Charles I. Nero explores the paradoxical reality of the white, male gay neighborhood in the face of the idea that queer people are a minority that "exist inside of every other culture." He rejects other notions (for example that black gays would rather be in black neighborhoods) and instead investigates the way the nature of housing is systematically built in favor of whiteness and how the images trafficked of black gay men are a further detriment.
Many of these neighborhoods are founded on the migration of gay men looking for middle class jobs. This during the 60s, a time when the additional exclusion of black individuals and women from these positions would further the foundational white maleness of these neighborhoods. Many of these white gay men also were able to participate to some extent in white "tribalism," focusing on historic preservation and using their own networks of middle and upper class white gay men to further encourage movement.
Nero also discusses the "controlling image" of the black gay male as inauthentic, an impostor, and incompatible with white gayness and black masculinity. This image he posits can be utilized as ideological support for the exclusion of black gays.
"...[W]hite racial hostility toward blacks has had a material dimension," and the fundamental structure of mortgage and loan systems as they were founded nearly a century ago have racist origins, as do systems of privilege throughout this country. To this day this creates inequality in housing and inequality in property. Perhaps white gays are leveraging what privilege they can in the face of what privilege they lack.
I think Nero's investigations into the historical involvement and entrenchment of blackness and property were super salient and important. The fact that we can observe not only present day racialized and racist acts, but the echoes of its history is a critical note in recognizing the way these neighborhoods are born. The ideological support from media studies only furthers these claims. However, I do wish he discussed further the nature of gentrification and maleness.
-Spaces for queer individuals are super important, but what are the costs of gentrification even for the construction of a minority neighborhood (though we see today these are often economically powerful areas)?
-Where does the queer woman live, what is her controlling image?
-How can the whitewashing of gay life be coped with/reconciled/improved?
I found it notable how Nero focused on only black and white gays, and doesn’t include any discussion really on lesbians or other racial groups such as Latinos or Asians. Blacks are not the only group of people that are being excluded from this system of white gay ghettoes. While he does raise important questions and raises valid points on the multitude of black “impostor” representations in the media, I was a bit disspointed that he only discussed this on the side of black male representation. Of course this paper does discuss how the formation of gay ghettoes did come from an exclusively white base, and he does explain how black men are continuously excluded from these ghettoes by way of redlining and media representation, but I wonder what the methods are for how lesbians and other people are continuously excluded?
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the whitewashing of gay life and how that can be remedied, let me first preface how I am not a very good litmus test for how prolific racism is in the gay male community, because the only real connection I have with this community, besides being gay, is that I love RuPaul’s Drag Race and I follow a lot of gay artists and academia on social media. I don’t go to clubs or bars or have a Grindr or whatever, and I went to my first Pride this summer. Pretty much all my exposure to it is second-hand.
I’d say first a policy of raising awareness about these issues would help. Whites in general don’t often have much exposure to these things because they have the privilege to not notice it. I remember how a lot of anger happened when the show “Looking” was aired and how it super focused only on the lives of white gays. If media is the primary way to proliferate information to large groups of people, can’t there be shows like that which focus on a more diverse group?
I believe we have to take into context on the time period this article is written. Whites and blacks as a whole had the longest history in this country and were well represented in all aspects of life. Perhaps the gay latin and Asian communities were not very large or deep in the "closet". Both latin and Asian communities are very homophobic and in the 70's it was hard enough to be gay in public much less with family. I have always been aware of racism in the gay community, however, I had no idea the gay "ghettos' formed through racist motives. It is of my opinion the LGBTQ community hates being discriminated against by the mainstream populace, however, when they do it to their LGBTQ communities they somehow justify their behavior.
DeleteWhere would you raise the issues on this problem? In the other reading for this class by Julia Serano she writes, "If you look back at history, there has not been a single instance where people have overcome a deeply entrenched prejudice without first being forced to interact with the people they detest". In general, society is making progress by addressing civil rights in the gay community as a whole and by the gay community receiving the exposure it has received in the last decade is making things easier. However, there is no such movement in the LGBTQ community and even if there was, who would listen?
