#so i chose Arlette’s quote instead.

[campgender]

a Black fem (Arlette) & stud (Jodi) on racism from white butches & fems in the 1950s

from Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy & Madeline D. Davis (1994)

excerpt 1:

“When we started going in there, we found out how really prejudiced other white gay kids were. They didn’t even want to talk to us, and they looked at us with resentment. … Well at Bingo’s we would always sit in a booth. They would have the bar, a lot of them would look at us and roll their eyes. So we decided that we were going to get some of these to be our friends no matter what we had to do. One thing that drew them was the fact that we would get up and dance. Then some of them would say, ‘Hey, I like that, teach us how to do that.’” (Arlette)

excerpt 2:

Jodi remembers that the presence of Black studs made many white butches nervous: “Some of the stuff that happened was so typically racist, it was so ridiculous. I mean it was like Black studs were coming into the bar, people would just kind of put their arm around their women … [as if] they were just coming in there to snatch up their women.”

excerpt 3:

White lesbians also attended [house parties] but not in large numbers. This was resented by those Black lesbians who wanted a racially mixed community. “White kids started coming. Now they come up with, ‘that neighborhood,’ which I resent. Because there’s no such neighborhood that anybody’s gonna attack you. I get mad at that. ‘Well where do you live? I don’t want to come over there.’ What do you mean you don’t want to come over there?” (Arlette).