Hollibaugh, "Queers Without Money"

This article examines the relationship between sexual orientation and class, and aims to shatter the myth that homosexuals and other queer peoples live in the lap of luxury. The article opens with and continues throughout out with a few personal stories of queer people trying to make their way in the world financially and struggles they have faced. Alongside with statistics that are said to specifically disprove another popular study done, these facets of the article aim to break down the aforementioned queer-class myth, and do so effectively. Particularly powerful is the section in which the author points out the challenges queer people face in the shelter system, which emphasizes to the reader in a very real way why poverty is an incredibly difficult issue for the queer community, perhaps more so than for the heterosexual one.  

In her article "Queers without Money: They Are Everywhere, but We Refuse to See Them," Amber Hollibaugh goes against common belief that gays are wealthy and introduces readers to the reality of economically unstable homosexuals.   Hollibaugh reveals how life really is for the LGBT community in New York City, showing how these people struggle to maintain jobs and places to live.   Hollibaugh claims that not only is it extremely difficult to be a poor person or a homosexual, but to be both is to receive more than double the punishment.   Society is not accepting of individuals that are gay and financially unstable.   It is easier to accept a homosexual with the belief that he or she is economically well-off, but this is not the reality of homosexual life.   The writer uses Will & Grace to show that onlookers are given a false image of what gay life is really like.   Her article clearly portrays that life for the LGBT community in America is not easy and to be poor and a homosexual is more common than the public is willing to see. -KM