Newswise — KNOXVILLE—The weekend mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, is stirring conversation over the multiple discriminations gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people of color may face over their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Patrick Grzanka, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, said, "Many queer and trans people of color in Florida and throughout the Twitterverse have been reacting to this event by highlighting how the massacre in Orlando is in many ways an extreme example of the everyday terrorism that LGBT people of color experience in the U.S. as targets of vitriol and discrimination on the street, in institutions such as schools and hospitals, and in the media, law, and politics."
Grzanka is available to discuss this topic with the media. Grzanka also is available to discuss LGBT issues and mental health and cultural responses to crises, including the social life of emotions, public mourning and collective outrage.
The shooter killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub, which had been hosting a Latin Night dance party. He was later killed by law enforcement. Grzanka noted that many of the victims identified both as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender and as people of color.
He added that LGBT people of color experience forms of intersectional discrimination that are unique to this community—namely the compounded effects of racism, xenophobia, heterosexism and transphobia.
"Queer people of color sometimes experience discrimination in ways that are not directly comparable to straight people of color or white LGBT people," Grzanka said. "These dynamics are especially important to consider in times of profound stress and trauma."
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ContactPatrick Grzanka (443-421-2933, [email protected])Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, [email protected])
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