Since some of you were asking about it, here is something interesting:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/stacylambe/37-members-of-congress-pose-for-the-noh8-campaign
Additionally, Atlanta Pride is this weekend: http://atlantapride.org/
Ferraro Speech on Discrimination. Emory Report 1988
On October 1988, Geraldine Ferraro, the first Democratic female candidate for Vice President, addressed the consequence of discrimination and the health of our nation.
“According to Ferraro, discrimination is a dysfunctional and maladaptive tendency. It gives rise to hunger, crime, and the spread of one of the century’s most debilitating diseases- AIDS.”
This article, found in the Emory Report for October 10, 1988 addresses some important questions. Does discriminations directly correlate with the spread of HIV AIDS? If this is true then, does discrimination directly lead to the lose of lives? We have already encountered how radical discrimination can lead to destruction and mass death as in Holocaust Nazi Germany and how it only took one man to raise a community against a specific people. This one idea- this one negative distinction was responsible for millions of lives. How about today? Will our ignorance and lack of understanding eventually transform to massive death? Can we realize that because of discrimination, we are robbing society of talent, artistic expression and individuality? I think that these are the questions that Ferraro herself had and tried to emphasize in her speech.
If this is true, that we are a discriminatory society, then are we (the public) more responsible for the spread of AIDS then the actual AIDS holders? If we cannot realize that the LGBTQ community is just as much as part of our society then, can we realize that we too are also responsible for sickness, fear, and crime? Ferraro explained that if you have an individual who was HIV AIDS positive then he/she would be less likely to advertise it because of the negative views of society. Society will automatically assume that this person is rather pernicious and if he is male, then that automatically makes him gay and not “normal.” What if however, this individual contracted AIDS from his mother, who was AIDS positive, does that make him less fit? Or what if this individual was a health care provider and he somehow contracted the disease by an infected needle? How are we going to know this if we are going to automaticity assume that he is gay? For this reason, these individuals are less likely to advertise and inquirer others of their illness and thus, spread the virus even further.
I think that this speech is appropriate for its time, the 1980’s, because of the huge increase of AIDS positive cases in the United States. This was a way for Ferraro to voice her concerns of our well-being and tried to educate others on the negative affects of discrimination towards others. If individuals begin to claim their disease, do we as a society still need to make their lives more difficult by separating them from society and deeming them “bad” for everyone? No, I think that once someone has the courage and wiliness to claim their illness do we (the public) then have to recognize this accomplishment and honor them by accepting them for their courage and lend them support.
“Non-dicrimation must become more than just a nice idea. Discrimination is the most unpatriotic of acts. By blocking the expression of talent and by preventing individuals from soaring, they (institutions) rob the entire nation of the greatness it could attain.” – Geraldine Ferraro
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/fashion/helping-a-gay-child-to-come-out.html?pagewanted=1&src=dayp&adxnnlx=1349702163-tEMa7p2/IXXMjKvLa94Rpg
I’m starting to wonder if one of you works for The New York Times.
When I asked my roommate if she knew what being on the down low was, she asked me if I meant at Emory or in the real world. “At Emory, it’s just like keeping something secret or discreet but… [the down low] is really about being gay,” she told me. After telling her about Boykin’s description of the original meaning behind the phrase1, she explained that in the HIV positive community, it’s pretty obvious no one thinks the phrase is used to describe a cheater. Having never heard the phrase outside of the ‘Emory’ connotation, I honestly wouldn’t have guessed either meaning.
I have never been actively involved in activism to de-stigmatize anything, but until college I had never really been exposed to the stigma associated with drug use or homosexuality. Perhaps because of the acceptance offered in my community or simply a lack of exposure to the levels faced in other communities, I had a hard time believing that such problems were so prevalent.
In the book Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South, Johnson interviewed men about their experiences over time with or without committed partners. The interviews tended to include details about monogamy, family reactions, how men met their partners and how others had treated them because of their sexuality. Although the interviews occurred in the South and the men involved had all settled there, many interviews included details about partners living or being from somewhere out west (many in California) or the men meeting partners in other places. They didn’t all experience the same problems. Some had a much less difficult time of finding acceptance than others, however, they all experienced some major form of social discrimination or family pressure2.
The South is often depicted as more religious and conservative than most of the United States. In fact, this is definitely the case. Even within the last decade, interviews and research have shown that homosexuality is still a serious battle to face. In Charleston, the fight for same sex marriage hasn’t even reached a point where it’s worth advocating, because more basic issues have yet to be addressed3. Right now gay and lesbian advocates are currently working with police and school districts to promote work place equality and enact hate-crime laws. Promoting these small steps of improvement across South Carolina is their first goal.
