The Doubly Discriminated in the Land of the Free: Exclusion and Empowerment of Queer People of Color from the 1960s to Modern America

Abstract

This paper explores the double ostracization queer Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) endured in history, as an intersectional result of racist exclusion in the predominantly white narrative of the gay liberation movement and homophobia within oppressed racial groups. It describes how this double discrimination led to disproportionate impacts on the community in the AIDS epidemic from 1980s to 1990s. In the process, the paper restores the erased narratives of queer activists of color, showing how this community united to resist the double discrimination and to speak up through literature and alliances that ultimately overcame some of the societal barriers. Looking forward, the paper argues that a similar pattern is emerging in contemporary America with a disproportionate impact on queer and BIPOC people through the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Drawing on these insights, the paper concludes with the progress the American society has made toward equity for all.