“Where are My People At?”: A Community Cultural Wealth Analysis of How Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community College Students of Color Access Community and Support

ABSTRACT

Previous studies about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and similarly-identified (LGBTQ+) college students have overwhelmingly centered White students and students attending four-year institutions. However, the literature suggests that community colleges – which tend to enroll higher percentages of students from minoritized racial and ethnic groups – may provide fewer LGBTQ+-specific resources to students than four-year institutions. Using community cultural wealth as a conceptual framework, this case study explored the experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual Students of Color attending a community college in accessing community and support. Specifically, I sought to understand how these experiences connected to participants‘ use of cultural capital. For this study, I conducted interviews with seven self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual Students of Color. Data analysis was guided by attention to the forms of cultural capital participants used in accessing community and support. Findings from the study describe how participants used social capital and navigational capital to access community, support, and needed resources. I conclude with specific recommendations for community college practices.

Notes

1. Queer communities have used the term “Latinx” to refer to Latin American communities in ways that resist the masculine-centricity embedded in “Latino” and binary assumptions about gender embedded in “Latino/a” and Latin@ (Salinas & Lozano, 2017). I use “Latina/o/x” to promote gender inclusivity.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported through a grant from the Southern Association for College Student Affairs.