In honor of Pride Month, Dan McConvey, a member of LISC’s development team, reflects on the actions we must take to center and celebrate the lives and needs of LGBTQ+ people in our work with communities, and within our organization.
As we begin to emerge from our homes and our prolonged isolation in the wake of the pandemic, celebrating Pride Month this June is particularly meaningful. Pride is over fifty years old and began as a form of resistance and protest, initially stemming from the leadership of queer and transgender women of color fighting for our rights at the Stonewall Riots. Those defiant protests, in response to a police raid on a well-known gay tavern in Greenwich Village in New York City in 1969, helped galvanize the movement for LGBTQ+ rights across the country and the globe. To this day, Pride is a celebration and recognition of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer community and of all the different identities encompassed within it.
Those of us working in community development can also use this time as an opportunity to think critically and openly about ways that we, as an organization and as an industry, can center the needs of LGBTQ+ people more intentionally. At LISC, we are working to make this happen through trainings and professional development, in our recruitment and retention approaches and through the queer space we have built in our LGBTQ+ affinity group. In all of these ways, we can make our organization as queer-inclusive as possible, one where LGBTQ+ people can thrive.
Externally, we aim to push ourselves and the industry to support LGBTQ+ people in our work in ways that are authentic and deliberate. We can start by asking ourselves these questions: how do our programs consider the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ people when developing affordable housing? How are transgender women, particularly trans women of color, disproportionately impacted by issues like homelessness and housing insecurity, and how can CDFIs play a role in addressing those issues?
Who are our LGBTQ+ serving community partners and how can we more actively support their work? How are we meeting the specific needs of LGBTQ+ BIPOC communities? Are we supporting LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs to start and maintain their small businesses?
The list of questions goes on, but during this month especially, we push ourselves, and each other, to be inquisitive and intentional in this work.
Pride Month is an invitation to all of us: that we be resilient and joyful. That we be grateful and honor those who have fought before us. And that we continue to fight for all the people in our LGBTQ+ community. Happy Pride!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dan McConvey, Development Officer, LISC National
Dan is on the National Development team, based in NYC, where he works to expand private resources for our national programs and local offices. He is a member of the LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, which he helped create. Prior to LISC, he worked in the nonprofit and philanthropy industries in Boston and New England for a decade. He is also a proud AmeriCorps VISTA alum.