Comments | giniliz: Straight Privilege in the Church

giniliz

Straight Privilege in the Church

Mar 23, 2009 12:56

Here is a combined list of what y'all and others came up with. Continued additions quite welcome!

( In the church, straight people can… )

queerness, religion and god stuff, disciples

Comments 14

_jeremiad March 23 2009, 19:05:02 UTC

I like this.

peaceofpie March 23 2009, 19:52:00 UTC

Since you are addressing heterosexual privilege in this list, rather than gender-normative privilege, I think it would be more accurate to use "gay, lesbian, and/or bisexual" instead of terms that include "transgender".

I've become enormously aware lately of the degree to which it is a problem when faith communities use "GLBT" when talking about issues that are really about sexuality.

giniliz March 23 2009, 20:05:19 UTC

but the fact of the matter is that people based sexual orientation on the perceived genders of the people involved, and thus the sexual orientations of transpeople are constantly under scrutiny. besides, when folks don't put "T" at the end, they are accused of bias. trust me, i've tried many times on campus. it just doesn't fly. so instead, i point out that ultimately, issues of sexual orientation are actually issues of gender conformity (women are supposed to be attracted to men, for instance) and the whole thing comes down to some serious issues with gender. they aren't really seperable. g, l, and b people are gender-nonconforming, too, and i don't make hierarchies of who is non-conforming enough to be considered losing "gender normative privilege."

giniliz March 23 2009, 20:11:24 UTC

also, in the case of things like:

be vocally supportive of lgbt people with less risk, fewer accusations of bias, and more “thank you”s than an lgbt person who does the same.

it was done intentionally, because gay people don't get those passes when advocating for gender-nonconforming people. we're talking about what STRAIGHT people get to do here, and they get to do some things in relation to l, g, b, AND t people that l, g, and b people don't.

fierceandsassy March 23 2009, 20:13:36 UTC

exactly

Thread 9

fierceandsassy March 23 2009, 20:10:19 UTC

this? rocks. can i share it with my mom?

giniliz March 23 2009, 20:30:03 UTC

feel free

littlebrownowl March 24 2009, 11:54:08 UTC

What a GREAT list! I really appreciate you making this.

lizzypaul April 4 2009, 01:40:14 UTC

(I'm here through kynn.)

Thank you for this. As a lesbian in a rather conservative denomination, pursuing a call to ministry, I really appriciate this.