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Equity Challenge Week 5 Monday Equity & the LGBTQIA+ Community

“No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.”

-Marsha P. Johnson

People in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQIA+) community face barriers to equity in almost every aspect of their lives including housing, employment, healthcare, and education. This is especially true for LGBTQIA+ people who are also people of color.

Systems of inequity are mutually reinforcing and must be recognized to prevent further compounding and reinforcing those same inequalities. Taking an intersectional approach to reviewing policies, procedures, and best practices is a way to understand the challenges and barriers people face and not a competition to determine who is the most marginalized.

Likewise while stories of LGBTQIA+ people are often uncomfortable and may include discrimination, abuse, loss of family, and other painful experiences there are also amazing stories of chosen family, welcoming spaces, and radical joy. Pride month, in June, is one place where celebrations of lives filled with joy, connection, resilience and liberation are focused.

Definitions:

Intersectionality: The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage; a theoretical approach based on such a premise. (Oxford Dictionary)

 

Articles

What does LGBTQIA+ Mean?

  • The meaning and importance of the political and social movement for inclusion of all people and genders is explained in this article.

What Does Intersectionality Have to do With Me?

  • Read this short article on what intersectionality is. Understanding terminology used in equity work is a helpful tool to expand our knowledge.

Podcasts

We’re Still Here

  • StoryCorps seeks to strengthen and support community building through storytelling. Listen to this collection of stories from trans women of color who have often been the the first voices of equity, the last to be recognized and one of the most deeply marginalized.

Video

The Urgency of Intersectionality

  • Kimberle Crenshaw explains how when we can’t see a problem, we can’t fix a proble. Watch this TED Talk on standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion. 

A Person’s Gender is Always Valid

Trans in America

  • Watch all or part of the Trans in America documentary series presented by the ACLU to hear the stories of three different trans women in America. Each documentary is 15-20 minutes in length.

Guide to Being an Ally To Transgender and Nonbinary Young People

  • The Trevor Project offers an introduction and education resources on best practices and how to support young people.

The Intersection of LGBTQ Pride and Black Lives Matter

  • Watch this video featuring L.A. Times columnist Erika D. Smith, historian Lillian Faderman and gay activist Alexei Romanoff as they discuss the importance of intersectionality in the LGBTQ movement, and the fight against police brutality that sparked LGBTQ Pride and Black Lives Matter.