ISSUES
: Sexuality and Gender
Chapter 3: LGBTQ+ issues
25
Despite recent victories, plights of many
LGBT people remain ignored
By Doug Meyer, Lecturer of Women, Gender
& Sexuality, University of Virginia
T
o be sure, monumental
gains have been made for
LGBT rights over the past
decade: national marriage rights,
widespread media representations
and the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell”
in the military.
Yet often glossed over in the
coverage of political victories and
pop culture accounts, like the
recent film
Stonewall
, are those
among the LGBT community who
have yet to reap the rewards, who
remain marginalised, exploited and
victimised.
For example, just last week,
the National Coalition of Anti-
Violence Programs reported that
homicides of transgender or
gender-nonconforming
people
are happening at a startling rate.
This year, the number has already
reached 22 (compared to 12 in 2014
and 13 in 2013).
It’s a topic I explore in my recent
book
Violence against Queer
People: Race, Class, Gender,
and the Persistence of Anti-
LGBT Discrimination
, which, while
acknowledging certain political
triumphs, argues that the main
beneficiaries of these victories
seem to be a certain type of LGBT
person: white, gay, middle-class
men.
Still suffering
During my research, I interviewed
scores of those who still feel
threatened – and marginalised – by
their sexual identity.
For example, after running away
from home, Jayvyn, a 33-year-
old black gay man, experienced
violence in a group home for several
years. There, several of his male
housemates referred to him as “the
faggot” and would crush up glass,
sprinkling it in his bed while he was
sleeping. Jayvyn would awaken
with shards of glass stuck to his
skin.
Meanwhile, Lela, a 48-year-
old black transgender woman,
experienced similar violence in a
homeless shelter, where she was
the only transgender woman living
with men. Homeless shelters often
segregate residents based on birth
sex rather than gender identity,
which can expose transgender
people to tremendous amounts
of violence. Some of the men Lela
lived with in the homeless shelter
would hold her down while others
hit her with hard objects, including
socks filled with rocks or marbles.
Who’s left out?
If you saw the (widely panned) 2015
film
Stonewall
, you might think that
the gay rights movement reflected
the struggle of closeted, white,
masculine men. This whitewashes
the events of not just the Stonewall
Riots, but also the larger history
of LGBT activism. Many of the
participants in 1969’s Stonewall
Riots were actually transgender
women – known as “drag queens”
at the time – in addition to people of
colour, butch lesbians and feminine
gay men.
Rather than paying homage to
accounts of the riots, the main
character of the film ended up being
a white, conventionally attractive,
gay man.
But the Stonewall film is merely
part of a long history in which
marginalised LGBT people have
been sidelined. It doesn’t exclude
only women and LGBT people
of colour, but also homeless,
transgender and HIV-positive LGBT
people.
On the other hand, white and
financially well-off gay men have
routinely been catered to. The gay
rights movement has presented this
group as the face of the movement.
Most well-known LGBT activists
and spokespeople – Dan Savage,
Ellen DeGeneres and Dustin Lance
Black, to name a few – have been
white. And marriage has been their
call to arms; LGBT organisations
have insisted that this emphasis
moves the struggle for LGBT rights
forward.
The problem with this approach
is that it benefits a relatively small
group of LGBT people – the most
privileged. For example, many white
and financially well-off gay men
benefit from gay marriage becoming
the law of the land because of the
numerous financial rewards of
marriage. Yet for LGBT people like
Jayvyn and Lela, legalising gay
marriage doesn’t make much of a
difference in their day-to-day lives;
it does little to address the threat of
violence, nor does it release them
from the grip of poverty.
And because of discrimination in
the job market, women, transgender
people and black and Latino LGBT
people are less likely to be wealthy
in the first place, and therefore
less likely to benefit from these
approaches. Meanwhile, issues
such as homelessness or police
violence have been left off the
mainstream gay rights agenda.
A movement with
misplaced priorities
When it comes to any political
cause, money plays an important
role in whose voice is heard.
The problem, however, exists
beyond access to financial
resources. It has to do with the
An article from
The Conversation
.
