It’s Time We Start to Diversify the Message
by D.A. Steward
When I think of the bicentennial celebrations laid out for Columbus this year, the festivities aren’t what immediately capture my attention. I think of this as period of reflection. How far has this city come and how far it still needs to go.
In December’s issue, Orie Givens wrote about the invisibility faced by LGBT people of color and how LGBT racial minorities are often left out of the mainstream LGBT conversation. As a black, gay, male writer growing up, and now living in this city I often think of all the stories that aren’t being told, especially among the LGBT people of color population.
As Givens mentioned, we’ve seen some success with shows like Noah’s Arc. But when I think back on the last few years and the LGBT stories that gripped the nation (i.e. Prop 8, Constance McMillen, gay bullying and the It Gets Better Project, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell), I mostly remember seeing white-washed coverage by the mainstream media.
Columbus is doubly guilty of this oversight. The Short North is an amazing, nationally recognized area that prominently features the LGBT community, but it’s also probably one of the least racially diverse areas of the city. And the number of times I’ve seen an openly gay person of color featured on a local news station, be it television, radio or newspaper, can be counted on my two hands.
Givens did a great job of detailing the issues faced by LGBT minorities and the disparities that exist within both the multicultural and LGBT community. Now that the conversation has been started, it’s time to hash out a solution. It’s time we started featuring other sides of the story.
Right now, Traxx Columbus, a Friday night-only dance club at the Outland building in The Brewery District, is the only club in the city that caters to the social and advocacy needs of the black gay community. (None that I know of exist for the gay Latino or Asian communities). New Leaf Columbus is the only local organization with a long and successful history of supporting gay people of color through education, activism and advocacy.
There are many things that could be done to improve this invisibility and disparity that exists for gay people of color here in Columbus. The festivities surrounding Pride need to include events that service EVERYONE in our community. A racially diverse gay club needs to be open daily in the Short North. And we need concerted efforts by organizations like Stonewall Columbus to partner with LGBT of color organizations. This would just be the beginning.
Using Facebook, I conducted a small, unscientific survey amongst some members of the LGBT of color community here in Columbus. I posed just one question: What do you think Columbus needs to make it a more welcoming place for gay people of color? The response was overwhelming. Here is just a small snap shot of what people had to say:“We need a greater, less-fetishized presence on High Street. SOME presence in the night life/drag community, better outreach and mostly some real, legitimate basic-level social gatherings.”
“WE, the gay peeps of color, need to be PRESENT. As I ask this, I am looking in the mirror: ‘Why would anyone include us if we don’t make ourselves present in the conversations?’ It is virtually impossible to change anything from withOUT; change comes from withIN organizations.”
“Mainstream LGBT organizations and media should strive to be much more inclusive in the language that they use, with the understanding that not everyone adheres to terms such as ‘queer,’ ‘LGBT,’ etc.”
“Everyone has the right to be identified as they see fit. With that said, maybe we need to examine why terms like “queer” or ‘LGBT’ are not adhered to, and find out what terms are more appropriate. With this [the media] needs your help.”
“We need to go beyond Stonewall, Equality Ohio and HRC to United Way funded agencies, ADAMH funded agencies, for-profit boards like Nationwide, Limited Brands and political offices like City Council, County Commissioner, State Representative/Senator and so on.”
“I guess my concern is making sure that [we address] the broad scope of diverse communities in the LGBT of Color Community. There’s such a broad scope in the African American community and if you expand beyond that, there’s Latino, South Asian, Asian, etc. I think those are all communities that also need to be addressed or given opportunities to be at the table.”
Though the current situation seems bleak, there is hope. A group of local activists have recently started the Columbus Black Gay Men’s Coalition and the AIDS Resource Center Ohio has recently received a substantial grant from the CDC to open the Greater Columbus Mpowerment Center, an organization that will work to specifically fight HIV/AIDS in the young black gay male community.
There is actually a history of progress being made on this issue in Columbus. In January 2008 New Leaf, Equality Ohio and HRC partnered to present “Community Conservations: Outreach & Community Building for Columbus’ LGBT Communities of Color” at United Way. The event was created in response to an LGBT Needs Assessment Survey that was conducted by United Way, Columbus AIDS Task Force (now AIDS Resource Center Ohio) and Stonewall, which received little to now response from gay people of color. A second conservation was organized in April 2010 to “check in” and discus what needed to be focused on going forward.
Aaron Riley, founder and director of New Leaf, graciously did some digging and sent me the minutes from these two meetings. Many of the responses above were included in the discussion (language barriers, media representation, mobilization, etc.) and there was even talk of starting LGBT of color sports groups, film festivals and youth mentoring programs.
“As a result of the first and second community conversation, there are a number of grass roots efforts that have been started,” Riley said. “Perhaps it is time to host another Community Conversation to make folks aware of what has been accomplished since 2010 and what is needed to continue building these efforts.”
Outlook is currently taking a stand as an ally, and will be starting a new column called “From the Other Side” that will fill this space every month with stories that feature gay people of color and organizations that support them from around the city and the country. Please send submissions or any story ideas to myself (dwayneasteward@gmail.com) or outlook Editor Erin McCalla (emccalla@outlookmedia.com).
Sociologists use the textbook term “the Other” to refer to racial minorities or anyone that falls outside of the dominating white, straight male demographic. Much like the word “queer,” it’s time we take this phrase back and make it something positive. It’s time to make the Other, the norm.
The LGBT community is forever evolving. We may no longer be fighting for the right to serve openly in the military, or to the keep the police from arresting us simply for being in a gay bar, but there are still the deeper roots of inequity that prevail and need to be tended. And Columbus is one of the largest gay Meccas in the country. Why can’t we be the city that leads this movement? We have the tools, now we just need to get to work.
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