Friday, April 1, 2016

A to Z Challenge: B(e) Kind 366 - A is for Ally, Activist, & Advocate

For the 2015 A-Z Challenge I posted Random Acts of Kindness ideas for each letter as a lead up to 2016 and the launch of B(e) Kind 366! Now it's 2016 and I've been B(e)ing kind for 92 days now! For A-Z 2016 my plan is take one idea from my alphabetized lists, perform that act, and then blog about it! Fun, right?!

With that said, here's the link to my A List from last year: Random Acts of Kindness beginning with "A". 



My chosen act for "A" is Ally and I'm adding Activist and Advocate as well. 


Yesterday, March 31st was the International Transgender Day of Visibility. This date is recognized as a day dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of the discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide. Admittedly, yesterday came and went and I didn't promote #TDOV, but I remembered today. I posted the following video on my facebook page today and try to take steps on a regular basis to do exactly what this video asks allies to do: be an activist ally not an armchair ally! As a cisgendered woman it's important that I recognize and use my privilege to advocate along side folks that don't find life quite as simple as I do. 


I've taken LGBTTQ* awareness and support training and really do try as much as I can to make an active effort to refrain from using gendered language. It's difficult; it really is! If you'd like to see how difficult try telling someone what your weekend plans are without using any gendered terminology: she, he, mom, dad, sister, brother, wife, husband, etc.  

I'll close with this infographic and hope that you'll consider becoming an activist ally/advocate too!



10 comments:

  1. Great perfect thank you for sharing it. You're absolutely right it's very difficult to talk about anything without specific genders. But it would make a nice challenge for sure!

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  2. Why is it wrong to use gendered language to refer to people who identify as that gender?

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    1. It's not! That's not what I was saying; however, using clearly heterosexual language around people whose gender identity we have no way of knowing can make spaces unwelcoming. It's just something I think we all need to be more aware of.

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  3. thanks for sharing this, thought provoking!

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  4. Thought provoking.
    I find you self 366 challenge to be awesome!

    Coming by from A-Z.
    Naila Moon of:
    Reading Authors-http://readingauthors.blogspot.com/
    &
    Just the Stuff Ya Know-http://yaknowstuff.blogspot.com/

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    1. Thanks! I get some pretty awesome responses from recipients of the acts sometimes.

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  5. Excellent. I, too, am an ally.

    Pam Margolis
    An Unconventional Librarian

    Co-Host, Blogging from A to Z April Challenge
    http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

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    Replies
    1. Cool! I feel I need to do a lot more, but I'm starting so that's what's important.

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