On Being an Ally

 Just a thought: if you claim you are an Ally, it isn’t just choosing one set of people that you are an Ally of. It means that you embrace the humanity and pride and journey in each person and don’t judge them based on where they are in that journey. It means supporting people regardless of gender or sexuality, regardless of outward appearance or inward struggle.

Being an Ally means trying to understand people who are different from you and being willing to be uncomfortable with expressions and feelings that are new to you. It means listening to people who have different needs than you do, and doing your best to shift language to make it more inclusive. It means seeing a whole person, and knowing that each human is a mosaic of parts that together make up a gift called identity. Our humanity is our identity; our shared humanity comes from embracing each person’s right to self definition.

Being an Ally means recognizing that what you take for granted has been a fight for generations for other people. It is a historical privilege to be included in the cultural narrative, to be allowed to love who you love and identify as you identify. There are hundreds of years of secrets laced in pain behind each person who comes out to you. There are thousands of nights of violence and fear and murder of people whose only crime was being different. It takes bravery to say “I am who I am” and that bravery is central to society’s collective core. Ultimately, each of us has to be who we are.

Some people are still needing to fight for that, however. Being an Ally means being part of that fight.

I accept you. I may not walk the same journey as you, but I see the joy and the struggle, the passion and the humor, the hope and the fear, the need for acceptance and the quest for love. I believe we each deserve to be treated with kindness and need to treat others with kindness. We can not select who we want to treat kindly. I am not you, but I am me, and we are all human. We must try to understand one another!