949
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
Written by Maria Cadenas
Jun 3, 2010
I said the “R” word. Too often race is the elephant in the room – especially with immigration, the Obama administration and the shifting demographic makeup of the United States being current topics of discussion.
Race matters because throughout the history of our country race has been used as an arbitrary way to deny access, power and protections to large groups of people in a systematic way.
As much as this sounds like a sociology lesson, we in the LGBT movement need to understand that we face the same institutional and policy bias – from gay and lesbian immigration bans that were not removed until the ’90s, to the current lack of access to marriage and the lack of job security for transgender individuals.
As a Latina and a lesbian, the intersection of race and sexual orientation is something I live with every day. The LGBT struggle for our rights is the same as the struggle for equal pay for women, and the same as the struggle for people of color for civil rights. We are all seeking equity in treatment, access and respect.
If we’re honest, the LGBT movement has not done a good job of being inclusive. A recent study showed that only 11 percent of LGBT funding went to people of color. That is 11 percent of the already ridiculously low 0.2 percent available for all LGBT work. A quick scan of paid executive directors in Milwaukee area LGBT organizations reveals that all are white – except for me.
As Latino, African American and other communities of color grow to become the majority in our country, so will the LGBT community be primarily a community of color – and yet we are not investing in or supporting them. Instead, anti-gay groups are reaching out to communities of color.
Reaching out to our Latino and African American neighbors is not only the right thing to do. It is the smart thing to do to ensure long-term success and a strong LGBT movement. A decade of research on the Racial Equity Theory gives us a lens and effective tools to help both frame our movement and prevent repeating the mistakes made by those before us.
We must recognize that these social movements have more similarities than differences. In fact, many of us already live with these two identities.
Working to support each other is not difficult, but it requires explicit intent. Take the issue of immigration. National groups like Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and local groups like Voces de la Frontera actively support immigration reform that would allow same-sex partners to petition for each other in seeking legal entry to the United States. So why were there only a handful of visible LGBT community members, all from Equality Wisconsin, at the recent immigration rally?
As a social movement, we must build bridges and strong relationships across identity to ensure we all move forward without leaving others behind. We must invest strategically to ensure that as we gain our rights, we hold each other’s hand and open the door to others facing similar struggles. This is the only way we can create the movement that will bring about the change we seek.
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