"Other"

When discussing literature that deals with people not from the United States, the word "other" frequently comes up. "Other" is the idea that someone is somehow different, or doesn't quite fit in the way society would like. In the U.S., "other" is often applied to immigrants, who might stand out for physical, cultural, or religious reasons. Something that we sometimes forget is that within these "other" groups are even smaller groups of "others" that are not even accepted by the group our society places them in. I was reminded of this during Larry LaFountain's presentation, Queer Ricans. He discussed his work in the field of studying the diaspora of LGBT Puerto Ricans, many of whom traveled to the mainland United States as a result of intolerance in Puerto Rico. I found this interesting because we tend to lump all immigrants under one category and do not look closely into why people choose to come here. I wish Mr. LaFountain would have spoken more directly about his work instead of just giving brief bios of other writers, but he did cause me to think about a subject that I had not previously thought about. Within every "other" there is another "other" that is just as discriminated against as the group they are in.