June is Pride Month
WellLife Network is proud to celebrate our LGBTQIA+ community. We strive to be a place for all to express and connect with their most authentic self. We encourage you to read this amazing resource guide put together by our Learning and Development Specialist, Danielle Viscosi (she/her).
Why is it called Pride Month?
Brenda Howard, a bisexual woman, and staunch advocate began to use the term ‘Pride’ after the Stonewall Riots. At that time, people were regularly jailed for “homosexual activity”, sent to mental institutions to "cure" their sexuality, and shunned by their families, jobs, and communities for coming out. In many ways, Stonewall was not a celebration, (like many contemporary Pride events), but a revolt against oppressive laws and stifling societal values — a revolt that encouraged the LGBTQIA+ community to speak up proudly instead of hiding.
How to be a LGBTQIA+ ally
• Let LGBTQIA+ people lead.
• Check your privilege.
• Confront your own prejudices and bias, even if it is uncomfortable to do so.
• Be a listener.
• Be open-minded.
• Be willing to talk.
• Continue to educate yourself and others around you.
• Read up on the myriad of issues related to the LGBTQIA+ community and see if there is anything you can do to support or help.
• Dispel myths you have related to being LGBTQIA+.
• Provide direct mutual aid to LGBTQIA+ people in need.
• Use gender neutral and inclusive language.
• Use the correct pronouns (we all have pronouns).
• Add your pronouns to your work e-mail signature.
• Stand up for LGBTQIA+ people when they are not around.
• Defend LGBTQIA+ people against discrimination.
• Be inclusive and treat your LGBTQIA+ friends or family the same as anyone else.
• Never use a transgender person’s deadname or old pronouns.
• Do not ask offensive questions about a person’s sex life or genitalia.
• Do not expect to be rewarded for being a good ally.
• Do not assume a person’s gender, pronouns, or sexual orientation.
• Do not joke about the LGBTQIA+ community, or use slurs related to being gay or trans.
• Believe that all people, regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation, should be treated with dignity and respect.
What is the difference between gender identity, gender expression, anatomical sex, and sexual orientation?
The Hirschfeld Archives: Violence, Death, and Modern Queer Culture (free PDF)
Transgender History by Susan Stryker
A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski