Narrators described their own experiences, or those they observed of others, of living and navigating the intersectional position of being a person of color at the same time as being LGBTQ+. Overwhelmingly, narrators spoke to the difficulties of creating and maintaining LGBTQ+ spaces and communities which were truly inclusive of people of color. The Charm City Kitty Club is a prime example. Several members speak to their experiences:
Jai Brooks, longtime performer and organizer:
…What was complicated was being… of color. [laughs] Um, some of the butch-femme stuff, you know, ’cause I kind of…like I’ve been in a lot of communities [laughs]. There’s a butch-femme community, and there’s the kinky community I’m in. There’s um, you know, the artist community, and, and then being of color and navigating all that. It was… it was challenging, as it has been in the Kitty Club, which has been a place where I would say, um, I don’t know if you’re familiar with the book, A Bridge Called My Back. Um, but I would say in the Kitty Club that I was… that my back was the bridge, you know, and I certainly, there were times where I had to do a lot of the heavy lifting, um, around, uh, people of color, and stuff, cuz, like, with the Lesbian Avengers, when it started, there were six of us. And it was like three white folks and three folks of color. And, we uh, but people were like, “oh, that’s a white girl thing,” and-and wouldn’t get involved! And I was like, “it doesn’t have to be! We can make it what we want!” But they didn’t. And then it was. And then I’m like tryna, bring people in, you know, and it was a similar kinda thing in the beginning with uh, with the Kitty Club, of like, me sorta trying to bring and then retain the folks of color [laughs]. Um, but Elle, who you probably, or somebody will probably interview, who’s actually white, was really good at bringing folks of color in too. So that, helped. Like I said it wasn’t, it was- there was the culture of the Kitty Club, and the culture of organizations, you know, they have a life of their own. But it was also the energy of people outside looking in saying, “this isn’t for me.” When it-it really was. So, that was a challenge.
Elle Trusz, performer and organizer, said that many Black and Brown community members left the group due to experiencing racism and getting tired of explaining themselves to white members. She recounts how it was “like pulling teeth to get white members to do the work.”
At UMBC, undergraduate student Precious Omoniyi shared that she “does not feel comfortable in queer spaces on campus” and that most queer folks on campus she sees are white, and she doesn’t know how to fit in with them. However, despite not feeling like there is community at UMBC for her, she does feel comfortable expressing her queerness.
Read more about experiences of being LGBTQ+ at UMBC here.