Last Sunday, I had an interesting time at my church. I sat behind this woman, who after hearing her speak for the first time, I began to question whether or not she was trans, and by the end leaned more towards her being another trans person. I figured that she knew I was as well after hearing me sing bass and pass the peace to here while wearing makeup and a black dress. I wondered if she would say something to me after the service, I was not going to say anything to her because I did not feel appropriate, but she did not. Anyway, after the service, I was talking with a few friends by the table where the LGBT ministry was taking payments for their upcoming soup supper before Maundy Thursday, and I saw her walk past, eventually getting stopped at the welcome station. She is talking with an older woman, and I see them walk our direction and stop, the older woman starts talking to her about open door before introducing her to us. The first person she introduces is me, saying “Have Y’all met each other.” I say no, but I internally I cringe, though I know I she had good intentions, still knowing that the only reason I was first and you phrased it that way is because we are both transgender people. The woman talked with us for a bit before leaving. The entire time I realized “this is my life here now. I am the token trans person.” I told this story that night to some new friends I made from an LGBT Christians meetup, and one them responded “oh allies”, which hit the nail on the head that even though allies, especially Christian ones, who mean so well, sometimes their actions do not always come across in the best manner.

I do not mean this post to be hating on allies, in fact, I think they serve a greater purpose than we often realize. My alma mater, Abilene Christian, has made the regional, and somewhat national news lately regarding a new policy that has come out regarding student employees being in same-sex relationships. It probably goes without saying, but this has turned out to be highly controversial, especially considering this is the first and most public statement my school has ever made regarding LGBT individuals, especially those on campus. In that past, even when legitimizing the LGBT student group, it did so quietly. This entire story reminds me of one of my favorite literary quotes “A long time ago, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” This time it’s “ACU finally made a stand on a controversial issue. This somehow made everyone angry and regarded it as a bad move.” In fact, according to one article I read about this, roughly 80% of the student body did not believe that students should be prohibited from entering into same-sex relationships. The bigger issues at play are regarding its lack of Title IX Exemption, and the vagueness of the policy that does not specify what exactly constitutes a same-sex relationship, is it actually having intercourse, or will two guys who go to a movie together be subject to suspension? It seems to easily lead to witch hunting.

As an LGBT alumnus, I am proud to be apart of a group of over 1,000 strong that is taking a firm stance at opposing this change and offering support to LGBT students on our, for at least some, beloved campus. I concluded my introductory/story post stating “I was lucky and fortunate enough to stay in Narnia (what I call my deeply closeted phase) and find a group like Voice. That is what I love what this group is doing, because there were definitely students alongside me in the dorms, in chapel, in classes who needed it and allyship on campus, and still today who need it.”

I have a feeling that the majority of members of that group are not LGBT alumni like myself, though we are there, but allies. The majority of my friends are allies. We are a minority, but vocal, which I think is vital. I have come to realize that while the LGBT community has a loud voice, our ally partners are amplifiers to that voice. They have played and continued to play a vital role in our lives, and I think we all in LGBT community can name several who personally have impacted our journey. While some may occasionally do things that make us uncomfortable or that are not quite right like at my parish, I think we would be in a completely different place both individually for a lot of us, and as a community today if it not for our cisgender, heterosexual friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, etc. who choose stand beside us and fight alongside us. Thank an ally today.