Читать книгу The Savvy Ally - Jeannie Gainsburg - Страница 19

The wonderful Laverne Cox, transgender advocate, actress, and star of the show Orange Is the New Black, came up with the phrase “possibility model.” In an interview with RadioTimes, she said, “I hate the term ‘role model.’ It’s presumptuous to think that anyone should model their life after you, but I do like the term ‘possibility model.’”²

I love this sentiment. One of the most amazing things I am able to do through my work is to be a possibility model for others. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how many ally wannabes there were in my midst. When I began talking about the work I was doing, I discovered that many of my friends and acquaintances were also fully on board with LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion and just didn’t know what needed to be done or how to get involved. One of the projects I took on for our center was facilitating our bike ride fundraiser. Through this ride I assembled an army of allies. They were able to access communities previously unreached by LGBTQ+ advocates and talk about why they rode.