Latina Lesbians Deal With Racism, Homophobia And More

A new study released at the end of July shows that Latinas who are lesbians face racism from within and without their LGBTQ communities, as well as homophobia and sexism. The study, done by two Chicago-based groups Mujeres Latinas en Accion and Amigas Latinas, is called “Latina portrait: Latina queer women in Chicago.” The Chicago Sun-Times published a story that took an in-depth look at the report.

Among the findings were than only 50% of the 300 women interviewed for the study identified as lesbian, gay or homosexual; many others, 29.2%, don’t even use labels. Then, 48% said there was “a lot” of racism in the white LGBTQ community. Also, 17% of the women said they were discriminated against because of their race within these communities, but within the Latino community, 25% said they were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, with 54% noting that lesbians were not accepted in the Latino community.

But what I found the most shocking, as have many other writers, is the element of violence these women face:

In terms of domestic violence, 49 percent reported that a female partner had tried to keep them from contact with family and friends. Forty-three percent of Latina LBTQ women reported having been pushed or hit by a partner. And 31 percent stated that a female partner had threatened to kill them.

Women not only stated that they were victims of female-on-female violence, but also admitted that they, too, had perpetuated violence. Forty-five percent said they had punched or hit a female partner and 23 percent had threatened to kill a past or current partner.

These days, it seems like life is hard enough without having to deal with violence in the home. We’ve previously reported that LGBTQ Latina women face hurdles when it comes to reproductive care as well. It goes to show that as a country and as a community we need to do better when it comes to taking care of Latinas.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD