Labels...

During the past few weeks, either in blogs or face to face meetings, several people have called me an "ally" on GLBT issues. It happened again yesterday.

You may have heard the expanded letters "GLBTQQIA" to talk about people who might be considered part of, for lack of a better word at the moment, a sexual minority. It stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersexual, and assexual -- or to some people "ally", meaning heterosexual people who support the others.

But, somehow "ally" doesn't reflect my internal sense of why I am committed to full inclusion of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, in society and the life of the faith community.

It's made me think back to the feeling that I had growing up when I learned people labeled me as "white." Growing up Jewish in an area dominated by White Anglo Saxon Protestants and White Roman Catholics, I somehow never felt like I belonged to them. In my childhood mind, Jews and Blacks were much more closely aligned than I was to the second grade Catholic girls who taunted me ruthlessly because I wasn't going to be confirmed and thus going to hell.

I similarly don't resonate to "ally" because my commitment to sexual justice, sexuality education for all, and affirmation of our sexualities as a gift from God transcends a commitment to supporting the rights of others. The people who would deny GLBTQQI persons their sexuality and their right to responsible sexual behaviors and expressions often would also deny the right to reproductive health services, erotica, sex toys, uncensored adult materials, the Internet, and sexual behaviors that make them feel uncomfortable. (Remember that sodomy laws in almost half the states were aimed at heterosexuals as well as gay people.)

As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere."

I wonder what the impact would be if all of us working for sexual justice would label ourselves as "queer".