“I Can’t Be Racist, I’m Gay” Explorg Queer Whe Men’s Views on Race and Racism on JSTOR

Contents:

• WHE GAY MEN ARE HRG OUR PROGRS AS A QUEER COMMUNY
• STUDY FDS GAY, WHE MEN ARE OVERREPRENTED LGBTQ EMPLOYEE GROUPS
• HERE'S ONE BTAL TTH EVERY WHE GAY MAN NEEDS TO HEAR
• ARE MORY MEN MORE LIKELY TO BE GAY? WHY?

WHE GAY MEN ARE HRG OUR PROGRS AS A QUEER COMMUNY

”No Jtice, No Pri and Black Liv Matter–affiliated groups reprised the prott ci across the untry throughout the Capal Pri nontatn and others like have laid bare a growg chasm wh the LGBTQ+ muny between olr activists and younger; between gay whe cisgenr men who feel like they n celebrate post-marriage equaly and those who fear for their liv unr a Tmp admistratn; between those whose biggt stumblg block life is beg gay and those who feel their eedom is ntgent not only on LGBTQ+ rights but also on issu like police reform, reproductive rights, and enomic equaly.

”But as dtups ed by groups like No Jtice, No Pri show — as well as other velopments, like the addn of a brown stripe to Philalphia’s LGBTQ pri flag; and scuffl over the cln of Israeli flags at monstratns — that not everyone is happy wh the LGBTQ+ movement’s foc on tersectnaly, which has foreground discsns of privilege, police btaly, sexism, racism, and anti-trans BeckSome gay whe cisgenr men are startg to tune out. “You have gay whe men who are no longer volved activism or muny work bee they jt get shouted down by mory activists who want to racialize everythg, ” said Jamie Kirchick, a right-leang journalist and visg fellow at the Brookgs Instutn.

“Whe gay man has bee an ephet, ” he the amic fn of tersectnaly may be narrow, s meang has broaned as s age has spread across var social jtice movements.

STUDY FDS GAY, WHE MEN ARE OVERREPRENTED LGBTQ EMPLOYEE GROUPS

Not only is ed as shorthand to talk about work between alns, has also e to embody the ia that, as wh the experience of inty, the sourc of opprsn — sexism, homophobia, transphobia, racism — are ternnected. “I thk what [the foc on tersectnaly] do is brg everyone to rally around our victimhood, and that, fundamentally, is negative, ” said Jimmy LaSalvia, now a polil pennt who -found gay Republin group the Log Cab Republins. ”Kirchick said tersectnaly has ma the work of some LGBTQ+ anizatns herent, cg groups like Gays Agast Guns, which spng up after the Pulse massacre Orlando last year.

“You n support gun ntrol, but I don’t see what that has to do wh beg gay, ” Kirchick said.

“And the notn that gay-rights groups should be weighg at all on [the] abortn issue is prepostero. ”Erasg Gay Whe Cisgenr Men? But even some progrsive gay whe men say they feel alienated om a movement they see beg more radil, particularly onle, where the tenor of nversatn is often uncivil.

HERE'S ONE BTAL TTH EVERY WHE GAY MAN NEEDS TO HEAR

This clus downplayg the role of gay men the 1969 Stonewall rts that kicked off the morn-day LGBTQ-rights era. “People lerally say that gay whe men have done nothg for the movement for the last 50 years, ” he said. ”But Olson, who is gay and married, add that the ternal nflict the LGBTQ+ movement is currently experiencg — and the drop-off participatn om those at the top — was to be expected after marriage equaly.

A gay whe married man, he said he “showed up for marriage and looked at issu that followed and stepped back out. Durg the marriage fight, he worked wh black fah lears who supported gay marriage. Uned by the Vietnam War, was an “credible era of dialogue” between social-jtice groups of starkly different Gay Liberatn Front marched wh the Black Panthers and participated antiwar monstratns.

“Homophil, ” as they lled themselv back then, took on issu like police reform at a time when law enforcement routely entrapped gay men stgs. The movement was not only far more centralized than today, when several large LGBTQ+ advocy anizatns wh lots of money generally set the agenda; was stacked wh crics of palism, cludg munists like Harry Hay, who -found early homophile anizatn the Mattache Society.

ARE MORY MEN MORE LIKELY TO BE GAY? WHY?

In 1989, the first gay-pri march through Washgton, D. “This Is Not a Pole Thg”To those experiencg opprsn on several onts — those at the tersectns — the sensibili of gay whe cisgenr men seem bi the pot.

” He noted that AIDS activism the 1980s and 1990s — which gay men and their alli chaed themselv to ernment buildgs and performed die-s on the streets of major ci — was hardly pole.

” said Moore, who lled on LGBTQ anizatns to endorse Black Liv Matter on Alli, Our SelvNot all gay whe cisgenr men see the LGBTQ+ movement’s tersectnal turn a negative light. Gay Pennsylvania Rep.