9781422275238

explored by Gloria Evangelina Anazaldúa, who described herself as embodying feminist, mestiza (of spanish and indigenous descent), and lesbian identities in her well-known 1987 book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza . Anazaldúa writes about her life on the Mexico–Texas border and explores the borderlands formed within herself by the different identities she embodied. In one passage, the various aspects of her identity are compared to distinct people standing on different banks of a river, each one shouting to be heard at the same time. LGBTQ people may face additional discrimination for other aspects of their identity when they embody more than one marginalized identity. This might mean many different things—LGBTQ women, LGBTQ people of color, and LGBTQ people with a disability. While it is impossible to make a complete list of groups who are marginalized, all of them have LGBTQ members. When an LGBTQ person is also a member of another marginalized group, they may find themselves facing additional challenges because of their intersecting identities. For example, LGBTQ people who are members of another marginalized group are more likely to experience discrimination. In these cases, the individual may face compounding discrimination, as they are subjected to discriminatory treatment for their LGBTQ identity as well as other identities they may embody. On top of compounded types of discrimination, the interaction of multiple identities can sometimes cause new and unique issues that the individual must face. A person with identities that embody multiple, distinct marginalized groups must navigate many challenges as they interact with the world. These challenges can be better understood through the framework of intersectionality, which is a concept that is explained by Kimberlé Crenshaw. (See Chapter 1 for more on the conceptual history of intersectionality.) The idea of intersectionality states that the discrimination a person may face can vary, even when compared to other people who have common ground regarding certain aspects of their identity. For example, the way that a white LGBTQ person experiences discrimination may be different from the way an LGBTQ person of color experiences discrimination.

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Introduction