Floyd County Library panel focuses on LGBTQ allyship

Jun. 8—SOUTHERN INDIANA — A recent panel examined what it means to be an ally to the LGBTQ community.

The Floyd County Library presented the "Ally 101" panel Wednesday in New Albany. The event featured representatives from a wide variety of fields to discuss ways to show support for LGBTQ people in the community.

Paul Hankins, a teacher at Silver Creek High School, moderated the conversation, which covered topics ranging from legislation to mental health.

Sebastian "Crash" Hamilton, a local therapist, discussed the importance of allyship in mental health services.

"The [LGBTQ] community will only go to people that they can confirm from another queer person is a safe person to go to, so we will always ask someone else, did this person acknowledge you, help you," he said.

Hamilton said that "it's everyone's responsibility to make sure that we're making a safe space for people." He emphasized the high risk of suicide among LGBTQ people, particularly transgender people.

"So when it comes to mental health services, I think we really need to be better about that," he said.

When it comes to allyship, Hamilton encourages people to "be OK with being wrong."

"It just comes down to being comfortable with being wrong and being in that space where you are receptive to that, and realizing that the queer community is not a monolith," he said. "We are not all the same. We are not the same people."

State Rep. Ed Clere, a Republican representing District 72, said he describes allyship as "looking for opportunities to increase understanding and going places — literally or figuratively — that may be uncomfortable, and in so doing, trying to make other people more comfortable."

Clere has diverged from many in his party by voting against recent anti-LGBTQ legislation passed by the Republican majority, including the new law banning gender-affirming care for minors. He also voted against legislation requiring schools to notify parents if a student asks to use a different name or pronoun.

He said there was "very problematic and divisive and really unnecessary legislation" affecting transgender people. He feels it is important to focus on building awareness.

"To be blunt, a lot of this legislation is based on misunderstanding and misinformation, and with broader awareness comes broader acceptance, so I think anything we can do to increase awareness will have the effect of increasing acceptance," he said.

Clere said it is important to recognize that legislative debates over these issues "don't occur in a vacuum," and they negatively affect the mental health of LGBTQ people across the country.

"These debates have life and death consequences, and that's why allyship is more important than ever," he said.

Michelle Elisburg, a local pediatrician, focused on her role in supporting LGBTQ kids from the medical perspective. She aims to be supportive and non-judgmental, and she works to offer what is "in the best interest" of her patients.

She feels that allyship also means "being an advocate and an activist," noting that she has spoken up against anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and to correct misinformation.

She expressed her frustration about recent laws in Indiana and Kentucky to ban gender-affirming care for minors. The law prohibits care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender transition surgeries for youth younger than 18.

"I don't understand how anybody could want some lawmaker with no medical experience to be able to decide what your doctor can tell you about and offer you for care," Elisburg said. "It's a big challenge."

She said whether a type of gender-affirming care is banned or not, this type of legislation will make those in the medical profession more wary of providing certain services for patients.

"I think some of the unintended consequences will be our medical providers being afraid that they're going to be prosecuted for offering things," she said.

Paul Snyder, the pastor at Central Christian Church in New Albany, said being an ally is "a commitment to love the other person."

"For me, love means showing up for the other person, having care and compassion... but it also means being willing to stand up and fight for the other person when an injustice is taking place," he said.

Snyder said his church is showing its allyship through events such as the upcoming "Voices Together" service in partnership with St. Mark's United Church of Christ and St. Paul's Episcopal Church in New Albany.

This is a special LGBTQ pride service that is a "beautiful opportunity for us to come together as faith communities and to affirm people in the goodness that God created them." The event will take place on June 24 at 3 p.m.

Snyder said allies should "not just be comfortable with being wrong, but be comfortable with being uncomfortable."

"Being an ally means you're going to have tough conversations with people — sometimes tough conversations with people that you deeply love and have relationships with — but being a good ally just requires you to take that step even if it makes you uncomfortable," he said.

Kendall Beck, an independent living coordinator at Open Door Youth Shelter, works with at-risk teenagers, including those in the LGBTQ community.

Beck said allyship is "being receptive of them and going out and showing that you are supportive."

"You can say that you're supportive, but actually taking accountability and having action behind it means a lot," Beck said.

This includes listening and providing a safe space for youth, especially for kids who might not have that space otherwise.

"They need someone to go to, and I'm grateful that they're able to come to me and tell me things they wouldn't tell anyone else," Beck said.

Regarding the divisiveness surrounding LGBTQ issues, Clere feels there is a need to "turn down the temperature because it's really hot."

"People are very quick to jump to assumptions and run to their respective corners," he said.

Clere said to become a better ally to the LGBTQ community, people should consider interacting with those they might not normally interact with.

"We've become very tribal," he said. "We talk about echo chambers and media...there's a tendency to associate with people who already agree with you. Go find some people you don't necessarily agree with and strike up a conversation and find some common ground because I guarantee you have more in common than not."

Hamilton said allies play an important role in having those tough conversations, noting that it can be "exhausting" for the responsibility to always fall on LGBTQ people.

"I mean whenever you're having tough conversations with people where they're basically telling you that you don't deserve to exist, it can be really difficult, to say the least," he said. "For people who it's not affecting you personally, it can still be really difficult, but it's a different type of taxing, and we really appreciate it when you all take that load from us."

Elisburg urges people to get to know the individual rather than the group so they understand that "there's a human being behind this issue."

Snyder said although the Bible is often used to justify religious opposition to LGBTQ rights, his faith is focused on "human flourishing" and affirming the LGBTQ community.

"The pain and the suffering and the trauma that the church has inflicted on people does not coincide with the God I know," he said.

Snyder emphasizes that there is a "deep, rich history of gender diverse [and] sexually diverse folks impacting faith communities and having a really powerful voice," although those stories have often been hidden.