There is such a large population of gay men in Atlanta that I have luckily gotten to become acquainted with a few of them and now feel more knowledgeable about and driven to actively support the rights of all LGBTQ people. While across Georgia things might be different, I haven’t seen much animosity toward gay men in Atlanta. I must admit however, that I don’t know many black gay men. It is only through our readings, as well as the stories of friends and peers, that I have been exposed (and only slightly) to the often completely unsupportive opinions of the black community toward non-heterosexuals.
This lack of support is one of many examples of how African American males face more challenges and are given less support in the United States compared to other racial groups. According to a former chair of the Twenty-First Century Foundation, Reverend Alfonso Wyatt, black men and boys face unequal opportunities in “education, housing, health, structural employment, and disproportion in the criminal justice/foster care systems4.” I think a lot of the stigmatism surrounding black homosexuality can be tied to these deficits. A lack of education produces more ignorance in the community regarding HIV, an increased amount of time spent incarcerated increases the risk of having unprotected sex or even being raped, and less access to health care increases the risk of unknowingly transmitting diseases.
In a region of the country that is still so very far from acceptance, these disadvantages compound on black males to make their sexuality a big, must hide, secret. This creates a stigmatism that makes getting tested for HIV at a minimum difficult and embarrassing, but more often simply impossible. It creates the viewpoint that a black man always needs a ‘front’2 demonizing the men that won’t “come out” and say they’re gay.
South Africa just became the first country to nationally recognize a symbol, a six-colored flag, for the LGBTQI community5. Yet even in this country that already allows same sex marriage, the group that designed this flag is still working to spread the word to fight homophobia and promote equality.
[1] Boykin, K. (2010) 10 Things You Should Know About the DL. Stombler, Mindy (Ed), Sex Matters: The Sexuality and Society Reader. (pp. 336-337) Boston: Ally & Bacon
[2] Johnson, E. P. (2008) Sweet Magnolias: Love and Relationships. Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South. (pp. 430-472) Chapel Hill: UNC Press
[3] Parker, Adam. (Aug 1, 2011) Being gay in Charleston: Socially, legally and religiously, attitudes are changing, but homosexuality is still very much in the minority. The Post and Courier. Charleston, SC. Oct 7, 2012 http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20110801/PC1602/308019952
[4] Badawy, Manuela. (2012) Soros urges philanthropists to invest in African American males. Reuters. New York http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/01/us-foundations-soros-idUSBRE89018R20121001
[5] Nathan, Melanie. (2012) South Africa first to recognize gay flag as an official national symbol. LGBTQNation. http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2012/10/south-africa-first-to-recognize-gay-flag-as-an-official-national-symbol/
I think that the struggle of the Gay and Lesbian community is much like that of any other minority, and in the last 20-30 years they have been going through one of the roughest parts of American acceptance. The author in this article compares ELGO groups to Black student groups and rightfully so. Do we not acknowledge these people for being hated against and not having an easy pursuit of happiness, and by doing this do we sometimes try to help them out? Does this acknowledgement invite hate towards the very group these organizations try to uplift into social acceptance?
Of course we make these groups to help discriminated people find a place, and of course the existence of these groups will cause hateful out lash just because they exist. As a Muslim American living in a post 9/11 America I have grown up in the prime of the Muslim/Pakistani hate, the prime of the paranoia. And what did I find? Hate for Blacks, Gays, Jews, Southerners, Indians and other American groups is so prevalent within the Muslim American population itself that i grew to hate the very people i was a part of. True Hate within Hate. All Americans hate on each other, but I honestly think that until one has been hated and until one has had the right to hate back, a human being can not truly appreciate what they have and are a part of. Hate will not and can not disappear until we as a people realize that there is a thin line between love and hate, and that most hate comes from the pain one will suffer at the hands of another hurt and pained individual. One must realized that the hate one expresses is often the hate that one will be confronted with.
In my opinion we do not hate each other, not at all. Our biological responses to love and hate are the very similar, so when we see someone who we hate that feeling is nothing but a reflection of the love that we all wish we would have gotten. The love we all wish we could have shared.
I feel that in today’s society, we tend to overlook the severity of discrimination that still exists against inter-racial relationships. With gay marriage as a major political debate, it is easy to forget that mixed-race marriage was against in the law in our country until 1967. Through his interviews with various couples, Patrick Johnson demonstrates the struggles that many gay couples have been forced to face – including racism. In his book, Sweet Tea, Johnson interviews various men who were in committed, long-term, gay relationships. Johnson not only focused on the homosexual relationships, but also inter-racial relationships between gay individuals.
I would love to see how well The Notebook or Hunger Games would have done in the box office if the main character wasn’t white, or better yet, wasn’t heterosexual. Johnson’s unique approach to this paper was interesting, and reminded me that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is just as wrong as racial discrimination.
