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Gay Straight@Park Lake

Gay Straight@Park Lake is a group of Christians who come together for worship, friendship and to share God’s love with all. The intent of this group is to provide the opportunity for dialogue, to share information and to provide education regarding the diversity within our congregation. Meetings are announced in the Worship and Work monthly newsletter and in the Sunday worship bulletin. Anyone interested is welcome to attend. Please email the Church Office for more information.

Beginning in the fall of 2024, Park Lake is starting a series called The Pledge Educational Series at Park Lake and will be hosting six events over the next two years, working through bias issues using the framework of The Central Florida Pledge

The first event, November 14, 2024 is on homophobia/transphobia. The next in February 2025 will be on racism, then there will be one on misogyny, one on Islamophobia, another on Antisemitism, with a final event on Ableism. 

In preparation of the Events, please complete the Harvard Implicit Bias Tests. The testing is free and the results are private.

We look forward to our conversations.

For Further Reading:

Articles

digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=600489a0-55a1-4116-9e37-9e1b3483e76b

Being an Ally to LGBT People | Youth Engaged 4 Change

9 Actionable Ideas to Make Your Workplace More LGBTQ Inclusive | LinkedIn

Nonbinary: Understanding Nonbinary People: How to Be Respectful and Supportive | A4TE (transequality.org)

LGBTQ Inclusivity in Schools: A Self-Assessment Tool

Books

“Unashamed, A Coming Out Guide for LGBTQ Christians” by Amber Cantorna

“Mama’s Boy” by Dustin Lance Black, husband of Olympic Diver Tom Daily

“A Place for Us” by Brandon Wolf (Activist and Pulse Nightclub Survivor)

“Called Out : 100 Devotions for LGBTQ Christians” by E Carrington Heath

Resources:

Harvard Implicit Bias Test: Take a Test

The Central Florida Pledge

The Center Orlando

Transgender Services – The Center Orlando

Equality Florida

HRC | Human Rights Campaign

Guide to Handling LGBTQ+ Discrimination in the Workplace

LGBTQI+ Resources | HHS.gov

Get Connected: 211 – United Way of Central Florida

Terms, Definitions & Labels:
The following terms are not absolutely-defined. New language and terms emerge as our understanding of these topics changes and evolves. As always, listening is the key to understanding.

Source: www.amherst.edu

Ally / Allyship: the lifelong process of building relationships with marginalized communities to which one does not belong. This is a practice of showing up, working in solidarity with, and centering the needs and voices of marginalized groups. This work should be done as directed by those communities. These efforts can only be named as allyship by the marginalized group. To be acting in allyship means that you are actively working to dismantle structures of oppression.

Aromantic: A person who experiences little or no romantic attraction. Aromantic people may or may not experience sexual attraction, which is unrelated to their aromantic identity. 

Asexual: A person who experiences little or no sexual attraction. Unlike celibacy, an action that people choose, asexuality is a sexual identity. 

Bisexual/Bi: an identity term that most often refers to a person who is attracted to people of multiple genders. Many folk often denote men and women, but not always. Some folks may define Bisexuality as being sexually attracted to those of similar or different gender. 

Cisgender: Having a gender identity that aligns with the sex one was assigned at birth. Often shortened to “cis,” which is pronounced “sis.” The use of “cisgender” rather than “normal,” or even “not transgender” draws attention to the system that marks transgender people as “other.”

Cis-heteronormativity –  a pervasive system of  belief (on an individual, systemic, and ideological level) that being cisgender and hetersexual (straight), and associated ways of being in the world (life-path, material desires, family/kinship structures, political/social goals, etc.) are the default, and “normal.”

Gay: Used to describe a man who is romantically, sexually, and/or affectionally attracted to men, although not all men who engage in sexual relations with other men identify themselves as “gay.” The term is sometimes used to refer to the queer community as a whole, although many women prefer to be identified as “lesbian” instead of “gay.”

Gender: A socially constructed concept that designates people (based on their appearance, perceived sex, learned behaviors, traits, and actions) as masculine or feminine. A person’s assigned sex does not always align with their gender (see transgender), and many people display traits associated with more than one gender. Gender is different from sexuality.

