Very Few People Say “No Wh”: Gay Men of Color and The Racial Polics of Dire - PMC

Contents:

• TE LIFE DRAMA OF AN ASIAN AMERIN-WHE GAY COUPLE WHO ADOPTS BABY
• WHE GAY MEN REJECT ME BEE I’M ASIAN
• VERY FEW PEOPLE SAY “NO WH”: GAY MEN OF COLOR AND THE RACIAL POLICS OF DIRE
• I KNOW A LOT OF GAY ASIAN MEN WHO ARE ACTUALLY TOPS: MANAGG AND NEGOTIATG GAY RACIAL STIGMA

TE LIFE DRAMA OF AN ASIAN AMERIN-WHE GAY COUPLE WHO ADOPTS BABY

They still walk by me sometim, the mixed Asian and whe gay upl, and I se as both men seem to project their securi on to me, holdg hands a ltle tighter as they walk by. You n add another award to the imprsive rume of the Commment, a movie based on a te life story of an Asian Amerin and whe biracial gay uple who adopt a movie is directed by and stars Albert Chan, who himself adopted a baby wh his his hband. The film picked up the 2013 Natnal Associatn of Social Workers (NASW) Media Award to go wh the Audience Award for Bt Short at the 2013 Dperado LGBT Film Ftival Phoenix, Audience Favore (Short Seri) at the 2012 Palm Sprgs Gay and Lbian Film Ftival, an Award of Excellence at the 2013 Canada Internatnal Film Ftival, Bt Supportg Actrs at the Summer 2012 Asians on Film Ftival, and a Bt LGBT Film nomatn at the 2013 Out the Dert: Tucson’s Internatnal LGBT Film & director Albert Chan answered the followg qutns for AsAmNews.

It really all pends on a birthmother’s pot of view – perhaps she was raised by gay parents or had a gay siblg, or jt wanted to place her baby wh a uple who uldn’t blogilly have their what extent do beg both gay and a multi-racial marriage change the dynamics of raisg your child?

I also believe the power of teachg by example – if my fay don’t make a big al out of a gay uple raisg children, then chanc are that society also won’t much of the film is based on your own experience? But while preferenc are allowed (and gay men of lor have them, too), there’s no exce for lterg Grdr or Tr or Ren—or your nversatns bars—wh humanizg garbage like “no Asians, ” “no Blacks, ” “no femm, ” “no fatti, ” etc. And while racism is a problem the gay muny (sometim thoughtls, sometim malic, always unacceptable), acrdg to 2010 US Cens data, as cnched by the Williams Instute at UCLA, same-sex upl are far likelier to be terracial (20.

WHE GAY MEN REJECT ME BEE I’M ASIAN

So there’s hope—and I don’t mean “hope that EDDIE will one day land a magic whe boyiend, ” but hope for ls racism the gay muny generally and fewer racist Grdr profil specifilly. Now, I would never suggt that bi guys n’t honor monogamo mments—even though I routely say jt that about straight guys, gay guys, straight women, and lbians—but would be foolish for you to make a monogamo mment. Specifilly for gay men, a slim hairls body may provi men who posss those tras wh sexual currency at a “Twk bar, ” but those same tras would have ls currency at a “Leather bar, ” where burlier bodi are nsired more sirable.

While a number of different typ of sexual fields that n be found the gay muny have been discsed the amic lerature as well as the popular prs, there has been ls attentn paid to the ways that erotic words are socially anized (Mart and Gee 2006). To do so, we brgg together the sexual fields perspective wh the growg lerature on sexual racism, an act of eher sexually excludg non-wh as potential partners or cludg racial mori as sexual partners based only on racial several scholars have noted, ntemporary gay life is marked by high levels of racism directed towards gay men of lor by gay whe men, wh much of the racism maniftg self as negative sexual attus towards, and sexual excln or fetishizatn of, non-whe men (Armstrong 2002; Bébé 2001; Epste 1996; McBri 2005; Tenunis, 2007). After examg onle personal ads and terviewg gay men, Robson (2015) found that gay whe men often exclu gay men of lor as potential sexual partners while nyg that their racial preferenc are racist nature.

VERY FEW PEOPLE SAY “NO WH”: GAY MEN OF COLOR AND THE RACIAL POLICS OF DIRE

In fact, several studi have shown that gay whe men were much more likely to prefer their own race and actively exclu non-wh as potential sexual than gay men of lor (Lundquist and L 2015; Ph and Kfman 2003; Rafalow, Feliciano, and Robt 2017; Smh 2014). Dpe gay whe men’s sistence that sexual excln was not racism but rather personal preference, and that the personal preferenc have nothg to do wh racism, Collanr and his lleagu (2015) found that attus toward sexual excln were related to almost every intified factor associated wh racist attus general.

More importantly, the thors found that even gay whe men who do not actively engage acts of sexual excln were credibly tolerant of racist behavrs om other gay whe men who did.

Th, sexual racism should be unrstood not as personal preference, but as “problematic ndns that stcture the very formatn of romantic relatnships” that is neher benign nor trivial (Bedi 2015: 998) the ia of sexual racism has been wily discsed the popular prs, and amic studi have also documented the racial hierarchy of sire the gay muny, there have been fewer attempts to systematilly exame how such racialized hierarchi of sire are unrstood by gay men of lor and, more importantly, the impact the racial hierarchi have on them. Wh any sexual field, some dividual e to be seen as more sirable than other dividuals pendg on the tras that they posss that are valued by the specific sexual field which they discsg gay sexual fields, Green (2008; 2011) intifi a number of potential tras that fluence the level of sirabily that any given dividual might posss.

I KNOW A LOT OF GAY ASIAN MEN WHO ARE ACTUALLY TOPS: MANAGG AND NEGOTIATG GAY RACIAL STIGMA

As evinced by Green’s own acunts of his field work, and the statements ma by participants his study, race plays a pivotal role fg attractivens and sirabily across var sexual fields wh the gay muny. Whether the specific field qutn is a gay leather bar or a gay sports bar where different typ of drs, different amounts of body hair, etc., may be emed more sirable, race remas a nsistent, and nstant, marker of sirabily.

In fact, sire for whens has been noted by a number of scholars examg race and racism the gay muny (Callanr, Holt and Newman 2016; Han 2007; Robson 2015; McBri 2005; Tnis 2007) other characteristics intified by Green, such as clothg or mculary, whens is a central anizg prciple the gay muny (Bébé 2001; Han 2007). In promotg equaly through the normalizatn of (homo)sexualy at the expense of “non-gay” issu, gay anizatns such as The Human Rights Campaign promote a monolhic image of the “gay muny, ” as beg rich, nservative, and whe (Bébé 2001; Phelan 2001; Seidman 2002; Walters 2014).

The centraly of whens as the anizg prciple gay life leads to the creatn of a gay marketplace of sire where whens has a value, and of self, sexual exchange (McBri 2005).