Bob’s story in Johnson’s Sweet Tea was a touching and poetic. While reading his story, I couldn’t help but think that his experience consisted of every element necessary to create a blockbuster romantic film. Bob met his partner in the military in 1968. The two didn’t see each other again until John happened to come across his number a year later while enrolled in Emory’s nursing program. Rare stories like this are all you need to make a romantic movie; however, I wonder how many people would run to the movie theater to catch this love story between two men. Lately, there have been many movies and television programs with homosexual themes (e.g. Milk, HBO), but I think it is overly optimistic at this point to say that discrimination (racial, sexual orientation) doesn’t exist in Hollywood any more. In fact, racism is still very much alive – especially in Hollywood. Brokeback Mountain was groundbreaking in Hollywood film history. It opened the doors for filmmakers to take on gay themes in film without as much fear of failure. I can’t help but wonder… how would the reaction to the film have changed if one of the main characters had been black. An inter-racial, gay relationship? I think I know what the answer to that question is… but I will let you decide.
Another Part of Bob’s story that caught my eye was the fact that he met his partner in the Military. Racial segregation was government policy until Truman’s order in 1948, which allowed for people with any race, color, religion, and national origin to have equal treatment. It boggles my mind how It was only a year ago when “don’t as, don’t tell” was repealed. People, regardless of sexual orientation, were allowed to serve openly in the military. Wikipedia’s definition of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) is: a United States policy that prohibited military personnel from discriminating against closeted homosexual/bisexual service members, while barring openly gay/lesbian/bisexual person from military service. The only thing I can think of is why the hell did it take so long for this ridiculous policy to get repealed?
The articles we read solely focused on gay men as opposed to both genders within homosexuality. It is important to realize that men and women are not thought of equally- especially when discussing same sex relationships. In one of CDC’s regular health surveys, it was noted that there was an increased trend in the percent of women who had a homosexual experience in the past 10 years. Why would the sexual encounters of women increase but men stay fairly stagnant?
I believe that it’s the stigma associated with lesbians and gays. The media displays female homosexuality as hot and erotic. These ideas are reciprocated through the impressionable minds of young ones. I don’t think our society would use the same adjectives to describe male homosexuality. So there are negative connotations associated with gay men. This is a case of double standards where one gender is unfairly scrutinized. An example of this is in the 1981 Emory Report, mentioning male nurses are discriminated against their female counterparts. It might not mean much when reading, but it impacts a lot of men.
There was a recent psychological study done that focused on the arousal patterns of males. It was found that although many men might categorize themselves as bisexual although they were only attracted to males. Similarly we read about men on the “down low” who will have encounters with other men while not identifying as bisexual or homosexual. I think there are many reasons why men would not want to identify as gay (an extreme over being bisexual). As seen in the Emory Report from 1985-1987, it is very clear that homosexuality was a trait that was discriminated against. It would have put a faculty member at risk for their position, a student in fear of their grades, and unfair restrictions on a group.
It seems weird to think that in progressive times, we are still discriminating. In a time when we have debates about same-sex marriage, discuss sexuality in schools and households; we still have people fearful of revealing their identity. Even when an entire university tries to prevent discrimination, they fail to mention discrimination towards homosexuals. Steps need to be taken and stereotypes need to be removed before we start seeing a change in the trends.
http://brainblogger.com/2010/12/06/is-the-future-bisexual/
Queer Identity in the South
Talks with S
10/05/2012
The question I wish to address is: Can one be categorized as gay (or lesbian) only when one is able to come out? Some may agree to this, explaining that only after “coming out” can one enjoy the so- called advantages or LGBT led- community privileges of being gay. One benefit is the formation of a community that can together experience the difficulties that one may have to face within our society, thereby minimizing the impact of such stress on oneself. The overall advantage that the entire LGBT community may encounter is its visibility, since an increasing number of individuals are able to find their niche in the new “inclusive model.” “Coming out has been used as an effective political tool, based on the logic that until gays and lesbians are ‘seen’ as a significant minority voting group, we will not have access to civil or human rights. One has to be visible to ‘have’ an identity” (Smith 374).“The act of coming out and the coming-out narrative have been considered foundational to the development of a lesbian/ gay group consciousness” (Smith 373). Back in the 1940’s and 1950’s “coming out” was about acknowledging “ones feelings.” This process only included admitting to oneself and other trusted friends or family members that one had same-sex desires (Smith, 374). Now it seems as though “coming out” is a process where one is required to literally “come out” of ones comfort zone and address their sexual preference to the entire human population. In my opinion, “coming out” to oneself is essential as this leads to one respecting themselves, and giving due credit to ones own desires. This is required to attain mental, physical and physiological peace. Although there may be advantages of “coming out” to society as well, it can lead both ways, leaving the individual in deep distress. This decision should be personal after weighting all pros and cons; however, acknowledging ones sexual desires to themselves should be of utmost importance. One should have enough admiration for themselves to “come out” of their own closet with themself.
