This is like my third attempt at doing an intro, so here we go
Third time's a charm!
What up, my beautiful people! Welcome back to my channel. It's Keara.
If you're new here
Welcome, it's lovely to see you
Make sure you subscribe now that you're here
and like this video if you want to see more content like this
You know the drill
I always forget to put this at the beginning of my video
So I'm saying it now. Subscribe, like, comment, you know, all the good stuff
Before I scrap another intro, let's just continue with the intro before I get too crazy
This is a little educational video and I'm your teacher Miss Graves
And today we're gonna be talking about how to be a respectful straight ally
And before you assume...
No!
I'm not straight
And that goes into my first point.
A lot of heterosexual people just assume that everyone's straight and that's it
Or they make a lot of other assumptions about people based on stereotypes
which aren't true
Just in general assuming people's identities is
something that you should just not do
If you are genuinely unsure of someone's pronouns
Just ask them. I don't think it's gonna offend them.
Usually people are really happy when you ask for their pronouns
because it's like "oh this person's, you know,
trying to make an effort to be respectful and treat me equally"
There's no harm in asking and then you know!
That's my first tip
is just don't assume people's identities and just don't assume that everyone's straight because
Not everyone is straight.
Oh the next one's really important
If you hear people around you saying gay slurs, for example
the most common one I hear still, on a day-to-day basis is
"you're so gay" or like "stop being so gay" or like
"That's gay"
if you hear that kind of thing, please
tell people "hey, that's actually not okay to say"
even if you're not LGBT
say it, especially if you're not LGBT
And half the time these people don't even know that what they're saying is offensive
so honestly you just have to
not be a bystander and speak up when you hear
derogatory slurs is being thrown around.
I actually have a little story about this. So this was
probably last year
I was working on a film with some people and
I was in the car with I think three other people and they were all straight
One of the people in the car said--
they were just talking about something and they said
"Yeah, like it was just so f*cking gay."
Excuse my language, I'll bleep that out.
But the whole group kind of laughed at the joke
Because what he was saying was like supposed to be funny,
and I was just like, excuse me
Did you just say "that's so f*cking gay?"
Please don't say that in the future
Don't use gay as an insult because it's not
and it's a derogatory term if you use it in that manner
So, please don't.
And they were genuinely like oh, oh
"No one's ever told me that before"
Half of these people don't even know what they're saying
So if you just bring it up to them, usually they'll be like
"Okay, cool, sorry, I didn't know"
That person that said the derogatory slur was like, "okay like sorry"
"I didn't know that that was wrong to say"
Oh
If you're an artist of some sort or content creator or film maker
Include LGBTQ+ characters in your projects
The media needs more
LGBTQ+ representation, especially in TV shows and movies
and I know there's definitely starting to be a lot more
but half the time they're still stereotypes and they're just being
misrepresented even if they are being represented
Include LGBTQ+
characters if you're writing like a series or a movie or a short film
and it doesn't have to be about them being LGBT
just include
some diversity, you know
Growing up
it was really hard because I couldn't really identify with anyone that I was seeing on the TV or
you know, in the media
There just wasn't a lot of LGBT people in the media
so I was like
Oh, I feel like such a loner
I don't have anyone to relate to, I feel like a weirdo
I feel like I'm alone in this world of
heterosexuality
Anyway, long story short
Include LGBT
representation
in your creative endeavors.
Don't be afraid to talk about
LGBTQ+ issues in friend groups or around your family
Especially
family members who are all heterosexual
Don't be afraid to talk about it. Just be open about it.
Bring it up casually
Start introducing that kind of dialogue in a family setting or in your friend group
in a respectful way
because then it gets people used to like the fact that yes
there are a lot of LGBTQ+ people in this world
and they are just as equal as
Heterosexual people
and it's not taboo to talk about, it's not like awkward to talk about.
I know a lot of people who just don't
talk about that kind of thing because it's like touchy and it's, you know
controversial
So just don't be afraid to open up a dialogue
Support
LGBTQ+ nonprofits or organizations or events or causes
Donate to you know, an LGBT homeless youth shelter or something like that
Be open to
providing your services and your time and
your money for LGBTQ+ causes because if it's just us minorities
supporting our minority group
We're still the minority group and we still need support
from the general public
If you're heterosexual and you're thinking of
supporting a worthy cause, maybe see if there's like a
homeless LGBTQ+ youth shelter in your city and
donate some clothes, donate some money.
I don't know
A ridiculous amount of
LGBTQ+ youth get kicked out by their parents when they come out
And that is why
there's LGBT youth shelters, and it's
really sad that there has to be that but
It does happen.
So since it happens, support support!
Another thing
educate yourself and inform yourself
You're doing this right now because you're watching this video
Be open-minded and
Listen to other people's stories
Put yourself in the shoes of an LGBT person
Read a book.
A really good book to read is Boy Erased
It's actually now film
It's really sad, but true and it talks about
It's a true story about this boy who was forced into a gay conversion therapy program
It's really sad, but
unfortunately, that kind of thing still goes on today in many areas of the world
Learn about
the queer experience and be open minded.
If there's a term that you hear that you're not sure what it is
Google it, look it up
If there's an identity that you're not sure what it is, you hear it
somewhere and you're like
"Oh, I don't know what that is. I've never heard that before."
Google it.
Learn more about
LGBT-ness
LGBT-ness?
Educate and inform folks!
A lot of heterosexual people do have
prejudice against LGBT people and
Bias, and maybe they don't even know it.
I'm not saying that all heterosexual people have that but
quite a few do and
some people don't even realize that they have that prejudice toward LGBT people and
If you do, don't ignore it. Address it.
Question it.
Not all of your beliefs are rooted in what you truly truly feel.
Not all of your
beliefs in your head are the truth.
Anyway, so if you feel like you might have a little bit of prejudice toward LGBT people, address it and
try and fix it, you know try and change it
Realize where that may have rooted from and
Write a new belief.
There's a bunch of statistics I found online and while I was reading them I
Got very emotional
62% of LGBT employees have heard gay jokes in the workplace and
40% have heard transgender jokes in the workplace
Like for those of you who think that
homophobia doesn't exist anymore
You're very wrong.
This is a recent statistic. I think it's like 2017
2018
A 2018 statistic.
1/5 of LGBTQ+
Americans have experienced discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity
when applying for jobs
Also a group within the LGBT community--
Queer people of color experience a lot more discrimination
Sometimes than white LGBTQ+ people
Be open to that.
There's this statistic that says
LGBTQ people of color are more likely to experience this type of discrimination
when applying for jobs
It's messed up
That's why I think this is an important video to make because little by little
learning more, being exposed to more
the world will be more tolerant and accepting
Share this to as many platforms as you can because
More people need to know these things.
It's not a common thing that people talk about
You don't get to hear a lot of LGBT
voices being promoted
Especially in the media. I mean there's definitely more now but
I'm so happy that as a LGBT person
I have this platform and I can speak to a lot of people on here
So share this video if you know anyone who would benefit from this
It's really really important and
thank you for listening this far
but I really hope this video helped you
If it did, comment below let me know and
comment below more video ideas because I really want to post more than once a week
because this one I'm posting on Friday
Yeah, this should be Friday. I can't wait to see you in my next video
Bye!