Gatekeeping within Queer Spaces
Jessica Chang, MHC-LP
What is Gatekeeping?
The word “gatekeeping” seems to be thrown around a lot these days. By definition, gatekeeping is the activity of controlling, and usually limiting, general access to something. Looking further into the term, gatekeeping is not inherently bad. It can be used to protect people from harm and provide a level of security and safety (e.g. requiring visitors to check in at the front desk before entering an elementary school). However, it is often seen in ways which have the opposite effect, making people feel unsafe and causing harm to various groups of people, such as hiring managers preferring more “white” names (Leonard, 2003), and including gatekeeping within the LGBTQ+ community.
History of Gatekeeping within Queer Spaces
Gatekeeping within queer spaces is not a new phenomenon and has in fact been present since Stonewall and likely well before then. This includes gay and lesbian folk discounting fellow gays and lesbians for being “too masculine”, “too feminine”, “too butch”, “too straight-passing” (McAlpine, 2017). The bisexual+ community experiences gatekeeping from within, contributing to the all-too-common experience of bi-erasure, “a pervasive problem in which the existence or legitimacy of bisexuality (either in general or in regard to an individual) is questioned or denied outright”, and biphobia, “an aversion toward bisexuality and toward bisexual people as a social group or as individual,” including denial and negative stereotypes regarding the existence of bisexuality. The transgender community is constantly left out of LGBTQ+ discussions altogether, often omitted from LGBTQ+ research and literature as well, despite trans women leading the way in LGBTQ+ movements time and time again (Horak, 2019). Another group often excluded within the LGBTQ+ community is asexual/aromantic people (Ace folk), whether completely neglected or dismissed as heteronormative (Leah, 2017). Gatekeeping pertaining to queer folk is so pervasive that specific terms have manifested to describe “gatekeepers” within the LGBTQ+ community, including TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) and REGs (Reactionary Exclusionary Gatekeepers). People within the LGBTQ+ community have even attempted to limit who is able to claim the term “queer” for themself.
Effects of Gatekeeping within the LGBTQ+ Community
Gatekeeping within queer spaces can cause real harm. Within a community which has been made to feel unsafe and excluded in a heteronormative society, being rejected from one’s own queer community can have devastating effects. This includes but is not limited to the following consequences:
Isolation and health disparities - Those within the LGBTQ+ community who are made to feel as though they do not belong or are excluded from their own community may experience severe feelings of isolation. Rejected queer folk may feel utterly misunderstood, unseen, or unimportant/irrelevant. Loneliness is associated with higher rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide (Beutel et al., 2017). The concept of double/multiple discrimination, e.g. facing discrimination from both queer and heteronormative groups and potentially other groups such as one’s racial/ethnic group for QTBIPOC, has been shown to be associated with adverse physiological, behavioral, and mental health outcomes as well, including higher rates of death by suicide and institutionalization (NAMI).
Internalization of negative feedback/messaging - With the prevalence of bi-, trans-, and ace- invisibility/erasure and phobias, it is easy to begin questioning the legitimacy of one’s own experience and feelings. These messages may show up as doubting one’s belonging within these groups due to “lack of experience” or presenting as “straight-passing”, feeling as though one has to prove or advocate for their existence, or feeling shame, guilt, and/or hesitancy over claiming one’s own identity. These experiences or fear/anticipation of experiencing such discrimination has also led to many adverse physical, behavioral, and mental health consequences (BRC).
How to Combat Gatekeeping within Queer Spaces and Yourself
Notice when prejudices come up in the moment - and say something to address the issue(s) at hand. Don’t let gatekeeping within or outside of queer spaces go unchecked.
Check yourself - with so much external messaging through media and pop culture as well as from one’s family and interpersonal relationships, it is easy to internalize and perpetuate gatekeeping within the queer community. Recognize when your own biases are coming up and question and be curious about what your thoughts mean and where they are coming from.
Listen to yourself and others - nobody knows you like you do, and nobody knows them like they themself do. Define your identities in the way you want to define them, and allow others to do the same for themself.
Speak with a professional - sometimes internalized messages are so ingrained from the beginning that it is difficult to see or come to terms with how certain conditioning is impacting one’s life presently. If you are experiencing internal conflict within yourself or external conflict with others, it may be helpful to work with a therapist to uncover underlying themes, create goals that better align with you, and move towards your mental health vision.
Sources
1969: The Stonewall Uprising. Library of Congress.
Beutel, M. et al. E., Klein, E. M., Brähler, E., Reiner, I., Jünger, C., Michal, M., Wiltink, J., Wild, P. S., Münzel, T., Lackner, K. J., & Tibubos, A. N. (2017). Loneliness in the general population: prevalence, determinants and relations to mental health. BMC psychiatry, 17(1), 97. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-017-1262-x
Double Discrimination. NAMI.
Erasure of Bisexuality. GLAAD.
Gatekeeping. Dictionary.com.
Horak, M. 2019. The Role Of The Transgender Community In The LGBT+ Rights Movement. The Lawyers’ Committee.
Leah, H. (2017). 'A' Is For Asexual: Erasing The Asexual Orientation. Huffpost.
Leonard, B. (2003). Study Suggests Bias against ‘Black’ Names on Resumes. Society for Human Resource Management.
Lyle, L. (2023). The Harmful Stereotypes Perpetuating Biphobia. Bucketlist Community Cafe.
McAlpine, MK. (2017). Attacked from Within: Gatekeeping in the Queer Community. Medium.
Mental Health in the Bisexual Community: Biphobia, Bi Erasure, & Getting Help. The Bisexual Resource Center (BRC).