YMCA of the USA (National Resource Office)’s Post

On the blog: A Family in Transition: What I Learned About Living My Truth from My Transgender Wife and Son, by Kelly Judd, MS, CPLC 🏳️🌈. #elletwo #teamdifficult #elletwoblog #lgbtqia #transrightsarehumanrights

This Pride Month, let's honor and support the LGBTQIA+ community as a vital step toward collective liberation. Here are a few tips to help you become a better ally. How will you put these tips into action? What additional tips do you have? Share your thoughts in the comments below!👇

💔 The first friend I've known to have committed suicide in Fort Collins was trans. I watched Facebook status updates get increasingly worrisome. I stopped at work and told a colleague that I thought my friend was going to kill herself. I didn't know what to do but notify authorities. I was too late. I shortly after saw a press release related to a found body. For many, a prerequisite to caring for "others" is understanding them. So they ask all sorts of intrusive questions to "make sense" of complex identity related struggles. I'm here to say we don't need to understand one to extend love and compassion. Though I am sure we can all understand and recognize the very human need for love and acceptance. We can understand the desire to be freed of the enslaving invisible forces of manmade social constructs. We can understand a longing to be freed of forces seeking to commodify our existence and paint us with a broad brush that erases unique beauty that exists in all. ⚖️ Whatever #ethnocentric indoctrination we may have experienced, it is imperative as healthy, grounded/present, and sensitive adults to understand people do not exist to please us, or fit into our narratives. All people deserve the freedom to make decisions true to their own selves free from our harassment and externalized negative judgements. Your rights end where another's start -- and that extends beyond legal protections into learning consideration to make space for all diverse identities. 🏳️🌈 There's a simple lesson here: #Bekind and let the light in. Then make way for "others" to experience the same, free to pursue the ways that allow their light to shine too. #transrightsarehumanrights #transdayofvisibility #humanrights

This looks like a really interesting book..my colleague PK Kulasegram and I use the powerful framework of #CompassionateCuriosity in our work to break down barriers for disabled & LGBTQ+ people in the workplace & beyond. Why not get in touch & see how Simply Equality could help you & your organisation.

I reclaim the word Disabled. It is a part of my identity and informs the way that I move in my life. I reclaim queer. Compared to what is accepted as the norm, I am different and am reminded of this every time I walk into a room full of people who aren't queer. I reclaim my childhood. They didn't have the tools to raise me and that led me to be "behind" my peers. I have no children and haven't worked at a fortune 500 company. I reclaim my voice. Often stifled, now loud, clear, and proud. It tells my story, my truths, challenges the "normal," and embraces the unique. I reclaim my space. In a world that often looks past me, I stand firm, visible. My presence, a statement; my life, a testament to resilience and strength. 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦: 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺.  𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴: 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘐𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 ~ 𝘎𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘩𝘪 . . . . . . #StrengthInDifference #AuthenticSelfLove #DiversityInAction #LivedExperiences #MyStrength

I have this disclaimer at the bottom of my website's About page. I like to let my potential clients know what they're getting when they work with me. IMPORTANT: As a company, and as a human, I believe Black Lives Matter; I stand for LGBTQIA+ rights; I donate to Planned Parenthood; I educate myself, invest in, am committed to, and work to bring a wider inclusive and intersectional business to the world. This includes, but is not limited to, race, sexuality, gender, (dis)ability (including physical and mental health, and neurodiversity), religion, parenthood/non-parenthood, and those with caring responsibilities.

Saying you go "beyond" what other people see often means you don't see anything at all. You may think you are being inclusive, when you are actually ignoring the systemic problems people face. Using terms like "differently abled" and "all lives matter" avoids honest conversation about oppression and social responsibility. We are ALL differently abled. We all have unique ways of navigating the world that utilize our unique strengths and challenges. Many of us are disabled. Many of us are disabled by society. My child's school calls disability "diffability" because they claim it is a "more polite" and "politically correct" way to describe someone with a disability. Hear the value judgement, stigma, and ABLESM in that? People with privilege who are not aware of their implicit biases use such terms, thinking they are "celebrating differences", when they are often completely denying lived experience. Being a better ally means using your privilege to advocate for the ways an underrepresented group wants to be recognized. #ableism #disability #disabled #InclusiveLanguage #stigma Image description: A quote saying "Saying 'differently-abled' is harmful to the disability community, just as saying 'All Lives Matter' is harmful to the Black community"

This week I spent 35 minutes chatting to a stranger via the Switchboard Victoria LGBTQIA+ chat service. We spoke about feeling low, facing sadness and tools to deal with challenges on those really tough days. We spoke about taking care of yourself and how having a conversation like this can be an act of self care. We ended the conversation discussing strategies on managing what we can control even if it’s just getting of bed and then they thanked me for the chat and left. They left at that point because they needed to go and help someone else. Thank you Switchboard Victoria for providing a service that I could access in a few clicks and share my grief to be supported without judgement and met only with pure generosity and care. Reason for my post: - Even the brightest sparks can have low light days - You never know what someone is going through, so always be kind - There are services that can help, please check this one out - You are loved. Any story I ever share, I do so in an attempt to help someone who may feel the same so they feel less alone, whether that’s as a queer person, a non binary person, a person passionate about D&I or a person passionate about inclusion and in this instance an every day human who is having a tough time. I also always offer myself as a new friend, a new connection or a new space to create community. My Switchboard Victoria conversation topic is no one’s business and I won’t be discussing that here but what I do want to highlight is that it had nothing to me with being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. And I close with that because it’s important to remember that LGBTQIA+ people face challenges and triumphs every day of the year. And just because it’s Pride Month it doesn’t mean our days are met with guaranteed rainbows. 🌈

This week is the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States. For many, many people, it means a large meal with family (and depending on your interest, perhaps some "family bonding" over some football as well). For queer people, it can be a tricky holiday. Family is so often not supportive, and we can have nowhere to spend it or if we do spend time with family, we can be subjected to hateful comments or non-acceptance. (For me, I just stay home and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law come down with our nephews.) For all my white, cisgender, heterosexual people who aren't rejected solely due to who they are, please remember that if you are sitting at the dinner and Uncle Al starts ranting about people being 'woke' or Aunt Jennie makes fun of trans kids and you stay silent, you are just as much of the problem as they are. By letting them remain comfortable with their hate and refusing to take on the discomfort that queer people deal with every day, you are perpetuating the system that oppresses us all. There is no easy out. Hate must be challenged by everyone every time it pops it head up. Kick them out of your home if you are hosting, even in the middle of pie. Walk away from the table if it's not your house. If people that aren't impacted by the hate cant take those basic steps when it's called for, then society will never get better. #Thanksgiving #SayNoToHate #TransRightsAreHumanRights