The initial intent of this research project was to help validate and liberate the experiences of gay Latinx men. Testimonios are meant to provide insight into collective and individual experiences of oppression, violence, and resistance. They are also used to affirm people’s experiences in the face of an unfair social world. For part of our history, the LGBTQ community had been marginalized, and it continues to be, just not to the same extent. It seems as if a lot of the LGBTQ community’s problems had been solved with the passing of marriage equality, but a lot of what was being portrayed were the needs of the white members of the community.
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What they did attest to is the fact that they no longer feel the same lack of representation that they once did. This is because they are now older and see that they don’t always have to be in a space that does not welcome them. They all also mentioned that growth of the LGBTQ movement has helped them feel that others around them do not always allow for spaces to marginalize others. Carlos, another one of the men who allowed me to listen to their testimonio, touched upon this in our meeting: “No longer is misrepresentation allowed to pass. Now people are aware of the fact that they have the agency to say that they will not support a business that only values one representation, and not the other. Or worse, one that values a representation to the point of fetishization, which is what usually tends to happen with the gay Latinx community.”
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It was this idea of being a “papi” to other non Latinx men that seemed to irritate the men I spoke to most. They were just being fetishized because of their backgrounds but having no interest in understanding their struggles or their culture. It caused them a lot of trouble when trying to find acceptance and spaces that would truly accept them for who they are.
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One of the other men who spoke to me, Kevin, realized just how fed up he was with the whole situation: “I’m tired of going to bars, where guys want to talk to me because they see me as a “papi”, but are then the same people who want to build a wall and said all us ‘Mexicans’ home.” In hearing all of this, it further supported the idea that although Latinx men and white men do not share entirely mutually exclusive narratives, they are not carbon copies either. However, that is the way these narratives have been presented to society, implying that both gay men of color and white men have the same needs, and that by attending to the needs of the white man, the Latinx man’s problems will be solved as well.
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Bibliography:
Anthony. Personal Interview. April 17, 2018. New York, New York. Carlos. Personal Interview. April 20, 2018. New York, New York. Kevin. Personal Interview. April 21, 2018. New York, New York. |
Header Image: https://www.facebook.com/LatinoPrideCenter/photos/a.379624778825357.1073741826.379615498826285/987675461353616/?type=3
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