You wouldn’t know it from watching the most popular rom-com movies. Gay, cis, White men are so frequently presented as the best friend/sidekick of a straight, cis, heroine that it has become a popular and reliable trope in pop culture. This imagery reinforces a highly circumscribed view of who the LGBTQ+ community is and what its needs, strengths, challenges, and issues are.
The reality is that gay, cis, White men can be the heroes of the story. The reality is that the LGBTQ+ community is as diverse as the population at large. And, the reality is that those in the community who are not White or cis or men often look to those who are with the hope or expectation or demand that they do more to help and support the rest of the community.
Certainly, within the LGBTQ+ community, a case might be made that gay, cis, White men are the beneficiaries of certain privileges and opportunities not as common for the rest of the LGBTQ+ community. To what extent is this true? If it is true, what, if anything, can or should be done to expand the accessibility to those kinds of opportunities to the rest of the LGBTQ+ community? How might gay, cis, White men be better allies to the rest of the LGBTQ+ community? What might that allyship look like?
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Wesley D. Bizzell, Senior Assistant General Counsel, Managing Director of Political Law & Ethics Programs, Altria Client Services LLC
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Bryan J. Branon, Branon’s ADR
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Malcolm “Skip” Harsh (moderator), Director, American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Hispanic Commission
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Steve John, Partner, John and Snyder
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Kenneth A. Matuszewski, Senior Associate, Rozier Hardt McDonough PLLC
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Adam Miel Zebelian, Partner, Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP
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