Research-based or narrative-informed discussion of the lives of minority women of nonheterosexual sexual orientation is severely limited by several significant realities. First, much of the research on topics germane to this chapter—work and vocational life and workplace inclusion and nondiscrimination; questions of home, residence, and travel or mobility as they relate to personal safety; rates and impacts of hate crimes and violence; and others—is based on sampling that includes, on the one hand, both nonheterosexual men and women and on the other hand, both European American and “minority” lesbian and bisexual women. Since race and gender, apart from sexual orientation, are significant factors in these and related discussions, general surveys of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons or all lesbian/bisexual women may not reveal much about the particular experiences of those within larger samples who are not women or not European American.
“I find myself reluctant to ‘talk race’ because it hurts”.
–bell hooks, 1995, p. 4
“Probably the most serious deterrent to Black lesbian activism is the closet itself”.
–Barbara Smith, 1998, p. 171
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Jones, T., Pike, E. (2010). “No One Place to Call Home”: Workplace and Community Safety Among Lesbian and Bisexual Women of Color. In: Loue, S. (eds) Sexualities and Identities of Minority Women. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-75657-8_7
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