Thank you for raising this point. Ruth’s social status is definitely an important part of the story. We know from the text that she and Naomi are in a financially unstable situation, which is why she has to go into the fields to glean after the harvest. It is also clear that because of her status as a “foreigner” in Judah, Ruth is surprised when Boaz treats her well. And we know that Ruth was raised in a different religion (the Moabite religion, not that of Israel), although she seems to convert when she meets Naomi. The Book of Ruth could be an excellent text for a discussion group about relationships between people of different backgrounds and social locations.

However, I don’t know enough about the historical context to say whether being a Moabite in Judah then is comparable to being BGL and/or a person of color now. It’s not clear to me from the text and from the commentaries that I read that there was a system of oppression designed to deny rights to Moabites in Judah in the same way that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and people of color are systematically denied rights in America today.