To my Hetero Allies

This trip to NY was immersed in Queer culture, with approximately half of our expeditions to Queer based organizations or events to study how minorities represent themselves within the city. While this made my trip, allowing me explore areas of New York that I would not have gotten to see otherwise, I know that the trip left some of my allies with heterosexual guilt.

It seems strange to me that in a group majority of heterosexual people, a homosexual dominance can overtake the heteronormative assumption. Our class attended so many queer events from the Lesbian Herstory Archives, Pride Rallies and Marches, LGBT centers, that the homosexual theme overtook the heterosexuality of the city of New York, allowing us to see a different view of the city than the average tourist. This perspective followed a minority in the city and even the closest heterosexual allies in the group felt uncomfortable about their privileged hetero lifestyle.

But gender identity and sexual preference is not a choice and they should not feel bad for being a majority. Does this hetero guilt prevent people in the hetero culture from exploring queer culture? In my own life I am often afraid to enter a culture I know nothing about because I am afraid of accidentally disrespecting the culture or it members out of ignorance and this would prevent people from gaining knowledge of other people’s experiences. I am glad our group was full of open minded people who embraced the events that Marie took us too, even though they would not have chosen to attend those venues on their own. Kudos to those who are so welcoming of a culture that is not entirely their own.