Reflecting on a Colorful Conference
This February six PENN students went to the Second Annual East Coast Queers of Color Conference at Brown University. With several guys in drag greeting us, the conference was off to a zestful start. The next day we attended talks and workshops that were educational, emotional, and erotic. For me, being in a place full of other queer students of color was exhilarating, as there are so few of us at most universities. I was also pleased that there were many white people at the conference who were as interested in the issues of queers of color as I was.
After the conference we reflected on our experiences. Here are some excerpts:
Steven: Steph, what was the weirdest thing you learned?
Stephanie: I can't say anything I learned was particularly weird. I learned that coming out stories for women are often quite similar having heard several when some of us were just hanging out. I think that I learned about the shadier side of gay bars too, from one of the workshops -- interracial dating. It would seem that men are very bound to stereotypes, based on an exercise in the workshop, including stuff like rice or dinge queen. I was surprised at how quickly these things came out. Women's categories did not get nearly as much of this sort of thing. It was as if the guys were willing and eager to put themselves down.
Steven: What was it like being a white person at a LGBT people of color conference?
Stephanie: It was nice, in that the world is so irritatingly segregated... It was refreshing and invigorating to break away from the usual state of things. I was a little disappointed, however, when I learned that the workshops reserved for only people of color were cool. I respect safe space for expression, but I didn't get to play with crayons, and I heard one of the separated groups did.
Stephanie: Rina, what was your least favorite part about the conference?
Rina: I wish they had exercises that made it easier to get to know the other students at the conference and at the same time talk about issues concerning queer minorities. It was great to have workshops and speakers, but three workshops back to back was tiring.
Stephanie: Do you feel that issues important to you were addressed?
Rina: I think a lot of issues concerning queer African-Americans and Latinos were addressed, maybe because they made up most of the students that were there. I was hoping that there would be more Asians, especially women since I feel that there aren't many out Asian women at all. I can count the number of Asian women who are out to their family and friends on one hand. Sometimes I feel that lesbianism isn't acknowledged in Asian culture; we tend to be ignored, out of the picture, except of course in porn.
Rina: K'haria rai zen, what do you think was the most striking or interesting thing about the conference?
K'haria rai zen: I thought it was kind of interesting that they kept minorities out of the "How to be an Ally" workshop. I think a mixed group could have gotten into some really groovy discussions, where both sides could have spoken from their own experiences.
Rina: What do you think is the most important issue facing queer minorities?
K'haria rai zen: Oh wow. Homophobia in their communities that lead to a lack of non-white role-models for queer youth and racism in the queer community. You don't get accepted at home because you're queer, but when you seek out acceptance in the queer community, you're unwelcome there too. You often feel as if you're the only one.
K'haria rai zen: Ilana, how can you be an ally to LGBTQ people of color?
Ilana: The main thing is that there's a lot of diversity out there and we can all be more sensitive about it. The most important thing is being conscious of different ethnicities when planning events, maybe even overt efforts to include people of color. Many times when a "queer" event is put together organizers unconsciously make it white-centered. When people think of "gay" and "lesbian" people they almost always see whites in their minds, and we as queers need to work on that from the inside before we can expect society to think differently.
K'haria rai zen: Do you feel that LGBTQ people of color have needs that differ from other LGBTQ folks?
Ilana: ...I think they would have different needs and problems in the queer community. It's like the "minority within a minority" thing. It must be tough. I'd say inclusion in the queer community would be even more important to queer people of color because, many of them are no longer accepted in their old support networks. It's not that white people don't experience the loss of support nextworks too, but I think it's more serious when its a person of color. I would guess that they would need the ethnic ties more than white people because they deal with racial discrimination. I'm not sure about this and am just guessing... One "need" of a queer person of color is to not be stereotyped by other queers--the people s/he's turning to for support.
Steven: I can't wait to go to the conference again next year. I think it'll only get better.
Steven Huang, Stephanie Marrs, Rina Borromeo,
K'haria rai zen, Ilana Tannenbaum
University of Pennsylvania Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center
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