Читать книгу The Savvy Ally - Jeannie Gainsburg - Страница 21

You can’t really identify a lesbian by her shoes. (See chapter 6 on gaydar.)

Well, I wasn’t a lesbian and I didn’t “become” one either. Fifteen years working at an LGBTQ+ center and I didn’t “catch the gay.” I am living proof that it’s not contagious. (Yes, that’s a joke.) Often it was easier and more comfortable to simply let people assume that I was a member of the LGBTQ+ communities. However, there were many times when my voice as an ally was critical.

I learned that because of my identity as an ally, I have access to systems of power and communities of people that LGBTQ+ people often don’t. Due to homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and the fact that I am perceived as less threatening when I disclose that I am not LGBTQ+, I am able to have conversations around social change with people and in places that my LGBTQ+ friends cannot. I can wallow in this pitiful situation or I can view it as an opportunity to give something back to a community of people who have welcomed me with open arms. I choose the latter.