It comes as no surprise that the gay housing community in the Faubourg Marigny was started by white, middle and upper-class gay men. Although these gay men were being degraded and ostracized by mainstream society, as they continue to be today to a lesser degree, these men effectively utilized their white privilege through social and economic lenses. Essentially, these white, middle and upper-class gay men had the social capital to bring about the home ownership and community for individuals whom identified as them with regard to sexual orientation and race!
ReplyDeleteIn response to your second question, I would imagine black lesbians face a similar problem in both black and white communities. It was surprising to me that Nero left out lesbians in his discussion, although lesbian ghettoes are much less frequent (and maybe don't exist? I can't think of any). However, lesbianism has also been whitewashed in our society and those individuals in minorities both sexually and racially will find themselves excluded from a sense of community.
ReplyDeleteOne interesting aspect of Nero's article, which I wish he had fleshed out more, is the role of masculinity in this problem. I see a lot of connections between the problems Nero illustrates and Kimmel's article on our definitions of masculinity. Kimmel argues that the ideal form of masculinity is found in straight, white, middle-class men. The examples Nero uses in his discussion of racism within the gay community correlate with Kimmel's, especially the portrayal of black gay men as impostors.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of where queer women live, I don't believe there is a single solid answer. As queer women, we're inherently disadvantaged by our patriarchal society and even forming a ghetto in the manner discussed by Nero would be difficult solely because of our gender. I imagine this was even truer during the 1970s. Nero talks of white gay men easily procuring loans to buy property in the Faubourg Marigny, but queer women would likely have been unable to secure the same loans, especially since society rarely supports single or queer-coupled women.
I completely agree here. I think the issue of male privilege is fascinating here. What we see is that men of color (in this article specifically black) men are often excluded from these gay white ghettoes. This is certainly problematic and worth discussion and movement. But as you have mentioned Katie, where does this place queer women? Specifically queer women of color? This make me think of the Combahee River Collective. In their statement the Combahee River collective identified as a collective of black queer-inclusive women whose needs were not being met within the feminist movement because it was largely white and straight. So they created their own space. But they also argued that they still needed to ally themselves with the black power movement, because although it was heavily male, it still met their needs and spoke to their issues as black women. Therefore my question here is should black queer men ally themselves with the white queer ghetto because it will serve them as part of the queer demographic? Or should they create their own intersectional space that can address all of their identities and needs?
DeleteThe development of gay areas tending to be primarily well-off white men is not arguable. As aforementioned, I believe this is mainly because they have the economic and social means to uproot their lives and move somewhere else. The institutional forces to encourage white settlers and discourage others, as presented by Nero, are also undeniable. But what effect does this have on the areas where they move? Gay villages, like Boystown in Chicago, the Castro in San Franscisco, or West Hollywood in LA, tend to sprout up in lower socio-economic areas. Eventually, however, the men who move in upgrade the neighborhood. For example, I know West Hollywood used to be a fairly gross part of LA, but is now uber trendy and one of my favorite places to hang out. Gay neighborhoods become reanimated and beautified when these white gay males move in.
ReplyDeleteBut how good is this? How do these white males contribute to gentrification of urban areas? I've been using the terms of "beautification" and "upgrade", but this tends to push out long time community members through rising housing costs. Is it really a good thing that gay (white) identity came to flourish in urban gay neighborhoods at the expense of working class people? How does gay gentrification of urban neighborhoods tie into a larger context of the consumerization of queer identity? For example, is the sponsoring of pride parades by corporations putting the historical counter-culture identity of LGBTQ activism into a capitalist matrix? Can the Master's Tools ever truly dismantle the Master's house? The relationship between gay neighborhoods and gentrification, as well as tying it to a broader theme of homosexual consumerism, is also a key element when considering urban gay development. Think about it the next time you see the adorable gay couple in Park Slope.
I think it's interesting to note that while these white, gay male neighborhoods were mostly founded by middle- to upper-middle class white men, it parallels the foundation of any class-strict neighborhood. That same middle/upper middle class community feeds upon itself over the years due to independent factors (such as housing prices) and stays middle/upper class and white as the socioeconomic gap in itself is enough to keep lower-class, and in turn black gay males (not to say that all black gay males are lower class, but in segregated cities like Chicago there is a huge economic disparity between whites and blacks), from entering these communities. Thus the “gentrification” implies exclusion and the more gentrified the area becomes, the harder it is for these communities to become more inclusive for all members in the future.
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