We may be a small city, but we do have a Pride community here. And they deserve to live in a safe and welcoming environment.
That is why I was very happy to be celebrating the second annual Pride Week, beginning with a mass at the Westminster United Church on Aug. 20 and continuing with the flag raising on Aug. 21.
I may not identify as LGBTQ+, but that does not mean that as a woman who is cisgender (a person who identifies with the sex they were assigned at birth and the gender role that accompanies that assignment) and heterosexual (a person whose mental, emotional, physical and spiritual relationships are with or are perceived to be with people of the opposite sex and/or gender), I am not involved in the conversation.
I would identify as an ally on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and as such, I am just as much part of the conversation.
However, a distinction must be made. I support the LGBTQ+ community, but I cannot speak for them.
At the Diversity mass, I spoke with Laura Budd. She says even she is not an expert on the transgender experience, although she is a transgender woman. She is the expert on her own transgender experience, but every individual’s experience is different, from how they chose to transition from male to female (or vise versa), to the level of support they receive from family and friends.
We can all be good allies, and there are many reasons to join the conversation.
Rev. Brenda Curtis said during the mass that she has known many young people who have left their communities, or in some sad cases have taken their own lives, because they did not feel welcomed in their community.
After the mass, there was some discussion among people who had attended about parents who abandoned their children for being LGBTQ+. About the lives some members of the rainbow community have had to live in order to live as themselves.
What some people have gone through is horrifying, just because they do not fit within the heterosexual box.
I have heard many times that LGBTQ+ communities are forcing an agenda. People ask: why do they have to be so public about it?
While some people think they are being overly public, they are just trying to live their lives.
They are not just gay men and lesbians, transgender persons or queers.
They are people first with passions and careers and families.
People are so much more than just their LGBTQ+ identity, and they have always been here. They have been pushed into hiding for many years. And the fact is they should not have to hide.
They are members of society. They are not wrong in their identities because heterosexuality is not the only identity we have.
And different does not mean wrong. Different is different.
Not everyone agrees. However, especially in light of recent events in the United States and Canada, I would hope we can discuss this issue without violence and hatred.
Love is love is love.
So what does it take to be a good ally? Listen with an open heart and see the person beyond their identity.
Definitions courtesy of the www.outsaskatoon.ca/queer_terms.
