A National Conversation about Race, Sexuality and Gender
The Equality Forward essays are a collection of stories about race, sexuality and gender from some of today’s most distinct voices in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-rights movement. Read their essays. Share your own story. Join us for a national conversation on August 13. And read more about Equality Forward.
This essay in the series is submitted by Faith Cheltenham, a web and media producer as well as a BiNet USA board member.
In 2004, Diane Finnerty, co-director of the Raíces (Roots) project at the University of Iowa wrote an open letter beseeching her white Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender sisters and brothers to recognize the danger of being “enlisted knowingly or unknowingly in [a] racist agenda.” Finnerty advocated against making “statements that diminish the impact of racism” like “I’m surprised that you, as a person of color, wouldn’t understand this is a civil rights issue.” While marriage equality has become a dominating issue for LGBT Americans, according to the Human Rights Campaign’s new study, “At The Intersection: Race, Sexuality and Gender,” LGBT people of color still experience more discrimination due to race than because of sexual orientation. Shedding light on everyday experiences of LGBT people of color, “At the Intersection” exposes a collective truth outside of just anecdotal evidence while suggesting key talking points for discussing social justice across lines we have too long used to define.
A few years ago, a white gay friend of mine continually challenged the everyday racism that I faced as a black woman in America. If there was no danger from the noose, he questioned “how bad can it really be?” One day he got a firsthand look at the annoyance and frustration which accompanies racial discrimination. We were shopping at a fabric store in Santa Monica, California where many store employees were black women wearing green aprons. I was in shorts, sneakers and a ripped t-shirt looking for shiny ribbons to finish off a birthday gift for a mutual friend. An older white woman stopped me first, “Hun, I’m looking for…” and I stopped her quickly saying, “I don’t work here, sorry.” My friend looked at me and shrugged, and I knew it barely crossed his mind, why out of all the customers in the store this woman had come up to me.
I broke a record that day with 6 other customers requesting assistance, one of them even stomping her little sandal in frustration, “You stop playing around with those ribbons and help the customers, Miss!” Finally, my friend got fed up when an elderly white woman tugged my sleeve while we were in line for our purchases and asked where the pattern department was. “What is WRONG with you WHITE People, I’m ashamed to be WHITE right now, SHE DOES NOT WORK HERE!” he roared, pointing at me. And we quickly skedaddled, a grin plastered over my face for his anger on my behalf was validating. My friend saw the ridiculous reverberations of race and spoke up, even if it didn’t directly affect him. If we do this enough for one another, soon we will exist without “others.” For as we cross the streets that intersect our lives, we lean around bends catching glimpses of people and pains we never knew existed.
Faith Cheltenham pounded pavement as a HRC “Campaign College” intern on the Gore 2000 campaign and was a cast member of “Black. White.” a 2006 Emmy-winning reality show on Race in America for FX Networks. A web and media producer, Faith’s clients have included Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York and Tor.com, a Science Fiction social networking website she co-developed. A 10-year Bisexual activist and BiNet USA Board Member, Faith is also an occasional contributing writer for advocate.com and stand-up comedian in Southern California.
Faith also created a film on the LGBT African American community with the contributions of Wayne Besen.
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