Quote:
Originally Posted by BruceChris
I fully agree with her list of discrimination-isms.
However, just being a tall, strong, young, handsome (O.K. some of this was a few years ago), intelligent, articulate, well educated, heterosexual, adult white male in a suit all too often does NOT get your ass in the door.
With regrets, BruceChris
|
I wasn't suggesting that it "always" does. But it opens a lot of doors that are absolutely closed to those who are of a different race, orientation or whatever else. My whole reason for writing that piece was to educate people around various privileges that most of us do not recognize in our lives. The main thrust being that we in the LGBT community have failed to help our allies understand what heterosexual privilege is and how it affects their lives and ours.
I'm sorry Bruce if you took offense, but I will also have to say that in my experience of combatting racism, I have found that when we get defensive, it is usually a sign of our own unawareness of the classist/racist system we reside in. For years, I couldn't understand the full impact of white skin privilege even though I had an afro-american son. But, if anyone claims that there is no such thing as white skin privilege, I invite them to stop first and read, "Parting the Waters," by Taylor Branch. And then begin to look around how some 50 years later, that privilege still survives, today.
There are all sorts of privileges granted to people, from the perspective of race, class, ableism vs. disabled, education, and of course sexual orientation and gender nonconformnity. Our work in building the Beloved Community is to bring everyone to the table as equal in the eyes of God.
It's not to deny or defend the system, but to work to overcome it.
Kara