Tag Archives: ally

Supporting Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Colleagues and Clients: Why It’s Essential and How to Start

By Liz Deibel, APAGS Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity Member

(Curious to learn more about this topic? Check out the APAGS upcoming webinar: Impact with Pride: Leveraging Political Resources to Thwart Anti-LGBT Laws. Register here.

The United States can be a really scary place for individuals of sexual orientation and gender diversity, particularly in the current political climate and rise of anti-trans legislation sweeping the country. It can be difficult for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (TGNC) students to continue going about their daily responsibilities, as well as the clients we are working with. During this stressful time, it is important that both those of us in the LGBTQ+ community and our allies come together to support each other and advocate for equal rights. With each day, more states are attempting to strip the rights of LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender and nonbinary individuals. If you know of a colleague or classmate who is being affected by the changing legislation, it may be helpful to reach out to them and ask if there is anything you can do to support them. 

How to Support TGNC Colleagues?

Graduate school is tough enough as it is without political strife piled on top of everything else. It is important that allies or privileged members of the LGBTQ+ community participate in advocacy to help protect their peers’ rights and safety. Emailing your representatives, signing petitions, and sharing resources can be a quick way to contribute to building protections for transgender and nonbinary community members. Additionally, encouraging professors or program directors to incorporate education on LGBTQ+ psychology can increase the number of gender-affirming psychologists going into the field, leading to more support and strength in numbers in the years to come.

Outside of the professional sphere, it can be really encouraging to simply check in with individuals in your life who identify as LGBTQ+ and ask how they are doing and if they need a supportive friend to talk to. Many queer folks feel frustrated with how little these discussions are occurring outside of LGBTQ+-majority spaces, and showing awareness of what is going on and how much it is affecting people’s mental health can provide validation to their experiences.

How to Support TGNC Clients?

The American Psychological Association has released a list of guidelines for working with LGBTQ+ clients, divided into sexual orientation diversity and gender diversity. Many of these guidelines touch on understanding the differences between biological sex, gender identity, and gender expression. They also acknowledge intersectionality, the way that gender and sexual orientation intersect with other facets of identity such as race, ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status. It is essential that psychologists understand the ways in which their implicit biases and the power dynamics in society influence the way of life for TGNC people. 

Psychology as a field needs to continue adapting to the changing times to ensure that we can provide affirming and compassionate care. In addition, individuals within our field should continue to address their own unconscious biases and prejudices about gender and sexual orientation to avoid bringing them into the room with a client. At practicum sites, students can initiate conversations about gender-affirming care and ways to ensure the site is adhering to professional guidelines and standards of care for TGNC clients.

In the same way that showing awareness of the situation with colleagues can be validating, it can have the same effect with clients. If the clinician can take the onus to approach the topic, even though it can be uncomfortable to bring up, it removes that additional responsibility from the client’s plate and acknowledges that you see them as a piece of a larger system. Clients do not exist in a vacuum, and being able to address macro-level issues or concerns can instill a feeling of being seen that the client may really need at this time.

References:


Liz Deibel (she/her/hers)
Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student, Roosevelt University

What Can I Do to Help? A Starter Kit for Effective Allyship

AllyIt is a time of turmoil and dramatic change in the United States. This is reflected in divisive executive orders, the rise in hate crimes, and hate rhetoric targeted at marginalized groups.

So what can you do? This article calls on psychologists and psychologists-in-training to use their expertise and privilege to combat prejudice and discrimination as well as promote inclusion across the spectrum of diverse identities.

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Take the ally challenge!

I am sick of writing posts in the wake of tragedies, and sickened to know that unless something drastically changes, they will continue to happen as they have for so many years. But I also know we can do better; I can do better. Specifically, allies need to do more in the times when there is no system-based tragedy making headlines. Therefore I am taking a 30-day ally challenge and I would love you to join me!

Sometimes trying to be an ally can feel overwhelming because there are so many social justice issues around the world to care about. Sometimes I end up doing nothing because I do not know where to begin, or how to begin. Sometimes I get stuck because I know there are people who dedicate their lives to social justice, whether on a global scale by people like Paul Farmer, or on a local scale, like the founders of the Wisconsin youth organization Proud Theater, and that as much as I would like to be, I am not one of them. It is too easy for daily life to get in the way when there is no crisis to respond to. I realize, of course, that the ability to not engage fully in a topic if it doesn’t fit in my schedule is the result of the many privileged identities I hold, but that does not change the fact that I often end up analyzing data or checking Facebook, rather than really engaging as an ally.

If you are like me, and want to do more to make the world better but are feeling stuck, let’s try this month-long experiment together. I would contend, as others have, that being an ally is a verb rather than an identity label. It is not something someone is, but something someone does, and therefore something we can practice daily in order to improve.

This is my plan of attack to practice becoming a better ally.

Step 1: Choose a topic.

