This document outlines an event discussing the intersections of race and LGBTQ identity for queer and trans people of color. It begins with rules of engagement, then covers topics like statistics on discrimination faced by QTPOC, lack of representation in media which impacts perceptions, and debunking the myth of the "model minority." The document challenges attendees to consider how identities like being Asian American and queer cannot be separated, and how rejection from multiple communities can be experienced. It emphasizes the importance of embracing differences within community work.

1. QUEER AND TRANS
PEOPLE OF COLOR
ENGAGING THE INTERSECTIONS OF RACE AND LGBTQ IDENTITY

2. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
• RESPECT OTHERS, RESPECT THE SPACE, RESPECT
YOURSELF!
• OPPRESSIVE BEHAVIOR OR LANGUAGE WILL BE
NAMED.
• HONOR THE EXPERIENCES OF QTPOC.
• IT IS OKAY TO FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE.

3. THE FLOW
• RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
• KICK-OFF OR FIRE STARTER
• THE DATA
• THE MEDIA
• THE “REALITY”
• FINAL THOUGHTS

4. TO GET US STARTED
• NAME & PRONOUNS
• WHY ARE YOU HERE? WHY THIS
PROGRAM?
• WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GET FROM THIS
PROGRAM?

5. TRIGGER WARNING: THE DATA
STATS ON QUEER AND TRANS PEOPLE OF COLOR

6. THE DATA
• THE COMBINATION OF ANTI-TRANSGENDER BIAS AND
PERSISTENT, STRUCTURAL RACISM WAS ESPECIALLY
DEVASTATING. PEOPLE OF COLOR IN GENERAL FARE
WORSE THAN WHITE PARTICIPANTS ACROSS THE BOARD,
WITH AFRICAN AMERICAN TRANSGENDER RESPONDENTS
FARING FAR WORSE THAN ALL OTHERS IN MOST AREAS
EXAMINED.
SOURCE: INJUSTICE AT EVERY TURN

7. THE DATA
• 70 PERCENT OF ANTI-LGBT MURDER VICTIMS ARE PEOPLE OF COLOR.
• TRANSGENDER PEOPLE OF COLOR ARE ALSO ALMOST 2.5 TIMES AS LIKELY TO
EXPERIENCE DISCRIMINATION AS THEIR WHITE PEERS.
• LGBTQ PEOPLE OF COLOR WERE:
• 1.82 TIMES AS LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AS COMPARED
TO WHITE LGBTQ SURVIVORS AND VICTIMS.
• 1.70 TIMES AS LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE DISCRIMINATION AS COMPARED TO
WHITE LGBTQ SURVIVORS AND VICTIMS.
SOURCE: THE NATIONAL COALITION OF ANTI-VIOLENCE PROGRAMS

8. “
”
WHEN IT SEEMS A TRANSGENDER PERSON CANNOT
EVEN USE THE BATHROOM THEY CHOOSE
ACCORDING TO THEIR GENDER, THEN WHAT IS THE
VALUE OF OUR LIFE? FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC,
BASED ON WHAT IS PUT OUT THERE, THERE IS NO
VALUE ON OUR LIFE. SO YOU HAVE A LOT OF
VIOLENCE, EVEN FROM PARTNERS OF
TRANSGENDER WOMEN OF COLOR.
ARYAH LESTER, A TRANSGENDER WOMAN OF COLOR AND LGBT LEADER IN MIAMI
REACTIONS TO THE DATA?

9. FROM THE DATA TO THE MEDIA
QUEER AND TRANS PEOPLE OF COLOR REPRESENTATION IN THE MEDIA

10. THE MEDIA
• HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU SEEN QTPOC IN THE MEDIA?
• WHAT ARE THEIR ROLES? ARE THEY IN MAJOR/MINOR
ROLES?
• HOW ARE QTPOC PORTRAYED?

