Being an Ally

Shared 6/5/24

In acknowledgement of Pride Month, it is time to share information on how to be an ally. That said, this post is not intended to pigeon-hole being an ally to one month. Being an ally is an ongoing commitment to acceptance, taking action and having a sense of humility; the three pillars of being a good ally as identified in an article for the “Harvard Business Review”. (Chen, J. & Joel, S. 12 Apr. 2023)

Before getting into definitions and strategies for being a good ally, please take time to review our blog post from Pride Month last year. This blog post was thoughtfully put together by CommunityCare of Lyme’s own, Grace Tecca. They have reviewed: the history of Pride Month; the differences between Sex, Gender and Sexuality; The importance of pronouns; Juneteenth and it’s PRIDE connection; What it means to be an ally; Mental Health  for the LGBTQ+ community. Grace also has compiled a series of resources within this blog post that are worth taking time to review.

For this post, I’m sharing information from an article by Jacqueline M. Chen and Samantha Joel (April 12, 2023) for the “Harvard Business Review”. This article shares findings from the authors’ research seeking to answer the question, do LGBTQ+ individuals view self-designated allies, as allies. The authors sought to answer this question on allyship by completing,  “a four-year project to investigate how LGBTQ+ individuals determine whether someone is an ally. We conducted six studies, including thousands of LGBTQ+-identified participants across the U.S., to understand the causes and effects of allyship.” (Chen, J. & Joel, S. 12 Apr. 2023)

Through  Chen & Joel’s research asking  LGBTQ+ individuals to define allyship three common themes emerged: being accepting, taking action, having humility. (Chen, J. & Joel, S. 12 Apr. 2023) I encourage you to use the following findings, shared in Chen & Jo (2023) to self-reflect oh growth areas in your own journey toward allyship:
  • Be Accepting: To be an ally, accept and validate gender and/or sexual identities. This is the first, essential step to becoming an ally.  Research shows that acceptance is the crucial first step, and that “Taking action when your beliefs are still biased against LGBTQ+ people will have limited impact.” (Chen, J. & Joel, S. 12 Apr. 2023)
  • Take Action: To improve the climate of the environment around you is the action of an ally. Allies seek to educate and improve themselves, constantly. Based on Chen  & Joel’s scale of allyship, an ally will “speak out against anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination” and “seek out opportunities to learn about LGBTQ+ issues.” Taking these actions leads to the most important piece of allyship: enhanced well-being for LGBTQ+ persons. (Chen, J. & Joel, S. 12 Apr. 2023)
  • Have Humility: Chen & Joel summarize this component of being a good ally into one question for you to consider, “are you truly listening, or are you more interested in managing others’ impressions of you?” (Chen, J. & Joel, S. 12 Apr. 2023). In discussions of LGBTQ+ issues, allies listen more than speak in order to really understand what is being shared, and do so out of genuine care and interest. Allies also keep the focus of LGBTQ+ discussions off themselves.

Chen & Joel’s Research based Conclusion: 

All in all, being a good ally is beneficial to both the ally and those with marginalized gender and/or sexual identities. (Chen, J. & Joel, S. 12 Apr. 2023)

If you would like to learn more about how to engage as a supportive, informed ally these are some additional resources you might review:
Human Rights Campaign Foundation “Being an LGBTQ+ Ally“

Events in our community and beyond!

Works Cited:

“Being an LGBTQ+ Ally.” HRC Digital Reports, Human Rights Campaign Foundation, Oct. 2022, reports.hrc.org/being-an-lgbtq-ally?_ga=2.62578091.6817421.1717505325-607414712.1717505320#understanding-identity.

Chen, Jacqueline  M, and Samantha Joel. “Research: How to Be a Better Ally to the LGBTQ+ Community.” Harvard Business Review, 12 Apr. 2023, hbr.org/2023/04/research-how-to-be-a-better-ally-to-the-lgbtq-community.

Myers, Justin. “How to Be a Better Ally during Pride Month and Beyond.” British GQ, British GQ, 2 June 2022, www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/how-to-be-an-ally-pride.

Smith , Sheila. “Five Ways to Be an Ally during Pride Month – and Beyond.” ACLU of Ohio, 12 July 2022, www.acluohio.org/en/news/five-ways-be-ally-during-pride-month-and-beyond.

Teccca, Grace. “Pride Month – June 2023.” CommunityCare of Lyme, 24 June 2023, www.cclyme.org/pride-month-june-2023/.

Every Wednesday, CommunityCare of Lyme lifts up a wellness topic, embracing the widest possible definition of individual and community well-being. We include local and national resources, individual and group programs and practices, and personal stories, videos, or songs that have something to teach us all. We are always seeking guest contributors! 

If you have a wellness-themed topic you would like to share or learn more about, please reach out to shelby@cclyme.org

Shelby Wood
Manager of Volunteer Participation
CommunityCare of Lyme
Shelby@cclyme.org
802-468-7776 (cell)
603-795-0603 (CCL office and help line)