusion of people of color from the larger GLBTQ community. European-Americans often had difficulty ascribing the experience of the individual over societal oppression (ColorQWorld).

One reason for such an attitude may stem from the mistaken attitude among the white GLBTQ community that "communities of color are even less 'progressive' than white communities when it came to homosexuality/transgender issues, they did not see a queer person of color as a possibility" (ColorQWorld). This racism often arose from the difficulty that many members of the white GLBTQ community had in seeing people of color as true individuals. Instead, white members of the GLBTQ community often have seeing people of color as part of the larger group. For example, Gloria Steinem has noted that people call a white feminist simply a 'feminist', but a black feminist is almost always referred to as a 'black feminist' (ColorQWorld).

At the same time, the idea that people of color are closer to 'primitive man' than whites within the GLBTQ community also has contributed to a schism within the community. In equating black Africans as a more 'primitive' race, European the culture thereby saw black individuals as closer to nature, and thus ruled the more strongly by instinct than whites. In this conception, the sexual energy of the black individual would be focused on the biological process of reproduction. Thus, black individuals, seen as the most 'primitive' of individuals, must by necessity be the most heterosexual (ColorQWorld).

While racism certainly plays a role in conflicts between different members of the GLBTQ community, more optimistic accounts indicate that overt racism lessens as time goes on, but that more subtle forms of racism exist. "In-your-face bigotry is now seldom seen in the largely PC and semi-sensitive gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender community, but ignorance and subtle discrimination still exists" (ColorQWorld).

Interaction of Racism and Sexism in the GLBTQ Community

Some subsets of the GLBTQ community embody at the struggles of both the lesbian community, and double minorities. As such, these individuals have the interests or concerns that conflict with the GLBTQ community to even larger extent that those who face only gender issues or the issues faced by double minorities. Note Jennings and Shapiro, "A Latina lesbian- mentors for body, seek sexual pleasure and doesn't need a man to complete her-is considered an insult to women who accept the conventional arrangement and integration in the community. Sometimes, Latinas feel that they can keep their place...

200).
This pressure to hide a lesbian identity, based upon the pressures of their Latina culture, flies strongly in the face of the larger GLBTQ community. The larger GLBTQ community generally feels that a three expression of sexual orientation is most desirable. However, lesbians in the Latina community often face cultural pressures that are difficult to understand for the larger white, male GLBTQ community.

Similarly, Latino and African-American males who engage in same-gender sexual behavior struggle with both cultural and gender stereotypes. Jennings and Shapiro note that in these cultures "being gay is equated with being feminine, and being effeminate is not valued in macho Latino culture. On the other hand, it is sometimes been acceptable to be the dominant partner anti-gay sexual relationship if your Latino man, as the only person considered 'gay' is a receptive partner. This is enabled many Latinos to participate in same-sex sexual behavior without risking a label that might compromise their membership in the community" (p. 200).

Clearly, these complex relationships between cultural identity and gender stereotypes within the Latino community can be difficult for the larger white, male GLBTQ community to understand. While almost all members of the GLBTQ community, regardless of gender or cultural density, have face discrimination the pressures upon those within the Latino community place them in a unique position. As such, the unique combination of cultural identity and gender stereotypes faced by those within the Latino community potentially conflict with the larger GLBTQ community.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the while the larger GLBTQ community shares a number of issues and concerns, the community is also divided by a number of issues. Within the larger GLTBQ community, lesbians, transgendered individuals, bisexuals, and individuals of color have unique experiences and issues that set them in conflict with the larger community. Sexism within and without the GLBTQ community often creates a conflict between lesbians, transsexuals and bisexuals and the larger GLBTQ community. Similarly, the unique cultural experience of double minorities also results in conflict with the larger community. Interestingly, some subsets of the community conflict with the large community due to a unique combination of gender, racial, and cultural issues. Taken together, these conflicts suggest that the GLBTQ community, while sharing a number of important concerns and issues, is also divided among racial, cultural, and gender lines.

Works Cited

ColorQWorld. Racism in Queer America. ColorQ.org. 04 November 2004. http://www.colorq.org/Articles/2000/gayracism.htm

Jennings, Kevin and Shapiro, Pat. Always My Child: A Parent's Guide to Understanding Your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered or Questioning Son or Daughter. Fireside, 2002.

Menkart, Deborah. Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching. Teaching for Change and Poverty & Race Research, 2004.

Zanazanian, Paul. Sexism a problem within the gay and lesbian community. The Link, Tuesday, January 15, 2002 @06:00AM. 04 November 2004. http://thelink.concordia.ca/article.pl?sid=02/01/15/0728204

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

ColorQWorld. Racism in Queer America. ColorQ.org. 04 November 2004. http://www.colorq.org/Articles/2000/gayracism.htm

Jennings, Kevin and Shapiro, Pat. Always My Child: A Parent's Guide to Understanding Your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered or Questioning Son or Daughter. Fireside, 2002.

Menkart, Deborah. Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching. Teaching for Change and Poverty & Race Research, 2004.

Zanazanian, Paul. Sexism a problem within the gay and lesbian community. The Link, Tuesday, January 15, 2002 @06:00AM. 04 November 2004. http://thelink.concordia.ca/article.pl?sid=02/01/15/0728204
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Criminalization of Gays in the
Words: 4330 Length: 10 Document Type: Essay

It is considered to be a pandemic by the World Health Organization, and has, since 1981, killed more than 25 million people worldwide (United Nations). In most of the world, HIV infection is more prevelant in the heterosexual population, especially Sub-Saharan Africa. In the United States, however, it became known as the "Gay Plague" due to its initial discovery in the homosexual population, the lack of condom use at the

Discrimination in the Workplace Has
Words: 2151 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Likewise the same percentages of responders assert that discrimination based on sexual orientation occurs at the companies that they work for. Eighty percent of the participants believe that a company's policy concerning discrimination against gays should not be determined by religious convictions. Fifteen participants reported that an employee of their company had been accused of discrimination based on sexual orientation. Additionally, seventy percent of participants assert that there company has

Man Who Fell in Love
Words: 2080 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Proposal

It was not unusual for Shed to have this mix between his feminine and masculine sides. That is not negative or wrong. For example, in the article "How we find ourselves," Wilson (1996, p.303) relates that today this concept of shaman or two-spirit sided individual has been continued in the indigenous culture. "Many lesbian, gay, and bisexual Indigenous Americans use the term "two-spirit" to describe themselves...This term is drawn

American Culture and Television
Words: 1935 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Cultural Representations of GLBTQ Peoples and Communities in the Mainstream Media Attitudes and laws in American society concerning the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and queer (GLBTQ) communities have changed in substantive ways in recent years, and many observers credit the cultural representations of these communities in the mainstream media as contributing to this progress. Notwithstanding the progress to date, though, some observers suggest that the status of the GLBTQ communities today

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather Was Born
Words: 2874 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather was born in Winchester, Virginia, in the year 1873. She lived in Virginia until she turned nine years old at which point she moved to the Nebraska prairie, to the borough of Catherton, which bore her familial namesake because so many members of Cather's family already lived here. This move to the prairie and her subsequent period of growing to adulthood on the prairie would be

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now