Web Event 2: Classism and the Queer Community

            When most people think of issues facing the LGBT community, they think of issues such as gay marriage. Few can see a major problem that is found both inside and outside of the community. This problem ignores the needs of many people in the community. It excludes people from a community where they were told they were safe. The problem is classism, which finds its way into the queer community to better fit a capitalist structure. Classism within the queer community as a result of the commercialization of queer culture causes exclusion of LGBT people of lower socioeconomic status and ignorance of their needs.

            Economic challenges are a significant issue for many people in the LGBT community. According to Brad Sears and Lee Badgett, in addition to “the same socio-economic challenges that other people who share their sex, race, ethnicity, age, and disability face,” they must deal with “a higher risk of being homeless when they are young, harassment and discrimination at school and at workplace, and being denied the economic benefits of marriage,” (Sears & Badgett, 2012). However, we rarely see these issues faced in portrayals of queer people in the media. We often see white, upper-middle class same sex couples in shows such as Modern Family who do not face these economic issues. This is commonly referred to as the “myth of gay affluence.” Joseph N. DeFilippis explains the origin of the myth when he says “The myth of gay affluence gained prominence in the 1980s, due in no small part to highly publicized marketing surveys of the readerships of gay magazines like the Advocate. The existence of gay people with lots of disposable income was an appealing pitch to make to advertisers,” (DeFilippis, 2011). The main problem with this is that it was only representative of “predominantly white affluent gay men” (DeFilippis, 2011), and did not accurately represent the LGBT community, ignoring the issues faced by queer people of color, queer people of lower socioeconomic status, transgender people, queer people in non-urban areas, and many other people in the queer community. The myth of gay affluence originated as a result of the commercialization of queer culture, specifically the gay community, as a way to benefit a capitalist institution.

            The harm that this myth of gay affluence causes for people in the queer community is an ignorance of the needs of LGBT people who struggle economically. Poverty is a serious problem for many people in the LGBT community, though it often goes ignored. “The myth that same-sex couples are more affluent has been used to argue against passing laws and policies that support LGBT people and families,” (Fricano, 2013).  Though the myth of affluence seems to be the dominant view in popular culture, the statistics on LGBT poverty tell a different story. According to New Patterns of Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community by Lee Badgett, Laura E. Durso, and Alyssa Schneebaum, “Data on couples suggests that same-sex couples are more vulnerable to poverty in general than are different-sex married couples,” (Badgett, Durso, and Schneebaum, 1) and “one in five LGBT people who live alone report an income at or below the poverty level,” (Badgett, Durso, and Schneebaum, 2). Socioeconomic issues also very much affect the transgender community. According to National Transgender Discrimination Survey, out of “6,450 transgender people” (National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 1) that were surveyed “more than 27% reporting incomes of $20,000 or lower and more than 15% reporting incomes of $10,000 or lower” (National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2). With these statistics in mind, it is obvious that to ignore the issues of poverty within the LGBT community is to ignore the issues of a large portion of the community.

            Eli Clare, in his book Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation, reflects on how “the most visible queer identities” are often “urban,” “middle-class,” and “consumer-oriented” (Clare, 39). Clare’s introduction of the idea of “urban” queer identity being “the most visible” is significant to the discussion of classism within the community as Joseph N. DeFilippis states “People in same-sex couples who live in rural areas have poverty rates that are twice as high as those for same-sex couples who live in large metropolitan areas, as well as being poorer than people in different-sex married couples who live in rural areas” (DeFilippis, 2011). Clare recalls his experience with “Stonewall 25, media shorthand for New York City’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion” (Clare, 39). Clare did not attend, saying “Who could afford the benefit dance at $150, the concert at $50, the t-shirt at $25?” (Clare, 39). This is just one example of ways in which the queer community itself alienates people of lower socioeconomic status through a focus on commercial benefit. Clare continues “Stonewall 25 strikes me not so much as a celebration of a powerful and life-changing uprising of queer people, led by transgendered people of color, by drag queens and butch dykes, fed up with the cops, but as a middle- and upper-class urban party that opened its doors only to those who could afford it” (Clare, 39). The commercialization of queer culture breeds an environment that excludes LGBT people of lower socioeconomic status from participating in their own queer community, making it more difficult for them to find a supportive community. They must split their lives into different worlds: the world that is created by their class, the world that is created by their queer identity, and, in many cases, the world that is created by their race and ethnicity, and the world that is created by any disability they may have. The classist environment that is created in the queer community makes intersectionality of identities difficult.

