Queers of the world, unite!

>>Ethnoculture celebrates and explores the
varied, multi-hued world of gay visible minorities

RAINBOW WARRIOR: Alan Wong

by PATRICK LEJTENYI

This weekend, Montreal’s gay, lesbian, transgendered, transsexual, bisexual and queer communities of colour (whew!) will be celebrating themselves and asking hard questions about their place in the world. The fourth annual Ethnoculture event—two days and nights of parties, talks, workshops and more—kicks off on Friday, May 23, and while there won’t be any shortage of weighty issues to delve into, there will also be opportunities for GLTBQs from minority cultures to meet, mix, network and party.

“We’re specifically dealing with the intersection of sexuality and ethnicity,” says Ethnoculture’s Alan Wong. “We’ve never tried to favour sexuality or ethnicity over the other.”

According to Wong, Ethnoculture wants to “demystify or dispel myths about [GLTBQs] to ethnic and racial communities, and sell these communities to [GLTBQs]. We want to build up solidarity among the various groups and allies, disseminate information and share knowledge.”

In plain talk, that means holding workshops on topics like engaging with public institutions, fighting homo (and other) phobia in cultural communities and refugee services for GLTBQs in Canada. It also means theatre, film screenings, an art exhibit and a multi-faith panel addressing sexuality and religion. That’s a long way from Ethnoculture One, which featured, says Wong, “two tables and a film presentation.”

On Sunday, May 25, the testy issue of white privilege will be tackled. “That’s the idea that the white identity is the one that is taken for granted as the identity of the community,” says Wong. “Much of the queer media is targeted to the white or European gay community. There isn’t much of a presence of different colours of ethnicities, and it leaves little space for others who don’t identify with that community. They feel excluded, ostracized, oppressed.”

Wong says queers of colour face a double whammy when it comes to their sexuality. First is the obvious, additional ostracization from their family and community, which tend to be more socially conservative than mainstream Canadian society. “As a gay Chinese man coming from a very Confucian family, I’m supposed to continue the family bloodline and continue the family name,” he says. “[Homosexuality] is viewed as Westernized, a Western phenomenon, not a part of the heritage and culture. So we have to deal with that belief.

“On the flipside, in the mainstream gay and lesbian culture, there are a number of different ways racism takes root,” he continues. “There’s the exotification of Asians, Latinos and Africans—Asians, for instance, are supposed to be subservient, servile and submissive. We have to challenge that representation as well.” The situation, he says, is even worse for queer women of colour.

Wong won’t say which community is the hardest to come out in—“Violence is always a potential threat, but what’s even more fearful is being turned away, neglected and shunned by the community”—but does “hazard to say” that things get easier the longer new Canadians stay in the country and adopt local mores regarding sexuality. “There’s more acceptance—or at least tolerance,” he says.

“More and more queers of colour are more comfortable coming out, but a lot still aren’t willing. And sometimes with good reason.”

Ethnoculture kicks off with an
opening night party at Voilà, on
the second floor of Sky Bar (1474
Ste-Catherine E.) starting at 9 p.m.
All other events take place at
UQÀM’s Sherbrooke pavilion (200
Sherbrooke W.). All events are
free. For detailed info, see
www.ethnoculture.org.