PRIDE WITH PREJUDICE

By Suchitra Chatterjee

George Johnson, a young and queer African American author, once made a painfully candid statement in an online article in 2019: “While black queer people are still fighting for survival, white queer people were fighting for marriage equality. This is not to say that marriage equality isn’t important, but it is certainly not the only fight. Although we all share the same oppressors, white queer folks must come to terms with the fact that they play a role in the harm experienced by black and brown queer folks – a problem they could stop if they acknowledge the privilege they have...” This is what I call PRIDE with prejudice. And it is rife.

A study by Stonewall has found that over half of black, Asian and other ethnic minority people have experienced racism from within the LGBTQ+ community.

So much for our mutual solidarity and shared safe spaces. My personal experience as a bi woman of colour has been odd to say the least. I am mixed race, white mother, father born in what was undivided India during the days of the Raj. I took after my mother, pale skinned, light brown hair and, as a small child, hazel coloured eyes. My two siblings took after our father. They suffered more racism than I did, instead my father often got asked why he had a white child by the hand, (me). This was in the mid-1960s. Fast forward to the 21st century and the laws with regard to hate have evolved, and are now entrenched in our legislation. The old days of BAME citizens being over policed and under protected is theoretically a thing of the past. It’s now a crime to be racist or homophobic, we have come a long way from the days of 1950 when a trans teacher was strangled to death for her sexuality and her murderer only got five years in prison. But what of hate within hate itself? Those queer white folk hating queer black folk simply because of the colour of their skin. And many don’t seem to comprehend the hypocrisy of their stance. They once were victims, and not that long ago either.

How will the law of the land perceive their crimes of hate? Which side do you take because sadly there is a side in which you are expected to take, one way or another. And if you choose one, does that make you a traitor to the other?

In my not so ivory tower of unintentionally ‘passing’ I find this dilemma as painful as the actual act of hate itself. Commit any act of hate, be held accountable on all levels, no matter your sexuality or race. PRIDE with prejudice is nothing to be proud of. What you can be truly proud of is, when you step up in your own privileged skin and say to the haters, “No. Not in my name.”