I am a 45-year-old Mexican and I’ve been an out gay man for half my life. I am of the opinion that there are two pieces to this puzzle:

1. We, as people of color, need to speak up when there are incidents of racism in the GLBT community.

2. We need to remind our communities of color that respect, in this country, is a two-way street, which is to say, “coming out” on our terms. Culture can sometimes be such a barrier to our general well being. So, remove it.

I believe both issues need to be brought to the table or the issue of visibility for GLBT people of color will stagnate.”

I am heartened to see that the “Queer People of Color Conference” took place in San Diego. LGBT white women and men need to hear your voices and learn from you. Racism, oppression is experienced by most at some time or another. Its not a good feeling. And we need to remember that when we see others in our community being oppressed based on color, religion, orientation transgender status et al. We need to speak up. Or at the least confront our own prejudices and silence as to why. San Diego is not a bastion of tolerance and acceptance. But change is still happening here for the best, I hope.

Hi Carlos,

First I would like to thank you for voicing your position and your opinion on the need to address issues that pertain to ALL LGBT members in our community that are of color. I was one of the indivduals that helped to organize this conference and it was a much needed event here in San Diego. I completely agree with your first point in needed to address issues of racism as they do pertain to the LGBT community. We as a community must question the motives and lack of visibility in the media, programming and services for people of color especially here in San Diego. The first steps in doing so is to refer to a question once posed by the GLT in an earlier issue, “Is there racism in the LGBT community?” We must make a bold move and answer confidently, Yes, there is and this is how it perpetuates on a daily basis. As a younger member of the LGBT community and Chicano male, I cannot take for granted and overlook the work and community activism that past LGBT activist members of color have done. I can only speak for myself, that as a member of my generation we struggle to demand social justice for these continued issues that pertain to communities of color that have not gone away but simply have taken different form. Some such examples are: The criminalization of immigrants in AZ, the banning of ethnic studies programs in that same state, the compton cook-outs at UCSD, the defacement of the LGBTRC at UC Davis, etc. The list of examples can go on and on.

I firmly believe that as Queer People of Color we have our ethnic/cultural backgrounds that may at times place barriers on us, as LGBT members, but where we can also find strength in. We are a beautiful peoples with a cultural heritage that defines us. We need not remove it, only transform it so that we may see reflections of who we are as both LGBT and as people of color. We must remind ourselves that “La Cultura Cura”, Culture heals us....especially as members of communITIES that marginalize us.

Is this really a surprise to anyone? Have any of you attended one of the SDDC’s meetings? They are a tired mess of a group that should NEVER have been given the role to fix another organization when their organization is dying on the vine. Please people, what a mess we have in our grand city...a messed up SDDC Board, a messed up Pride Board, and a messed up Board at The Center...what a shame, what a shame, what a shame...anyone who is serving on the SDDC Board, the Pride Board, or The Center Board should all just resign and go away...you’ve messed up things enough already!

The reason that Pride will not hire an Executive Director any time soon is because former, disgraced Executive Director deHarte has a lawsuit in the works against Pride that pretty much says if Pride hires a replacement, then he will proceed to seek a large sum of money since, in his mind, he was let go unfairly. What a scum bag. Glad he’s out of the picture. Pompous. Arrogant. Cold. Fake. Oh, didn’t he have the mother of his children L Marchese sit on the board for 3 years? What a crook!

Pride and the Center had a long-standing gentelmen’s and ladies’ understanding that, out of respect to both organizations and to stay away from a serious conflict of interest, no one sitting on the Center’s board shall serve on the Pride board at the same time and vice versa. Well, I guess this current Pride board hand picked by Kehoe and Atkins made sure one of the Center’s current board member serves on the Pride pride to secure future large funds benefiting the Center and to ensure blind support to Kehoe and Atkins. These two corrupt politicians need to retire NOW.

And you wonder why strong community members aren’t willing to serve on boards, for which they aren’t paid a dime, often donate significant personal funds and are only made visible by your paper when there is criticism and one-sided attack that rarely lacks context.