Home and Community for Queer Men of Color: The Intersection of Race and Sexuality

This edited volume examines how and where gay men of color find “home” and what kind of home they find, how they make sense of race and sexuality, and how their experiences reflect what it means to be “raced” and “sexed” in America. The contributors argue both racially and sexually marginalized groups all confront levels of racism and heterosexism that is practiced by the larger ethnic and sexual communities that use white heterosexuality as the “norm” to which all others are compared. They further argue that despite different constructions of race and ethnicity, there are similar themes for racialized groups that need to be explored.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Home is Where the Heart is: Invisibility and Marginalization for Queer Men of Color Jesus Gregorio Smith Chapter 1: “Damn, I’m Dating a Lot of White Guys”: Gay Men’s Individual Narratives of Racial Sexual Orientation Development Jason Crockett Chapter 2: They Don’t Date Any Dark People: The Queer Case of Gay Racism C. Winter Han and Scott E. Rutlege Chapter 3: “OK, so Zion’s Not a Sissy Anymore He’s Gay, so Let’s Call Him That”: From Elementary School to College: Schooling Experiences of Black Gay Males Leading to Understanding and Self-Possession of Their Intersecting Racial and Sexual Identities Michael D. Bartone Chapter 4: Gay Latino Greeks: Finding a “Familia” in a Latino Fraternity Manuel Del Real Chapter 5: Gayborbood Change: The Intertwined Sexual and Racial Character Of Assimilation in Chicago’s Boystown Jason Orne Chapter 6: Queer Loneliness, Queer Hopefulness: Toward Restaging the Intersectionality of Gay + Asian/American from the Southwest Shinsuke Eguchi Chapter 7: Navigating the Spaces between Racial/Ethnic and Sexual Orientation: Black Gay Immigrants’ Experiences of Racism and Homophobia in Montréal, Canada Sulaimon Giwa, Kofi Norsah, and Ferzana Chaze Chapter 8: The Crime of Black Male Sexuality: Tiger Mandingo and Black Male Vulnerability Jesus Gregorio Smith Chapter 9: Experiencing Queer Spaces as a Transgender Man of Color Mario I. Suárez Conclusion C. Winter Han

About the Author :
Jesús Gregorio Smith is assistant professor of ethnic studies at Lawrence University and Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) Andrew W. Mellon Fellow. C. Winter Han is associate professor of sociology at Middlebury College.

Review :
This truly interdisciplinary and groundbreaking collection of essays contributes to queer theory and race studies by elaborating on the complexities present in the everyday experiences of queer people of color. Home and Community for Queer Men of Color: The Intersection of Race and Sexuality is a real stunner—rich, illuminating, often highly-personal, and a must-have addition to any serious intersectionality scholar’s library. Editors Jesús Gregorio Smith and C. Winter Han have put together a collection that will be cited and discussed for years to come! Home and Community for Queer Men of Color examines the intersections of race and sexuality, and other related social locations, as they inform and are informed by contemporary problems germane to cultural and intercultural lived experience. The authors engage with an impressive range of shared and unique issues to show how home and community for queer men of color matter in today’s increasingly turbulent and uncertain times. The book’s chapters are accessible, interesting, challenging, and promising—key qualities that make the book appealing for use in the undergraduate and graduate courses taught in a diverse number of academic fields. Ultimately, Home and Community places stories and experiences commonly relegated to the margins (of society and the academy) front and center and compels us to think and feel in novel ways.