11. THE MEDIA
• IN GLAAD’S ANNUAL “WE ARE ON TV” REPORT, IT WAS FOUND
THAT OUT OF THE 813 BROADCAST NETWORK’S SERIES REGULAR
CHARACTERS, ONLY 13% ARE BLACK, 8% LATINO/LATINA, 4%
ASIAN, AND 2% MULTI-RACIAL.
• OUT OF THE 74 LGBT-IDENTIFIED CHARACTERS ON MAINSTREAM
BROADCAST NETWORKS, ONLY 11% ARE BLACK, 11%
LATINA/LATINO, AND 5% ASIAN. PEOPLE OF COLOR, THEREFORE,
MAKE UP 27% OF CHARACTERS AND 34% OF LGBT CHARACTERS.

12. THE MEDIA
• “POPULAR TELEVISION SHOWS INCLUDING WILL & GRACE, SEX
AND THE CITY, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, AND MODERN FAMILY
ROUTINELY DEPICT GAY MEN. YET THE COMMON CHARACTERISTIC
AMONG MOST TELEVISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF [CIS] GAY MEN IS
THAT THEY ARE USUALLY WHITE.”

13. THE MEDIA
• “WHILE MANY SHOWS DEPICT LGBT PEOPLE OF COLOR, THEY ARE
OFTEN USED AS A PLOT DEVICE OR IN SOME TYPE OF TROPE.
SANTANA LOPEZ, FOR EXAMPLE, FROM THE TEENAGE DRAMEDY
GLEE, IS A QUEER WOMAN OF COLOR, HOWEVER, SHE IS OFTEN
CHARACTERIZED AS A LATINA FETISH AND OVER-SEXUALIZED.
• IN CONJUNCTION, CALLIE TORRES, WHO WAS ONE OF THE FIRST BI-
SEXUAL LATINA CHARACTERS ON MAINSTREAM TELEVISION, WAS
FIRST DEPICTED AS A “SLUT,” AND THIS LATINA STEREOTYPE WAS
USED AS MUCH OF HER SINGLE PLOT-DEVICE.”

14. TRANS IN THE MEDIA
• TRANSGENDER CHARACTERS WERE CAST IN A "VICTIM" ROLE AT LEAST
40% OF THE TIME.
• TRANSGENDER CHARACTERS WERE CAST AS KILLERS OR VILLAINS IN AT
LEAST 21% OF THE CATALOGUED EPISODES AND STORYLINES.
• THE MOST COMMON PROFESSION TRANSGENDER CHARACTERS WERE
DEPICTED AS HAVING WAS THAT OF SEX WORKERS, WHICH A FIFTH OF
ALL CHARACTERS WERE DEPICTED AS (20%).
• ANTI-TRANSGENDER SLURS, LANGUAGE AND DIALOGUE WAS PRESENT
IN AT LEAST 61% OF THE CATALOGUED EPISODES AND STORYLINES.
SOURCE: HTTP://WWW.GLAAD.ORG/PUBLICATIONS/VICTIMS-OR-VILLAINS-EXAMINING-TEN-YEARS-TRANSGENDER-IMAGES-TELEVISION

15. “
”
SINCE ANTI-RACIST INDIVIDUALS DID NOT CONTROL
MASS MEDIA, THE MEDIA BECAME THE PRIMARY
TOOL THAT WOULD BE USED AND IS STILL USED TO
CONVINCE BLACK VIEWERS, AND EVERYONE ELSE,
OF BLACK INFERIORITY.
BELL HOOKS, FOUNDATIONAL BLACK FEMINIST SCHOLAR
HOW DOES THE MEDIA REPRESENTATION
OF QTPOC IMPACT HOW WE INTERACT,
THINK, AND FEEL ABOUT QTPOC?

16. FROM MEDIA TO “REALITY”
“COMMON” EXPERIENCES OF QUEER & TRANS PEOPLE OF COLOR

17. THE MODEL MINORITY
• "MODEL MINORITY" – “A BRIGHT, SHINING EXAMPLE OF
HARD WORK AND PATIENCE WHOSE EXAMPLE OTHER
MINORITY GROUPS SHOULD FOLLOW.”
• THE MODEL MINORITY IS OFTEN USED TO POLICE OTHER
TARGETED RACIAL GROUPS

