The Advocate published an opinion piece by Jimmy Nguyen, which calls for LGBT groups to consider diversifying their leadership. Part of the piece reads:
At the executive director position, LGBT groups have historically been led almost exclusively by white men. A step down at the board level, gay non-profits have tried for years to recruit members who better match the racial diversity of America. After all this time talking about the need for greater racial inclusion, it’s time LGBT entities did better in finding leaders who represent the full spectrum of colors.
The figures are troubling, especially at the very top. In 2008, only 4% of executive directors of LGBT organizations were people of color. That figure comes from The Pipeline Project, a group formed to develop LGBT leaders who reflect our multicultural, multiethnic community. It is a far cry from the 36% of the U.S. population who self-identifies as a racial minority. And our 4% is one-third less than non-profit groups in general. While I have not come across more recent statistics, it’s hard to imagine racial diversity among executive directors has dramatically improved in the past few years.
Executive directors act as faces to the public of their organizations and the overall LGBT movement; it is critical that those faces be as diverse as possible. Because the LGBT population is itself a minority group, it is sadly ironic that our organizations need their own diversity initiatives.
In the boardroom, the picture is better but still lacking. At the major LGBT non-profit entities, only 25% of board members are racial minorities, according to the 2011 annual National LGBT Movement Report released by the Movement Advancement Project, which studies the health of LGBT organizations. Despite efforts to improve board diversity, the 25% figure has not materially changed from the prior year. While the MAP study does not capture data from all gay non-profit entities, it represents a good cross-section. The 2011 report (summarizing 2010 data) covered 40 of the most prominent groups that collectively control 71% of the budgets from known gay organizations.
Luckily, LGBT non-profit entities are doing well at the staff level. MAP found that 32% of staff members at participating organizations identify themselves as people of color. This more closely tracks with the 36% figure for the U.S. population.
Why is the leadership of our LGBT organizations so awash in white? Let’s begin with the elephant in the room. The gay community needs to be more racially inclusive – not just in its organizational structures and political strategies, but in its social fabric.
Ethnic minority groups still are not as integrated into the gay world as they should be. That isn’t to say Caucasian people have no racial minority friends, but it is a fair observation that their social circles tend to be less racially diverse. This spills over into the milieu of “A-gay” charity events, where the people who historically run the show (often gay white men) invite people they know (usually more gay white men than racial minorities) to attend, contribute money or support in other ways. Trust me, I’ve showed up at many gay fundraisers to find myself as an Asian man just one amongst a limited number of racial minority people in the ballroom. That results in fewer people of color getting exposure to the good work of LGBT organizations.
In turn, this affects boardroom composition. With leaders of LGBT entities being less diverse, so too are their social circles, which they reach out to for recruiting prospective board members. This leads to a spiraling cycle that makes it difficult for non-profit groups to improve their ethnic diversity.
Adding to the challenge is the money factor. For executive directors and board members, a big part of their job is to solicit donations from people who have money or strong business relationships to leverage. That immediately starts filtering out some people of color from the contact list. There are, of course, many LGBT racial minorities who are professionally successful. But it’s the cold hard truth that an income disparity still exists in America between whites and racial minorities (irrespective of sexual orientation) even with the same level of educational attainment.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having gay, white men at the top (just as there is nothing inherently wrong with straight, white male leaders). But we need more color not just for atmospherics; we need it to help win the gay civil rights movement.
Everything was going fine until I read the following paragraphs:
To achieve full equality, we need straight allies, especially racial minority groups such as the NAACP and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center that help frame gay issues in the historical context of other civil rights movements. This bestows particular resonance toamici curiae briefs from these allied groups in impact litigation, such as briefs supporting marriage equality in the Ninth Circuit appeal of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger Proposition 8 case.
Backing from these other minority organizations also makes it safer for straight politicians and voters to support gay causes. Perhaps most importantly, they can help overcome antigay prejudices that can be uniquely harsh within African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American cultures. If our own LGBT organizations had more diverse leaders, we could build stronger partnerships with these straight allies and better appeal to voters in communities of color.
Nguyen follows with encouraging people of color to join LGBT organizations, “even if it’s just to attend an event or volunteer a little time. A small amount of exposure now might intrigue you into pursuing leadership opportunities in the future.”
Easier said than done.
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