Allyship beyond Pride Month

Although we have reached the end of Pride Month, it does not mean we should stop celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. Allyship is a lifelong process of building relationships with marginalized groups of people.

Allies is a student organization at Ohio University that was created to fill the gap of acknowledgment of both marginalized and intersectional identities. Allies President Luvina Cooley explained that the organization “seeks to create a safe environment for people to learn about allyship and how to be a better ally, regardless of where you're at in that process.”

The student organization has been gaining a lot of recognition during Pride Month.

“Pride Month is really about visibility,” Cooley said. “It's an acknowledgment of the hardships that LGBTQ+ people have faced while also celebrating our identities. It's also a great time to bring awareness to allyship and help show people what it means to be part of this community.”

According to the National School Climate Report, 86% of LGBTQ+ high school and collegiate students reported being harassed in class, compared to 27% of students in the general population. “While the University is a very accepting environment, there are still some instances of harassment that people do face,” Cooley said.

That is why in addition to the acknowledgment of all marginalized and intersectional identities, Allies provides education to all members of the community, regardless of identity. The organization’s meetings and community forums uplift the voices of people through guest speakers and panels of individuals from other parts of the University.

Because of the pandemic last year, Allies programming was entirely online. All of the organization’s communication and events occurred through either GroupMe or Microsoft Teams channels. 

Moving forward into this fall semester, Allies plans to host more in-person events while also streaming the events online so that students who prefer to engage remotely can still be active participants. 

“The pandemic really helped show how much more accessible meetings like this can be,” Cooley said.

Throughout the 2021-22 school year, Allies will continue to collaborate with other OHIO organizations and committees. The organization has even discussed broadening its focus to bring attention to food insecurity and the abilities of other OHIO community members.
 

Even though Pride Month is coming to an end, all OHIO students must continue to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community, regardless of membership in Allies. 

There are several ways to be an active ally around campus. One important approach is to be conscious of using the correct language and terminology towards others, regardless of whether one is discussing sexual expression, gender identity, race, culture or religion. 

“Another good way to be an active ally is to both speak out against harassment or derogatory language whenever you hear it, even if nobody who is LGBTQ+ is around. It's also really important to listen to the LGBTQ+ people in your life to hear what they want. One of the most frustrating things for a person with a marginalized identity is when their allies begin to talk over and for them, instead of allowing us to share our own stories,” Cooley said. 

Aside from Allies, OHIO offers a multitude of resources and inclusion offices that celebrate people of all genders, orientations and expressions of identity by helping them find productive ways to navigate the intersections of diverse identities.

In addition to hosting safe panels that educate on the hardships faced by the LGBTQ+ community, the University hosts lots of fun intersectional-identity-based events to help celebrate personal identity expression. These events include celebrations such as Pride Graduation, Queer Hollywood, Queer Prom and more. 

Outside of the University, the City of Athens, Athens County and Southeastern Ohio are home to various LGBTQ+ inclusion resources as well. Check out the resources and learn more here.