Straight ally

Straight ally is a colloquial term that describes a heterosexual person who supports equal civil rights, gender equality, LGBTQ social movements, and challenges homophobia. A straight ally believes that LGBT people suffer discrimination and thus are socially disadvantaged. They aim to use their "privileged" position as straight people in a homophobic society to fight homophobia and heteronormativity.

Most LGBT organizations have straight members involved, others actively encourage straight participation. Gay-straight alliance is a student-run club that brings together LGBT and straight students to create a platform for activism to fight homophobia and transphobia.[1] There are also some groups that only partially include the LGBT, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays is a US based organization that works specifically to bring straight allies into the LGBT rights movement. In 2007, the organization launched a new project, Straight for Equality, to help more straight allies become engaged in the LGBT movement. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) is another organization specifically formed to group allies of this cause.

Prominent examples of strong allies include Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin, singers Cher, Dannii Minogue, Cyndi Lauper, Barbra Streisand, Courtney Love, and Liza Minnelli, actors Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Aniston, Charlize Theron, Cybil Shepherd, Sara Ramirez, Judith Light, Paul Newman, Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt, Darren Criss, Pauley Perrette and Stuart Townsend, director Jonathan Miller,[2] comedians Kathy Griffin and Chelsea Handler, comedy writer Seth MacFarlane,[3] musicians and spoken word artists Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra and Neil Peart, legal scholar Alan Dershowitz, philosopher Martha Nussbaum, writer Anne Rice[4], evolutionary scientist Richard Dawkins,[5] NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Footballer Philipp Lahm, philosopher Daniel Dennett,[6] United States Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, United States Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich, policy analyst and Florida gubernatorial candidate Michael E. Arth,[7] Robert Lewan president of the Michigan GSA, former Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle,[8] civil rights leaders such as Coretta Scott King[9] and Julian Bond, linguist Noam Chomsky,[10] historian Richard Carrier,[11] and mothers Betty DeGeneres and Judy Shepard. David M. Hall has a book, Allies at Work: Creating a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Inclusive Work Environment, that provides concrete steps for allies to create a more LGBT friendly workplace.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ "What We Do: Gay-Straight Alliance". http://www.gsanetwork.org/what-we-do. Retrieved 2011-07-21. 
  2. ^ Horsfall, Allan; Gosling, Ray. "A History of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality". Gay Monitor. http://www.gaymonitor.co.uk/chehistory2.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-02. "Other vice-presidents included:... Dr Jonathan Miller..." 
  3. ^ "BGF: Seth MacFarlane". The Advocate. March 2008. http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid51793.asp?page=2. Retrieved 2010-06-30. 
  4. ^ http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2006/01/revert_anne_ric.html
  5. ^ Dawkins, Richard. "A deeply religious non-believer". The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-618-68000-4. http://houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?textType=excerpt&titleNumber=689776. Retrieved 2006-12-02. "[F]ree speech is deemed not to include ‘hate speech’. But hate only has to prove it is religious, and it no longer counts as hate.... You can’t get away with saying, ‘If you try to stop me from insulting homosexuals it violates my freedom of prejudice.’ But you can get away with saying, ‘It violates my freedom of religion.’ What, when you think about it, is the difference?" 
  6. ^ Dennett, Daniel (2003-07-12). "The Bright Stuff". The New York Times. http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bright/bright_index.html. Retrieved 2006-12-02. "I am neither gay nor African-American, but nobody can use a slur against blacks or homosexuals in my hearing and get away with it." 
  7. ^ Arth, Michael E.,. Democracy and the Common Wealth: Breaking the Stranglehold of the Special Interests,. Golden Apples Media, 2010. ISBN 978-0-912467-12-2. 
  8. ^ "Greens Oppose Howard Stance On Gay Marriages" (Press release). 2003-08-05. http://www.australianpolitics.com/news/2003/08/03-08-05a.shtml. Retrieved 2006-12-02. "There are thousands of same sex couples currently raising children in Australia and providing a secure and loving environment for their children.... To support the continued discrimination against gay couples who want to marry is at best mean spirited, and at worst homophobic hysteria." 
  9. ^ Jackson, Derrick Z. (2006-02-01). "The King who led on world peace". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/02/01/the_king_who_led_on_world_peace/. Retrieved 2006-12-06. "I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'" 
  10. ^ Shawn, Wallace (Autumn 2004). "Interview with Noam Chomsky" (PDF). Final Edition Magazine (Seven Stories Press). http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20040917.pdf. Retrieved 2006-12-02. "So, just in our lifetime, itʼs different.... The same with gay rights. There have been big changes in consciousness, and theyʼre important, and they make it a better world." 
  11. ^ Carrier, Richard (editor). "Internet Infidels June 1999 Feedback". Internet Infidels. Archived from the original on 2006-11-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20061113233843/http://www.infidels.org/infidels/feedback/1999/june.html. Retrieved 2006-12-02. "[M]orality has to do with how you actually treat people, and whether you respect their rights, not with who you date.... Social stigmatization of homosexuality... causes misery and death...." 
  12. ^ "Allies at Work: Creating a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Inclusive Work Environment". Out & Equal. http://www.outandequal.org/Allies-At-Work. Retrieved October 6, 2010. 

External links
  • Category:LGBT
  • LGBT portal