I believe that most of you should be familiar with many of the definitions and have a basic understanding at least of the differences between sex and sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression and the letters making up LGBT+
As a member of this community, I continue to learn more about myself and my community, and as a community and society we are all learning more and more about each other and what makes us unique, different and in the end- ultimately the same.
But one thing I would like to be very clear about and would like us to keep in mind at all times is that the LGBT+ community is also not one homogenous group. We are all very different and unique individuals within a group that has kind of been forced together in this crazy weird wonderful way that doesn’t always make sense, but was needed to join forces to unite against systemic bigotry at every level our community faces.
You need to remember that my experiences as a gay white man are completely different to the experiences of lesbian women, trans people or anyone else who might identify or express themselves differently. The need to band together as society outcasts was an attempt to stand together to fight for our human rights and make ourselves heard. But it does not make us the same. Just the same as all heterosexual people who might come from different races, religions, cultural backgrounds, language groups or generations are similarly unique.
On a personal note, one of the most terrifying realizations I had when I started doing this work- was actually how homophobic I was- and probably still am to some degree. Something I continue to be confronted by and continue to work on. I was raised right in the thick of toxic masculinity and hetero normative white standards in apartheid South Africa. There was no room to deviate or be different or to express yourself in any way apart from what was considered the norm.
Prejudice is often the fear of the unknown and the misunderstood. We are all shaped by our environments and upbringing which leads to our unconscious biases. And that is why it is up to each of us to become more aware, ask respectful questions, learn more, and realise that each and every person on this earth is a sum of their parts. The colour of our skin, our sexual orientation and identity, our religious and cultural beliefs, our language, the way we choose to express ourselves and whether we are able bodied or living with some form of disability. This is what makes us all human, distinctive and unique.