At Love CNY ThinkTank we are disappointed that the LGBTQ+ community continues to face so much adversity. Somehow even in today’s modern society it is still socially acceptable in so many peoples minds to discriminate, disparage and disenfranchise this community. For these reasons we feel it is very important for us to do what we can to be Allies to this community and add our voices to their struggle. In the spirit of Pride Month we got involved in a couple of events to support this cause.LGBTQ+ Awareness with Sage Upstate
On Wednesday, May 31, Professor Jessica Reeher of the Communication Studies department at SUNY Oswego presented at Sage Upstate in celebration of Pride. She spoke about her research agenda which focuses on representations of marginalized groups through popular culture texts, such as film, music, and television. As a cisgender, heterosexual woman, she notes that she identifies as an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and is especially concerned with the ways in which popular culture texts play a role in either normalizing or marginalizing underrepresented populations. Her talk focused on the idea of heteronormativity – a notion that posits heterosexuality as the norm and any other representation as “not normal.”
To highlight this notion, her discussion focused on identity formation, which examines the social constructs of who we are as individuals and the various aspects that make up our own unique identity, such as biology, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc, and how this then informs our standpoint. Standpoint theory, briefly, suggests that we each have a standpoint from which we experience and understand the world that is connected to our identity. A white, cisgender, heterosexual woman is going to see and experience the world in a very different way than a black, genderqueer, homosexual man. The point is not to say that any one standpoint is “correct” or “proper” or “acceptable” but to recognize the importance of these other perspectives and to recognize the institutions and systems that allow some to be seen as “normal” and others to be seen as “outside,” “strange,” or “not socially acceptable.”
Gay 5K
One of our Founding Members is also the race director for the Gay 5K. In support of her efforts Love CNY ThinkTank played an instrumental role in helping this years race to be another success. We were able to volunteer/fundraise in excess of $250. We participated by putting together the race packets for the participants. We also assisted with packet pickup and we had volunteers on race day. One of the takeaways form this experience was the opportunity to listen to people talk about their experience and see their appreciation of our efforts to show that we see their community as “normal” and to encourage others to do the same.Despite the reality that there is still a great deal of work to be done for this cause, I had the opportunity to listen to a gentleman describe some of his experiences over the years. This man was so overwhelmed by how much more acceptance there is today than there was when he first came out. It was a genuine opportunity to see what effect efforts like this can have on real people and how lives can be changed. This one particular gentleman’s story sticks in my mind from that day, but I am certain that if I heard this one story at this one event there are hundreds, even thousands, more stories in CNY that would resonate just as strongly. We all have an opportunity to positively impact peoples lives and I hope that at future events more of you will take an opportunity to experience this and feel the sense of pride that I felt in being just a small part of this.
Love CNY ThinkTank 