Blatant Anti-Asian Racism on Gay Websites Still Exists

By Ernie | Monday, September 6, 2010 | 33 Comments

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A recent article by gay website Edge Boston talks about the anti-Asian sentiment that exists in the gay male community websites: “Queer men of color in particular … not only face exclusionary messages in predominately white queer communities online, but also do not see others like them represented in promotional and advertising images on sites like Manhunt and other LGBT news and entertainment sites.”

Yep, agreed. But rather than give my two cents over the state of overt anti-Asian sentiment in the gay community, I’ll simply relay an anecdote: two or three weeks ago, my [white] friend Andy recently received a message from this guy on Grindr, a gay cruising dating iPhone App, for the straight people out there. The user description? “Asians, prease reave me arone.” GET IT? He’s trying to be clever, and by “clever,” I mean “a guy trying to win over white and/or Latino twinks by putting down a WHOLE FUCKING ETHNICITY.”

Rather than being full of anger, hurt or sadness, I will simply take advantage of social media and display his publicly available profile photo, with absolutely no commentary whatsoever.

To the guy I’m slandering on the Internet: So Sorry! Oh wait: So Solly!

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DatingDiscriminationLGBT

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http://hellomoye.com/ moye

I bet this guy’s defense is “But my best friend is Asian and we laugh about this all the time!”
csc3

this is awesome. thanks for putting his ass ON BLAST.
foreign_assault

I like this game. Might I suggest that we start a page/site that collects anti-people of color profiles from Grindr, Adam4Adam, etc?
http://twitter.com/MartinHsu Martin Hsu

I’m not offended because he’s fucking ugly ^_^
http://www.facebook.com/Riicola Ricola Wille

I think the Anti-people of colour site is a brilliant idea.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JCDWY2W7J7K3372REDRLRNKWI4 yahoo-JCDWY2W7J7K3372REDRLRNKWI4

He is 5’8″ and 170… he is FAT.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Efren-Bose/758823141 Efren Bose

Grindr really sucks. Scruff on the other hand…;)
Sammyhammy

This does suck, but to be fair a lotta Asian guys are hella racist too. Some of them worship white guys and show attitude toward everyone else. So don’t be surprised when it goes both ways
http://www.facebook.com/alconk Al Conkle

who cares if he is fat or ugly…he’s fucking stupid.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=724790910 facebook-724790910

Don’t worry, its not slander if its true! Also, me rove ru rong time ernie!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=724790910 facebook-724790910

Everyone has a preference. I can deal with that. But there’s a qualitative difference here. I don’t see many Gay Asian Men post messages that say “no thugs or gardeners, please. Only WASPs who wear ascots M-F and kitschy fedoras on the weekends.” This dude is (like Ern writes) is blatantly racist.
http://www.littleyellowdifferent.com ErnieAtLYD

Gurl, don’t get me started on bears.
http://www.facebook.com/MLVDAVIS Matthew Lee Valentine Davis

dear ignorance, your spreading your fluids on the streets, online and now through social media… if only there was enough bleach to clean you up; your smell is rancid, and your demeanor is despicable. thank god (most) of the people you occupy are ugly (based on social standards) anyways…
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHBJ5T5YZZOYAHWMLTRJOVQIWQ thinking

everyone should totally try really hard to be racist at least some of the time, like on Wednesdays at 4pm for instance—–only then will we be truly equal.

–maya angelou
yoonrs

It wasn’t too long ago that Corporate America, and its consumers, were reminded that “Two Wongs Can Make It White” was not only anti-Asian but also racist, despite the belief that Asians are the “model-minority” uncomplicated with the compo…unding hatred/fear that other ethnic minorities deal with – ie. black. I’ve moved beyond the knee-jerk reactions that these examples continue to solicit – instead, I ask each & every asian (american & foreign-born, str8 & queer alike) to address their internal struggles with what it is to be Asian in the context of sexuality, power, gender & nationality in the American paradigm. How can we seek approval from white/mainstream contemporaries, which only perpetuates their hierarchy, when WE continue to ignore our self-fulfilling need for assimilation. translation: sticky-rice? rice-queens? where are we to challenge the norm that white is “white?”— right?
http://www.facebook.com/nathantia Nathan Tia

