Now 42 years ago, the United States Supreme Court struck down any remaining anti-miscegenation laws in the case Loving vs. Virginia, Mildred and Richard Loving’s challenge to the state of Virginia’s ban on the marriage between people of different races.  But, a recent Justice of the Peace’s denial of a Louisiana couple’s application for a marriage license indicates that the debates over interracial marriage are hardly over.

Keith Bardwell, a Louisiana justice of the peace, denied Beth Humphrey and Terence McKay, an interracial couple, a marriage license citing concerns for their children.  The couple does not currently have children, so the justice is operating under the assumption that, once married, the couple would seek to have children, presumably through conception rather than adoption. ...

San Francisco State University’s College of Ethnic Studies is turning 40 and celebrating this week by kicking off a four day international conference and...

on Monday, I returned from a two-week vacation where I did my best to unplug and remove myself from the constant clatter of voices that berate us on a daily basis from our televisions, computers, and phones about current "issues" and politics.  I very much wanted to spend some time not discussing or listening to discussions about the economy, President Obama, issues of race, gay rights, and (god. please. no more.) health care reform.  Of course, it's not possible to entirely remove oneself from all of this without turning off the iPhone (no, I can't do it!) and/or heading out into the woods, trekking into the desert, or sailing out to a desert isle.  I did my best, but you know...

Now that I'm back at work and the din is as loud as ever, I've tried to use my brief moment of quiet to achieve a little clarity on what is going on and to sit back and observe rather than engage.  One thing that I've noticed, and something that's been pointed out by many of the more liberal talking heads, is who the people are who are showing up shouting at these "Town Hall Meetings". I perceive them as being white, mostly older, seemingly uneducated (that might be unfair but this is my observation, so scram!), heterosexual, mostly male, and not from an urban environment.  Or "Real Americans" as Sarah Palin would tell us. ...

This week the Human Rights Campaign Foundation released At The Intersection: Race, Sexuality and Gender—a two year research study focused on identifying the priorities and realities of LGBT people of color nation wide. This research is part of a new broader HRC initiative called Equality Forward, which has as its mission the uniting of LGBT people and allies of all races and backgrounds in order to achieve equality for all. The report is meant as the beginning of an interactive national dialogue. You can download the entire report and also share your own story (and read other stories) as an LGBT person of color on the Equality Forward web site.

Some of the report’s findings include:

Michelle Chen, among a few others, wrote recently about the opposition among LGBT and queer people, particularly those of color, to the further expansion of US hate crimes laws: http://www.racewire.org/archives/2009/08/do_unto_others_the_moral_slope.html.  To quickly summarize their argument… given the unequal application of the law, namely the racial inequality in the criminal justice and legal systems, why should we further contribute to the power the law has in terms of incarceration.  Furthermore, given our increasing awareness of the physical, emotional, and sexual violence that transgender people face in prisons, why would we want to put more transphobic in prison for longer periods of time.  Just for clarity sake, I should note that the recent discussion in Congress is about the Matthew Shepard act, which would expand federal hate crime laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

Chen et al.’s argument is not to be taken lightly.  Like with...

When I decided on the theme of Race, Gender, and Sexuality for the 2009 NSRC Summer Institute, I was basing my decision on feedback from recent and past participants in the Institute, suggestions from current graduate students, and advice from my colleagues at San Francisco State University and the NSRC.  And of course, there were cultural and political events that contributed to what I perceived as a real need to select this theme and consequently the classes and faculty to address these issues.  However, I do not think that I knew the intensity with which I, my staff, the faculty, and the participants would have such an authentic experience including real conversations about race, gender, and sexuality over the past four or five weeks.  Upon reflection, I feel as though I am continuing from this journey with many more questions than answers while also having a much deeper understanding of myself and a greater desire to interpret my experiences in the positions that I hold and the spaces that I occupy throughout my life. 

As we sat in our classes (and the bars, cafes, restaurants, dorms, and apartments after) discussing the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality, we also watched and sometimes (usually) commented on events unfolding on the national stage regarding many of these same issues.  We observed a dark-skinned president with an odd sounding name who just happens to be multi-racial (or mixed race if you prefer) struggle...

