According to a study conducted by Stonewall, an LGBTQ charity, in conjunction with YouGov, a data analytics firm, 51 percent of people of color within the LGBTQ community have said that they have experienced some type of racism within the community.
In recognition of this reality, Binghamton University’s Rainbow Pride Union (RPU), in partnership with SHADES, hosted an open discussion on the issue on Monday, Feb. 25.
RPU aims to promote education and awareness for the LGBTQ community and is currently the oldest gender and sexual diversity group at BU since its founding in 1971. SHADES, which was founded in 2011 at the University, specifically strives to empower LGBTQ students of color.
According to Ruth Fatolitis, treasurer of RPU and a junior double-majoring in environmental studies and French, discussion on the underrepresentation and prejudice surrounding LGBTQ people of color is needed.
“I want people to get a sense that racism in the LGBTQ community isn’t just an abstract thing that we have a PowerPoint about,” Fatolitis said. “It’s something people experience in their actual lives.”
At the discussion on Monday night, organizers and attendees engaged in an open conversation on the issue. Attendees identified driving forces behind prejudice within the community, ranging from a lack of queer people of color in movies and media to a shortage of resources catered to queer youth of color.
However, the discussion highlighted technology’s role in perpetuating racism in the LGBTQ community, specifically through the toxic environment often found on queer dating apps, such as Grindr, which has recently come under fire for racist rhetoric. According to attendees, user profiles often list the user’s sexual preferences, which can include certain races and exclude others. In an effort to respond to the problem, Grindr launched its Kindr video initiative, which sought to tackle racism through community guidelines, stricter enforcement policies and a six-part series of awareness videos.
Nevertheless, this type of discrimination is something Jorwell Perez, a junior majoring in human development, said he has come to know personally.
“I have seen firsthand the types of things that are said on these apps,” Perez said. “But more so in the hypersexualized way. Guys will always write things like ‘speak Spanish to me’ on these sites.”
Those in attendance also discussed possible solutions to this issue, envisioning the LGBTQ community as a more inclusive space for its members. Helene Vasquez, a sophomore majoring in computer engineering, said she was excited to participate in such an open conversation and discuss her experiences.
“I liked it — it wasn’t what I was really expecting,” Vasquez said. “I expected close-minded people and that wasn’t anybody.”
For Daniel Miranda, secretary of SHADES and an undeclared freshman, discussions like these are important in recognizing the racism that lies within the LGBTQ community.
“We need to have this discussion [among] the community because it is evident,” Miranda said. “I feel like people who are not people of color sometimes don’t realize the racism that is in the community so this is a good conversation to have.”