18. DEBUNKING THE MYTH
• “AS A WHOLE ASIAN AMERICAN FAMILIES HAVE HIGHER MEDIAN INCOMES THAN WHITE FAMILIES.
HOWEVER, THIS IS BECAUSE IN MOST CASES, THE TYPICAL ASIAN AMERICAN FAMILY TENDS TO
HAVE MORE MEMBERS WHO ARE WORKING THAN THE TYPICAL WHITE FAMILY. IT'S NOT UNUSUAL
FOR AN ASIAN AMERICAN FAMILY TO HAVE FOUR, FIVE, OR MORE MEMBERS WORKING. A MORE
TELLING STATISTIC IS MEDIAN PERSONAL INCOME (ALSO KNOWN AS PER CAPITA INCOME). THE
RESULTS ABOVE SHOW THAT ASIAN AMERICANS STILL TRAIL WHITES ON THIS VERY IMPORTANT
MEASURE”
• “THE PERSISTENT BELIEF THAT "ALL ASIANS ARE SMART" PUTS A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF PRESSURE
ON MANY ASIAN AMERICANS. MANY, PARTICULARLY SOUTHEAST ASIANS, ARE NOT ABLE TO
CONFORM TO THIS UNREALISTIC EXPECTATION AND IN FACT, HAVE THE HIGHEST HIGH SCHOOL
DROPOUT RATES IN THE COUNTRY.”
Source: http://www.asian-nation.org/model-minority.shtml

19. “
”
“I AM UNDOCUMENTED, QUEER AND SOUTH
ASIAN,” HE SAYS. “I CANNOT TELL MY
UNDOCUMENTED STORY WITHOUT TELLING MY
QUEER STORY. IT’S PART OF THE WORK OF
BEING WHOLE.”
BUPENDRA RAM, DESI, QUEER AND UNDOCUMENTED.
DEBUNKING THE MYTH

20. “
”
TO COMMUNICATE COHERENTLY ABOUT THE ASIAN-
AMERICAN QUEER EXPERIENCE, I WOULD HAVE TO POSSESS
INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF INDIAN-AMERICAN QUEERS,
CAMBODIAN-AMERICAN QUEERS, PAKISTANI-AMERICAN
QUEERS, THAI-AMERICAN QUEERS, SRI LANKAN-AMERICAN
QUEERS, SO ON AND SO FORTH.
ANGELA CHENG, QUEER CHINESE WOMEN (MY NAMING)
HOW MAY THE MODEL MINORITY MYTH INTERACT WITH
QUEER AND TRANS IDENTITIES?

21. QUEER AND TRANS STUDENTS OF COLOR (YOUR
PEERS): LIVING AT THE INTERSECTION
“What are you?” – similar to biracial students,
students living at intersections are ask to self-
identify themselves monolithically.
Experiences of rejection from one or many
communities
The pressure to choose - “The Asian American
Student Association meets the same time as Prism
(a LGBTQA student group). “

22. “
”
THERE'S ALWAYS SOMEONE ASKING YOU TO
UNDERLINE ONE PIECE OF YOURSELF - WHETHER IT'S
BLACK, WOMAN, MOTHER, DYKE, TEACHER, ETC. -
BECAUSE THAT'S THE PIECE THAT THEY NEED TO KEY
IN TO. THEY WANT TO DISMISS EVERYTHING ELSE
AUDRE LORDE, BLACK LESBIAN FEMINIST POET WARRIOR MOTHER
• WHY ARE WE NOT ENGAGING THE INTERSECTIONS?
• WHAT ARE SOME DRAW BACKS WHEN WE DON’T TALK ABOUT
THE INTERSECTIONS?

23. ANY QUESTIONS?

24. “
”
…DIFFERENCE IS THAT RAW AND POWERFUL CONNECTION
FROM WHICH OUR PERSONAL POWER IS FORGED…WITHOUT
COMMUNITY THERE IS NO LIBERATION…BUT COMMUNITY MUST
NOT MEAN A SHEDDING OF OUR DIFFERENCES, NOR THE
PATHETIC PRETENSE THAT THESE DIFFERENCES DO NOT EXIST.
AUDRE LORDE , “THE MASTER'S TOOLS WILL NEVER DISMANTLE THE MASTER'S HOUSE”
FINIAL THOUGHTS!
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY?