Brown and Gay in LA

July 25, 2022
Ocampo (The Latinos of Asia) documents the challenges of growing up gay for second-generation urban Latinos and Filipinos in this insightful blend of ethnography and memoir. Homophobic attitudes pervaded and oppressed the lives of Ocampo’s interviewees from early childhood. Manny Roldan recalls his grandmother reprimanding his “gay” laugh, while Joaquin Marquez confronted his family’s prejudiced priest during Sunday Spanish Mass (“You’re not God!”). Excelling in academics was one way to “counteract the stigma of being seen as gay,” but racism remained omnipresent. Upon entering an LGBTQ club at Georgetown University, for example, Armando Garza’s impression was of unwelcoming “rich White kids.” In contrast, community and empowerment were found at clubs and chat rooms specifically organized by and for queer people of color. Ocampo catalogs how various experiences of “coming out” or “being outed” illuminate how quests for love, loyalty, and belonging manifest, including how some “may have been victimized by masculinity to maintain rapport and support from family, they were willing to denigrate other gay men.” The author’s own relationship with his parents after coming out improved only after his parents met and connected with his partner. Ocampo creates a collective voice out of the many people he interviewed while simultaneously honoring each experience. The result is a daring and provocative portrait of a uniquely diverse generation.

Starred review from August 15, 2022
A professor of sociology explores details of his life as a queer Filipino American and the long-overlooked stories of gay immigrant men like him. Told through stories that redefine what it means to be a gay person of color at the intersection of homophobia, sexism, and racism, Ocampo's text "chronicles the life experiences of young adult men who have roots in the Philippines, Mexico, and Latin America. All of the men I interviewed are cisgender, meaning they identify with the sex they were assigned at birth: male. They are sons of immigrants. Most were born and all were raised primarily in the United States, which means they are 'second generation' Americans." Following in the tradition of scholars of intersectionality and performative gender and sexual identity, these coming-of-age narratives reveal how pathways of education and socio-economic status are influenced by "the need for independence from the heteronormative family and friend circles [these men] felt trapped by." He also shows "how gay people of color can grow exhausted of the identities they have meticulously curated. Ocampo effectively explores the "value systems of the gay community and the immigrant family and its community" in the context of belonging and incompatibility with the dreams that many immigrant parents have for their American-born children. Cultural expectations can lead to volatile relationships between parents and their gay children, leaving children with limited options. Some experience homelessness or commit suicide. Organized into chapters with titles such as "Lessons in Manhood and Morality," "Escaping to College," "Not That Gay," the text smoothly combines personal anecdotes with thorough sociological research, spotlighting those who feel they don't fit the archetype of the ideal gay man within predominantly White queer spaces, both virtual and in-person. Ocampo should be commended for presenting the lives of queer people of color in a humane, compassionate, and informative way. An important book that showcases different models for gay men of color.

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August 1, 2022

To be a second-generation immigrant to the U.S., LGBTQIA+, and Brown often compounds to getting harangued, not solely within the societal system but also one's own family microcosm. Ocampo (sociology, California State Polytechnic Univ.; The Latinos of Asia) writes of the arduous journey through trial identities Brown people have to embark upon before being able to fully integrate into society and into their own households as their true LGBTQIA+ selves. The "otherness" experienced as part of a minority group is further exacerbated by being part of a queer minority within the minority. Through Ocampo's interviews, the reader learns about how religious beliefs, a distorted sense of masculinity, and generational expectations directed at their offspring by first-generation parents may all contribute to creating further alienation. VERDICT The intersections of race, immigration, and queerness are as much at the core of Ocampo's book as bigger-picture analyses of masculinity. This book is the best platform to dive into the matter and reemerge feeling inspired and motivated to just be and become one's unique self, the person one was always meant to be.--Alessandro Cimino

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