Neighbor News
New LGBTQ+ Ally Affinity Group Starting from Partnership
The LGBT Equality Alliance and Chester County libraries are working together to bring language and space to would-be allies.
The LGBT Equality Alliance of Chester County has partnered with several public libraries in Chester County to offer a new Chester County LGBTQ+ Ally Affinity Group.
The Chester County LGBTQ+ Ally Affinity Group is designed to build a community and to create safe and inclusive spaces for its participants to share and process experiences, ask questions, exchange information and ideas, and address challenges in the county. It also aims to empower and support each other in identifying ways in which we can advocate for the Chester County LGBTQ+ community and use our privilege to bring about social change.
Roberta Perry, a board member of the LGBT Equality Alliance, will be leading the sessions. Perry’s desire to help others become better allies grew from her own experiences. “I know when I started my journey to become an antiracist and a parent of a gay child, I was always afraid I'd say something wrong or hurtful, so I kept my mouth shut,” says Perry. “I know I am not alone in that. I think people want to be allies, but language is a barrier. People have lots of questions, like ‘how can someone use they/them pronouns?’ or ‘what's nonbinary mean?’”
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Learning about the community is the first step to becoming a better ally. Perry continues, “How can we defend or support someone when we don't understand the language and how do we understand the language when we are afraid to misspeak? I want to offer safe space for people to come talk and ask the questions they are afraid to ask. I want it to be an affinity group where we learn together and from one another.”
The LGBTQ+ Ally Affinity Group will meet on the following dates:
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April 20, 2023 at 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Chester County Library and District Center
450 Exton Square Parkway, Exon, PA 19341
April 27, 2023 at 6:15-7:40 p.m.
Phoenixville Public Library
183 2nd Ave, Phoenixville, PA 19460
May 17, 2023 at 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Henrietta Hankin Branch Library
215 Windgate Drive, Chester Springs, PA 19425
To register for any of these sessions, please visit https://bit.ly/3GjeC8v. For additional information, please contact Roberta Perry at roberta@lgbteachesco.org.