Why would you choose to live in San Francisco and be picky about Asians? Shouldn’t he move to somewhere more welcoming to the white race – like say – the bible belt?
http://www.facebook.com/erikakharada Erika Harada

I really doubt anyone is actually surprised. And the issue here is the blatant racism (or hipster/ironic racism, which is still problematic) on display, and its context within larger issues of racism within the LGBT community, not “everyone does it so shut up”.
kuapaman

I LOVE ASIAN MEN

WOOF !!!
cut3

I dont really think this is that wrong, most asians really worship white guys and reject other asian guys.
Pingback: Racist Grindr Guy Retracts Asian Remarks, Hates Hipsters Instead | (simple) | 8Asians.com
http://www.facebook.com/people/Efren-Bose/758823141 Efren Bose

Gurl, I’m getting hella love from the Asian bears–in Asia. I’m taking what I can get!
asianlad

fair comments, having traveled the world, and living in london for the past 5 years, most asian lads i’ve come across in asian and western countries go crazy over white lads. go to bangkok or mumbai for example, its weird. perhaps when fellow asians also respect asians in their own community there may be a better balance. anyhow, have some perspective in the discussion and remember, each to their own preference, and if u are fat and ugly with shit pics no ones interested anyways. if there are blatant racists, just notify site managers and they should remove their profile. ps. i’m asian too.
http://www.erniehsiung.com/ Ernie H.

@asianlad Fair enough, but it’s the smug “reave me arone” that gets under my skin. It gives the undertone that he’s assaulted by offensive stereotypes of Asians all day, and while I don’t know guy I’m pretty sure that’s NOT the case.

It’s the Asian equivalent of saying “Latinos, don’t you have better things to do, like work in a strawberry field?”
Pingback: Anti-Asian Racism… « the encounters of the racist kind…
kevjones1977

By ‘Asian’ I guess most of you mean Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese or some ethnicity along those lines. What about Central or South Asian? Half of my family is Iranian, and in Iran many people are of Turkic (Central Asian) ancestry. Some people think I look Asian, others Latino. Either way, most guys, as well as girls, think I’m unattractive, unless they’re looking for twinky bottom trick for one night only, as a human fetish sort of thing. I don’t think most Asian guys are seeking white men…it’s just that the available pool of Asian gay men is limited in most places. If you don’t like someone’s looks, fine, that’s the way it is, but racist comments are completely uncalled for. I’ve heard more than my share of racist comments, subtle and overt. Enough already, please.
JayKay

It’s so strange to see this kind of thing. I’m a gay Chinese male, living in Detroit. I can count on one hand how many of my fellow Chinese live here, and only one of those actually came from China, like myself. You’d think with such a small population that we’d see this kind of thing too but that is no at all the case. Perhaps, it’s because there are so few of us that no one thinks about it. In Detroit, as you can imagine, it’s either Black or White… MAYBE Latino depending if you’re in specific areas of the city. In any case, such a thing makes me sad to see.

But, nasty racism aside, I’m not into fat dudes anyway.
Johan Lea

I’m of Asian origin but I was brought up in a society where there were not many Asians. None of my living family speak a non-Western language. So, it seems expected that my sense of aesthetic is based on those of my society i.e. European. I tend to like hairy, solid men and, without any malice, that means that most men don’t appeal to me generally, including the vast majority of Asians, who tend to be smooth-bodied. I have found Asians attractive but, in my case, a sexual encounter would feel as odd as incest since my only contact with Asians as a boy was within the family. I certainly feel an affinity and a liking for other Asians but sexuality with them would feel “wrong”. That’s just me. I have have had relations with all types of people as I travel a lot but I tend to gravitate to the hairy, solid types, regardless of type.

I don’t think I’m “racist” nor “self hating” – just having tastes that are to be expected, given my background.

And to the lad in the Grindr picture, you are now in cyberspace so, long after you will have erased your Grindr account, the picture will haunt you and, God Forbid, you ever have a person of influence in your life who would take offense at that post. And, for a lesson in lingustics, try to pronounce “ronronner”, a French word meaning to snore but using the correct French “r” so my French friends can laugh our heads off.
blahblah

I think it’s just so wrong to put this guy’s photo in here. This guy didn’t say anything bad about Asians, all he did was make a little joke about how some Asians mix the L and R sounds, and that was harmless for the most part.

