BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The LGBTQ Business Council and the Bethlehem Chamber partnered Tuesday to guide people on how to make workplaces and businesses more inclusive.
The keynote speaker for the event, held at the Mediterranean Grill in Bethlehem, was Allentown’s Equity and Inclusion Coordinator Kumari Ghafoor-Davis.
“Being an ally simply means respecting someone's humanity. Recognizing and appreciating who they are — their perspective, their traumas, their triumphs — without being a part of that community,” Ghafoor-Davis said.
Ghafoor-Davis said an important part of being an active ally is standing up for someone if someone else speaks negatively about them, even if they’re not in the room.
She said at times people do not understand LGBTQ people’s identities, but that does not give them the right to disrespect them.
“Your level of understanding doesn't negate the right for anybody to be treated fairly,” Ghafoor-Davis said.
Ghafoor-Davis said everyone has internalized biases, and the most important thing to do is apologize when you cause harm.
“Sometimes, even with the work I’ve been doing for the past 20 some years, I still misstep. And I still have to apologize. There's nothing wrong with it,” Ghafoor-Davis said.
‘There’s a lot of work to do’
The event then had a panel, moderated by DEl and Racial Equity Consultant Ace.
Ariel Torres, Associate Director for The Pride Center for Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity at Lehigh University, said there has been a lot of progress for LGBTQ safety in public.
“I'm just so happy that there have been these strides where our community really does feel safe in a lot of public spaces that were considered to be 'cisheteronormative (gender conforming),'” Torres said.
“But that doesn't mean they're perfect, and there's a lot of work to do.”
Lee Hill, co-founder of Changemaker Inc., said even LGBTQ-centered spaces can be exclusionary to some parts of the community. For example, it is common for gay men to sexually harass lesbian women, she said.
“Now is it all malicious? No … They're being flirtatious and funny and thinking that it's okay. But it's not consensual touching,” Hill said.
"Every hate letter I got, I would put another flag in the window, another book in the window."Jenny DeLorenzo, owner of The Curious Plantaholic in Nazareth and Plants+Coffee in Easton
Jenny DeLorenzo, owner of The Curious Plantaholic in Nazareth and Plants+Coffee in Easton, said she intentionally tried to make her space more welcoming by putting up rainbow stickers and selling books with LGBTQ characters.
But DeLorenzo said she’s gotten pushback from Nazareth residents.
“Every hate letter I got, I would put another flag in the window, another book in the window,” DeLorenzo said.
DeLorenzo is not part of the LGBTQ community herself, but her son is trans. She said she’s realized that when people don’t understand her son’s identity, the most helpful thing to do is to try to help people understand — with some patience.
“Part of being an ally that I had to learn was to not get angry with that ignorance, because I was getting very angry,” DeLorenzo said. “My responses were not educational.”
For making the workplace more inclusive, Torres suggested people compare their policies to workplaces that have scored well on LGBTQ inclusion indexes.
“If you highlight the things that are lacking, the work is already done,” Torres said. “And if the higher ups are really allies themselves, they might just make those changes.”