We know that in order to make behavior changes, the goals have to be manageable. There are countless areas of disparity and oppression in the world, but in order to prevent inertia, I will pick one topic to focus on for two weeks – just one! (With the sad exception of responding to crises, like the recent shootings)

Step 2: Pick a time.

Behavior change works best if we can incorporate it into our daily routine. What time works best for you to do your allying? It might take some scheduling trial and error, but I think I’ll try lunchtime…

Step 3: Become an informed ally.

Without knowing about an issue, it is difficult to effectively work for change. Every day I will spend 10 minutes learning about the topic I have chosen. Is this enough time to spend allying? No. It is not even close to enough time to do justice to learning deeply about a topic. However, it is ten minutes more than I am currently spending and therefore a step in the right direction. Specifically, I will seek out perspectives of members of communities affected by the issue, as well as the perspectives of those whose beliefs run counter to my own. It is difficult to create change without dialogue, and difficult to create dialogue without understanding perspectives across the aisle.

Step 4: Take action.

Knowing about the ways in which our system is broken is a start, but allying also requires doing something about it. Each week I will therefore also do some sort of action outside my comfort zone. There are a lot of ways to be an ally in daily life, some of which might not be entirely within my control. For example, it is important to speak up about microaggressions when we see them. We can do things to increase our efficacy speaking up, like learning about how to recognize microaggressions and how to communicate effectively about them. But what if I spend the day doing research in my office and legitimately do not encounter any microaggressions to challenge? The action I take each week has to be something I can initiate that I would not have done otherwise, whether that means attending a solidarity event, volunteering, donating, starting a dialogue, or calling a legislator.

Step 5: Tell your friends.

Behaviors changes are more likely to be maintained when people have social support for making the change. Share what you’re doing and what you’ve learned with your friends and family. Spread the word. Create a network of people practicing allying.

Step 6: Do it again the next month!

In this way at the end of one month I will know more about two topics and have taken four small actions related to them. If I keep it up over a year, that will lead to knowing more about 24 topics with 48 small actions. If I get my friends to join me, who knows how big the ripples may go.

I may not ever be an ally rock star, but I sure can work at becoming a better one than I currently am.  If those of us who hold privileged identities make an effort to be more intentional allies when there is not a national tragedy, not only might that make us better at responding to tragedies when they do happen, but it might also help us start using our power more effectively to prevent them in the first place. We might not be able to solve all broken things all at once, but that shouldn’t stop us from practicing the actions needed to learn about what is broken and be part of the solution. I hope you join me in this allying challenge!

#WeAreOrlando

By Julia Benjamin, Chair of the APAGS Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (CSOGD)

And James J. García, Chair of the APAGS Committee for the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Diversity (CARED)

Early Sunday morning, the deadliest mass shooting in United States history took the lives of 50 people. The community and countless individuals will bear scars from this attack for the rest of their lives. It occurred on “Latin Night” at an LGBT+-affirming nightclub during Pride month.

We are devastated. We are furious. We are scared. We are heartsick.

Orlando ribbonWe each attended vigils yesterday in remembrance of the victims and survivors, one in Tucson and one in Madison. They were separated by hundreds of miles but at each, we heard our feelings echoed by other voices. It was easy to feel overwhelmed as they spoke of the stark realities LGBT+ individuals face daily and the complex intersecting evils that contributed to this tragedy: fear for our safety, racism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, and the now real fear of guns. Yet through it all, the other themes that rang loud and clear were those of peace, solidarity, hope, and love.

As graduate students in psychology we are called on to use our knowledge and skills to fight oppression and provide support in times of trial. When the world feels complicated and broken, how can we take steps on our own campuses and in our own lives to hold onto hope and move toward healing systems and souls? Here are some practical things you can do, whether you identify as LGBT+ or as an ally:

  1. Show up
  • Attend the candlelight vigils that are being coordinated nationwide.
  • Get informed – learn about what’s going on, read here and here.
  • Stop by your campus or local city LGBT+ center to meet folks and offer solidarity; click here for the Campus Pride website.
  • Reach out to friends and loved ones, to provide and receive the social support that we know helps confer resilience in times of distress.
  • Show up for yourself – be sure to keep taking care of your own basic needs like sleep, a balanced diet, and exercise.
  1. Speak up
  • Write to your elected officials, U.S senators and representatives.
  • Share your feelings and thoughts and engage in dialogue through blogs, psychology-related listservs, and/or social media.
  • In the upcoming presidential elections, vote with your ballot.
  1. Step up

As more details of this event emerge in the coming days, let us remember that there are layers of complexity to this massacre. Also, let us remember the intersecting identities of those who were affected, as this shooting disproportionately affected people of color and our Latina/o LGBT+ family. Let us stand together with our allies in our mourning, fear, anger, and devastation, but also in our solidarity and hope for a more peaceful, accepting, and just society for all.

Florida