While there can be severe drawbacks of “coming out” anywhere in America, the shortcomings can be worse in the South. This is so because some may consider the South to be more racist, more sexist, more violent, more heterosexist, and more violent that the North (Smith 378). In general, the terms “southern” and “queer” do not go hand-in-hand. This is because Southerners are also considered “more passionate, more religious, more polite, and more generous than the rest of the nation” (Smith 378). It is viewed that Southerners hold high significance for family values, and this is their utmost priority in life. On the other hand, queer individuals are looked as individuals who are “inimical to the nuclear family” and they prioritize their same-sex desires before their family values (Smith 379). Thus, it may seem difficult for one to be a Southern gay. Donna Jo Smith states,
What could be more apparent, this [it’s harder to be queer in the South than in the rest of the nation] myth assumes, than that queers in the South not only would want to leave home but literally would be ‘required’ to leave home, as a matter of survival? And of course, like all myths, this one contains its grain of truth, reflecting some southern queer realities (381).
While this may hold true for “some” Southern queers, it may not do so for all. Some southerners actually want to stay in the South because they love the south and would deal with all the nuances they may have to face because of their love for the south. “They [white southern queers] are from the South, they like the South, and they will fly the Confederate flag proudly if they feel like it” (Smith 380).
As a particular example, Southern gay black men, like everyone else, “wish to be desired and are on the lookout for companionship, in spite of the difficulties they face [d] in society, within their families, and with each other” (Johnson 430 & 431). In the various stories on love and relationships presented by E. Patrick Johnson, in Sweet Magnolias, we encounter various such real life encounters. Many stories had people claim that they received great support from the Southern families of their same-sex partners. Statements such as “friendly treatment by immediate family of their partners” (Johnson 459) and “a lot of warmth from family” (Johnson 460) were used in this essay. Other stories mentioned it to be very difficult to express their sexuality in the South if you were black and gay (Johnson 464). In my view, “Southerners” accepting people having same-sex desires are conditional to ones culture and upbringing, as combinations of diverse opinions are found everywhere. After all being from the South or North are just “state of minds” (Smith 377).
Citations:
Johnson, E. Patrick. “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South”
Smith, Donna Jo. “Queering the South: Constructions of Southern/Queer Identity”
Coming out takes a lot of courage and confidence. It can be rewarding, but also can lead to negative results. The pros of coming out are gaining self-confidence and becoming a part of a new community. But sometimes, gay individuals can feel isolated and more comfortable just hidden from society staying in the closet [1].
Unfortunately gay and lesbian people have been faced with much social bullying in America. As stated in the New York Times on May 20, 2011, a homosexual freshmen at Rutgers University committed suicide after his roommate had put up a video of a romantic interlude with him and another man [2]. This is extremely unacceptable and it is terrible that things like this are still happening in the world.
After this, the New York Times began a project entitled “Coming Out” so America could better understand this generation’s realities and expectations [2]. They contacted about 100 gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender kids from all types of environments and spoke with them. It is interesting to see how gay individuals face different treatment in various parts of the country. There is even another project called the “The Trevor Project” which hopes to provide counseling to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender kids. I’m glad there are support groups for individuals that have to go through bullying like this. No one should have to go through this sort of trauma.
Even though instances such as these have been happening up till present day, efforts have been taken to prevent them since 1996. In the Emory Report on September 30, 1996, it was stated in an article titled “Shared Heart exhibit features stories of lesbian and gay youth” that “the shared heart exhibition’s creators hope that the stories of courage and victory told by the young people whose lives are documented in the text and photos will help create a sense of belonging for lesbian, gay and bisexual students and build understanding and acceptance with their peers, teachers, parents and communities”. This is reassuring that there are many efforts being taken in order to prevent this discrimination.
In addition, in the Emory Report on June 9, 1997, in an article titled “’Queering the South’ connects academics, activists and artists” states that there was a conference that will “bring together representatives from each of these groups to focus on how living in the South shapes lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender experiences”. Again almost a year later after the Shared Heart exhibition, there are even more conferences addressing issues amongst these individuals.
People are definitely aware of the type of bullying that occurs among homosexual individuals, and many people actively take actions to prevent this bullying. In media especially, with shows like Glee where they show same sex kissing, these interactions are being shown as acceptable in society [2]. Even pop stars such as Lady Gaga sing songs indirectly accepting different people with her song entitled “Born This Way”. But there will always be people who are not ok with this type of interactions.
[1] Queering the South: Construction of Southern/Queer Identity by Donna Jo Smith
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/us/23out.html?_r=0
