The last few weeks have not been a great time for race relations in America. While many non-whites are familiar with the subtle racism that permeates American society every day, the current conversation is about overt racist statements that are simply intolerable.
Why am I writing about this? Simply, the LGBT community is no different than any other community when it comes to race. I have explained how the pick-up of our newsmagazine is less if we put an African American, Latino or Asian on the cover. The same is true if we have a woman or older person on the cover.
The content and quality of San Diego LGBT Weekly is consistently good, as evidenced by our 26 awards from the San Diego Press Club over the last three years. All of our competitors combined have received fewer than five awards. Yet something happens to the pick-up of our publication if the face on the cover is not white or male.
I understand this situation well but feel that LGBT Weekly should reflect the underlying community. We are white, black, brown, yellow as well as male, female, transgender, old and everything in between. The same lack of pick-up kept African American, Latino and Asian models from the covers of Vogue, Cosmopolitan and other fashion magazines for decades.
So should LGBT Weekly not put African Americans, Latinos, Asians, women or older people on the cover? Of course not. What is of concern is what happens when a person sees the cover with a minority, older person or woman featured and decides not to pick up LGBT Weekly; subtle internalized racism that the person probably is not even aware of.
Just like the broader community, there is overt racism in our community as well. For years many have tried to say “I am attracted to what I am attracted to, I don’t date (insert race here) people.” No matter how you cut it, that is a racist statement. No different than the overtly racist comments of the Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling or the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was being heralded by conservatives as a defender of individual rights because he is not paying the government for allowing his cattle to graze on federal lands. Sterling did not want his girlfriend to bring any black people with her to his Clippers’ games. Bundy thinks that “negroes” were better off as slaves as opposed to relying on the federal government.
So this is the post-racial Obama America? That is what all the media pundits were predicting if Obama were elected in 2008; a new America that would move beyond the race issue. Could they have been more wrong? Racism, sexism, ageism and homophobia are alive and well in America. Unfortunately, the LGBT community mirrors the communities that discriminate against us. Sometimes you just don’t want to get out of bed in the morning.
STAMPP CORBIN
PUBLISHER
San Diego LGBT Weekly
