Actually, I don't mind whenever I'm ask, in fact, I often go out of my way to put myself in situations where people ask questions about sexual orientation, interracial relationships, and coming out. I often participate in speaker's bureau or set up speaker's bureau at the university that I'm at.
I understand that people may get tired after being asked once or get offended because people "don't get it," but the reason why they don't get it is because they have a heteronormative socialization. So the best way to break them of that is to be as visible as possible. I used to get upset when I see queer representation of all white people, but why get upset when I don't even participate in what they are trying to do? There aren't that many people who know a queer person of color. I would give white people some slack for approaching us with questions too. As ignorant they may sound at times, this is your chance to educate them.
For the most part, I don't discuss race issues w/folks who need to be educated cos I learned @ a very young age that people like that tend to believe what they want to believe no matter how many times you tell them...Life is too short for me to be dealing w/people who choose to live in denial.
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I understand that people may get tired after being asked once or get offended because people "don't get it," but the reason why they don't get it is because they have a heteronormative socialization. So the best way to break them of that is to be as visible as possible. I used to get upset when I see queer representation of all white people, but why get upset when I don't even participate in what they are trying to do? There aren't that many people who know a queer person of color. I would give white people some slack for approaching us with questions too. As ignorant they may sound at times, this is your chance to educate them.
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