The Limits of Intersectional Practice: Evidence from Queer South Asian Women’s Invisibility in Pride Toronto

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 4: LGBTQ+ Studies and Sexuality

Abstract

Applying intersectionality in practice is imperative for challenging intersecting inequalities in organizations. Although scholars have theorized multiple approaches to practicing intersectionality and produced a robust body of sociological research examining intersectional inequalities in organizations, less is known about the way single-strand equality organizations invisibilize intersectional identities in their deliberate efforts to construct intersectional representation. Filling this oxymoronic gap is important for explicating the limitations of (mis)applying intersectionality in praxis. Drawing on data from ethnographic observations of Pride Toronto’s Festival, document analysis, semi-structured interviews with Pride Toronto’s organizers, performers, and activists from affiliated queer South Asian organizations, and descriptive qualitative surveys of queer South Asian women (QSAW)-identified attendees, this article explores how LGBTQ+ organizations’ efforts to cultivate intersectional representation at the axis of sexuality, race, and gender inadvertently contributes to the invisibility of QSAW. Building on and blending Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach’s (2008:377) model of intersectional invisibility with Goto (2017) and Perea’s (1997) notion of race as a Black/White binary, I conceptualize ‘identity bracketing’ as a framework through which Pride Toronto organizers think through and subsequently construct intersectional queer representation. I find that Pride organizers nominally include QSAW within the -of color identity category, often through acronyms like BIPOC or WOC, but do not proactively represent them within those spaces. I further find that Pride Toronto’s queer of color representation marginalizes women and xeno-racial groups, lesbian of color representation excludes xeno-racial groups, and the minimal South Asian representation disadvantages women, thereby excluding queer South Asian women from all the identity brackets they belong to in-name. Based on these findings, I argue that the use of racial acronyms like ‘people of color’ or ‘lesbians of color’ in LGBTQ+ organizations sustains the invisibility of QSAW while simultaneously justifying its existence, making it nearly impossible to challenge. These results have significant implications for understanding the way xeno-racial groups are excluded in queer of color discourses and through LGBTQ+ organizations’ intersectional practices.

Author

• Sonali Patel, University of British Columbia