Nineteen Fifty-Six Best of 2020-2021 Melanin Magic

LIFESTYLE
studies major at the University of
Alabama, recognized.
Shol said as a biracial person who
can sometimes be “white-passing,”
he had to realize that he had some
privileges that weren’t afforded to
Black people, and because of that,
speaking out was necessary.
“I have to use my privilege to talk
about what’s going on for other
people, specifically for Black people
in America,” Shol said. “We know
that there is a problem, and there’s
been a problem for a long time,
and I feel like especially now it is
so important for everybody to use
their voice.”
Pedro Reyes, a gay Latinx sophomore
majoring in political science and
criminal justice, also recognized
that his experience as a person
of color and LGBTQIA member
was different and at times more
privileged than others. Yet, with
that privilege, he works to dismantle
these stigmas and educate others on
them.
However as those who identified
with the two marginalized groups
fought against stigmas, they
acknowledged that the fight was
happening inside the communities
too.
Tyler Samples, a Black gay senior
majoring in political science and
public relations at The University
of Alabama, said he has seen
discrimination against LGBTQIA
people within the Black community,
and it confuses him.
“We’ll march, and we’ll protest, and
we’ll say Black Lives Matter, which
obviously Black Lives Matter but
some people don’t account that all
Black Lives Matter. It doesn’t just
stop at Black straight [cisgendered]
men,” Samples said.
He said he found it a “very
interesting situation” that people
tend to separate Black LGBTQIA
lives from the Black Lives Matter
movement.
“I think it is very hypocritical to
try to demand justice, but within
your own community, you’re still
blatantly discriminating against
people,” Samples said.
He said it was counterproductive to
fight for equity and inclusion but be
exclusionary within the community.
Reyes agreed with this sentiment
relating it to his experience within
the Latinx community.
“Historically, the Latin community
is very rooted in homophobic
values and ideals, so whenever it’s
this Latin pride, it’s not the same
when we’re talking about [Latinx
LGBTQIA members],” Reyes said.
“It’s very saddening, but I also
think it reflects the hardships
that the African American and
Latin community have had to go
through. They’ve always had to
mold themselves to be so perfect to
be accepted by white people.”
These stigmas weren’t limited to
racial identities either; within the
LGBTQIA, there lies prejudice
disguised as “preference.”
“There is so much discrimination
within the LGBTQ community,”
Samples said. He discussed
how some gay men within the
community discriminated against
“feminine” men and transgender
women and men due to internalized
homophobia. He said they disguised
their prejudices behind preferences,
specifically on dating apps.
“People will say ‘Oh, it’s just a
preference,’ when I feel like they’re
being discriminatory, but they’re
using [preference] to justify it, and
that’s still not correct,” Samples
said. “It’s an ongoing issue.”
Shol said he’s seen many gay
men “go unchecked” for harmful,
misogynistic, or racist behaviors
just because they are gay. He said
it happened, especially on social
media and dating sites.
Reyes furthered the discussion
by saying that these weren’t just
preferences.
“It’s not a preference because if it
happened in the real world outside
of hook-up culture, it would be seen
as something completely different,”
he said.
He said regardless of what minority
group someone is a part of, they
should be held accountable for their
harmful actions.
“There’s a lot of problems within
the LGBTQ+ community, and white
supremacists still exist in the
LGBTQ+ community,” Reyes said.
“You don’t just get an excuse just
because you’re already in a minority
group. There are racist people in
the LGBTQ+ community.”
Shol recalled times in high school,
where he saw his Black LGBTQIA
friends going through different
experiences because of prejudices.
“I would have friends who I felt like
would have to work harder to be
accepted by both their family but
also by their romantic partners, and
that’s not okay,” he said.
For Love, as someone who identifies
as gender nonconforming, they
said they felt like there wasn’t any
acceptance for a person like them in
the LGBTQIA community because
of a lack of understanding.
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