Benefits

• You can help make a difference in someone's life.

• You can develop healthy relationships with people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

• With the addition of those new friends you learn more about the world around you.

• You create an inclusive community where everyone can live, learn and play feeling safe and valued.

• You make visible an invisible population.

• You are able to support someone when her/his life seems difficult and isolating.

• You will be making a personal contribution to improving the campus climate and the lives of students, faculty and staff.

• Staff, faculty and students may be more at ease when sharing issues pertaining to your work/job/etc.

 

Challenges

• It may make you unpopular among some individuals.

• People may assume you are LGBTQIA+ because you support community issues.

• You may be criticized for being involved in a cause that is thought to be unimportant by some people.

• Your friends or colleagues who are uncomfortable with the topic may become distant or disagree with your involvement.

• Sometimes, because of past negative interactions with heterosexuals, LGBTQIA+ individuals may question your motivations for being an Ally.

• It can be very difficult to stay away from being a counselor to those who approach you for help. 

 

As someone who is not LGBTQIA, it is important to understand that you have privilege (privilege: a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people) as such and an ability to help progress the rights of LGBTQIA people. One such way that you can be a help to the community is by working toward creating safe spaces.

 

This article explains various methods to help create a safe space. These are meant for creating a group safe space, but it is sure that you will gain something by learning about safe spaces. Maybe you aren’t in charge of a center or a place on a school campus where a safe space needs to be, but you can surely learn techniques to help yourself be a better aid to your friends if they come to you looking for help with an LGBTQIA identity.

 

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