Hint: It’s not posting an infographic on your Instagram story
Illustration by Sage Blackwell.
Allyship is becoming increasingly important to the survival and wellbeing of 2SLGBTQIA+ people across the globe. As anti-transgender and anti-queer legislation is on the rise in both Canada and the United States, being an ally can no longer be just a buzzword — something it never should have been in the first place.
True allyship must be steeped in tangible, everyday actions, because queer and transgender people exist every day, and in every space. While the importance of being an ally is often discussed, how to be an ally to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is harder to pinpoint.
Ways to exercise allyship are as diverse as the 2SLGBTQIA+ community itself, from waiting in line with your friend as they get their name changed on government documents, to donating monthly to local queer organizations. However, there are a few ways that everyone can show up for the queer community all year round, not just during Pride Month.
Attending Pride this summer? Ditch the corporate Pride merch and create a unique, one-of-a-kind look with pieces from local queer and transgender artisans. Victoria’s arts scene is teeming with talented local 2SLGBTQIA+ makers that can be found at every farmers market, clothing sale, craft fair, and many more events.
In a world where money is power, giving your money to local queer- and transgender-owned businesses instead of big box stores is conscious allyship — especially when many big businesses who profit off of Pride merch, like Amazon, end up donating their money to anti-transgender and anti-queer politicians.
As you are attending Pride events, reflect on how you are situating yourself in queer spaces. An all-too-familiar story for queer spaces goes like this: a fun, safe, and accessible queer-centred venue becomes popular. Then, straight cisgender women begin to attend the venue, because it is a safe place for them to have fun — away from overbearing straight, cisgender men.
While it is important for everyone to have a safe ‘third place’ to party in, this becomes a slippery slope. Many of these straight, cisgender patrons invite their non-2SLGBTQIA+ friends, and the space begins to fill up with them, instead of queer people. Then, the final death knell: the straight, cisgender men flock to the venue in search of straight, cisgender women, the venue is no longer safe for queer patrons, and what was once a beloved queer space becomes just another straight bar.
If you are thinking of going to a queer-centric space in search of your own comfort as a straight, cisgender person, don’t. If you don’t have any queer people in your party, you should consider if being there is taking away space from an queer or transgender person.
Once you’re done at Pride, it’s not time to take off your shoes yet. The first Pride was a riot, and a protest for queer and transgender rights. True allyship must extend beyond just the Pride parade — it means attending protests and rallies, too. The legal rights of queer and transgender people only exist because of countless individuals who showed up to let the world know that their lives matter.
Oftentimes, it is non-white queer and transgender individuals who have been on the front lines, fighting for 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, like Marsha ‘Pay It No Mind’ Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. Non-white queer and transgender individuals are more likely to experience harm than their white counterparts, due to the intersection of race and sexuality.
A 2020 study found that 25 per cent of Black queer individuals reported experiencing law enforcement discrimination, almost double the number reported by white queer people (13 per cent). If you are a white ally, showing up to protests doesn’t just help support the goal of queer and transgender rights, but also helps keep the most vulnerable people at those protests safe.
Busy during the protest? That’s fine! Get out your phone or computer, open up your email, and get in touch with your Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) or Member of Parliament (MP) to advocate for initiatives that support queer and transgender people. Let these representatives know that the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is important to you. Even better, let them know specific initiatives that you disagree with, and think are harmful to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
These are just a few ways — from a long list — of how anyone can show up for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community this Pride month, and all year long. There are over a million queer people in Canada who are friends, coworkers, family members, partners, and neighbours within our national community. Being an ally isn’t just about being a good person, it’s living out what Fannie Lou Hamer so wisely shared in 1971: “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”