Our work on sexuality, as researchers, educators, therapists, and advocates, has everything to do with race, ethnicity, gender, class, ability, age, spirituality, and nationality.  If NSRC's most recent summer institute, Race, Gender, and Sexuality, wasn't evidence enough, the continued inequalities in sexual and reproductive health should be.  See, for example, Michelle Chen's recent post on RaceWire: http://www.racewire.org/archives/2009/07/culture_wars_killing_reproduct.html 

For those who are hip to black feminism, womanism, third world feminism, and/or other strands of feminism that emerged to challenge the exclusive, narrow focus of white, middle-class, heterosexual feminists of the West, I am not suggesting anything new.  Audre Lorde and other feminist scholars have argued that all forms of oppression intersect, and thus efforts to eradicate one form of oppression must seek to eradicate them all.  Sexuality, certainly, is included in this; homophobia, heterosexism, sexual violence, human trafficking, and sexual inequality generally all intersect with racism, xenophobia, nationalism, sexism, transphobia, ableism, ageism, religious intolerance, and classism.

Throughout the year I served as the chair of the Campus Coalition for Sexual Literacy at Indiana University,...

Earlier this week, Megan Rauscher reported the findings of a recent study on race/ethnicity among MSMs, or men who have sex with men, in San Francisco: http://in.reuters.com/article/health/idINTRE5654MK20090706  In the study, published in the June 2009 issue of AIDS Behavior, a scholarly journal devoted to research on AIDS, researchers Raymond and McFarland seek to explore a paradox found in recent research on AIDS among MSMs: HIV/AIDS rates are much higher among Black men who have sex with men, but they are no more likely to engage in “risky” sexual practices (e.g., sex without condoms, sex under the influence of drugs and alcohol). 

Like previous research, they found that Black MSMs are more likely to have partners of the same race.  It’s the rest of the research that turns this seemingly innocent same-race preference into something much more disgusting: among their Asian, Latino, and white participants, Black men were consistently rated as the least desirable among these four racial/ethnic groups and perceived as the greatest risk for HIV/AIDS infection.  Even among their Black participants, they found that Black men were not their top...

On Monday, June 22 the National Sexuality Resource Center sponsored a panel discussion of the film Still Black:A Portrait of Black Transmen after the film’s Frameline debut as a part of the NSRC’s Summer Institute on Race, Gender, and Sexuality. Panelists included JayR Rosemon from Dimensions Clinic; Zion Johnson founding member of the Lou Sullivan Society; Shawn Demmons, an MPH Candidate San Francisco State University and a Point Foundation Scholar; and Amy Sueyoshi, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies and Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University.

Amy Sueyoshi agreed to share her comments from that panel in my blog. Her comments are a valuable resource for sexuality educators interested using Still Black in the classroom as a tool for teaching about sexuality, gender, and race.

Because I'm white.  I'm a white, highly educated (over educated?) gay man and any discussion of race raises my pulse, causes me to feel flush and hot, and makes me completely uncomfortable.  I'm also the Director of a Summer Institute that is focusing on issues regarding Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the United States this summer, so you can imagine that I've been thinking and talking about race quite a bit these days.  When I talk to other white folks about race, I feel frustrated.  When I talk to folks of color about race, I feel nervous. I've spent some time reflecting on why this might be and am starting to understand a little about myself.

I'm learning that I'm afraid to talk about race because I fear that I will be called a racist. I think that white people, particularly liberal white people, particularly liberal white people who believe they are fighting for social justice and civil rights, are scared to death of being called a racist. We live in SAN FRANCISCO! How can we be racist?  We're the good ones not those horrible red-kneck, Neo-Nazis. We're on your side! (stealing from Sarah Silverman, "We love ethnics!") At the same time, I know that not only am I racist but I am part of a larger systemic and institutional problem that promotes and enforces racism. I also know that no matter how much legislation is passed or...

This summer, Dr. Héctor Carrillo joins the 2009 Summer Institute as featured faculty.