            The damage that commercialization of the queer community has done against LGBT people who do not fit the commercial demographic is evident, and now we ask the question: how can this be changed? There are many organized efforts to both change the commercial structures within the queer community and to change economic structures to encourage economic equality for LGBT people. One such effort is an organization called Queers for Economic Justice, whose “goal is to challenge and change the systems that create poverty and economic injustice in our communities, and to promote an economic system that embraces sexual and gender diversity” (“About Queers for Economic Justice,” n.d.) and recognizes that “although poor queers have always been a part of both the gay rights and economic justice movements, they have been, and continue to be, largely invisible in both movements” (“About Queers for Economic Justice,” n.d.). It is significant to have an organization that recognizes that both visibility and economic issues are important to address for poorer LGBT people who are ignored by the community. It helps to get rid of the division that poorer LGBT people must make between their lives in the queer community and their socioeconomic reality.

            The Barnard Center for Research on Women, in cooperation with Queers for Economic Justice, produced the “Desiring Change” project, which was “dedicated to enhancing our ability to name and claim uniquely gendered bodies and sexual desires” as well as “amplifying our ability to connect movements for social justice across class and race” (Hollibaugh, Jakobsen, and Sameh, 3). This exploration of the interactions between intersectional identities (gender, sexuality, race, class, etc.) is crucial to understanding and defeating classism within the LGBT community. Projects such as this are important in bringing visibility to issues of class and race for LGBT people into the eyes of the public so that action can be taken to change the structures in place that cause these issues. The authors of the report make note that “Desiring Change does not provide a plan in the sense of a blueprint, but it does provide a sign-post; it suggests that we follow the impetus provided by desire” (Hollibaugh, Jakobsen, and Sameh, 30). Awareness, however, is the first step in solving the larger problem of classist institutions against LGBT people.

            The interactions between class and queer identity are constant, and the commercialization of queer culture complicates the relationship between the two.  As Eli Clare states, “My loss of home, my exile, is about class” (Clare, 34). Class is a defining factor in each of our lives, and even more so for those in the LGBT community. LGBT people of lower socioeconomic status have to divide their lives into separate spaces, each of these spaces neglecting their needs as a whole person. The commercialization of queer culture makes the mainstream LGBT community exclusive against those of lower socioeconomic status. In their daily lives, many LGBT people face workplace discrimination among other economic and social challenges that make it difficult to live and work in non-LGBT spaces. Though there are movements to bring the economic issues of LGBT people to light, the mainstream LGBT movement has a tendency to ignore these issues. However, as criticism of the commercialization of the queer community becomes more present, the classism that results from this will become more apparent in the public eye.

Works Cited

"About Queers for Economic Justice." Queers for Economic Justice. Queers for Economic Justice, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.q4ej.org/about>.

Badgett, Lee, Laura E. Durso, and Alyssa Schneebaum. New Patterns of Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community. Rep. The Williams Institute, June 2013. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. <http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/LGB-Poverty-Update-Jun-2013.pdf>.

Clare, Eli. Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation. Cambridge, MA: South End, 1999. Print.

DeFilippis, Joseph N. "Introduction." SF Online. Barnard Center for Research on Women, Fall 2011. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. <http://sfonline.barnard.edu/a-new-queer-agenda/introduction/0/>.

Fricano, Mike. "Dispelling the Myth of Gay Affluence." UCLA Today. University of California, Los Angeles, 13 June 2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/disspelling-the-myth-of-gay-affluence-246811.aspx>.

Hollibaugh, Amber, Janet Jakobsen, and Catherine Sameh. Desiring Change. Rep. Barnard Center for Research on Women and Queers for Economic Justice, n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. <http://bcrw.barnard.edu/wp-content/nfs/reports/NFS7-Desiring-Change.pdf>.

National Center for Transgender Equality, and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Rep. The National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Nov. 2009. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. <http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/reports/fact_sheets/transsurvey_prelim_findings.pdf>.

Sears, Brad, and Lee Badgett. "Beyond the Stereotypes: Poverty in the LGBT Community." Momentum. Tides, June 2012. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. <http://momentum.tides.org/beyond-the-stereotypes-poverty-in-the-lgbt-community/>.