Outside the Box: Disconnected Identities of Gay and Lesbian Hispanics and African Americans.

Male, black, a banker… and gay. Latina, lawyer… and lesbian, a triple “minority,” belonging to no group. A new survey reveals some surprising attitudes about gays and lesbians of color – classifications with significant implications for how marketers and advertisers reach out to them.

A qualitative survey just released by the Los Angeles based multicultural market research company New American Dimensions (NAD) shows that African-American and Hispanic gays and lesbians overwhelmingly consider themselves to be members of at least two minority groups: one defined by sexual orientation and the other defined by race or ethnicity. Lesbians face discrimination on an additional front, as women. To which group do they really belong? Many respondents suggested that they feel comfortable in no traditional group at all.

The NAD survey, titled Outside of the Box, explores the attitudes revealed in focus groups and in-depth interviews conducted among 110 African American and Hispanic gays and lesbians ranging from ages 18 to 42 years in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

African Americans acknowledged a clear and often articulated taboo against homosexuality in the Black community, particularly from African American churches, and males expressed a strong pressure to appear masculine by living dual, closeted lives.

Hispanics said they maintained close ties to family, despite discrimination based on sexual orientation, and said they felt pressure to follow traditional gender roles. Although many reported initial ostracism from family members, a majority expressed the importance of family, and a significant number explained the desire to walk the thin line between family and sexual orientation by seeking out Hispanic partners.

Both Black and Hispanic gays and lesbians confessed they felt at odds with the “gay community,” which many said is very Caucasian in its focus.

As a result, these gays and lesbians of color often prefer to develop their own small, personal, multicultural communities.

Stereotypes about gay and lesbians persist, participants say, and many blame the media. Participants explained that media representation of Hispanic and African American gays and lesbians is more limited than that of Caucasian gays and lesbians, meaning that Hispanics and African Americans are more apt to be reduced to stereotypes. Hispanic and African American gays and lesbians indicated they want to be included in the consumer landscape and portrayed accurately – as professional, loving, responsible, multicultural people with varied interests, family situations, and morals.

According to David Morse, President and CEO of New American Dimensions, “Being a person of color in America can be challenging, and being gay can be hard. Combine the two elements, and you find a significant group of consumers who feel ostracized by family and ignored by marketers.”

More than a quarter of same-gender couples in the U.S. include at least one minority, and same sex couples live in every county in every part of the nation.

To view in-depth study results and a video of participants go to http://www.newamericandimensions.com