Speaker to address dual discrimination

Clarence Fluker will speak about the dual positioning of lesbians and gays of minority ethnicities at 6 p.m. in the Lindley Cultural Center multipurpose room. Fluker’s presentation, called “Black Like Me: Discussing Dual Identities,” is being sponsored by the Lindley Cultural Center.

Fluker is a freelance writer and writes a monthly editorial for a magazine called ••Arise.•• He said his presentation developed through speeches and workshops that he gave over the past few years. His speech is about belonging to the gay and black minorities simultaneously.

“I hope to illuminate the issues of marginalization of people of color and members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender) community,” Fluker said. “I hope to illuminate the existence and what people have to go through.”

Fluker said his speech offers messages about how people can become more inclusive of everyone and try to create a better society for people to live in, with more acceptance and tolerance. He said he will try to create a two-way dialogue between him and the audience to see what ideas the audience has about working as a community.

“Unfortunately, people still experience racial discrimination today,” Fluker said. “This becomes more difficult coupled with what you have to deal with being known as someone who’s out.”

Ashley Randall, co-chairwoman for Open Doors, said discussions have been held on this issue during their meetings. Randall said it is a greater struggle to be gay and an ethnic minority because people have to face racial discrimination as well as homophobia.

Karlie Dunsky