Showing papers in "Multicultural Education in 2002"

Diversity Initiatives in Higher Education.

Abstract: This article emerges from an extensive conversation with three people of color—one Latino, one South Asian, and one African American—about their experiences of “coming out” and “being out” as gay, lesbian, and bisexual in a variety of higher education contexts. The article is divided into three parts. Part one offers a brief overview of intersectional analysis. This overview sets the context for understanding the conversants’ discourse in the ensuing parts of the article. In part two, the conversants discuss the uniqueness of their gay, lesbian, or bisexual identity in relationship to their racial minority identity, broadly conceptualized. Here, four themes emerge: (1) the gay, lesbian, and bisexual identity, Whiteness, and marginalization; (2) the role of multiple identities in challenging assumptions about affinity with the gay, lesbian, and bisexual identity; (3) off-campus life and the gay, lesbian, and bisexual identity for people for color; and (4) White hegemony and the limited expression of gay, lesbian, and bisexual identity on campus. Finally, part three of this article summarizes the important points from the conversants’ dialogue and teases out the implications of these points for higher education.