The Colorblind Rainbow: Whiteness in the Gay Rights Movement

Abstract

ABSTRACT Discourse on “identity politics” tends to treat political minority identities as distinct entities, discussing them as if an individual is either black or a woman or LGBT, etc. This separates race and sexuality in a way that, supported by white homonormativity and a possessive investment in whiteness, renders the LGBT community “white” despite racial diversity. This masks the ways that the policy preferences of LGBT individuals are structured along racial lines and hinders inter-minority coalition building. Utilizing a Pew Research Center dataset of LGBT Americans collected in 2013, I show that race is significantly correlated with economic policy preferences and perceptions of racial discrimination. While a majority of white LGBT Americans hold liberal positions, the significant differences between white and nonwhite individuals and the well-documented self-reports of experiences of racism by nonwhite LGBT Americans, suggest that white LGBT Americans must actively address the question of race in order to build successful coalitions.