The majority of research that discusses HIV risk, sexuality, and race seems to follow a linear formula that connects one’s sexuality and race to risky behaviors and subsequent vulnerability to HIV. Dr. Héctor Carrillo’s research however, adds an understanding of cultural context with regards to sexuality in Mexico that complicates the idea of what labels like ‘gay’ or ‘risk’ mean in different environments. What happens when men who have sex with other men, and because they are not gay or bisexual, do not believe themselves to be at risk for HIV because they do not claim a gay identity? One of Dr. Carrillo’s recent studies ‘Trayectos’, which means trajectory or path, follows the ever-changing context of sexuality as individuals move across the Mexican-US border in what he and others call...

When I think back on my favorite teachers, I realize they all share one trait in common – they listen. Summer Institute featured lecturer Cathy Cohen has made listening a radical methodology for studying sexual attitudes and behaviors, so know doubt she will be a great teacher who you won’t want to miss this summer at the Summer Institute on Race, Gender, and Sexuality! Dr. Cohen is perhaps most famous for her books The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics and Women Transforming Politics: An Alternative Reader, but her research illustrates that she will be an excellent teacher because she listens, and most importantly she listens to youth and young adults of color.

Dissatisfied with popular perceptions of Black youth and concerned by they way those perceptions were employed in outreach programs, Dr. Cohen tried something radical. She started the Black Youth Project and set out to listen to young adults, allowing them to express their own opinions. She wanted to understand young adults’ attitudes, their experiences, and learn how they understand the world around them.  By asking youtn of multiple racial identities about their beliefs she shattered myths about Black youth and empowered young adult voices to drown out the stereotypes.

Maybe it’s because it’s women’s history month or maybe it’s because they wanted to spite the lobbyist in DC for National Abstinence Lobbyist Day this week, but the new administration and newly elected Democrat controlled Congress made tremendous strides this week enacting legislation that will substantially improve women’s health (and everyone’s sexual health for that matter).

The omnibus spending bill that the Senate passed this week not only increased Title X funding and decreased funding for abstinence-only programs but it also put more money into international HIV prevention than ever before. And feminists throughout the US should celebrate because the omnibus bill also includes provisions for reducing the cost of birth control.

Not to be out done by the Senate, President Obama announced the White House Council on Women and Girls. Autumn...

Proposition 8 passed in California on November 4th, 2008 and The Advocate released its issue #1021 in December 2008, featuring the text "Gay is the New Black" on its cover ... and I'm just now blogging about this all on February 16, 2009.  The issue remains: race and racism must be addressed among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communalities, sexuality and heterosexism must be addressed among communities of color, and the relationship between LGBTQ and communities of color must be assessed and improved.

I'm sure most people know the story by now: immediately following the November 4th election in the US, statistics were released indicating the passage of Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in the state of California.  Included in these numbers were breakdowns by a variety of sociodemographic variables.  The number that caused quite a stir: an overwhelming majority of Black voters in CA approved the proposition.  These numbers were taken out of context, leading to an explicit blame for the proposition's passage on Black Americans.  Although later reports, including one from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, report a much lower percentage of Black voters who supported the proposition, the issue remains: racial hostility among LGBTQ people reared its ugly head.  Even today, with a much lower number of Blacks favoring the proposition's passage, critiques of...

In the mid-1990s, the international conventions on sexuality shifted to discuss sexuality as a human right.  The specific details of such a claim are unknown to me, but that is a powerful statement: sexuality is a human right.  Unfortunately, looking in the US, we can see that certain opportunities are constructed as unalienable rights, yet there exists an entire system that unevenly distributes access to such rights - some do not even have access to those rights.  I will use suffrage as an example: in theory, all US citizens have the right to vote.  In practice, there are barriers in place that make that right less accessible for some (new identification guidelines, etc) and inaccessible to others (many ex-felons have lost their right to vote). 

It is my intention here to raise the following question about sexuality: though we may construct it as a human right, even a human need that must be satisfied, is it really a privilege that some enjoy and others don't?  For several reasons, I would say it is a privilege.  Pulling from the notion of intersectionality (the interlocking of systems of oppression, including race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, class, age, ability), I would argue that there are many who are free to enjoy and explore their sexual selves without (many) limitations, while there are others who face many limitations, and others are completely robbed of free...