Personally I think the asian gays themselves are partly to blame. Most of the ones I have met seem bent on trying to get into a relationship with someone white, even if that someone might be old enough to be their father. I see this NYC all the time. They make stupid excuses like “oh dating another asian would be like dating a brother etc etc..”. They try so hard going into clubs where they’re not wanted and make complaints when they’re rejected at the door(why go where you’re not wanted??). You really start to wonder what goes on in their head sometimes.

Disclosure : I am Asian an with Asian bf. I am attracted to pretty much every race.
battlechessgn18

Response to “BlahBlah” –

The point of fact is that this guy blatantly stated in his ad that he wants asians to “leave him alone.” It’s obvious that he is not “joking” about what he is saying, even though his silly, infantile “humor” seems to attempt a disguise for his prejudice as such. I think that you know that his callously insulting (not to mention trite) stereotype would cause him the very social ostricization that we see here in front of us.

Give him another chance? Perhaps; I know that, my soft-hearted forgiving self (much more so in real life than what I may be showing here), would definitely do that. However, excuse him for “only” being humorous? I, in my functioning mind, would most definitely not.

And I’m sorry to slap this on your head, but your being an asian (or, moreover, being one who claims to be accepting of all races and is, in fact, dating another asian) doesn’t excuse you for outright attempting to justify a racial-stereotyping guy, thinking that your pointing out the “faults” of asian guys (in just New York?) would seem any more credible; you, having made such an attempt at all, are still responsible for having done so. To put it in simpler terms, you’re not getting away with your “he’s not being mean to asians, asians brought it onto themselves” comment just because you’re an asian.

Nor does your justification make any sense. How exactly does the mis-mindset of two asians thinking that they’d be dating their own brother justify making fun of asian mis-pronunciations? Secondly, how does the trend of asians inappropriately attempting to enter non-asian-inclusive bars and clubs influence his racial perception of asians in a way that makes him not want to date/befriend them?

At any rate, the bottom line is that this guy in question has made an unnacceptable comment, and for that, it was likely bound that he would be publicly brought up in a negative light because of it; nothing asians in his contact have done would make it acceptable.
blahblah

@battlechessgn18,

I don’t know whether you are Asian or not, but the whole point of my previous post was to tell my fellow Asians this : If they let let individuals like this easily succeed in hurting their feelings, then they need re-examine how they view themselves, how they view view these people, and what they value in the person it is they are seeking.

Think about it. If a gay person from ethnic group that an asian person had absolutely no interest in (lets use klingons as an example ) put “absolutely don’t want any Asians whatsoever” in his grindr profile, would the Asian person be hurt and angry? Probably not. He’d probably look at the profile and say “What makes him think that I would ever want him”?

Why then does these Gay asians get hurt and mad when the white people reject him? It’s because these asians value white people, the white look, and being that they are Gay looks are the only thing that matter to them. If the gay Asian person is somehow able to get over his wanting of white/other ethnicity people, then these kind of grindr profile won’t hurt so much and won’t even be having this discussion.

Most times you have within yourself when something out there upsets you.
StevenLe1

I’m gay and I’m asian myself. It’s not that I think white are trash or ugly. But I never wanted a a white guy… I always have this racist white people images in my mind. I always feel they would look down on me no matter what I do. Just that alone already turns me off.I know it’s racist to say white people are racists but that how I feel…. I can’t expect everyone to be nice to me nor I will do the same. However, I don’t go around and basing white race. I keep my hate to myself and I expect white people do the same. PLEASE KEEP YOUR HATE TO YOURSELF.
Avicii

If this were a heterosexual guy who posted comments like that on a straight dating site, I wonder how women would react? I’m guessing they’d probably be even more outraged than gay men.

It’s funny how racist things which are considered totally unacceptable in mainstream society are sometimes justified by people in the gay male community as just being a “matter of preference”.
ezitin

i live in Perth ,Western Australia and also have found lots of anti asian racism here , i posted 2 example of them from grindr