LGBT minorities not only face oppression because of their sexual orientation/identification, but they also face oppression and discrimination because of their race, gender, social, and economic statuses. The LGBT community not only struggles against heteronormativity, which is “both those localized practices and those centralized institutions which legitimize and privilege heterosexuality and heterosexual relationships as fundamental and ‘natural’ within society,”[1] but they also struggle to have other identities considered other than their sexuality, which foster the further discrimination that the LGBT community faces, such as race, gender, economic status, etc.[2] LGBT members of color that are not married, have children, practice “non-heteronormative” sex, and have low income, face more issues other than trying to fight for equality based off of their sexuality but also for people of color. Whereas, white, upper-class LGBT members face fewer obstacles because of their social, racial, and economic status, but they still find discrimination because of their sexuality. This difference between LGBT members of color and the issues they face, and the issues that white LGBT members face is part of the homonormative structure, where the values that heteronormativity fosters are implemented into homosexuality. Cohen also states, “Specifically, I am concerned with those manifestation of queer politics in which the capital and advantage invested in a range of sexual categories are disregarded and, as a result, narrow and homogenized political identities are reproduced that inhibit the radical potential of queer politics.”[3] Therefore, even within the LGBT community, there is heteronormativity, but it is transformed into homonormativity, where LGBT members that are not of color are far more accepted by society than those who are of color because of their race, social and economic statuses. LGBT members of color not only fight for equality for their sexual identities, but also for social equality. Social movements within the late 20th century demonstrate the cohesion of these rights that LGBT members of color were fighting for.
The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) not only fought against police brutality and discrimination, but they also were alliances with the Black Panther Party that fought for rights of minorities, more specifically African Americans. The Black Panther Party leader, Huey Newton declared support for the “Gay Cause, saying that homosexuals were maybe the most oppressed people in American society, and could well be the most revolutionary.”[4]
The GLF also was alliances with The Young Lords. The Young Lords were made up of mostly Puerto Ricans but accepted other minorities too and were located in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and they fought for equal resources and opportunities for minority communities. They set up breakfast programs for children, clothing programs, health services for preventative care and rehabilitation.[5] The adaptation of supporting women’s liberation started the Young Lords’ Lesbian and Gay Caucus.[6]
The Gay Latino Alliance (GALA) was founded by gay Chicano/as. GALA challenged stereotypes about Latino/a men and women, the challenges they faced as LGBT members in their Latino communities, and they also supported the same social movement goals of the Chicano movement.[7] Also within the Chicano movement was the NACCS’s (National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies) Lesbian Caucus which addresses LGBT obstacles within academic associations and developing Chicano/a studies.[8] Because of the GALA, other organizations for LGBT members of color arose: Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLUU), Lesbianas Unidas (LU), Ambiente Latino and Las Mujeres Alegres, Houston, TX Gay Hispanic Caucus, and an African American lesbian organization called Soul Sisters that also included Latinas.[9]
The relationship between LGBT movements and multicultural movements is that they are both fighting for equal rights for humans. Specific movements tend to focus a sole thing that they want to change or attain to get the outcomes that they are requesting; however, when putting these two movements together, there is a broad range of issues that have to be addressed. Within multicultural movements, members are fighting for equal rights because of the inequalities and discrimination that they face because of their gender, color, economic status etc., and LGBT movements tend to focus on the right to act upon their sexual orientation and not be discriminated against because of it. However, there are multicultural groups and movements that have supported LGBT rights and vice versa. This unity between both movements not only brings to attention that there is an issue of heteronormativity in the U.S., but there is an issue of basic human rights that are being violated and that are unaddressed because of political and religious values that are getting in the way within state politics. Bold text
- ^ Cohen, Cathy J. (1997). "Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?". GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian & Gay Studies. 3: 440.
- ^ Cohen, Cathy J. (1997). "Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?". GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 3: 441.
- ^ Cohen, Cathy J. (1997). "Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?". GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian & Gay Studies. 3: 441.
- ^ [file:///C:/Users/Maya/Desktop/GWS%20255/Palante!%20A%20Brief%20History%20of%20the%20Young%20Lords.html "A Brief History of the Gay Liberation Front, 1970-1973"]. Libcom.org. Retrieved 11/21/2014.
{{cite web}}:|first1=missing|last1=(help); Check|url=value (help); Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Morales, Iris (1998). "Palante, Siempre Palante! The Young Lords" (Temple University Press): 212–215.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ [file:///C:/Users/Maya/Desktop/GWS%20255/Palante!%20A%20Brief%20History%20of%20the%20Young%20Lords.html "Palante! A Brief History of the Young Lords"]. Libcom.org. Retrieved 11/21/2014.
{{cite web}}:|first1=missing|last1=(help); Check|url=value (help); Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Ramirez, Horacio N. Roque. "Gay Latino Alliance is Formed". Great Neck Publishing.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ "What is a Caucus?". NACCS. Retrieved 11/21/2014.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Ramirez, Horacio N. Roque. "Gay Latino Alliance is Formed". Great Neck Publishing.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help)