I have always been impressed by the steps taken towards racial equality in this nation. The general population (this includes Asians) is being gradually educated on what racism is and how to avoid it. When racism occurs nowadays, we chalk it up to ignorance… and not hatred. We try to reply to racist comments with statements like “Oh, they don’t know any better” or “they just haven’t met enough [fill-in a race] people.” Usually this happens with older generations, especially immigrant generations, who hold onto their pre-conceived stereotypes.

But ignorance isn’t so limited. Recently I was sitting in the doctor’s office flipping through a magazine, when I stumbled upon an article about single, Asian American women. The article featured an interview with several women, who were successful and independent, making a great stand against the stereotype of the “Asian submissiveness.”

There was a point, though, that shocked me and made me question the case of the article and the women involved. The women were asked what they thought about the Asian American men in their respective workplaces. Their response? “They’re so gay… totally lame.”

*Blink Blink* What? Their initial answer was “gay” and then almost as an afterthought or affirmation they decided to add in “totally lame.” In efforts to celebrate the success of these women, the magazine forgot to respect the diverse identity of its readership. I’m sure readers from the gay community were offended by the carelessness of the wording… as well as the poor coworkers of these ladies.

It upset me to see that this attempt to step forward actually resulted in a stumbling backwards. So is this one of those harmless statements of ignorance? Or is it a sign that we need to get our act together if we are truly working towards unity?