Imperfect Advocacy

"I want us to stop tearing down part-time advocates, busy people who give what they can when they can and how they can. I want to encourage someone who can only give 40%, 20%, 5% of their time to a cause to give fully and feel welcomed in that modicum of time they can give. Because, if they feel frustrated or unwelcome by those that can give 70%, 90%, 100% of their time to a cause, they might not give anymore time at all, or may stop learning about issues and causes because we were not willing to give them the space to make missteps. We were not willing to correct an improper use of terminology or a blatant logical fallacy. We were, instead, so caught up in being right and righteous that we never stopped to welcome the well-meaning but not-right-yet.

I am 100% here for the 20% someone else can give.

If a straight person wants to be my ally, but is still not quite over the learning curve when it comes to the full spectrum of LGBTQ+ needs and language and ideology...but they are coming to it from a place where they wish to learn and better themselves in order to be better advocates in the future...I welcome them. Even part-time. I cannot tell or demand from other minority groups the same treatment of would-be allies. I cannot tell a black person to hold space for the imperfect white ally who is getting some things wrong. I cannot ask the immigrant or the poor or the body positive advocate to hold space for well-meaning, part-time advocates who aren't quite getting things right, yet. But, I am hoping to be part of the change I wish to see from my fellow liberal-leaning folks. I am hoping that we, as a massively diverse populace with intersections of willingness and privilege and unpacked baggage and un-admitted ignorances and yet-to-be-learned areas of knowledge can hold space for one another.

I am hoping that progressives can stop tearing other progressives down for their imperfect advocacy long enough to meet the challenges faced in our actual opposition."