Queer People of Color

[mieystrapurore]

My alma mater recently started up a group for queer people of color and the issue of membership has brought up the discussion of identity. I'm curious to know how many of you identify as a queer person of color. If so, how often and how closely do you affiliate with the term 'person of color'? Does it take a secondary to your queerness or ethnicity

Comments

[mieystrapurore]

It's such a fun word to use! =)

[mieystrapurore]

It's such a fun word to use! =)

[tisoi]

I identify as gay/queer and I am technically a "person of color" though I don't really use the term to describe myself - I just refer to my specific ethnicity. I just never felt a strong connection to the term.

I use "gaysian" jokingly ;-)

[mieystrapurore]

I actually wasn't even aware that the term 'person of color' was used in the US because I first heard it in Australia (and thought it was an Australian term). Have you come across it much?

[tisoi]

Yes, I'd say it's very common. It's the preferred, more PC way of referring to minorities in the US. And I usually hear it from Blacks. But I don't really like it (hello? white's a color too? lol.. how's it different from saying a "colored person?").

Anyway, do you speak French? There's a French singer who sang "Femme de couleur" (Woman of color). Pretty catchy song!

[mieystrapurore]

I think ideally that's where we'd all like to be. But for many people, they don't get a choice in how others perceive them (in terms of race) and there's a lot of issues that come up from being a racial/ethnic minority. I used to never pay attention to race, even as a person of ethnic minority, because I felt that was the "fairer" thing to do. But after realizing that there are so many inequalities that exist still, I feel it's important to acknowledge race and be aware of those inequalities.

[everlastingway]

I think the point of the term is not so much for the purpose of identifying others as to self-identify. Being both LGBTQ and a person of color is important to many people, because each identity shapes a person's experience with the other. At least, that's the purpose I've heard for the term QPOC.