Race and Ethnicity Final Paper "Examining Connectedness to the LGBT Community by Race".

Are gay men of color less likely to perceive that they are connected to the LGBT community? If so, what predicts engagement or disengagement with this particular community? This paper analyzes how gay men's level of connectedness to the LGBT community differs by race using survey data that includes LGBT individuals from all 50 states, county types, and races. I also seek to understand what may be driving the relationship between race and level of connectivity. This paper finds that Black gay men are the only group who is significantly less connected to the LGBT community when compared to other gay men of differing racial categories. We find that the most prominent predictors driving this association is the belief that one's racial identity is more important than ones sexual identity, along with how "out" the respondent is to those that they associate with. These results from this paper point to the difficulties in managing two marginalized identities, especially when those identities are largely in conflict with one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]