Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Journal Review & Thoughts - Communities & Sterotypes


Moore:
 In this article Moore did an analysis of many pieces of data as well as hands on experiences and fieldwork in order to better understand the struggle of LGBTQ blacks in their own community. The article starts with Prop 8 in California during the 2008 election, which overturns a CA Supreme Court decision that had legalized gay marriage. Historically blacks had been less accepting of LGBTQ rights and were blamed for aiding the proposition to pass 52% to 48%. The author believes the numbers of blacks voting against gay marriage were exaggerated, however, it is important to note that the statistics are indeed there, even for democratic blacks and communities that should be supporting the LGBTQ struggle. An interesting fact the author mentions is that blacks in general prescribe to “linked fate”, they make decisions based on what they assume will be good for the community as a whole. Accordingly, this leads to blacks avoiding LGBTQ activism, especially because the LGBTQ community in black neighborhoods is not very visible. They stay undercover and use a technique called “covering” in order to save face in their own community. This makes sense if you look at the attitudes and history of LGBTQ in black communities, however, if things are to change the LGBTQ members in the black community need to become visible and vocal. This did happen during the following Kingdom Day Parades and has caused overall success for the community as a whole.
 Q: In your opinion what causes the community to be opposed to LGBTQ rights, even in one that has had such struggle in their own civil rights movements?

Berube:
 Berube discusses how most people in general have a set stereotype in their minds about certain classes, races, genders, etc. For gay men this seems to be, “white and well-off”. The article explains that most gay social and activist circles continue patterns of racial separation by being mainly white. The vision of the national gay movement and media turned away from more general support of freedom, liberation and social justice to expressing personal pride, achieving visibility and lobbying for individual equality within existing institutions. Promoting this generic gay community had unintended negative effects. By mostly identifying with and being represented by upscale, white men with mainstream views. They were able to become visible and spread the struggles of the LGBTQ community, but this lack of diversification inadvertently reinforced a racialized class divide that still has a firm grip on the nation. This is bad for the LGBTQ community and equality as a whole. The lGBTQ community should try to diversify in order to achieve greater acceptance from all other communities and thereby society in general. They should also fight for more generalized issues such as universal health care, welfare, unemployment, unionizing, abortion rights and so on. This will also help strengthen the community by bringing them together with non-LGBTQ members in order to fight for the rights that affect all people and advocating for acceptance by showing they are also like everyone else with these concerns.


Q: What do you believe causes even the LGBTQ community to effectively be somewhat segregated, mirroring society, rather than consciously uniting to benefit an fit for their cause?

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