Oh, and the constant obsession with painting black people as more homophobic even though most all anti-gay policies and laws have been led by white men. This racism is fueled by many factors, including ‘gayborhoods’ leading the gentrification of low-income minority communities, the focus on white gay men as poster-children for marriage and magazine covers, and the extreme casualness around saying things like ‘No blacks or Asians’ on gay dating apps, something that is unacceptable in the wider dating world. The LGBT community – most specifically, the gay, male community as a whole – has come under fire lately for minimizing the racism that has long pervaded its ranks, with some Pride celebrations disrupted by Black Lives Matters representatives, there to remind the gay community of its racially diverse roots. It could be, he said, that a smaller pool of potential partners makes LGBT people less hesitant to date someone from a different ethnicity or culture. Some state agencies don’t (yet) track spousal gender, which won’t allow for a crystal-clear picture of demographic trends for a few years. When asked what’s motivating this trend, Gates said it was till too soon to tell. This analysis also found that 23% of same-sex couples were in a minority group, meaning that the vast majority of married same-sex people are white, with minorities most likely marrying a white partner. “Same-sex couples are more likely to be inter-racial/ethnic than are different-sex couples,” said Dr Gary Gates, research director at UCLA’s Williams Institute and a leader in studying same-sex couples, referencing his 2013 analysis that found same-sex couples twice as likely to be in interracial relationships than different-sex ones. And surprisingly, they look to already be more diverse – racially – than their heterosexual counterparts. While same-sex marriage is a fairly recent development – it just became legal nationwide in late June – we do have some data that gives insight into potential trends within the make-up of same-sex couples. “When you going to get you one, too?” And the brunch began to feel a tad hypocritical.
“Everyone’s got a white man, girl,” he remarked to me.
Recently, one of the people that is a leader in making this brunch continue – now with less frequency – and I were talking about the love lives of the men involved. Brunch is our place to breath a little easier. Over time, the brunch become a safe space for us, who generally felt like we had none – not in LGBT spaces, and not in black ones.