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Contesting Racialized Discourses of Homophobia

Sociological Forum

Published online on

Abstract

In the course of research concerning the experiences of gay and lesbian teachers in public schools, I discovered that teachers often construct racialized explanations of potential homophobia in their schools, including the expectation that black and Latino coworkers, parents, and students were more likely to be homophobic. By taking an intersectional approach to these narratives as a case study in the discursive construction of race and sexuality, this article shows how racism and homophobia are mutually sustained in everyday talk. This process of racializing homophobia not only further alienates gay and lesbian teachers of color, it also reinforces racial inequality more broadly. In addition to racializing homophobia discourse, many white research participants used racial discrimination as a comparative rhetorical strategy to make sense of the discrimination they experience as gays and lesbians. While this strategy was purportedly useful for combating discrimination, it is also troubling. First, it assumes a false dichotomy between race and sexual identity that further erases the experience of queer people of color, who must contend with both kinds of discrimination. Second, it posits a false equivalence, when in fact the unique histories and operations of each kind of marginality resist such facile comparisons.