Title of Talk: Gay is NOT the new Black: The Consequences of Essentializing Race
and Sexual Orientation
Dr. Kaila Story
Tuesday, November 15, 6pm
MLK Cultural Center, UK
Abstract: The recent popularized rhetoric that the LGTBQ’s community pursuit of
civil liberties in many ways mirrors African Americans past and current struggles
for freedom is not only a negation of how these two movements emerged and fought for
freedom, but it also has dire consequences for grassroots or collegial attempts at
reconciling issues of white racism within the queer community and combatting
internalized homophobia within both communities. Many of the issues that eroded the
relationships between various gay and lesbian organizations in early 50s and 60s are
still very much present within communities today. White racism, male sexism, and
homophobia have proved to many LGBTQ people of color that their struggle for social
justice would have to be made in a unique and separate way. This talk, will discuss
the sordid history of LGTBQ rights in the United States, racism within the LGBTQ
community, and ideas for the ways in which communities of color that exist within
LGBTQ community can come together in the pursuit of justice and freedom.
Kaila Adia Story, Bio
(Ph.D., African American Studies & Women’s Studies Temple University M.A., African
American Studies Temple University; B.A. Women’s Studies DePaul University) is an
assistant professor and currently holds the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender
and Sexuality in the Departments of Women’s & Gender Studies & Pan-African Studies
at the University of Louisville. Dr. Story has created and taught courses such as
Black Lesbian Lives, Introduction to LGBTQ Studies, Black Feminisms in Action, Queer
Perspectives in Literature and Film, and helped aid in the new LGBTQ Studies minor
at U of L. Dr. Story’s publications center around conceptions of embodiment, race,
gender, class, and sexualities.
