[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/the-rainbow-needs-more-color\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/the-rainbow-needs-more-color\/","headline":"The Rainbow Needs More Color","name":"The Rainbow Needs More Color","description":"The Rainbow Needs More ColorThe predominantly white LGBTQ community lacks diversity in its media coverage. By Jason Carson Wilson Our family can be both fickle...","datePublished":"2012-05-01","dateModified":"2021-07-08","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/admin\/#Person","name":"Equally Wed","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/author\/admin\/","identifier":787,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca62cf123aaaf135c80b055249bacbda79de9226e11cdfcde6529bedf89683de?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca62cf123aaaf135c80b055249bacbda79de9226e11cdfcde6529bedf89683de?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Equally Wed","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equally-wed-lgbtq-weddings-logo.jpg","url":"http:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equally-wed-lgbtq-weddings-logo.jpg","width":218,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/jason-carson-wilson-headshot.jpg","url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/jason-carson-wilson-headshot.jpg","height":100,"width":110},"url":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/the-rainbow-needs-more-color\/","about":["Viewpoints"],"wordCount":822,"articleBody":" The Rainbow Needs More ColorThe predominantly white LGBTQ community lacks diversity in its media coverage.  By Jason Carson WilsonOur family can be both fickle and hypocritical. Some gays put a premium on looks, sizes, shapes\u2014and color. \u201cDating\u201d sites feature requirements that some gay men demand. Many a profile practically shouts to blacks and Asians: Cruise on by.Writer Jimmy Nguyen bolsters the gay community\u2019s worship of the all-American male in a March 2011 Advocate.com commentary. In other words, in our community, if you ain\u2019t white, you just ain\u2019t all right. Even so, gay men who don\u2019t look like Brad Pitt or Christopher Meloni have found love.However, the fact remains that the rainbow isn\u2019t as colorful. Diversity Best Practices explored that reality in a post that almost immediately followed Nguyen\u2019s column.\u201cMuch like the mainstream population, the gay community is predominantly white\u2014a fact Nguyen attributes to the economic barriers to A-list outlets including gay bars, parties and even health clubs. He adds that gay social circles are typically not very race-inclusive, noting that even LGBT nonprofit organizations that champion equal rights are in need of diversity initiatives,\u201d Diversity Best Practices Editor-In-Chief Angela Johnson Meadows wrote.Even as they claim to speak for all LGBTQ citizens, they\u2019ve made many gay African-Americans feel like second-class citizens.  The group endures condescension, when taking issue with the struggle for marriage equality is compared to the black Civil Rights movement.As a gay and African-American writer, I don’t deny that marriage equality is a civil rights issue. There may be slight similarities to the struggles of African-Americans, but it\u2019s not exactly the same\u2014even if campaigns are built around the idea.Opponents of North Carolina\u2019s Amendment One have employed such a campaign. Amendment One would make \u201cmarriage between a man and a woman the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in [the] State,\u201d according to the ballot question.Fighting against this bigotry doesn\u2019t bother me. EVERY1AGAINST1 manipulating imagery to make its point offends. The group fighting Amendment One created various images with civil rights era themes. For instance, one photo features straight and gay water fountains, while another features a \u201cmarried couples only\u201d sign.This is why many gay African-Americans feel marginalized. Denial of being gay in that community runs deep, some refuse to believe their gay, despite amorous activities on the down low. With that said, both black gay men and women deal with attitudes from a church-going black population.So, we find ourselves justifying both our \u201clifestyle\u201d and the predominantly white LGBTQ leadership\u2019s use of African-American history to further the gay agenda. (Don\u2019t worry, I define it differently than Tony Perkins or Pat Robertson.) Unlike white gays, we can’t just be gay, we\u2019ve got to be back and gay.Unless they\u2019re minorities, gays and lesbians have always had the option to pass. Should they be forced to deny themselves? No. Ironically, white gays and lesbians, in particular, seem to shout the loudest about being denied equality.Many use the history of black discrimination as an equality lobbying tool, while they\u2019ve failed to be inclusive themselves. Of course, while GLAAD advocates for the LGBTQ community, it certainly doesn\u2019t speak for the entire community.That\u2019s where gay media comes in. Television doesn\u2019t offer a window into the world of LGBTQ minorities, according to amplfyyourvoice.org LGBT Minorities and the Media section, which states:\u201cIf one looks at the current shows to date such as Glee, Will and Grace, and Queer as Folk, one will notice that these shows barely have a diverse representation for the youth of color, thus these youth do not have someone to look up to because the media confines the representation of the gay community to the majority.Most of these shows do not even explore these intersections of identity. They fail to delve into the difficulties in reconciling racial identity and sexual identity. Thus, racial minorities may have a hard time relating to these characters.\u201dLooking at magazine covers, one might conclude that LGBTQ people of color don\u2019t exist.  More often than not, non-minority LGBTQ people land on the covers of mainstream gay and lesbian publications. And, generally, the images perpetuate the myth: All gay men are white, hot and wealthy (or Sugar Babies).Only the producers of SMASH should be creating fabulous myths and Bollywood dreams. Gay media publication editors and reporters should try sprinkling the kernels of reality, which everyday gay and lesbians face. They\u2019re the realities that come with being Equally Wed or fighting for marriage equality.Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed within the confines of Viewpoints, our opinion-based forum, are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Equally Wed, Palladino Publishing, LLC, its affiliates, or its employees."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"The Rainbow Needs More Color","item":"https:\/\/equallywed.com\/the-rainbow-needs-more-color\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]