International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – LGBTIs are all concerned!

21 March is a special day, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in October 1966 as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Sexual and gender minorities have many reasons to side with racial minorities (or for that matter oppressed racial majorities!) .
Race, gender, sexuality are after all, together with many other ‘characteristics’, used by those in power to maintain their privileges.
As the global focus issue for the next IDAHOT, on May 17, is on LGBTI Youth, let’s make a special point of the fact that LGBTQI youth of color face special challenges in a society which often presents heterosexuality as the only acceptable orientation and in which nonwhites face additional daily stigma and discrimination.
Unfortunately, the gay community is not devoid of casual racism, even though, in theory, people should know better.
March 21 is an important opportunity to reflect on our intersections. This understanding is not just a matter of solidarity with “others”. It allows us to better understand the mechanisms that drive stereotyping, then stigmatisation, then discrimination, then hatred, then violence. It helps us understand why we need to stand in solidarity
Here are some important and useful resources to this matter. We wish you happy reading !
The IDAHO Committee team and board
Race Forward: “Better Together: Research Findings on the Relationship between Racial Justice Organizations and LGBT Communities”
Advocates for Youth: The Impact of Homophobia and Racism on GLBTQ Youth of Color
Lesbian life: How To Fight Racism in the LGBT Community

Media Diversified: Three Ways How White LGBTQIA+ People Can Be More Inclusive of People of Colour

GLAAD: A Look at African American LGBT Youth in America’s School System

Video: Constitutional Law Professor Olympia Duhart sits down to discuss how race and LGBT issues connect, how lack of visibility for LGBT people of color hurt both their rights and the movement as a whole, and how we combat cynical efforts from opponents of equality to divide minority communities in the effort to stop the march towards equal rights.

Many fantastic writers and intellectuals have written very inspiring works on this: Audre Lorde, Barbara Jordan, James Baldwin and Ma Rainey are a few.