With all the valuable resources in DC, it seems to me that at least 1 person responsible for DU's growth and continuity could attend a few LGBT cultural competency courses, lectures, seminars, etc.
Ideas about power, privilege, entitlement, hegemony and heteronormative theory would help Admin "ally" with DU's LGBTQI community in a meaningful way. This information must also find its way into moderator training.
I hope other LGBT members will add their own resources and thoughts to this thread.
How to be an Ally if you are a Person of PrivilegeFrancis E. Kendall, Ph.D.
One way to work for social justice is as an ally. The gay and lesbian community realized ten or fifteen
years ago that, without the help of straight allies, gays and lesbians don’t have the clout needed to fight
heterosexist and homophobic legislation. Gradually the call for allies has spread to other communities in
which discrimination is systemic.
What it means to be an ally varies greatly from person to person. For some, it means building a
relationship of love and trust with another; for others, it means intentionally putting one’s self in
harm’s way so that another person remains safe. Each type of alliance has its own parameters,
responsibilities, and degrees of risk. For example, being an ally to someone who is in a less privileged
position than I am requires different work than is necessary if the person has privileges like mine. There
are also a variety of styles that an ally can use. Some of us are bold and audacious, others are more
reserved. The common bond is that we align ourselves with a person or people in such a way that we
“have their backs.”
Being an ally is integral to my work for social justice: I align myself with an individual or group for
a common cause or purpose. When I use the term “ally,” I am not talking about love or friendship,
although I grow to love many of the people with whom I align myself. I even see myself as an ally of
people whom I don’t know; individuals who are members of groups with which I align myself as a matter
of principle.
Those of us who have been granted privileges based purely on who we are when born (as white, as male,
as straight, and so forth) often feel that either we want to give our privileges back, which we can’t really
do, or we want to use them to improve the experiences of those who don’t have our access to power and
resources.
One of the most effective ways to use our privilege is to become an ally of those on the
other side of the privilege seesaw. This type of alliance requires a great deal of self-examination on
our part as well as the willingness to go against the people who share our privilege status and with
whom we are expected to group ourselves. (Note: In the following descriptions of ally behavior, the governmental term “target groups” refers to
those who are at greatest risk of being targeted for discrimination, e.g., people of color, women, gays and
lesbians, people with disabilities, and so on.)
1. Allies work continuously to develop an understanding of the person and institutional experiences of
the person or people with whom they are aligning themselves. If the ally is a member of a privileged
group, it is essential that he or she also strives for clarity about the impact of privileges on his or her
life.
2. Allies choose to align themselves publicly and privately with members of target groups and respond to
their needs. This may mean breaking assumed allegiances with those who have the same privileges as
you. It is important not to underestimate the consequences of breaking these agreements and to break
them in ways that will be most useful to the person or group with whom you are aligning yourself.
3. Allies believe that it is in their interest to be allies and are able to talk about why this is the case.
Talking clearly about having is an important educational tool for others with the same privileges.
4. Allies are committed to the never-ending personal growth required to be genuinely supportive. If both
people are without privilege it means coming to grips with the ways that internalized oppression
affects you. If you are privileged, uprooting long-held beliefs about the way that the world works
will probably be necessary.
5. Allies are able to articulate how various patterns of oppression have served to keep them in privileged
positions or to withhold opportunities they might otherwise have. For many of us, this means
exploring and owning our dual roles as oppressor and oppressed, as uncomfortable as that might be.
6. Allies expect to make some mistakes but do not use that as an excuse for inaction. As a person with
privilege, it is important to study and to talk about how your privilege acts as both a shield and
blinders for you. Of necessity, those without privileges in a certain area know more about the specific
examples of privilege than those who are privileged.
7. Allies know that those on each side of an alliance hold responsibility for their own changes, whether
or not people on the other side choose to respond or to thank them. They are also clear that they are
doing this work for themselves, not to “take care of” the other.
8. Allies know that, in the most empowered and genuine ally relationships, the persons of privilege
initiate the change toward personal, institutional, and societal justice and equality.
9. Allies promote a sense of inclusiveness and justice in the organization, and hold greater responsibility
for seeing changes throughout their conclusions.
10. Allies with privilege are responsible for taking the lead in changing the organization, helping to create
an environment that is hospitable for all.
11. Allies are able to laugh at themselves as they make mistakes and at the real, but absurd, systems of
supremacy in which we all live. As many oppressed people know, humor is a method of survival.
Those with privilege must be very careful not to assume that we can join in the humor of those in a
target group with whom we are in alliance.
12. Allies understand that emotional safety is not a realistic expectation if we take our alliance seriously.
For those with privilege, the goal is to “become comfortable with the uncomfortable and
uncomfortable with the too-comfortable” and to act to alter the too-comfortable.
13. Allies know the consequences of not being clear about the other’s experience. Some of these are:
• Lack of trust
• Lack of authentic relationships
• Lack of foundation for coalition
For allies with privilege, the consequences of being unclear are even greater.
Because our behaviors are
rooted in privilege, those who are in our group give greater credence to our actions than they might if we
were members of groups without privilege. Part of our task is to be models and educators for those
like us.
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