Gender Affirmation Surgery (GAS): Surgical procedures that some trans folks pursue that create congruence between one’s body and one’s gender identity. Sometimes GAS is referred to as “gender confirming surgery” to recognize that one’s gender does not change—it is only being made visible to others. 

Gender Binary: Recognizes only two genders and regulates behavior within narrowly defined male or female expectations. Enforces the idea that all people assigned male at birth should be man-identified and masculine, and that all people assigned female at birth should be woman-identified and feminine. This system excluded non-binary and gender non-conforming individuals.

Gender Dysphoria: Discomfort and/or distress that varies in intensity, duration, and interval for an individual extending from the disjuncture between one’s conceptualization of their gender and the way their body is. 

Gender Expression: The way that someone expresses their gender, either consciously or unconsciously. This encompasses everything that communicates our gender to others: clothing, hairstyles, body language, mannerisms, how we speak, how we play, and our social interactions and roles. Most people have some blend of masculine and feminine qualities that comprise their gender expression, and this expression can also vary depending on the social context. There is not always a direct translation between gender identity and gender expression.

Gender Fluid: An identity or umbrella term for people whose gender expression is variable across time and space.

Gender Roles: A set of social and behavioral norms that are considered appropriate for particular genders. They almost always adhere to the gender binary when viewed in Western culture.

Heteronormativity: The belief (on an individual, systemic, and ideological level) that straightness and straight relationships are the default, and are more “normal” than queerness.

Heterosexism: A pervasive system of beliefs and practices that manifest across societal/cultural, institutional, and individual domains that centers and normalizes heterosexuality. Enacts violence against all other sexualities through their erasure, pathologization, and invalidation. Provides various advantages to heterosexul/straight folks

Homophobia: A myriad of behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes ranging from hatred, discomfort, fear, erasure, violence against/towards people who identify or are perceived as gay, lesbian, or queer that manifest interpersonally, institutionally, and systemically. The spectra of this particular form of violence impact folks across various identities within the  LGBTQ+ community due to perceive proximity by outside aggressor, and by those within the community (see internalized homophobia, bipobia, transphobia etc.) e.g. referring to gayness as a substitute for less than, inferior, or dysfunction, as represented by “That’s so gay.” See also: Heterosexism.

Intersex: A general term used for a variety of conditions in which an individual’s reproductive or sexual anatomy (re: genitals, secondary sex characteristics, chromosomes, and/or hormone levels) do not fit into the medical/societal definition of male or female. 

Lesbian: An identity term that most often refers to a person who identifies as a woman who is sexually attracted to other women. Those who use this term to describe their experience may or may not also use it to denote their romantic attraction.

Non-Binary: A person whose gender identity does not fit within the gender binary, or whose gender identity is an act of resistance against the binary. 

Outing: The act of disclosing, intentionally or unintentionally, one’s identity to others without their permission. Outing someone can have serious consequences on their safety, employment, family situation, etc.

Pansexual: An identity term that most often refers to a person who experiences sexual attraction to people of all and/or many gender identities/expressions. Also commonly shortened to “Pan.”

Polyamory: relationship structure that centers on the practice of having or being open to consensually having more than one or many partners/significant others. Sometimes used as an umbrella term for all forms of ethical, consensual, and loving non-monogamy.

Queer: Reclaimed* derogatory term that is used in a few different ways: a catchall term for the LGBTQ community; a sexual identity term that is often characterized by the incorporation of fluidity and anti-normativity. *Not reclaimed by everyone.

Questioning: An identity term for a person who is exploring their sexuality and/or gender. People may be questioning at different times in their lives, because gender and sexuality can be experienced as fluid and/or ever-changing. It does not have to be a linear experience or progression.  

Sex: A construct encompassing the biological (anatomical, hormonal, or genetic) traits used to categorize someone as either male, female, or intersex.

Sexuality: socially constructed concept that captures the relationships between a person’s experience, practice, and conceptualizations of their physical, emotional, and psychic attraction (or absence thereof) to other people and/or self.