Throughout my internship at Highlands UMC as an inclusion intern, I have been able to connect my experience to broader social issues. Rea and I have been working on "The Open Table Project" which is our adviser's newest project to raise awareness in the LGBTQIAP+ community.
While our adviser made this project before the pandemic, I believe that this program will impact this community more now than ever. This program and church as a whole have a multitude of reasons to be in existence. After many zoom calls with the staff and surrounding ministries, it is obvious that this church is ministering to many people who have previously felt unwelcome at other churches. This specific project assigned to Rea and I was to raise awareness but I believe that it is the start of more LGBTQ+ people finding connection and finding more resources to feel apart of a community, especially in the time of a pandemic; it will address isolation, lack of education on this community, and increasing overall awareness.
I see strategies from Getting to Maybe being enacted in the way that there are multiple ways to solve a problem. In the earlier chapters, we read about how a community addressed the horrible HIV/ AIDS issue by using humor. The commercials on television started to be about people dressed as condoms, lying on a condom shaped bed, with the overall plot being that women find condoms attractive. By using humor, the community slowly tackled this issue. There are many ways to address the issue of isolation in the queer community but I really admire the methods my advisor is choosing. This month has shaped my interest in future civic involvement by increasing my desire to change the way that members of the LGBTQIAP+ community are treated in churches and helped me realize that you do not have to be fully educated on every term and definition to be a great ally. Being an ally looks like being a good listener and creating relationships.