By ANA KNOBLOCK
Identity
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 25, 2011
This week at our good ol’ College of Saint Rose was Ally Week. An ally, as defined by the Gender Equity Resource Center, is someone who advocates for and supports members of a community other than their own. They reach across differences to achieve mutual goals. Members from Identity tabled outside on Monday for the Ally Pledge, hosted a potluck on Tuesday for our Ally Appreciation Dinner, ran a workshop on Wednesday called Ally 10, as well as decorated the sidewalks with chalk on Thursday night portraying our feelings towards our allies. Each of these activities both educated and gave tribute to our allies, because after all, without our allies, the LGBTQIAP community would not be as strong and unified.
Identity thought that it would be very powerful to have our students and staff sign a pledge stating that they are an ally and that they support our community. Kate Catricala, Stephanie Santiago and Soozey Walensky, and myself drew up a poster the night before in the same manner last year’s ally pledge looked. The poster included what an ally is and what you can do as an ally. We had separate poster board for people to sign their names in different colored markers. Between the hours of 10am-3pm, we had filled two poster boards with signatures, a little over 100 names. Personally, I was quite surprised at the number of people who signed our pledge. It is one thing to say that you are an ally, but it is another thing to be brave and publicly sign your name telling everyone that you do in fact support the LGBTQ community. Kudos to all of you who signed our pledge!
To further our feelings towards our allies, a dinner was held in honor of them. Identity has an Ally Appreciation Dinner every year because we feel like it is important to acknowledge the support that we receive. People trickled in to the Standish Room, bringing many pasta dishes, Spanish rice, salads, and many delicious desserts. The dinner was a time for everyone to talk with each other, not necessarily about being an ally, but more to get to know each other.
At the end of the dinner, we had time set aside for our members to read letters they had written to their own ally. It took a lot of self-talk but I got up in front of twenty people or so people and read my letter dedicated to my best friend. I thanked her for being an ally, being there for me and seeing me for who I am. It was important to me to highlight how grateful I am that she is in my life and will always support me.
When we got home, she told me “I’m glad that you wrote that letter to me and said all that stuff, but to me, it is just things that a friend should do.” Now that I think about it, she is right. However, I feel like it can sometimes be easy to overlook or take for granted things that your friends/allies do for you. Not to say that I need to thank her every day, but it might be a good idea if I stepped back once and a while to reflect on the little things my allies do for me.
Ally Week was meant to educate our campus, and help our members realize how important allies are to us. I hope that our members and our campus were able to see that like I was. If anyone did not sign the ally pledge and would like to, you may come into our office (located in Avila Hall, across from Albertus on Western Ave) and sign the pledge. We will forever and always welcome allies.
