Current mood:

pensive

Homophobia is the new Racism?
You know, I’m not really the type to get all caught up in the Academy Awards, and I’m not really interested in discussing this year’s ceremony in and of itself, but an issue has been raised that concerns me.  An issue that continues to come up time and time again, in one form or another.

One of my favorite bloggers, Ernie, posted a link to a friend’s journal reacting to Crash’s win in the Best Picture category this year.  Okay, Towleroad and his friends were rooting for Brokeback Mountain, which I understand, and I don’t have a problem with.  (To be honest, I would’ve preferred if any of them had won except Crash.)  But what bothered me in the comments section of the blogger’s post was how quickly people descended into stereotypical racist remarks about Crash, Hustle & Flow, etc. 

(The comments go on for days, so I wouldn't try to read them all unless you have a lot of time on your hands.)


It’s one thing to criticize the film and feel that BBM was robbed because of latent homophobia in the Hollywood system, but it’s another to speak with such derision about the film’s topic and performers in manner that borders on bigotry.  Ignorant folks are ignorant folks, regardless of their stripe, but some of the comments came off as if racism is somehow “safer” than homophobia now, and POC don’t have to struggle with issues of oppression and discrimination anymore.  And if they do, it’s certainly not in the way or to the extent that homophobia affects members of the GLBT community.

And this got me to thinking, do members of the GLBT community feel that they are the modern day “brethren” of POC?  Do white (or those whom identify as white) gay men and women feel that they understand what it’s like to be a POC in America today because they are victims of discrimination?  Do they – and I don’t say ‘they’ in a sense of “us” versus “them”, but more in the sense that I am a woman who identifies as asexual/hetero and I do not dare speak for a community that I am not apart of – feel that the GLBT community’s fight for equality perfectly mirrors POC’s fight for equality, and therefore, they know what it’s like to be a POC?

Now, I do not ask the questions to be facetious or coy, I am genuinely interested in this perspective.  I guess my biggest issue with this phenomenon (as seen clearly in the comments of this blogger’s post): Do white homosexuals feel that they are incapable of being racist because they are victims of discrimination and oppression?  Is this an attitude that’s a reflection of the white GLBT community at large?  Do gay POC call white gays on their racism in the fight for equality?  Or is there a larger sense of it’s best to focus on our fight for a common goal and not “nitpick”? 

I have to admit that I have rarely heard gay POC rush to equate racism with homophobia nearly as often as I’ve heard it from white members of the GLBT community.  Now, this may be because of my close proximity to out white gays/lesbians versus out gay/lesbian POC.  But I believe that it would be difficult for me to find an out, gay person of color stating that “Being gay in America is just like being black” or something to that effect.  Is there anyone here who has heard a POC make a similar statement?

A part of me feels as if the dichotomy would be similar to that of the old AfAm feminist movement.  When asked which affected their lives more on a daily basis: sexism or racism, white women were distraught to hear their black sisters say racism.  And in my divine ignorance, I imagine it would prove to be a similar situation for GLBT POC.  If I’m wrong, please speak up and give me the thrashing I deserve.

Now, I’m used to folks using the history of the African-American struggle as their social “footstool” in the fight for change.  And I won’t get into how much it pisses me off when I hear people do it – that goes for whites and non-black POC – but I will say that my teeth gnash together every time a person of non-African descent implies that black folks are no longer subject to overt racism in their justifiable fits of rage.  (I’m looking at you, Parry Shen.)

The short story is it’s commandeering our experiences (one that no one who isn’t a member of our community can possibly know) and wielding them as your personal battering ram.  As if to say, “Well no one in their right mind in this day and age would even think of treating black people this way, so don’t we deserve to be treated just as well.”  Now, doesn’t that sound inherently fucked up on every level?  At what point did black people begin to be treated as the white men’s equal?  At what point did someone tell you that it was okay to speak about the AfAm experience because you feel that you understand it now?   Who told you that you understood anything?

I’m sorry.  I’m not articulating my thoughts very well.  It’s partially due to my frustration over Towleroad’s post’s comments, and partially due to my desire to not offend.  But I see this happening constantly.  Hell, I just read an article on X-Men 3, and Sir Ian McKellen made the gay/black analogy for the umpteenth time and not one person in my preferred sci-fi forum batted an eye.  Are the assumed similarities between the GLBT struggle and the AfAm struggle that readily accepted by liberals?  Because I can tell you right now, it’s not by the African-American community.  And I’m beginning to wonder if POC, particularly people of African descent are holding their tongues out of respect for the GLBT community's fight for equality, fear of an anti-homophobic backlash, or simple "different day, same bullshit" frustration?  Or maybe I’m just being the selfish bitch here and I’m completely off the mark.