LGBT+ Advocacy is a process by an individual or group which aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions. LGBT+ Advocacy can include many activities that a person or organization undertakes including media campaigns, public speaking, commissioning and publishing research or polls or the filing of an amicus brief.
Being an LGBT+ Advocate
Actively participating. This stage of response includes actions that directly support lesbian/gay and gender presentation oppression. These actions include laughing at or telling jokes that put down LGBT people, making fun of people who don’t fit the traditional stereotypes of what is masculine or feminine, discouraging others and avoiding personal behavior that is not sex-stereotyped, and engaging in verbal or physical harassment of lesbians, gays, or heterosexuals who do not conform to traditional sex-role behavior. It also includes working for anti-gay legislation.
Denying or ignoring. This stage of response includes inaction that supports lesbian, gay, or bisexual, or gender presentation oppression coupled with an unwillingness or inability to understand the effects of homophobic and heterosexist actions. This stage is characterized by a “business as usual” attitude. Though responses in this stage are not actively and directly homophobic or heterosexist, the passive acceptance of these actions by others serves to support the system of oppression.
Recognizing, but no action. This stage of response is characterized by a recognition of homophobic or heterosexist actions and the harmful effects of these actions. However, this recognition does not result in the action to interrupt the homophobic or heterosexist situation. Taking action is prevented by homophobia or a lack of knowledge about specific actions to take. This stage of response is accompanied by discomfort due to the lack of congruence between recognizing homophobia or heterosexism yet failing to act on this recognition. An example of this stage of response is a person hearing a friend tell a “queer joke”, recognizing that is homophobic, not laughing at the joke, but saying nothing to the friend about the joke.
Recognizing and interrupting. This stage of response includes not only recognizing homophobic and heterosexist actions, but also taking action to stop them. Though the response goes no further than stopping, this stage is often an important transition from passively accepting homophobic or heterosexist actions to actively choosing antihomophobic and anti-heterosexist actions. In this stage a person hearing a “queer joke” would not laugh and would tell the joke teller that jokes that put down any minority, including gays, are not funny. Another example would be a person who realized that s/he is avoiding an activity because others might think s/he is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender if s/he participates in it, and then decides to participate.
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