2 • May 3 - May 30, 2012 • The Rainbow Times • www.therainbowtimesnews.com Simplifying racism, blaming the marginalized is not OK How adults can involve themselves in the thriving By: Gricel M. Ocasio*/TRT Publisher casian counterparts do. If that is not true, then o one said the world affairs and check the high school and college dropout rates youth LGBTQ movement in New England the people that surround us are of these two communities and therein lies the By: Jason Lydon*/ TRT Columnist nect statewide student homophile organizing. It's S remotely aware of differences answer. exciting to think of the parallel role LGBT youth N Trayvon Martin and the racial divide aturday, May 19, marks the 17th Annual that should not separate us, but unite us. N Youth Pride March and rally in Boston. organizations, AGLYs (Alliances for Gay and I am not merely speaking of LGBT I hope Naff’s position stems from fear of the unknown and a lack of exposure to what mar - Lesbian Youth), play today. O rights and the people who shed hatred S ginalized groups really go through in life. I be - I will never forget my first youth pride event. Knowing our history and the role young peo - I from the right. That is to be expected and ple have played in the organizing of the LGBTQ I think we are all aware of it. lieve there is bad reporting, as I believe that It was May 18, 1996 and I was in seventh grade. N LGBT self-hatred people make mistakes. Seeing the side of an un - A good friend of mine from church told me movement gives us greater power as a move - I But unfortunately, there is hatred armed African American teenager carrying a about it and I convinced my mom to take us up ment. The responsibility that adult allies then bag of Skittles who ended up dead is not only have is to recognize what our responsibilities are. P among us too. Even if we try to ignore to the statehouse. It was the first time I met other it, or give it another name, hatred rears serious, but a grave situation that should not out queer youth and saw them hanging out with I know how fun it is to talk with young people have happened. Had Trayvon Martin been a O its ugly face in business rivalry, in un - each other, holding hands, sneaking away to about the days when I was a teenager and the ethical tactics by white unarmed kid, walking alone when a Black knowledge I gained over the past decade. For neighborhood watch pa - make out, while also cheering for the speakers other LGBT media and or - on the statehouse steps. It was my inspiration to those of you who are older than me, I imagine ganizations, and even in troller (who was specif - ically told by the 911 do queer organizing in my school, and remains it's even more fun and you have even better sto - the way we treat one an - We have a Caucasian ries to tell. Yet, that's not always what young peo - other — differently, as we operator not to follow a pivotal space for young queers today. My role claim the right wingers do columnist , Rev. Jason him) pulled the trigger ple are looking for from us. We have the great to us. This is hypocritical. that killed him; it would opportunity to listen to the leadership of young There is that struggle Lydon, who very often have created such may - On May 19, though, you people and learn what it means for organizing that we, LGBT folks, tend hem in each corner of efforts to be youth-led, adult-supported. to think that everyone in writes about white and the U.S. The actions and can travel across the If you are thinking, as Youth Pride is coming the community holds reactions would have up, about what you can do, the first piece is to male privilege and how been very different too. and/or understands. It is state , or even in from show up. I know that many of us have felt that the notion that we are all at damaging they are for Let’s just say that the Black patroller would another state, to sinking stomach feeling when we hear about bul - the same molecular level, lying in school or young people who have been as all cells of our body are. everyone. I am in accord have probably been in Boston to cheer on and But, we are not. jail and would have been forced into homelessness. I know that I can feel Race within the LGBT with him . charged for the murder support young people so powerless in those moments. On May 19, community; the Wash - faster than Zimmerman though, you can travel across the state, or even ington Blade was. It’s almost just as [at Youth Pride 2012 ] in from another state, to Boston to cheer on ... Recently, Think Progress ran a story titled The clear as FEMA’s response was when Katrina hit Consequences of Pitting Race Against Sexual the Louisiana coast—in the eyes of the margin - who will be marching See Youth on Page 19 Orientation And Gender Identity. The author alized groups. in the streets . discussed the gay v. race debate used by the Na - Naff “criticized 29 national LGBT groups for tional Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) anti- speaking out against Trayvon’s killing” The Rainbow Times gay hatred-filled actions and compared those to But, it does take more than a White man to as a young person was to lead in those spaces; understand this. Naff speaks from an egotistical the new lesson for me now is to think about what The Freshest LGBT Newspaper the words of Washington Blade’s editor Kevin in New England Naff in his “All Aboard the Trayvon Band - position of power and utilizes his voice to min - it means to be an authentic adult ally. wagon“ editorial. Think Progress ran another ar - imize Martin’s tragic death and how it resonates According to The History Project, Massachu - www.therainbowtimesmass.com ticle in which the author denounced Naff’s with the marginalized and allied communities. setts queer student organizing began to be rec - editorial as ignoring the “reality of racial op - Think Progress stated “Naff instead criticized ognized in 1969, first with the Boston University [email protected] pression.” I must concur, not only on the basis 29 national LGBT groups for speaking out [email protected] against Trayvon’s killing. From our perspective, Homophile Committee. Organizing expanded of mere knowledge, but based on my own ex - beyond BU and these combined efforts led to the periences as a Hispanic lesbian of color. Naff’s is a misplaced screed that, more than Phone: 413.282.8881 or 617.444.9618 Needs of LGBT mainstream and LGBT peo - anything, highlights the tone-deaf nature with Student Homophile League that worked to con - Fax: 888-442-2421 ple of color are different which some LGBT leaders approach and under - Naff’s editorial sounds utterly defensive when stand issues of race.” Again, I concur. Publisher Columnists it pertains to race, ethnicity and the diverse To understand race divide, unfairness, unwor - Letters to the Editor Gricel M. Ocasio Lorelei Erisis LGBT community that he, as the Blade’s editor, thiness, neglect, bigotry, and the constant strug - Dear Editor, Editor-In-Chief Deja N. Greenlaw should be fully representing and remembering. gle not to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, etc., I’m proud to be a Bostonian and have Nicole Lashom b Paul P. Jesep someone has to be well informed, or has had to Assistant Editor Jason Lydon His words are damaging to such a community Boston Pride as now a Human Rights organ - Brianna Snyder Tynan Power and to the rest of the people of color in the na - experience bigotry and racism him/herself or from a dear one. We have a Caucasian colum - ization too. Ohh thanks for supporting Sales Associates Jenn Tracz tion. To draw comparisons between LGBT Chris Gilmore John Verlinden mainstream communities and LGBT color com - nist, Rev. Jason Lydon, who very often writes Boston Pride Rainbow Times! Anyway, the about white and male privilege and how dam - Liz Johnson Reporters munities is naïve. In his tirade, Naff arrogantly story about LGBT discrimination by Linda Lead Photographer Chuck Colbert writes about others (members of the media, aging they are for everyone. I am in accord with DeMarco and how she spoke about Russia, Glenn Koetzner Clara Lefton celebrities and well-known leaders of the com - him. Unfortunately, we need more Lydon’s out Webmaster Christine Nicco there and less Naff’s. Naff’s eyes are blind— Iraq and then the F$^#&d up St. Patrick’s munities of color) exercising “self-restraint” Parade in South Boston should make anyone Jarred Johnson Tynan Power when it came to drawing conclusions about the blind to racial profiling, to ethnic discrimina - Design Casey Rocheteau Trayvon Martin case. Not fully understanding tion, to unfair pay, treatment and lack of from this country proud of Boston Pride and Prizm Designs Emily Scagel that self-restraint is something that is hard to at - opportunities, and to the struggle of LGBT peo - the stance they are taking. As an Irish-Scot - tain when you are in a marginalized position is ple of color here in the United States, amongst tish gay man, I’ll never go to that Parade, The Rainbow Times is published monthly by The perhaps something that Naff’s assertions did not others.