10 STEPS TO UNDERSTANDING HOW RACIAL INEQUITIES AFFECT LGBTQ COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

9. Assess how institutional policies across government and civil society—even when well intentioned or seemingly race neutral—might disadvantage LGBTQ people of color and their organizations

Guided by values, stereotypes and historical advantage, many of our country's institutions have implemented policies that despite their intent, lead to racial disparities among LGBTQ people of color. An entry point is to assess how various institutional policies affect particular grantees. A funder might also look inward: How have foundation criteria potentially made it more difficult for organizations that explicitly serve people of color to access funding? How can our institutions better support LGBTQ people of color groups?

PrSYM operates within a policy context where Southeast Asian communities garner little government support except to police "gangs." Further, the group struggles to provide quantitative evidence regarding need (a must for many funders, government and private), since most data collected on Asian-Pacific Islanders masks intra-group differences, where disparities are at their most profound and where Southeast Asian populations exist. Further, many government services are culturally and linguistically insensitive to the needs of Southeast Asian communities, and with the exception of HIV/AIDS funding, little to no government support exists for LGBTQ communities of color. Finally, government policies overtly target Southeast Asians, from a federal repatriation agreement with Cambodia that encourages the deportation of Cambodians, to the state-level layoffs of interpreters that largely serves Southeast Asian families throughout Rhode Island.