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White Gay Leaders Attempt to Bridge the Racial Gap

Hat tip to Jennifer for sending me the link to Dionne Walker's article, Gay Leaders Seek to Bridge Racial Divide. (I think they mean White Gay Leaders)
National gay and lesbian groups are responding with marketing campaigns and old-fashioned schmoozing to win over minority gays, many of whom argue white activists want their votes on gay marriage and other national issues, but rarely include poverty, racism and other minority concerns on their agendas.
The article raises disturbing questions. Why exactly does the white gay leadership seek to reach out to LGBT people of color and how creative are they in trying to connect with people?
Mason lists a concern of many white gay leaders: In areas where minority gay communities are not well-organized, reaching across racial lines is nearly impossible.
"We don't have a Richmond black gay pride, for example," she said. "We don't have that type of opportunity for us to really find who these folks are."
Well, let's hope Richmond's black gay community can pull together a pride event next year so that White gay leaders can get to know them. Much easier than actually having Black gay friends.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The operative word for your last statement is

DAMN.

You know how to hit a nail on the head.

Peace
Clint
10:13 PM
Jennifer said…
Peterson,
Thanks for giving me credit on this article that you blogged about. I thought you might be interested in reading it.
8:57 PM
Christine Bakke said…
I was just reading a talk by Virgina Ramey Mollenkott and came upon this quote:
"How can we see to it that we build a ground together with lesbians of color instead of first staking out our own ground and then inviting lesbians of color to sit on it with us?"

Made me think of this post of yours...
12:09 AM
Peterson Toscano said…
risingup, that is an excellent quote and a great article. Thanks for sharing it.
P
10:41 AM
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