Supporting the LGBTQIA+ Community and Being An Ally

Author, Stacy Ruse LPC, EMDRIA Approved Consultant, DBT Certified Therapist, IFS Intensively Trained

We can all make a difference, even in small ways, to help uplift, support, and be an ally for LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized communities.
We believe in empowering and advocating for ALL persons and beings and supporting marginalized groups by standing up against systemic bias and oppression for LGBTQIA+ and ultimately for everyone.

We believe in more inclusion, and that at the deepest level we are all connected. We open our hearts and creative energy centers to welcome a full spectrum of ways to identify with in terms of sexuality, gender, and beyond, including but not being limited to queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual, non-binary, and more.
We believe we are all connected, energy is fluid, and that we all are empowered to have our own unique ways of expressing ourselves. So it is best to be in the present and to have ways to describe what we experience creatively among one another, and if we learn to accept and love ourselves, we will love and accept others and vice versa.

Some Ways to Empower and Ally

• Support activist organizations
• Speak up for greater equality
• Listen to the needs of LGBTQIA+ community members
• Attend Pride and other gatherings to celebrate
• Support LGBTQIA+ business owners and artists
• Do things in your local community, workplace, gov't, and beyond to ensure that everyone in the LGBTQIA+ has a bright future ahead
• Support access to mental-health resources for LGBTQIA+ people — particularly for teens, elders, and those who are transitioning
• Do not ignore, enable, or encourage other's biases and unacceptable behaviors; set healthy boundaries around this
• Rally for change in legislative bills that are oppressing
• Join collective actions and advocacy groups that match your values to support marginalized populations
• Understand life experiences as valid, when others have been under-represented and have faced biases and systematic oppression
• Don’t be afraid to have uncomfortable conversations, open yourself to seeing different perspectives
• Take accountability for and work through your own biases, yes, we all have them
• Seek qualified help if they are causing suffering, relationship issues, or isolation
• Learn more about LGBTQIA+ values and identifies
• Diversify what you read, watch, view, and listen to
• Use inclusive language that doesn’t make others feel judged, “othered”, outed, or isolated
• Identify your assumptions of others, forgive your humanness, and DO NOT let it direct your actions
• Practice loving-kindness meditations and send compassion to others and yourself
• Add personal pronouns to your email signatures, business cards, social media, zoom, and etc.
• Promote more inclusive policies at work for LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized employees

Sadly, statistics still show a rise in homelessness and suicide among LGBTQIA+ youth who have left home and family due to rejection after coming out. All of the above actions and ways of being help support change organizations that are dedicated to making change.
Other ways you can help may include volunteering at shelters and participating in and/or donating to groups like the Trevor Project in providing national resources.  
PFLAG (formerly known as Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) connects parents, families, friends, and allies of LGBTQIA+ community members to support one another and the members of the LGBTQIA+ community members in their lives.
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Read Article "How to talk to children About Gender, Inclusivity, Sexuality, and LGBTQIA+
Author, Stacy Ruse LPC, EMDRIA Approved Consultant, DBT Certified Therapist, IFS Intensively Trained.  Stacy is a modern-day Light-Worker, Trauma-Crusader, Shame-Untangler & Star-Seeker.