June is Pride Month, a month to celebrate all of the lovely members of the LGBT+ community. With that celebration in mind, enjoy this list of five ways you can help the queer community (whether you’re a part of it or not).
1. Acknowledge All the Facets of the Community
The alphabet soup of the LGBTQIAAP acronym is an attempt to include everyone who is a member of the community. However, many genders and sexualities are still erased from the public eye and often aren’t considered “really” queer. Asexuals, aromantics, trans people, non-binary people, bisexuals, and pansexuals are mostly invisible to the public eye. This Pride Month, be sure to include them in your representation. Also, don’t forget queer people of color! Not every gay person is a white man.
2. Donate to the American Civil Liberties Union
The ACLU has been helping the LGBT+ community since 1936. The organization has a history of helping minority communities in any way that they can, from suing discriminatory organizations to suing the government itself. They also feature articles with advice for queer Americans, and they aren’t afraid to write about news not featured in the mainstream media.
Donating to the ACLU is easy; simply visit their website here.
3. Make Your Entertainment a Little More Queer
Yes, Moonlight won the Best Picture award, but queer entertainment is still massively undervalued. To help promote queer creators, buy their books and movies. Listen to their podcasts and their music. Some personal suggestions of mine are listed below.
Book: The Color Purple by Alice Walker. For a lighter read, consider Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, but note that while the story is super gay, the author herself isn’t queer.
Movie: Moonlight is a great movie! But I’m a Cheerleader is also classically gay.
Podcasts: Alice Isn’t Dead is one of my favorite podcasts of all time. It’s also amazingly lesbian.
Music: Hayley Kiyoko is an up-and-coming sapphic pop artist.
4. Write to Your Local Politician to Promote Pro-Gay Laws (and Get Rid of Anti-Gay Ones)
Writing to your nearest representative is an important part of a democracy. They need to know the opinions of the actual people they represent, and even if they don’t agree with you, at least you’re getting your voice heard.
Conversion therapy for minors is illegal in only nine states. Fourteen states have considered passing laws that would limit the rights of transgender kids in schools. The “gay/trans panic” defense is still admissible in court, and most schools don’t teach queer kids about how to deal with physical and sexual problems unique to their genders or sexualities. There are so many problems we still have to address, and you can help by notifying your nearest representative.
5. Promote LGBT+ Rights in Other Countries
While the American queer community still has a lot of problems to deal with, things are even worse in countries like Nigeria, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. In fact, there are still ten countries that punish homosexual acts with death.
Standing up against discriminatory regimes and biased ways of thinking can be dangerous and frightening, but for the non-gay members of those countries, allyship can be life-changing. This Pride Month, see what you can do to make your country a safer place for the LGBT+ community. See what you can do for other countries, too.
The LGBT+ community is a widespread net of people who have been ridiculed and even killed just for being themselves. We all have the ability to help stop that, and we all (ally or otherwise) have the obligation to try.
