By Alexandra Phanor-Faury | Feb 22, 2017 12:00pm
Read Original: http://www.konbini.com/ng/lifestyle/new-documentary-series-tackles-racism-in-the-lgbtq-community/
For gay and trans men of color, a lack of representation within the LGBTQ community is an issue they must contend with. Their faces and experiences are seldom documented in the media. According to LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, “an overwhelming majority of LGBTQ characters on television (72% and 71% respectively) are counted as white.”
Faced with this problem, film production manager for GLAAD Abdool Corlette and freelance producerAdam Vasquez created Other Boys NYC to give gay and trans men of color living in New York a platform to reveal their personal stories and take control of their own narratives.
Released on queer media network Slay TV, Other Boys NYC features 50 interviews with subjects of all races and backgrounds that provide a window into what it means to identify as a man who is queer or trans and also a person of color.
In an interview with VICE, Corlette shared his thoughts on racism in the LGBTQ community:
“I think the LGBTQ community needs to do a lot of soul-searching.
Many times, gay men feel exempt from certain things, and treat their Otherness as permission to get away with bad behavior, whether it be racism, sexism, or xenophobia.
And the fact is that the LGBTQ community folds into the larger community.”
Episodes like that of out-of-work Malaysian-born Clement who speaks on how he believes his race and ethnicity could factor into the hiring process, or Donovan Thompson delving into how being Jamaican and queer has impacted him as a queer man touch on the realities of the intersection of race, gender and identity and how that plays out in different facets of their lives.
Watch the video below to learn more about the web series. You can watch the first episode here. If you feel like going on an Other Boys NYC binge, the first 25 episodes are also up for viewing.
